yes, but slight modification. Regional vs. Rapid (OKC isn't htere yet for rapid).

GOCART!

we'll never be able to trademark that

I dunno, there are so many acronyms in government that I'd much rather see a name like Embark be adopted for the public brand name of the RTA.

Important update.

The RTA Task Force approved the final draft of the RTA Trust Indenture on September 27th. The agreement now goes to the city councils of OKC, Edmond, Norman, Moore, Midwest City and Del City for consideration. The goal is to have the indenture approved by all participating cities before Thanksgiving.

Along with commencement of operations of the Streetcar, approval of the RTA Trust Indenture by the participating cities will be a giant leap forward for the future of transit in the OKC metro area.

I encourage all transit supporters to keep an eye on their city council agendas in the coming weeks and let your council representative know that you support approval of the RTA. If you can make it to the council meeting and offer supportive comments for passage of the agreement, that's even better.

Important Update...Edmond City Council became the first city to approve the RTA trust indenture on Monday evening. Norman City Council votes next.

thank you very much for keeping us in the loop

Important Update...Edmond City Council became the first city to approve the RTA trust indenture on Monday evening. Norman City Council votes next.
When is the Norman vote?

Important Update...Edmond City Council became the first city to approve the RTA trust indenture on Monday evening. Norman City Council votes next.Hutch, you seem to really be in the know about all of this. Does Edmond seem like they're ready to pull the trigger when it comes to funding the necessary improvements needed for an Edmond stop? Edmond will likely require the most funding for their transit station. Midwest City has not much of a downtown area so theirs will likely be a bit cheaper, I'd guess. Coupled with Edmond positioning itself to be the "premier" suburb, I'm sure they will spend a bit more to have a nicer station. I know they have already stated the need for a multimodal transit hub, I can't remember if the last capital projects package includes any funding to that or not. For some reason I think it does.

When is the Norman vote?

Norman votes at the next City Council meeting at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, October 23rd. If you're a Norman resident and transit supporter, I encourage you to show up and offer support.

Norman votes at the next City Council meeting at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, October 23rd. If you're a Norman resident and transit supporter, I encourage you to show up and offer support.

Fantastic news that Edmond has approved the RTA! When is OKC expected to vote on the trust indenture?

Hutch, you seem to really be in the know about all of this. Does Edmond seem like they're ready to pull the trigger when it comes to funding the necessary improvements needed for an Edmond stop? Edmond will likely require the most funding for their transit station. Midwest City has not much of a downtown area so theirs will likely be a bit cheaper, I'd guess. Coupled with Edmond positioning itself to be the "premier" suburb, I'm sure they will spend a bit more to have a nicer station. I know they have already stated the need for a multimodal transit hub, I can't remember if the last capital projects package includes any funding to that or not. For some reason I think it does.

The current thinking is that once the RTA is created and funded...emphasis on funded...it will develop a standardized station design and be responsible for construction of all stations based on the cost of the standardized station. If a city wants to customize the design or provide additional amenities, that city will be responsible for the additional costs. For example, if Norman had a stop at the Duck Pond and wanted the station to have an OU theme, then Norman would need to pay for the upgrades. As for Edmond, their enthusiasm for being part of a regional transit system has grown considerably since we first started working on all of this. They already have the transit station downtown on the north side of 2nd. It looks like there's multiple possibilities to add an adjoining rail station. I don't know if they've already allocated funding for it, but my guess is when its time to start construction, they'll want to contribute additional funding to make their station special and unique.

Norman votes at the next City Council meeting at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, October 23rd. If you're a Norman resident and transit supporter, I encourage you to show up and offer support.

Norman is critical for getting this to work so I hope it passes

Fantastic news that Edmond has approved the RTA! When is OKC expected to vote on the trust indenture?

It looks like OKC will vote last...probably the third week of November...so by that point, we'll hopefully have Edmond, Norman, Moore, Midwest City and Del City on board...no pun intended...and OKC can have the honor of giving final approval and creating the RTA...the goal is to get all participating cities to approve the indenture before Thanskgiving.

Norman is critical for getting this to work so I hope it passes

The participating cities have worked hard on this for more than ten years...Norman has always been at the front of the pack...I know they're supportive and confident it will be approved.

