Anyone who has made the transition from elementary big-wig to junior high bully fodder knows that change isn’t easy. Public transportation is no exception.

In a car-crazed culture like Utah, the lack of a viable bus system, proper bike routes or pedestrian-friendly streets hasn’t been a major issue?until now.

With the Olympics coming in a couple of months, city planners have been scrambling to improve transportation by building roads, placing orange flags at crosswalks and creating new TRAX lines.

As a main player in the festivities, the University of Utah has also been scrambling to cut down on commuters so that the parking crisis doesn’t become a parking melt-down come February.

A great deal of the dialogue surrounding the U parking situation has focused on students finding alternatives to driving, such as mass transit.

This is an important aspect, and students should continually search for ways to adjust to mass transit even after the Games. As Salt Lake City grows?and it will do a lot of growing?making the change to public transportation will become a necessity.

However, the focus should not be entirely on the students. People use what is given to them. Many students would probably prefer to relax on a bus and do homework rather than brave the vicious rush-hour crowd. Many could find better uses for their time than waiting to cut anyone’s throat for a parking space. But the reality is that alternatives aren’t always feasible.

While UTA has been pushing a new ad campaign to up ridership, it should be making actual changes, such as extending operating hours or cutting down on wait time. No amount of PR will change the fact that the public transit system needs to make big advancements.

It will have to change to accommodate the people at the same time people change to accommodate it.

In the future, Utah will inevitably have transportation that more closely resembles other major cities like New York or London.

Until then, everyone has to work together to make this change. The rewards may not come for another generation or two, but they will come.