Yes, there will be canopies above every space. Not as nice as a garage, in my opinion, but it will be nice to have all of the vehicles covered.

Why will we drop $44 million on a car rental facility and then it's as if talking about a similarly expensive rail link to downtown is pie in the sky...

Why will we drop $44 million on a car rental facility and then it's as if talking about a similarly expensive rail link to downtown is pie in the sky...

Because they've assigned recoupment to the users of the rental facility cars , via the 4.50 per day [for now] rental surcharge?

Also, this would be a good place to have a bus transfer center. A lot of cities do something similar to keep buses from getting slowed down by airport terminal roads. Moot point because we are actually eliminating public transit to the airport.

Another shining example of our city's infinite wisdom.

this facility will sit pretty close to where a future commuter rail line to the airport would connect ... and would make a very good termination point ... with the 3 min ride times

What shuttle service currently runs between WRWA and the CBD? One would think that two express busses could be assigned, each departing each location at the half-hour, taking 15 minutes en route and 15 minutes to unload/reload passengers.

What shuttle service currently runs between WRWA and the CBD? One would think that two express busses could be assigned, each departing each location at the half-hour, taking 15 minutes en route and 15 minutes to unload/reload passengers.

None that I am aware of at this time. This makes far too much sense.

None that I am aware of at this time. This makes far too much sense.

Thanks, Dave. So what would keep an existing, experienced transportation company - Airport Express, for example - from stepping into this void? They have the vehicles (start small with vans to measure demand, and then scale up as necessary), drivers, maintenance capacity, fuel contracts, insurance policies, etc. Have two or three vans wrapped with unique graphics, map, phone number and URL, and they're in business. Undercut the one-way taxi rate by a few bucks. If the trial is unsuccessful, tear off the wraps and re-task the vans to regular Airport Express duties.

Why will we drop $44 million on a car rental facility and then it's as if talking about a similarly expensive rail link to downtown is pie in the sky...

No freaking way $44 million would get that rail done

No freaking way $44 million would get that rail done

It's plausible - use the existing SWCC line and upgrade it. However, this line of thinking assumes that all visitors want, and need, to go downtown. Many business travelers have business outside downtown right now, so that doesn't work. Same goes for tourists and people visiting family and need to rent a car...

It's plausible - use the existing SWCC line and upgrade it. However, this line of thinking assumes that all visitors want, and need, to go downtown. Many business travelers have business outside downtown right now, so that doesn't work. Same goes for tourists and people visiting family and need to rent a car...

Isn't downtown where things should stop? Let local transit take it the rest of the way.

Isn't downtown where things should stop? Let local transit take it the rest of the way.

I deal with business travelers on a daily basis and it is rare that any want to rely on public mass transportation anywhere they go in the world unless they just don't have any other options.

I guess everyone forgot that until only about 2 years ago, we had off-airport rentals with shuttles and uncovered parking. So we only recently even had this benefit for our visitors. NONE of them had covered parking at the facilities on Meridian....they're all still here, the buildings are just owned by someone else now (except Enterprise). So "hissy fit" doesn't really count. None of the complaining really does since it's just going back to how it was.....just making the centralized rental facility closer to the airport since they dont have to go north of airport rd.

If the rentals want covered, they can put in covered areas. Otherwise, our visitors can "rough it" like they do at every other airport in the world. If you're complaint is the car being hot or cold when you get in, you've got too much free time to complain.

Because they've assigned recoupment to the users of the rental facility cars , via the 4.50 per day [for now] rental surcharge?
Correct, the rental car companies usually pay for these type of amenities, sometimes it is financed by the airport and pair through a rental car fee or sometimes it is paid directly by the rental car companies by them writing a check to the contractor. We have both conditions on some items at SDF/Louisville.


I deal with business travelers on a daily basis and it is rare that any want to rely on public mass transportation anywhere they go in the world unless they just don't have any other options.
The only business trip that I have had with no vehicle was the three week trip to Tokyo, all other trips had a vehicle. I have taken personal trips to Boston or NYC and not rented a car, we rode the subway or took Amtrak to areas outside the city.

I have never rented a vehicle on business trips to Manhattan, and frequently used public transit while there on business. If transit were available, I would use it elsewhere also, but virtually no cities in the US compare to NYC when it comes to transit.

I have never rented a vehicle on business trips to Manhattan, and frequently used public transit while there on business. If transit were available, I would use it elsewhere also, but virtually no cities in the US compare to NYC when it comes to transit.