Norman Transcript Op-Ed: Norman, surrounding communities at regional transit crossroads (http://www.normantranscript.com/opinion/op-ed-norman-surrounding-communities-at-regional-transit-crossroads/article_535e9280-9f4c-559a-ac2c-204f60c28e3b.html)

Is Yukon or Mustang involved in this conversation at all, or even the Will Rogers Airport included in where it could possibly come in from Mustang through the airport, Yukon down I40, then both lines could connect to make the rest of the trek downtown?

Is Yukon or Mustang involved in this conversation at all, or even the Will Rogers Airport included in where it could possibly come in from Mustang through the airport, Yukon down I40, then both lines could connect to make the rest of the trek downtown?
I’m curious about Yukon as well.

Hutch can correct me if this is wrong but I believe both Yukon and Mustang were invited but did not want to be a part of it.

Is Yukon or Mustang involved in this conversation at all, or even the Will Rogers Airport included in where it could possibly come in from Mustang through the airport, Yukon down I40, then both lines could connect to make the rest of the trek downtown?

To the best of my knowledge (and Hutch, please correct me if I'm wrong) but it's my understanding that Yukon and Mustang declined to be part of the conversation for now, since the current gameplan doesn't yet include them. I don't see any reason why they couldn't join the RTA at a later date when they deem it necessary, though. Will Rogers is included by way of the City of OKC. As of the September task force agenda posted on ACOG's website, the entities involved right now are the cities of Del City, Edmond, Midwest City, Moore, Norman, and OKC; also involved are representatives from COPTA, CART, Citylink-Edmond, Greater OKC Chamber, Norman Chamber, and OnTrac. Only the city representatives are actually voting members, however.

You can read more about the RTA task force on ACOG's website here: http://www.acogok.org/transportation-planning/transportation-committees/regional-transit-authority-task-force/

The RTA effort has been going on for nearly a decade. In the beginning and throughout much of the Regional Transit Dialogue discussions, Yukon and Mustang chose not to participate. That may have had to do with the fact that the basis for those early discussions was the 2005 Fixed Guideway Study, which did not recommend commuter rail to those areas as part of the initial system. As the RTD discussions evolved into the RTA Task Force, it was decided that the original participating cities would be the founding members of the RTA, and that Yukon, Mustang or other municipalities could then join when they were ready.

Yukon, Mustang, Will Rogers and the Fairgrounds can all be effectively served by commuter rail and connected to Santa Fe Station. The UP lines runs through west OKC to Yukon and the Stillwater Central lines runs past the airport to Mustang. While the FGS did not provide for rail service to those areas in 2005, the OKC metro continues to grow to the west, and it's likely those areas will qualify for rail transit service in the near future.

We recently updated the OnTrac website. The homepage has a chronological listing of links to local news stories concerning local transit efforts over the last ten years. There’s also a revised OnTrac rail transit presentation link with good background information. If you’re new to the issue or just want a refresher on how we got here, please visit our site:

OnTrac (http://www.ontracok.org)

Note: Our server is sometimes slow to load

Important Update...Edmond City Council became the first city to approve the RTA trust indenture on Monday evening. Norman City Council votes next.

Norman City Council just voted unanimously to approve the RTA trust indenture.

Norman City Council just voted unanimously to approve the RTA trust indenture.
Awesome news!

Interesting read.....
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-ne-orlando-phoenix-rail-compared-20181009-story.html
Having lived in East Orlando, nowhere near traditional rail, the system there is a disappointment. I'm hoping for a hybrid system here eventually that serves the entire city and not just a couple of rail corridors. Seems like we have a good start with the streetcar and I'm really hoping it is successful.

Interesting read.....
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-ne-orlando-phoenix-rail-compared-20181009-story.html
Having lived in East Orlando, nowhere near traditional rail, the system there is a disappointment. I'm hoping for a hybrid system here eventually that serves the entire city and not just a couple of rail corridors. Seems like we have a good start with the streetcar and I'm really hoping it is successful.

While we will have areas of OKC that will not be near traditional rail, a *lot* of thought has gone into the planning process for our proposed system, and we are less likely to experience the issues that the Orlando system has encountered. Luckily, the BNSF corridor from Edmond to Norman punches through some of the most densely populated areas of the greater OKC Metro area, and two of the largest colleges in Oklahoma are at opposite ends of the line (#1 OU in Norman, #4 UCO in Edmond). The weakest point in our commuter rail plan as currently envisioned is that there is zero service currently planned to the airport, when it would be relatively simple to do so due to the proximity of the Stillwater Central line that goes down toward Chickasha and Lawton. I think it will be at least mildly successful without the airport connection, but adding airport connectivity would make success of the system much much more likely.

