OGDEN — After just two days, Harrison Goddard, a Weber State University senior, is sold on the new bus shuttle service that plies the campus, the first segment of the planned bus rapid transit system taking shape in Ogden.

“I love it. It’s way better than what we used to have,” he said Tuesday, alluding to the prior shuttle system that traveled between the Dee Events Center and Stewart Library. “Way, way better.”

Ethan Stryker, a junior waiting Tuesday morning to board one of the the electric Utah Transit Authority buses for the first time along with a long line of other students, also drew a contrast with the prior shuttle system. For one thing, there wasn’t ever a line of students waiting to get on the old shuttles. The look of the new shuttles — gray and white with blue and red flourishes — also stood out.

“They’re bigger, look nice,” he said.

A little more than 16 months after breaking ground on the $130 million high-speed BRT system meant to link downtown Ogden’s FrontRunner station, McKay-Dee Hospital and the Weber State campus, the short segment inside the university grounds, the Wildcat Shuttle, is done. University, UTA and other officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Thursday and the system started hauling students on Monday, the first day of classes for the 2021-2022 academic year at Weber State.

“The great thing is we’re at the halfway point now for the overall project,” said James Larson, spokesperson for the UTA. “It’s exciting to get part of the system up and running.”

Bryan Magaña, the university spokesman, said the Wildcat Shuttle got heavy use on its first day. “Hundreds, hundreds, hundreds today,” he said late Monday. That continued Tuesday — the buses early in the morning filled up quickly and a long line of students waiting for a ride took shape around 8:45 a.m., though it quickly dissipated given the frequency of buses, every 10 minutes or so.

The work, inaugurated on April 13, 2021, wreaked havoc on portions of the Weber State campus. But now a dedicated road for the BRT buses travels from the Dee Events Center to the student housing at Wildcat Village to the front of the Browning Center in the middle of the campus.

Parking is free in the Dee Events Center lot, unlike other parts of the Weber State campus, perhaps the draw for many of the student riders. The buses can seat up to 27 and hold up to 60, including riders who stand, and they were packed Tuesday morning.

Freshman Josh Checketts, exiting a bus in front of the Browning Center, said the free parking at the Dee Events Center on the southern fringe of the college campus factored in his decision to use the shuttle. He’s not sure what a parking pass costs in the core campus area, he said, “I just know they’re expensive.”

Others noted the ease of using the system. You wait at the bus stop south of the Dee and get on when an empty shuttle pulls up. “I thought it’d be kind of confusing,” said freshman Kennedi Lambert, but it wasn’t.

Building the line required the demolition of three homes on 4225 South, a residential street between the Dee Events Center and Wildcat Village. The new BRT route now bisects the street.

Chase Niemeyer, who lives in one of the homes on 4225 South that abut the new BRT route, said neighbors were leery at first of the shuttle plans. “No one wants a bus line right next to their house if they have a choice,” he said, taking a break from yard work.

But contractors have worked with the homeowners to address their concerns as work has progressed, and now that the quiet, electric buses are running, it doesn’t seem to be a big deal, he went on.

Meantime, other portions of the broader 5.3-mile BRT system — called the Ogden Express, or OGX, and to be completed by late 2023 — remain the focus of work crews. Harrison Boulevard between about 30th and 36th streets, in particular, is a hot spot of construction activity. A lot of work is also being done along 25th Street west of Harrison and on Washington Boulevard north of 25th Street.

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