Plenty of students ride the Lextran buses every day; it’s a common routine in Lexington when buildings and parking lots are so spread out.

With the commonality of bus riding, there should be more covered bus stops built to protect riders from inclement weather while they wait for the bus.

UK and Lextran have done a good job making covered bus stops, such as the one on Versailles Road, at the stops on Angliana Avenue and at the stops at Kroger Field, but still, every bus stop isn’t covered. This is a problem.

While riders should have umbrellas or rain jackets for protection from the weather, we’ve all had those days when we’re late for work or class and rush out of the door. When we’re in a rush, we often forget to prepare for inclement weather.

Then, students must wait a long time for the bus to pick us up, and waiting could mean that more people are being subjected to harsh weather for longer periods of time. Students who are subjected to this weather for long periods of time could potentially become sick from the weather.

If buses can’t speed up their schedules to decrease time of riders standing in inclement weather, they should build shelters around bus stops to offset the problem. The city buses are too slow and too infrequent. While Lextran does need to improve their own issues of having too few buses and not arriving at bus stops on time, UK should build covered shelters to help offset this problem and protect their students.

After all, students should ride the bus because this is a free option for them, but students shouldn’t have to be covered in rain or snow before the bus finally picks them up. Even in the summer, the heat can be unbearable as well. UK should build covered bus stops at every bus stop; it only makes sense for the students.