Once we get the connections lined up and rail in place, is the RTA going to be the operator of the actual passenger service or will a private operator be selected to run the service?

While we will have areas of OKC that will not be near traditional rail, a *lot* of thought has gone into the planning process for our proposed system, and we are less likely to experience the issues that the Orlando system has encountered. Luckily, the BNSF corridor from Edmond to Norman punches through some of the most densely populated areas of the greater OKC Metro area, and two of the largest colleges in Oklahoma are at opposite ends of the line (#1 OU in Norman, #4 UCO in Edmond). The weakest point in our commuter rail plan as currently envisioned is that there is zero service currently planned to the airport, when it would be relatively simple to do so due to the proximity of the Stillwater Central line that goes down toward Chickasha and Lawton. I think it will be at least mildly successful without the airport connection, but adding airport connectivity would make success of the system much much more likely.

Are there ANY plans to extend to the airport? Or is that too pie in the sky for OKC?

No current plans but once the RTA is in place they could change that fairly quickly (in the context of the speed of transit projects)

Are there ANY plans to extend to the airport? Or is that too pie in the sky for OKC?

No plans just yet; most of the current planning has been done based on the results of the 2005 Fixed Guideway Study, which identified a northern, southern, and eastern corridor as being the most likely rail routes to succeed. A streetcar route to the airport was considered but at the time a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) mode was deemed as the preferred transit technology. Then in 2014, the Central OK!GO study was completed, using feedback from the public, but this study only focused on the previously identified rail routes. http://www.acogok.org/transportation-planning/regional-transit/ contains a lot of information about the transit planning that's been done to date. Of particular interest is the Central OK!GO study summary (http://www.acogok.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Central-OK-GO_Executive-Summary_FINAL-for-PRINT.pdf), which summarizes the most recent planning effort. Pages 21-24 explain in detail the currently planned routes, proposed station locations, and why these routes were selected.

RTA Update

OKC City Council and the COTPA Board will hold a joint study session on Tuesday, November 13th to learn more about the RTA Trust Indenture prior to the document being formally considered for approval by Council the following week. ACOG staff and RTA Legal Consultant Kathryn Holmes will present information and answer questions in regard to the RTA. The study session will be held at the Cox Convention Center and is open to the public. See the agenda below.

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"Regional Transit Authority of Central Oklahoma (RTACO)"

shall be henceforth known as "our taco".

"Regional Transit Authority of Central Oklahoma (RTACO)"

shall be henceforth known as "our taco".

I have a beef with this, and a chicken.

"Regional Transit Authority of Central Oklahoma (RTACO)" shall be henceforth known as "our taco".

The first draft of the RTA Indenture had the name "Central Oklahoma Regional Transit Authority", but representatives of COTPA didn't like it because of the similarity to their name. So, it was revised to RTACO by the Task Force, with nobody thinking about the acronym. Since then, the humor has begun. Flaming Taco's can be the logo placed on the sides of all buses and trains. The slogan will be "Transit is the spice of life". LOL!

Seriously though, the RTA can choose an operational name at a later date. It could even remain as EMBARK. RTACO will just be the title shown in the trust indenture.

i think OCART is even better. Oklahoma City Area Regional Transit corporation.

i think OCART is even better. Oklahoma City Area Regional Transit corporation.

C'mon, go ahead and prepend General to it for GOCART.

C'mon, go ahead and prepend General to it for GOCART.

GOCART is the best name, and they should be sad for not thinking of it.

So is the RTA for rail or buses or both I'm confused.

So is the RTA for rail or buses or both I'm confused.

It would hopefully be the integration of all different forms of transit across the metro. The light rail lines, street car, busses, bike lanes and trails would play off one another to better connect the metro. At least that’s what I think the idea is.

Forgive me if this is elsewhere but there are now 5 or so substantial transit threads: Do we know when the most likely time period for when a vote will be put to the region for a funding mechanism?

If it doesn’t end up GOCART it will be a missed opportunity.

i'm still on the MORT train... Metro of Oklahoma Regional Transit. it makes me think of all the Bort nameplates at Itchy and Scratchy World!

IMO, they should just call it Metro like it used to be.

