Cannot reveal details yet. Stay tuned!

Without taking streetcar money? YAY!!!

So did Ed get results already? LOL

I'm sure he'd like you to think that! LOL

Why does it have to be secret? Is it not the recommendations that have been discussed at public meetings?

I think some more info is going to be forthcoming tomorrow. I'm excited. Some much needed good news for our bus system. Things are on the right track!

I've heard some of it. One conclusion I've drawn is that Ed Shadid is misleading his supporters into believing that operation and maintenance costs for the bus system are being "taken" by the streetcar. I think the news tomorrow will pretty much destroy that canard.

Can't wait - I know Rick Cain said he was working on plans for the future of OKC Transit.

Just got the email.

Awesome!

Here is a direct link to all of the information we have collated thus far. If your not on the email list, feel free to sign up or join our Facebook account. I would post the email verbatim here, but I am not sure how to do it effectively.

OKC Bus Improvements, Streetcar, Regional System Planning (http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=pi4hp5cab&v=0013to5slcjKK8ws8lJ7OzKG4UX0-CkIfAJefdRgVqF4mZJVNfgy0Hyan0ABWxq11hXZRqZE_Qse8K_ Js7F4cVd2wWmM7tKJG7fCP72gt0eEwVwGwgaJRrWRXx9WilKHd Nw)

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It is good to hear the Metro Transit director say they are working on tracking technology. It should be a relatively easy system to implement since off the shelf systems exist. Hopefully they will integrate an app so people can track buses on portable devices. Overall good news - and establishing the long sought Regional Transit Authority cannot come soon enough IMO.

Here is a direct link to all of the information we have collated thus far. If your not on the email list, feel free to sign up or join our Facebook account. I would post the email verbatim here, but I am not sure how to do it effectively.

OKC Bus Improvements, Streetcar, Regional System Planning (http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=pi4hp5cab&v=0013to5slcjKK8ws8lJ7OzKG4UX0-CkIfAJefdRgVqF4mZJVNfgy0Hyan0ABWxq11hXZRqZE_Qse8K_ Js7F4cVd2wWmM7tKJG7fCP72gt0eEwVwGwgaJRrWRXx9WilKHd Nw)

Surely that can't be new news. It says at the bottom of the release that the next transit meeting is on July 25th.

Surely that can't be new news. It says at the bottom of the release that the next transit meeting is on July 25th.

MTP adds new news above the previous newsletters, but leaves the older articles in place so a new reader can read back a few months I think.

July versus August was my mistake. We are going to send out a correction with the streetcar video in a bit. I missed the month change.

Ahhhh... got it ;-)

That is very exciting! Thanks for sharing.

Your welcome. Wait till you see the video of the streetcar route!

Kinda blows up the whole streetcar vs bus arguement Shadid created.

Kinda blows up the whole streetcar vs bus arguement Shadid created.

It was never a valid argument and they knew it.

I am most interested in the bus tracking technology. That alone will be a huge improvement and might encourage more elective ridership.

Kinda blows up the whole streetcar vs bus arguement Shadid created.

Shadid has been advocating for these improvements for awhile, along with many others. This is a big step, but more funding is needed to expand service on evenings and weekends.

I knew it, UP. Shadid is going to try to take some credit for this even if it doesn't involve taking money from the streetcar system. LOL

I really hope that bike racks are a part of the shelter package.

This city would be infinitely easier to navigate without a car if we could integrate bikes into our mass-transit infrastructure. After being in Europe for 7 weeks, I think I'm definitely going to buy a bike when I get home, if nothing else to get to some of the closer locations to my house: Wal-Mart, 7/11, Western Ave, Classen Triangle and Curve.

This is a big step, but more funding is needed to expand service on evenings and weekends.

I agree, but that kind of funding comes out of operations and maintenance budgets, not capital improvements funding like MAPS. The city is either going to have to find more money in its existing budget or go to the people for a new tax. How many voters do you think will vote for a tax to expand the hours of bus service as a stand-alone item? That's why some of us have been advocating for an RTD and making the bus system part of a system that includes rail. The streetcar, new and fun to use, will attract new transit riders and will help sell the idea of improving transit as a whole to voters. Similar to how the park, river improvements, sidewalks and the streetcar allowed MAPS to pass, despite items most people weren't as interested in like the Convention Center and the fairgrounds, rail transit can pull improved bus operations into the mix. People just might vote to tax themselves for rail transit where they probably won't for an expanded bus system.

The more I think about it, rail transit accomplished by means of municipal dollars seems less viable.

The only reason to do it would be to connect Yukon/Mustang, Edmond, Midwest City, and Norman/Moore to downtown/each other...I could see it being immensely difficult to get all 6 to 8 municipalities involved in the system to agree to pool costs for the system (with OKC obviously taking the brunt of the costs). Traffic doesn't seem bad enough and probably won't be for the foreseeable future.

