In a press release last week, UTA officials detailed a big 2025.

“The Utah Transit Authority ‘s ridership continued to be strong in 2025 with more than 40.3 million boardings across bus, rail, light rail, streetcar, vanpool, paratransit and microtransit,” the release said. “UTA has now recovered to nearly 100% of its pre-pandemic bus ridership and remains well ahead of the national recovery average for overall ridership. 2025 at UTA was also marked by many milestone accomplishments, most notably receiving the Outstanding Public Transportation System Award from APTA, the top award in the North American transit industry. Other achievements include the addition of more than 1 million service miles and accelerating the launch of the Midvalley Express (MVX).”

Gavin Gustafson, senior public information officer with UTA, told the Standard-Examiner in an email Wednesday that expansion of services across the system has gone a long ways to drive up the number of riders.

“A major driver of this growth has been UTA’s focus on expanding access and improving service frequency where people need it most,” he said. “In April 2025 alone, UTA added more than 1 million service miles, giving riders more options and more consistent service. New and enhanced stations have strengthened connections to rapidly growing areas and key destinations, including the South Jordan Downtown Station on the TRAX Red Line, which serves a booming community and provides direct access to The Ballpark at America First Square, and the BYU Central Campus Station, which improves Utah Valley Express bus service for BYU students and the broader Provo community. Seasonal and destination-focused service has also seen strong results, with Ski Bus ridership increasing 3% during the 2024-2025 winter season and surpassing 400,000 boardings for the second year in a row.”

Overall in Weber and Davis counties, which did not have as many added services in 2025, numbers stayed relatively the same. Gustafson noted that bus ridership was around 3.8 million and FrontRunner recorded one million boardings and one million alightings at the stations in Weber and Davis counties in both 2024 and 2025.

He noted that Ogden Express, or OGX, saw a slight rise in its second year of operation, recording 1,058,915 riders in 2025 versus 1,024,367 in 2024. Since opening in August 2023, OGX has carried a total of 2.4 million riders. Gustafson also noted it was the fourth most-ridden bus route in the entire UTA system both in 2024 and 2025.

While OGX has proven popular, some changes could be coming as it arrives at its third anniversary.

“The initial grant funding to provide zero fare on OGX for the first three years will expire this year,” he said. “However, UTA is working with our partners at the local, state, and federal levels to explore options. There will be no change to the existing UTA School Pass Program which includes UTA passes for students, faculty and staff at Weber State University and most colleges and universities within UTA’s service area.”

He said that the UTA Board of Trustees recently approved an extension of zero fare contingent upon a still-pending grant application and that an update would likely come at the end of the first quarter of the year.

With 2025 having turned to 2026, officials are also starting to take a look at the future of the area’s public transportation.

Over the last couple of years, Ogden City officials have worked on formulating the Union Station Neighborhood to layout a framework of how the station and surrounding campus will be utilized in the future.

One desire often expressed has been to return regular rail service — including FrontRunner — to Ogden Union Station itself.

“We are not just the downtown of Ogden, Utah  — we are the downtown of Northern Utah,” Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski said during his State of the City address in January. “We are going to work with our legislators and federal delegation to make sure that we’re putting transportation investments and plans in place to make sure that transportation comes back to Union Station, because that is what this is meant to be.”

Gustafson said UTA has been in communication with the city about these plans.

“UTA recognizes the community interest surrounding Ogden Union Station and restoring rail service to the historic station, including UTA’s FrontRunner commuter train,” he said. “UTA maintains regular dialogue with the cities and counties we serve and has been part of regular discussions for several years with regional partners, community members and Ogden City about service to Ogden Union Station.”

He added that there will be many factors that need to be weighed and explored before any services are brought within the halls of Ogden Union Station.

“Any relocation of FrontRunner service from Ogden Central to Union Station — about a half-mile to the south — would require adequate funding, careful planning, and close coordination to address operational and infrastructure needs,” he said. “Equally important, Ogden Central Station currently supports critical rider transfers, including several bus routes and the Ogden Express (OGX) — an important connection for more than one million customers annually. Preserving and supporting those connections would be a central consideration in any future conversation. UTA is committed to working collaboratively with regional partners to explore ideas that enhance service and strengthen community connections.”

In the meantime, Gustafson said that UTA expects ridership to remain strong and continue to rise throughout 2026.

“UTA ridership has steadily rebounded since the COVID pandemic,” he said. “UTA has recovered to 91.5% of its pre-pandemic ridership — nearly 100% on bus — and is ahead of the national ridership recovery average of 79% according to the American Public Transportation Association.”