I vote for GOCART.

The first draft of the RTA Indenture had the name "Central Oklahoma Regional Transit Authority", but representatives of COTPA didn't like it because of the similarity to their name. So, it was revised to RTACO by the Task Force, with nobody thinking about the acronym. Since then, the humor has begun. Flaming Taco's can be the logo placed on the sides of all buses and trains. The slogan will be "Transit is the spice of life". LOL!

Seriously though, the RTA can choose an operational name at a later date. It could even remain as EMBARK. RTACO will just be the title shown in the trust indenture.

Hutch, no matter what the operational name is, when the RTA takes over for regional transit, I will be sorely disappointed if there isn't a flaming taco sticker somewhere on at least some of the vehicles. Even if very small, that would be a great easter egg, lol.

Great joint study session this morning between OKC City Council/staff and the COTPA Board/Embark staff to review the RTA trust indenture.

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OKC City Council votes on the indenture next Tuesday. Transit supporters are encouraged to attend and show your support.

Mayor Holt just finished posting a brief twitter thread summarizing the RTA up to this point, starting here: https://twitter.com/davidfholt/status/1062433634278350848

Let’s say I live in OKC and along with thousands of others want to take the train to an OU football game….Will the system have the capacity to load and move 10,000 fans after a game and back to OKC within an hour or so after the game? If not most fans will revert to driving.

For an OU game how will it be determined who has a seat and who doesn’t… If it's first come first serve and you’re left standing around for very long many people will go back to driving after only one try.

A reservation system with a very large waiting area in a control heat/ AC environment seems appropriated for an OU station for large events and games.

Similar conditions might exist for Thunder and other downtown OKC / Norman/ OU events.

Let’s say I live in OKC and along with thousands of others want to take the train to an OU football game….Will the system have the capacity to load and move 10,000 fans after a game and back to OKC within an hour or so after the game? If not most fans will revert to driving.

For an OU game how will it be determined who has a seat and who doesn’t… If it's first come first serve and you’re left standing around for very long many people will go back to driving after only one try.

A reservation system with a very large waiting area in a control heat/ AC environment seems appropriated for an OU station for large events and games.

Similar conditions might exist for Thunder and other downtown OKC / Norman/ OU events.

I think the train going from OKC to Norman for OU games will always be packed. People won't mind standing for the 30 min or so ride just so they won't have to deal with parking around OU or the pre/post game traffic.

A transit system doesn't have to serve everyone to be successful. Markets and human behavior are fairly predictable. If Amtrack increased trains between OKC and Norman on gamedays then riders would respond accordingly. If the lines are too long, people will avoid it. I don't think you'll find a 10,000 person line at any point. But, if it served more people then that would be a good step in the right direction.

Also, I vote for either GoCART or Our Taco. Both are fantastic.

I'm interested in transit route information being made available on Apple and Google Maps as it is in other cities. For example, if you open Maps in your iPhone right now and ask directions from Children's Hospital to the Chesapeake Arena, you'll be given options to Drive, Walk, Transit & Ride (Uber, Lyft). If you select "Transit," it offers no options except to walk. This is fixable.

I think the train going from OKC to Norman for OU games will always be packed. People won't mind standing for the 30 min or so ride just so they won't have to deal with parking around OU or the pre/post game traffic.

When we consider the non-student average age group who attends OU football games or other OU sports/ events I pretty sure that not very many of them (who often have health issues) are going to want to walk from the stadium all the way to the rail road tracks east of the Duck pond and stand around in the heat, cold and wind….Almost all of these people can make arrangements to park much closer and would continue to do so if the system is slow/time wasting and keeps people out in the elements to long. There are many commuting students and employees who would feel the same…

I don’t want a commuter rail / transit system that targets poor people for its ridership. It needs to be as user friendly as possible for everyone from the very start even if it cost significantly more.

I'm interested in transit route information being made available on Apple and Google Maps as it is in other cities. For example, if you open Maps in your iPhone right now and ask directions from Children's Hospital to the Chesapeake Arena, you'll be given options to Drive, Walk, Transit & Ride (Uber, Lyft). If you select "Transit," it offers no options except to walk. This is fixable.

Hmm really? I used Google maps to find a bus route just yesterday.