The N/S line from Edmond to Norman probably will happen relatively soon...maybe planned within the next 10 years and built in the next 20. But that's going to cost a lot of money and not really improve transit situations for those who need it most.

OKC needs to focus on making the most efficient system possible in a concentrated area. Starting downtown and moving outward from there. We need to target dependable, 20 minute intervals (and less during rush hours). If the system can't handle a route with that level of efficiency, then the route probably needs to be removed.

The only reason to do it would be to connect Yukon/Mustang, Edmond, Midwest City, and Norman/Moore to downtown/each other...I could see it being immensely difficult to get all 6 to 8 municipalities involved in the system to agree to pool costs for the system (with OKC obviously taking the brunt of the costs).

That is exactly the plan Teo. All those municipalities are meeting now to work on the details. Even if one opts out, you can look at the history of DART and see where they will eventually realize that is a mistake and ask to be included.

The history of DART is very informative and quite likely very similar to how a central Oklahoma regional transit agency will evolve. The first few years will be spent optimizing the bus service followed by the "easy" rail projects - Edmond to Norman, or Adventure Line will probably be first. Then downtown to MWC/Tinker, Yukon, Mustang/Will Rogers Airport, and maybe even Guthrie will follow. All passengers inbound to downtown OKC will be served by the downtown streetcar OKC had the vision to build despite the naysayers.

The more I think about it, rail transit accomplished by means of municipal dollars seems less viable.

The only reason to do it would be to connect Yukon/Mustang, Edmond, Midwest City, and Norman/Moore to downtown/each other...I could see it being immensely difficult to get all 6 to 8 municipalities involved in the system to agree to pool costs for the system (with OKC obviously taking the brunt of the costs). Traffic doesn't seem bad enough and probably won't be for the foreseeable future.

The N/S line from Edmond to Norman probably will happen relatively soon...maybe planned within the next 10 years and built in the next 20. But that's going to cost a lot of money and not really improve transit situations for those who need it most.

OKC needs to focus on making the most efficient system possible in a concentrated area. Starting downtown and moving outward from there. We need to target dependable, 20 minute intervals (and less during rush hours). If the system can't handle a route with that level of efficiency, then the route probably needs to be removed.

Edmond, Norman, Midwest City are currently leading the way for the RTA...they really want it (rail) to happen.

On the Mid-Del side, you get a HUGE benefit from the rail line to downtown already being there. It's in a sad state of disrepair, but there are not rights-of-way to purchase and if it's light rail, the lines could probably just be refurbed.

In downtown, it connects to the N-S line at I-35 (south of I-40) as well as a line that crosses the river and ends in a yard north of I-40.
It basically goes in a SE diagnol to MWC.
In MWC it runs all the way to just south of the MWC Municipal garage. It could EASILY continue just a little further and get to Douglas...where there is a large field ripe for a depot to go in!!!! Being on Douglas makes it that much more easy for the EOC area to be served from that line.

I'm not aware of another location that is as easily integrated as that.

Betts is absolutely right. To get the type of bus service many are demanding for OKC, its going to take an additional $40-$50 million in annual operating revenues at a minimum, not to mention the millions needed for additional capital costs. That kind of money won't be coming out of the general fund. It will have to come through a dedicated permanent local funding source for transit, such as additional sales tax. That's how it's been done in Dallas, Denver, Salt Lake City and nearly every other major city that has developed a robust transit system. And they did it by creating a regional transit authority and proposing a comprehensive transit solution that included both rail and bus transit components. That's because it's nearly impossible to convince a majority of the voting public to tax themselves for just an improved bus system, which many of them won't use. That's why the leaders of OKC, Norman, Edmond, Midwest City, Del City and Moore are currently participating in ongoing discussions at ACOG to determine how and when to create a regional transit authority and seek public approval of a dedicated funding source to develop a comprehensive regional transit system involving bus, bus rapid transit, commuter rail and streetcar. The suggestion that the Oklahoma City metropolitan area has no traffic congestion and that rail transit is only for the suburbs and is not currently viable is absolutely not true. At peak rush hour times, I-35 is at "Service Level E", which is traffic planner speak for bumper-to-bumper, from I-244 on the north to I-240 on the south. And that's after we just finished spending 20 years and hundreds of millions of our tax dollars widening the interstate, which we won't be able to continue to do. The cost of that congestion in terms of its impact on economic productivity and quality of life is substantial. There's absolutely no doubt that if a commuter rail line was in operation along the I-35 corridor today, the cars would be filled with riders on a daily basis. And those wouldn't just be suburbanites and non-OKC residents. No, the tracks run both ways, as do the interstates. There are many within OKC who would use and benefit from a commuter rail system, and such a system anchored by an intermodal hub in downtown OKC would generate significant new economic development downtown and substantially increase the number of people who choose to live in the urban core.

