When you’re growing up in Utah County, then beginning an adult life with so many great expectations, transportation from home to all those new commitments (schools, jobs, and activities) may become more challenging. And the high cost of driving for some people may add to their difficulty, or driving may not even be an option. That’s where active transportation becomes the answer for many, and becomes a better solution in serving the greater community.
On Provo’s bustling Center Street I caught up with Remus Monday, one such person who is starting out in life, and succeeding, with the assistance of alternative means of commuting.
Remus grew up in Salem, Utah, fifteen miles south of Provo and around a 38 minute commute on a UTA bus. “I learned to bike at thirteen,” Remus begins. When he was still in school he liked to ride along what was once “a new dirt road” that eventually led up to a higher meadow.
There, in the middle of the meadow, Remus would sit for hours playing his didgeridoo, a very long wind instrument. “I would take it up there on my tricycle, with it sticking up behind the seat.” Later, he would be “biking to Salem Junior High School and to friends’ houses” on a Hyper Shocker 2G Mountain Bike carrying with him “a guitar or a banjo.”
Remus next ventured out from the smaller realm of Salem using bus Route 821 to visit “Bill Harris Music or Mosaic Book Store,” both in Provo. He would take his bike with him, mounting it on the front bike racks of the bus; but “when there was more than one bike on the rack, I would have to bring it in the bus” with me. “So stressful!” In January of 2025 Remus “moved to Provo, downtown Provo,” and started a new job with a local arts company. “I help to edit videos.”
In choosing a new residential location, proximity to job, grocery store and public transportation was important to Remus and became the deciding factor. “I practice Sangha and ride my bike up there [The Yoga Underground] by BYU once a week, walk to Smith’s and others for groceries. I work at Allen’s Camera at 3rd North and Freedom, ride to work.” As a musician Remus also performs at Java Junkies, North Park, and on Center Street, all locations that are not far from home and make the transporting of his equipment much easier. “I’d like to have a better bike to carry an amplifier,” he then adds.
As for what it’s like biking in Provo, “I really like the undulating motion of biking, and on Sundays less traffic. Wish we had more actual paths for bikes and walking; bike lanes are just targets, don’t feel super safe on bike lane roads during busy hours. I try to avoid them. I prefer roads that have shared lanes [bike-friendly streets, i.e. 200 East].”
“I really like taking a route from Sangha, at 4th North 9th East, to Provo Peaks [Elementary], over to 200 North going west to Freedom Boulevard, [south] to Center Street and Vegan Sun. Really like the quiet, meditative atmosphere of the route.” I ask this modest musician if he has any parting words for us and he’s quick to tell me, “Make good choices!” In choosing to walk and bike about Provo I muse Remus is doing well by his recommendation.