When we consider the non-student average age group who attends OU football games or other OU sports/ events I pretty sure that not very many of them (who often have health issues) are going to want to walk from the stadium all the way to the rail road tracks east of the Duck pond and stand around in the heat, cold and wind….Almost all of these people can make arrangements to park much closer and would continue to do so if the system is slow/time wasting and keeps people out in the elements to long. There are many commuting students and employees who would feel the same…

I don’t want a commuter rail / transit system that targets poor people for its ridership. It needs to be as user friendly as possible for everyone from the very start even if it cost significantly more.

I park on Main Street every time I go to an OU game. Lots of people park pretty far away. I don't think this would be a big change for many people. Moreover, if people were so worried about the weather then why do thousands of people tailgate before every game?

Again, if more trains were made available to OU on gamedays, there would be a market there.

Hmm really? I used Google maps to find a bus route just yesterday.

I just checked and Embark doesn't appear to have stopped sharing transit data with Google; on my Android phone I can get transit directions from Children's to the 'Peake no problem. Even includes delay info. Maybe it's an Apple thing?

Fill me in since I am out of town. ls there seriousctalk about reviving the old interurban to OU/Norman or is it just something that could be done? l was at the Duck Pond last weekend and it only seemed 3 blocks or so from the stadium. Most people park that far on football Saturdays

Fill me in since I am out of town. ls there seriousctalk about reviving the old interurban to OU/Norman or is it just something that could be done? l was at the Duck Pond last weekend and it only seemed 3 blocks or so from the stadium. Most people park that far on football Saturdays

For older people… which is what the majority of OU’s football crowd is these days that is too far especially if they are sitting on the west sides of the stadium…There are thousands of parking spots either for sale or that require a donation that are either closer or would not require as much wasted time in arriving back home. Many are located near restrooms, food and shelter with heat and air.

The OU event station needs to be located on a short spur line in a building located north of OU’s Track and Field facility in an area that is now a large parking lot. This would save a lot of time and effort by anyone who would ever use the system, even for everyday use.

For older people… which is what the majority of OU’s football crowd is these days that is too far especially if they are sitting on the west sides of the stadium…There are thousands of parking spots either for sale or that require a donation that are either closer or would not require as much wasted time in arriving back home. Many are located near restrooms, food and shelter with heat and air.

The OU event station needs to be located on a short spur line in a building located north of OU’s Track and Field facility in an area that is now a large parking lot. This would save a lot of time and effort by anyone who would ever use the system, even for everyday use.

LOL, l'm fine with your suggestion about the spur but l sit on the west side and the crowd is far younger than it was 10 years ago. lts not a bunch of blue-hairs. ln my section, average of about 45. Older folks can't stand up an entire game.

I park on Main Street every time I go to an OU game. Lots of people park pretty far away. I don't think this would be a big change for many people. Moreover, if people were so worried about the weather then why do thousands of people tailgate before every game?

Again, if more trains were made available to OU on gamedays, there would be a market there.

No doubt there would be a market ….The question is how is that market best maximized and not just for football games….The faster and more user-friendly the commuter rail system is... the higher the ridership numbers become even for everyday use.

Unless the weather is miserable I walk for about 1 hour around campus before every home OU game. I’m often on campus on Friday nights.

Most people who tailgate before games have the ability to take shelter in a tent (or RV) that provides a means to stay dry, provides shade, and the means to stay out of the cold wind…More people are using heaters…I have even seen swamp coolers used.

LOL, l'm fine with your suggestion about the spur but l sit on the west side and the crowd is far younger than it was 10 years ago. lts not a bunch of blue-hairs. ln my section, average of about 45. Older folks can't stand up an entire game.
I believe your off by about 10 years… but regardless of that... by the time this is up and running those 45 year old people are in their 50’s and probably not as eager to do as much walking and standing….

It gets worse as we age and look at the decades ahead. The less old people do before a game the more they can stand during a game ….allowing them to keep buying season tickets longer in life which is something OU needs.

I know an almost 103 year old lady who was able to attend the Rose Bowl and stayed for the entire game…There are a lot of older people attending, more than many know. They tend to sit in areas where they have elevator access and where the crowd is less likely to stand. They tend to park very close by. A walk across the street to the train station makes it more friendly for everyone everyday.

I just checked and Embark doesn't appear to have stopped sharing transit data with Google; on my Android phone I can get transit directions from Children's to the 'Peake no problem. Even includes delay info. Maybe it's an Apple thing?

I am on android/google maps as well.