If it's a great bus system you want, you need to support rail transit and the development of a comprehensive regional transit system.

Instead of saying what we COULD do if we had more money....let's focus on what we can do BETTER with the money that we have. We just need to STOP service to suburban areas of OKC (like the line that goes out on NW Expressway and then up to Mercy Hospital) and concentrate having a GREAT bus system in the denser parts of the city.

I don't know that Metro Transit is planning on recommending consolidating some routes and increasing efficiencies on existing. I did not want to get into finite specifics in the email as to unintentionally subvert what is an ongoing organic public process between their officials and bus riders.

If you feel that way, feel free to contact them and let your opinion be known.

It's good news that the city is increasing transit funds. I hope the route changes allow it to be used wisely. Also happy to hear about the increased tempo of the RTA.

Oklahoma Gazette: News: Better buses (http://okgazette.com/oklahoma/article-19074-better-buses.html)

Instead of saying what we COULD do if we had more money....let's focus on what we can do BETTER with the money that we have. We just need to STOP service to suburban areas of OKC (like the line that goes out on NW Expressway and then up to Mercy Hospital) and concentrate having a GREAT bus system in the denser parts of the city.

Question. Aren't there a lot of service oriented businesses out on NW expressway. If my memory is correct on that, how many of the folks in the lower pay ranges in the service industry rely on the service to get to/from their jobs? maybe not many, maybe enough to make a big dent in the viability of the service industry businesses. I don't know. Tis why I ask..

Public transit is a huge quality of life issue with lower income individuals. A great public transportation system lets you live in a city without a car. A crappy one means you have to have a car to have access to jobs and government services. The people who benefit most from public transit are the poor and the elderly. The issue with cutting off bus routes to large parts of the city is that you're completely eliminating the only form of transportation a lot of people have. This is going to result in higher unemployment and lower quality of living in those areas.

Public transit is a huge quality of life issue with lower income individuals. A great public transportation system lets you live in a city without a car. A crappy one means you have to have a car to have access to jobs and government services. The people who benefit most from public transit are the poor and the elderly. The issue with cutting off bus routes to large parts of the city is that you're completely eliminating the only form of transportation a lot of people have. This is going to result in higher unemployment and lower quality of living in those areas.

It doesn't have to be this way either. If we had a decent transit system, I'd eliminate my car. I would rather not own one. I am not poor either, and many younger people such as myself (although definitely not in Oklahoma) view public transit as an amenity and a car as a burden.

and many younger people such as myself (although definitely not in Oklahoma) view public transit as an amenity and a car as a burden.

In places where you have to pay ridiculous amounts just to park your car. If I lived somewhere like that I wouldn't want a car either.

I don't know if I'd want to be without one car, but I'd love to need only one (shared with my husband) that would stay in the garage most of the time. I suppose a zip car could serve the same purpose though. Two of my four kids don't own a car, and one daughter shares with her husband, but they live in Chicago and San Francisco (WhereI'm going to live if Ed Shadid is elected mayor - and I'm at least half serious).

Public transit is a huge quality of life issue with lower income individuals. A great public transportation system lets you live in a city without a car. A crappy one means you have to have a car to have access to jobs and government services. The people who benefit most from public transit are the poor and the elderly. The issue with cutting off bus routes to large parts of the city is that you're completely eliminating the only form of transportation a lot of people have. This is going to result in higher unemployment and lower quality of living in those areas.OKC is a car dependent city yet has the lowest unemployment rate among large cities.

OKC is a car dependent city yet has the lowest unemployment rate among large cities.

I'm talking about the parts of the city that currently have bus routes, that Geographer suggested we end. The poor people who depend on those routes will lose access to the rest of the city, including any jobs they had that aren't within walking distance.

This article is important and I hope someone affiliated with COTPA has read it:
Jarrett Walker: Empty Buses Serve a Purpose | Streetsblog Capitol Hill (http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/08/14/jarrett-walker-empty-buses-serve-a-purpose/)

There's always a trade off between coverage for low ridership areas and service for hiigh ridership areas. Since the bus budget is increasing by 16% over two years, at least we are not facing cuts in funding. However, in a city the size of Oklahoma City, you simply cannot serve everyone. Nor do most people want to be served. I think Walker is wrong that taxpayers should see empty buses in their neighborhood, however, as very few people who aren't low income will ride the bus at present, even if it goes where they want to go. We probably need a generation to change that mindset. So, if we're going to run fairly empty buses anywhere, they need to serve low income folks. I'm fine with that, if there's a pocket of people living out somewhere that's fairly far out, such as the route City Councilman Pettis has preserved. But, for lower income people who are scattered, we may have to accept that we cannot serve everyone. People may make housing choices based on public transportation, shifting populations to match altered routes.