Riding the UTA.....

So, 5 yrs of commuting has taken its toll. With 2 long yrs until the commuter rail is expected to be completed and 1 1/2 hr commute home last Thurs, I had to find an alternative. So started my UTA experience.
Some the following may not be suited for younger ears. :) Kidding.
As a 30+ yr old woman, who had never riden on a bus of any kind, not even to school, I was highly prepared with a complicated schedule printed off the internet. After much intense study and coordination of routes and times, I decided my best route would be to the Riverdale Park and Ride on the Express Bus that went non-stop to North Salt Lake in 44 minutes. Well, I left early to make sure I got to the stop on time. To my surprise the bus was already there! So I ran and got on. I sat in the front seat next to a chatty mining engineer. Needless to say, he told me EVERYTHING and I mean everything about the ins and outs of riding the bus. But seriously, talking with him made the ride really fly by and I did learn that I could buy discount tokens to ride the bus saving me $.80 a day! We then arrived in SL and he INSISTED that I take a different connecting stop than I had orginally planned. So I did. I then walked about 3 blocks to the TRAX station, and after asking several waiting passengers were the right route was at, I sat down on the bench and waited. I caught the right train and rode up to the stop by my work, and learned how to get off! SUCCESS! I strolled into work, 1 hr and 15 minutes after I had started out this morning, with a smile on my faceand welling with pride from my successful trip. I was pumped! Then my ride home.
Since the morning walk from the TRAX station to my work was less than 2 minutes, I decided to leave 5 minutes before the TRAX was scheduled at 5:02. The TRAX didn't come until 5:08! My connecting Express Bus was scheduled at 5:08 so I knew that I wouldn't make it, no problem, I would catch the next one. I got off TRAX at the Library Station this time, (everyone told me to get on here, as it was the first pick up instead of waiting for one of the last stops, which I am glad I did and you'll know why later) and walked the few blocks to the stop. I waited and realized that I was alone at the stop. SOMETHING DIDN'T SEEM RIGHT. I got out my handy dandy schedule and read the address again and realized that I was a street too far north! OH NO! I then quickly made my way down one block and then over a block where there was a large crowd of waiting passengers. OK, I am in the right place now. Just in case, I confirmed this withone of the waiting passengers. So the bus came, and I got on. The bus made alot of stops to pick up passengers, and I mean alot. I was thinking, "Man, I should have rode the TRAX farther down and got on this bus later." Well, at one of the last stops, the bus was full and the on coming passengers had to stand. At the last stop, passengers were told they would have to stand or wait for the next bus. Several of the standing people got off and said they would wait for the next bus, still 20+ people had to stand for the entire ride. Good thing I got on at the first stop. Then it started, POUND. POUND. A HEADACHE
The traffic home was bad as always. The first stop after Salt Lake was Kaysville. 1/2 the people got off there so we were there for-ever while they got off. The next stop was Layton Hills Mall, same thing. Long wait while everyone got off. Finally at the Riverdale stop, which was 15 minutes after the expected time, I got off. I got in my car thinking that wasn't so bad, 1 1/2 hrs. Then came the Riverdale/Roy traffic. It was terrible. Almost 30 mins to the house.POUND POUND. I was feeling so sick by now but I was home.
So there it is, my experience with the Public Transportion System. And guess what, I tried it again today. I decided that I would try the Layton Hills Mall stop this time because I'm going to to the gym before I go home and I didn't want to get to Riverdale and then back track to Clearfield. The interesting thing is that it took longer, about 10 minutes longer from Layton to work today even though it's closer. We'll see how it goes. I am determined to make this work.