Few business travelers I deal with going to NYC rent cars. Most take taxis or a limo service from the airport. Some might use the subway when they arrive.

I guess everyone forgot that until only about 2 years ago, we had off-airport rentals with shuttles and uncovered parking. So we only recently even had this benefit for our visitors. NONE of them had covered parking at the facilities on Meridian....they're all still here, the buildings are just owned by someone else now (except Enterprise). So "hissy fit" doesn't really count. None of the complaining really does since it's just going back to how it was.....just making the centralized rental facility closer to the airport since they dont have to go north of airport rd.

If the rentals want covered, they can put in covered areas. Otherwise, our visitors can "rough it" like they do at every other airport in the world. If you're complaint is the car being hot or cold when you get in, you've got too much free time to complain.

i don't believe this to be true ..

Isn't downtown where things should stop? Let local transit take it the rest of the way.

OK, yes, in a perfect situation. But not in OKC, not right now.

Each city and trip itinerary determine whether to rent a car, hire a taxi or use public transportation. We'll use all three in upcoming trips to TVC, ORD and LHR.

OKC is an easy town to rent a car because parking is available and inexpensive, whether downtown during the day, or overnight at a hotel. This rental car change at Will Rogers will make it more difficult and time-consuming to rent a car, and therefore less appealing. If I were coming to OKC and needed to arrange my own transportation, I'd like the option of convenient public transportation, but I wouldn't expect it to be as comprehensive as what you'd find at large cities such as NYC, DCA, SFO or even ORD. If I need to be downtown and a train/shuttle/rail will get me there quickly, I'll take it; otherwise I'll take a cab.

Incidentally I read last week that a company just started offering a fleet of Audi A4s at SFO, all of which are reserved, rented and returned via smartphone, with either minimal or zero human interaction. That's all I know, but it sounds appealing!

OK, yes, in a perfect situation. But not in OKC, not right now.

Where would you have the routes end at this time?

Where would you have the routes end at this time?

I'm saying that if a route ended downtown right now, a business traveler could conduct work downtown only. Transit outside is woefully inadequate.

I'm saying that if a route ended downtown right now, a business traveler could conduct work downtown only. Transit outside is woefully inadequate.

I agree. But because that's the case right now, do you think we shouldn't bother getting the line up and running? Could having the line serve as an impetus to improve local transit in those cities?

I'm saying that if a route ended downtown right now, a business traveler could conduct work downtown only. Transit outside is woefully inadequate.

Depends where one needs to be. Last week I rode in from Norman, popped off DT just north of Dean McGee and Robinson. I strolled maybe 100 feet, give or take, to Kitchen 324 and enjoyed great service and an excellent breakfast. Could have just as easily had a brief meeting with someone there if a need had existed. I then strolled over to the DT hub, hopped a bus to just north of Crown Plaza on N May and attended to the task that brought me to town. That route would have taken further N and a bit west if my need existed, or I could have transferred to another route along the way.

Afterwards, I caught the same route south back to the DT hub and strolled over to the market in the Regency for a snack. Ended up having a right fair cooked to order CB and fries (yum by the by.) I could have as easily hopped another bus to a different part of town. Anyway, after the burger, I was then back across the street and bus back to Norman.

Now if I hadn't forgotten to fully charge my phone the night before and/or brought along a spare battery, it would of been a somewhat more productive day thanks to fair wifi service on the buses, but that's on me.

Transit is not perfect by any means, in Norman or OKC, but for M-F business hours, it doesn't totally suck.

That said, it would be nice if there were options other than private carriers for coming into the city for ane vening or on the weekend.

i don't believe this to be true ..


Which part? I've worked on South Meridian, right in the middle of all of the rental places for almost 10 years, so I've seen the various versions of the rental philosophy around here. Our office has always been surrounded by the various vendors. You're welcome to come look, but they didn't even have as much as a covered area for the shuttle pickups (enterprise, hertz, dollar/thrify/avis/etc). You went inside the buildings and picked up your car in the uncovered lots. The old Parking Spot lot had more covered parking than the rental facilities.

Is it nicer when there is, of course. But what i'm saying is, it's not like we (meaning our visitors) are used to some amazing comfort level. Personally, i'd keep it AT the airport garage right where it's at. When I travel, that's where i prefer they be...I HATE shuttles.

pretty sure there have been rental cars (at least pick up) in the airport for over 10 years

I am all for this facility as I assume it will free up space in the garage for long term parking. I am sick and tired of the parking garage being full and having to park in the sub rate "covered" shuttle lot, or worse, the uncovered. It's ridiculous that the airport management so vastly missed the size of garage they needed when they recently expanded it.

