OCCC is a destination for many commuter students. Oklahoma City’s public transportation system EMBARK, formerly known as METRO Transit, has gone through recent changes, said Kinsey Crocker, Anglin Public Relations director and senior account executive.

One significant change that directly affects OCCC students is that a bus will arrive to campus every 10 minutes.

Michael Scroggins, public information manager, said changed routes also enable an additional bus to arrive to campus, whereas there was only one before. These busses are routes 12 and 13.

“It’s a huge improvement in service. Before, route 12 [came] every hour, but now essentially with [route 12 and 13], you have service every 10 minutes,” Scroggins said.

Scroggins said this will result in reduced passenger wait time and travel time.

Route 12 travels from the Transit Center at 420 NW 5th Street, to Goodwill, Farmers Market, Stockyards, SW 44th/Portland and finally to OCCC.

Route 13 travels from the Transit Center, to SW Medical Center, Shartel Towers, I-240, OCCC and ends up at Variety Care located at 1025 Straka Terrace before going back to the Transit Center.

Both routes take about 30 minutes from the Transit Center to OCCC and costs about $1.75, according to the EMBARK website.

The busses run from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday through Friday, and from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturdays.

English Professor Stephen Morrow frequently takes public transportation to get to campus from his home in downtown.

“With the money I save on gas and with wear and tear on my car, [by riding the bus] I’m doing two things: budgeting my money better and keeping my car’s carbon out of the atmosphere,” he said.

Morrow said it takes about 25 minutes for him to arrive to campus via bus.

“I either walk to the downtown terminal or I ride my bicycle early in the morning [to] catch an early bus,” he said. “Riding the bus has given me [at least] a couple extra hours of reading time a day, which I love.”

Pre-education major Ricky Walker said he also benefits from using public transportation.

“I would recommend that more students take the bus just to save money, because gas prices are on the upswing,” he said.

Although students can find information about the routes on the EMBARK Connect app, Walker suggests students call ahead of time if they plan to take the bus.

“I would recommend [students] call the people who run the busses, cause sometimes the bus runs early or it runs late,” Walker said.

For more information, go to http://embarkok.com, or check out the EMBARK Connect app for alerts and updates about certain routes.