In a country built on car dependency, many Americans have been forced to use cars for transportation, with the alternative being the public transportation network.
I grew up in a city with little to no public transportation as a kid. The only services available were a handful of buses that only ran Monday through Saturday.
Since moving to Ogden for school, I have used public transportation religiously and have become almost completely reliant on it. As amazing as my experience using the OGX shuttles, Trax and the Frontrunner has been, I have noticed one problem.
The OGX shuttles only run from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Sundays and only arrive every 30 minutes. Worse than that, the Frontrunner doesn’t run at all on Sundays.
I recently went down to visit my family in St. George and found myself stranded in Orem with no way to get home. I had to have a friend pick me up from Orem and drive me all the way back up to Ogden because of the lack of public transportation availability on Sundays.
Though that one problem is apparent, the public transportation system in Ogden has many positive aspects.
“I like how easy it is to get to and from campus without having to try and find a parking spot,” Kayleigh Bollich, a Weber State University freshman said.
With free and expansive parking at the Dee Event Center, many students park there and take the shuttle to campus. The OGX Wildcat shuttle exclusively bounces between the university’s housing and the Weber State Central Station, making it an efficient and convenient form of transportation for students every morning.
“It’s nice that the OGX shuttle is free … It’s never been a main form of transportation for me, but I have no complaints about it,” senior Kate Jensen said.
The OGX shuttles being a free option for students makes it more convenient in learning how to use public transportation.
One of the first things I noticed about the OGX shuttles was how much nicer they were than other forms of public transportation I’ve used. Many other students share this opinion.
“I like the convenience it has to get to campus and around Ogden. The buses are pretty nice and clean compared to other cities,” freshman student Ismael Sazo said.
The shuttle drivers are very helpful as well, which made a scary new thing like trying to figure out how public transportation works in a new city a lot easier.
“Don’t be afraid to ask questions to the driver or the people around you,” Sazo said.
Public transportation doesn’t have to be a scary thing, and a great way of being prepared is to download the Transit app.
“I use the Transit app to see when the bus will be at my stop, and that has been really helpful for me,” Bollich said.
With little to complain about, public transportation provided by UTA has little flaws in my experience. If UTA simply made the change to provide Sunday services for the Frontrunner, it would be nearly perfect.