I am all for this facility as I assume it will free up space in the garage for long term parking. I am sick and tired of the parking garage being full and having to park in the sub rate "covered" shuttle lot, or worse, the uncovered. It's ridiculous that the airport management so vastly missed the size of garage they needed when they recently expanded it.They need to take those surface parking lots and fill them with a 5-10 story parking garage, capisce?

pretty sure there have been rental cars (at least pick up) in the airport for over 10 years

All I can say is that at my office, right smack dab in the middle of all of the facilities, we had all of the rental offices. All of them with shuttles running back and forth all day long. One reason I was very glad to see them move TO the airport was that then their crazy shuttle drivers weren't up and down meridian all day. I should note that Hertz/Advantage has moved into the "old enterprise".
4319

The contract has been awarded for this facility.
Oklahoma City Airport Trust awards a contract to build the new rental car facility at Will Rogers World Airport | News OK (http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-airport-trust-awards-a-contract-to-build-the-new-rental-car-facility-at-will-rogers-world-airport/article/3887092)

Isn't "Dollar Thrifty Budget" on your map still Alamo/National/Enterprise? I worked at Enterprise at the "new" lot for about three years and have worked at Avis/Budget for over four years now. You didn't label the lot west of "new" Enterprise. It's our "north" lot at Avis/Budget.

EDIT: it looks like the old Alamo/National/Enterprise lot isn't a rental car lot anymore by looking at Google Maps. I haven't been up that way in quite a while since I work at the actual airport for a long time now.

Application for building permits for this project a few days ago and others have said some work has already begun.


Have I mentioned how much I hate this?? ;)

Application for building permits for this project a few days ago and others have said some work has already begun.


Have I mentioned how much I hate this?? ;)

Yep....

Reminds me of Denver's setup. That one's not bad and is a heck of a lot further away than this one is going to be. Will be nice that they are all consolidated instead part at the airport and part all the way down on Meridian.

Application for building permits for this project a few days ago and others have said some work has already begun.


Have I mentioned how much I hate this?? ;)The new facility is right across Meridian from one of our buildings. There has been a lot of clearing and dirt work starting about two weeks ago.

I think this is a horrible idea. It would have made so much more sense to build a new garage and put the rental cars there. That would have resulted in a net gain of general parking spaces (probably), would have also maintained the proximity/convenience of the rental cars to the terminal, and and eliminated the need for rental car shuttles.

I wonder if there will be a way to incorprate a light rail from the terminal to the rental car facility, possibly as part of an airport-to-downtown link?

Commuter rail probably, utilizing the rail line that goes up Newcastle Rd through Stockyards City to downtown.

Long ways off though (regarding downtown/airport rail link).

We're probably stuck with shuttle buses between the rental car center and the terminal forever. I don't see the money ever being ponied up for a rail connection there...

Commuter rail probably, utilizing the rail line that goes up Newcastle Rd through Stockyards City to downtown.Commuter rail would be stupid for this. Honestly, we should have light-rail to the airport to downtown(convention center) and to the rental car facility. I can understand doing commuter from Edmond-OKC-Norman for the time being, but no money needs to be spent on commuter for the airport. Airport needs light-rail only.

If we had heavily utilized bus routes to the airport (e.g. high ridership already) I would agree with you. But we only have it going there 3 times a day (and thus ridership is low) and even those are being cut. I say start with commuter rail and if demand picks up you'll have support for the cost of light rail going forward.

Also, as someone who works at the FAA and lives downtown, they could extend that commuter rail line another stop after the airport to FAA/MMAC (a major employer with 5-7K employees; yes there are "last mile" issues but the FAA already runs shuttles between facilities in the morning and evening), and possibly eventually keep it going out to Mustang if demand grows (obviously that would help the people who live in Mustang and work downtown). Shoot, maybe Hobby Lobby as a major employer along that line would want to get in on that action eventually...

Commuter Rail (bus for the time being) from downtown to Mustang just seems like a no brainer to me. Along the way you have Capital Hill, Stockyard's City, Meridian (hotels, rental cars, restaurants/entertainment, office), Int'l Airport, FAA, HL and industrial SW OKC, then Mustang. Couldn't there be 10,000 riders total on that route alone?

Couple pictures I took just awhile ago.

