OGX celebrates a year of operation; UTA officials call the route a success
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- Ogden Express buses prepare to run their route from the Ogden Transit Center to McKay-Dee Hospital on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024.
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- An Ogden Express bus is utilized to cut the ribbon on the new OGX route under a rain of confetti Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023.
OGDEN — The Ogden Express bus rapid transit route is celebrating a major milestone.
This week marks a full year in operation for the bus route that also is known as OGX, which is closing in on nearly a million rides since its official opening to the public on Aug. 20, 2023.
In a Utah Transit Authority press release, Camille Glenn, regional general manager of UTA’s Mt. Ogden Service Unit, said the route has been a success.
“Upon its launch OGX immediately became the most popular Ogden route and is in the top five of UTA routes in terms of ridership,” she said. “We thank the Ogden community for exceeding all expectations and demonstrating the value of transit. The enthusiasm for OGX, along with UTA bus and FrontRunner services, will help cultivate a new generation of transit users.”
The release notes that the bus line has seen 890,000 riders from the inception of the route through the end of July.
The route — which runs from the Ogden Transit Center near Union Station to Weber State University and McKay-Dee Hospital — has proven especially popular amongst students and staff at WSU.
“Ridership peaked at more than 90,000 monthly riders in October and February, aligning with Weber State University’s back-to-school periods,” the release said.
The press release adds that 250,000 riders utilized stops at Weber State.
Gavin Gustafson, senior public information officer with UTA, told the Standard-Examiner in an email Tuesday that the service averages more than 3,000 riders per day.
“OGX has certainly met our expectations,” he said.
While the service has been fare free — and will remain so for at least two more years — he said an accurate count of ridership can still be kept.
“Buses are equipped with automatic counters to tally each rider as they board the bus,” he said.
Gustafson said the route has hit bumps here and there, but the first year of operation has mostly been smooth and UTA is even taking valuable information away from the experience.
“With any new technology (i.e. electric buses and charging infrastructure) there comes a learning curve that we are overcoming with additional training and measuring performance,” he said. “The crossover areas at both 32nd and 36th was a new design in the UTA system which has proven to be safe and efficient for the flow of the buses.”
He added the OGX route will likely stay as is for the foreseeable future, but connecting routes could see changes in the coming years.
“There are no immediate plans to expand OGX. However, we are in the process of reviewing the five-year service plan and proposing changes to routes in the general OGX area to further enhance the customer experience,” he said.
Other BRT routes in the UTA system include the Utah Valley Express, or UVX, in Orem and Provo and the Midvalley Express, or MVX, which currently is under construction in Murray, Taylorsville and West Valley City. The MVX is expected to open to riders in 2026.
