I've been thinking about this a lot recently and was wondering what ideas some of you smart posters have re: a relevant public transportation system. What are some tangible steps that can be taken? Where would you start if you could make the decisions? What are some of the hurdles and how can they be eliminated?

p.s. I looked for another thread to post in but it seems all the pieces of a transit system have their own thread but there isn't one for public transit in general.

Obviously the streetcar is in the works and should be operational by 2017, I think. From there, I think upgrading our bus system to where it is on the grid and covers all of OKC. Also, the bus stops should be upgraded to at least being covered. Then, you get into the idea of an RTA, which would probably take a county wide vote to make it happen, but I have heard that is about five years off. Then, with another Maps tax, we could look at expanding the streetcar to Uptown/OCU area, OUHSC and Capitol Hill, depending on the funds available.

OKC should have a multi-tier transit system

1) Urban core street car connecting downtown and downtown adjacent neighborhoods/districts
2) Commuter rail system connecting downtown OKC with suburban urban cores (no park and ride lots) and the airport
3) Neighborhood-based bus system using local transit hubs (as opposed to city-wide grid system) contained within a mass-transit zone bounded by I-35/I-44/I-240
4) People choosing to live outside the mass-transit zone simply don't get access to mass transit.

Another factor in all this is continuing to (starting to?) build densely enough that there will actually be incentive to use the streetcar. If we keep lower bricktowning downtown, the streetcar will become a boondoggle an a nonstarter. Let Edmond be Edmond, but if we're going to build a truly urban, walkable core, we need to build for it now.

To Kerry's #2 point, I used to be all about the park and ride lots because, well that's what I used in Houston when I rode the bus downtown. I still think that those are better than nothing, but to what some had shown here in renderings once before, having suburban transit hubs that included housing/retail/entertainment with structured parking is ideal.

To Kerry's #2 point, I used to be all about the park and ride lots because, well that's what I used in Houston when I rode the bus downtown. I still think that those are better than nothing, but to what some had shown here in renderings once before, having suburban transit hubs that included housing/retail/entertainment with structured parking is ideal.

This is where things like the Choctaw Town Center were such a fail. If they had just made that development next to the railroad, included structured parking, and added 350 to 500 residential units they could have really had something, which could then have been connected to a regional rail system. If a person still wanted a large yard they could have lived 1/4 mile from the station and hoped a train to work downtown. Likewise, if someone wanted the urban living experience at a reduced price Choctaw Station would have been perfect.

Guys, this was posted by UN in the Omaha section but I thought it needed to be brought into the general Transit threads as an example of what OKC needs to consider doing to improve its bus system WITHOUT additional cost. OKC has far too many redundant routes; going through this simple exercise will reveal efficiencies in the system while improving convenience and expanding the operation - all without additional cost.


Pretty big day for transit in Omaha. The bus system got a massive overhaul to increase frequency of service and make routes much more efficient, all within the same budget. CityLab did a good write up on it.

Omaha Just Improved Its Mass Transit System Without Spending Any Money - CityLab (http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2015/05/omaha-just-designed-a-way-better-transit-system-for-zero-cost/393620/)



This is the new map.
http://cdn.citylab.com/media/img/citylab/2015/05/ometromap/lead_large.jpg?GE2DGMRRGMZTONZUFYYA====

And this is a small snippet of the old system, pretty clear how chaotic and redundant it had become.
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/2015/05/omaha_old/b01271117.jpg

Embark is planning to expand night service as per this report.

http://www.okc.gov/councilnotes/2015/060915files/FY16_PROPBUDGET.pdf

Just think, that if we got the Street car line up to 63rd, you could make a connection at 63rd/Western and let the Bus run 30 minute night routes to Quail Springs, and 15 minute normal routes.