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t31.0-8/p960x960/1965476_10202686147747370_6411983673443903598_o.jp g
https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/t31.0-8/10007335_10202686150947450_3270020439069641545_o.j pg

Wonder what all that pipe is for? Wasn't there something on OKC Talk earlier about connecting Draper and Hefner in some fashion? As I drive past the airport to/fm work, I saw a lot of pipe going in on the north side of 54th.

It is a big lot, so maybe for storm water drainage. I know what you mean though, they have all that lined up along I-44 so maybe it does have something to do with it.

They've been laying pipe for quite a while around the airport.

Giggity. Just wanted to say that.

They've been laying pipe all over town, for years.......had too.

all that concrete pipe is for storm drainage out there. the green PVC pipe is for sanitary sewer, the blue PVC is for water.

the pipe connecting draper to hefner has been a mix of ductile iron (black) and steel (typically white).

the pipe connecting draper to hefner

Why would they connect those two lakes?

Why would they connect those two lakes?

They are connecting the treatment plants, not the lakes specifically.

They are connecting the treatment plants, not the lakes specifically.


Next two phases are out for bid currently, I think they might be the last two, I think the line ends at a booster station near MacArthur and I-40, and then I think the water would be pumped to Hefner.

Hmmm. And about the new car rental facility?

Hmmm. And about the new car rental facility?They've been putting walls up for a couple of weeks. And they look like some pretty substantial poured concrete walls too.

http://www.pgal.com/media/cache/06/062243bc5151768261a2f891278758ec.jpg

It'll be interesting to see how this impacts flow of traffic. The entrance/exit in the lower left appears to share the existing traffic light for Southwest. The one in the lower right almost appears to just be a SB Meridian entrance only.

I just went through one of these in Seattle this week. I have to say, it's quite impressive comapred to the little shacks for each vendor that you see most places. It's a whole terminal with a 5 story garage of its own. We've got surface lots here, but what's nice is it's a uniform POS device for each vender (so seatac owns EVERYTHING), and a single exit attendant, again saves on employee costs there too. It is annoying to get a shuttle, but you also ALL pile in to go to the same place rather than per-vendor. That means the shuttles are larger and full up faster = run more often. At SeaTac, as soon as one fills, ther's already another waiting behind it.

They JUST converted this in the last year and i can't say that i prefer it over On-Site still, but it's WAAAAY better than the old off-site method of individual parcels on Meridian.

I think this is a horrible idea. It would have made so much more sense to build a new garage and put the rental cars there. That would have resulted in a net gain of general parking spaces (probably), would have also maintained the proximity/convenience of the rental cars to the terminal, and and eliminated the need for rental car shuttles.

I wonder if there will be a way to incorprate a light rail from the terminal to the rental car facility, possibly as part of an airport-to-downtown link?

This is what they have at AUS (Austin). It's part of the parking garage when you walk out of the terminal from the baggage claim. It was really convenient not having to take a shuttle.

Same way in Orlando to. It was really nice.

Have I mentioned how much I hate this whole plan?? ;)


Anybody know if they are still going to keep the rental counters in the terminal by the baggage claim?

At least that way you could take care of most your business before you haul all your crap out into the elements before scrambling on and off a shuttle bus.


If they make you do all that at the new off-site facility, it creates a ridiculous situation where everyone tries to rush off the bus at the same time to get to the counter before the rest.

Have I mentioned how much I hate this whole plan?? ;)


Anybody know if they are still going to keep the rental counters in the terminal by the baggage claim?

At least that way you could take care of most your business before you haul all your crap out into the elements before scrambling on and off a shuttle bus.


If they make you do all that at the new off-site facility, it creates a ridiculous situation where everyone tries to rush off the bus at the same time to get to the counter before the rest.

Pete,
You rent from Hertz with Gold service, you don't need a counter....

Pete,
You rent from Hertz with Gold service, you don't need a counter....

I have a Hertz Gold account but even with my family discount the rates are usually way higher than what I get get at Budget and similar.

I have flown into San Fran and Atlanta that have off-site consolidated rental car centers and way more people renting cars in a day than OKC gets in a year and the wait at the rental counter is minimal, if I have to wait at all. Both airports use a fixed guideway connection with small vehicles and short headways which does a pretty good job of spacing the customers out. Having everyone wait 10 minutes for a 40 passenger bus will probably just bunch everyone up as Pete fears.

I jumped the bus at Phoenix along with 40 others and it was no problem at the garage, which is a couple of miles away. Was in the car within 5 or 10 minutes after offloading from the bus.