Commuter Bus System

[bradh]

I see a lot of talk on here all the time about commuter rail system. While rail systems are great, look nice, and don't clog roads, they're expensive.

Is there ever talk of commuter bus lines from areas like Norman, Edmond, Moore, Yukon, etc? In Houston the commuter buses are successful and enjoy high ridership. I worked downtown Houston for a summer and took the bus in from Katy daily. Those buses would use HOV lanes on the local interstates (not applicable here), enter downtown and make stops every other block along Louisiana St. OKC doesn't have the same size of downtown, so you could eliminate those stops and have each commuter bus just drop everyone off at the downtown transit center and folks could walk from there.

Something like this would lead to increased ridership on the local buses as well. Routes from the transit center to the medical center could be used more, etc.

I don't study transit like many of you guys here, and I wouldn't even be able to use this as my job requires me to have my vehicle handy 24/7, but I've seen it work elsewhere and think it could be applied here.

[bradh]

I forgot about the Edmond Link (or whatever it's called). I didn't know Norman had something similar. Are they all ran as separate entities or are they ran by the same organization under different names? If the former, they need to be consolidated under one name.

Granted if this was really successful it would be against what many on here want (urban boundaries, limit sprawl, etc), but there are already people there in the outlying areas, and many work in the CDB, so why not find a way to serve them and limit cars on the road and help minimize traffic? Build a "park and ride" center in the each suburban city and run a few buses down there during the morning/afternoon rush hour times.

I agree with you Sid, they should come in, drop off, and then go back and potentially serve more customers. Stagger the routes so you can serve the folks that start work at 7am, 730am, 8am, 830am, etc. Let the local routes serve the rest of it, or, instead of commuter rail, build local rail from downtown to other areas. How about a rail line from the downtown transit center to Classen Curve/CHK? If you lived in Norman you could ride the commuter bus downtown, hit up the rail right up to where you work, and never spend a dime on gas for that awful commute?

Houston is finally figuring their rail out a little bit, after building Lee Brown's toy train to attempt to lure the Olympics. I know we all look to Dallas and see their commuter rail. I think commuter bus and local rail serves OKC better.

[kevinpate]

I forgot about the Edmond Link (or whatever it's called). I didn't know Norman had something similar. Are they all ran as separate entities or are they ran by the same organization under different names? If the former, they need to be consolidated under one name. ...

the Sooner Express is, I think, a CART based bus. That, or a joint project for CART and GoMETRO.
Unless it has recently changed, Norman -OKC Route times are 6:35, 7:00, 8:30 in the mornings and 2:05, 4:35 p.m.
OKC-Norman route times are: 9:25 am, 2:55, 4:55 and 5;30 p.m.

When I ride in from Norman, it is usually one of the first two buses. If I stay on to the transit center (helloooo wi-fi and morning email/paper/oktalk/etc. reading) it strikes me the in bound ridership is about 30% CBD, 30% HSC and 40% capitol office complex. The two early buses are generally over 50% full, and oftentimes well over.

My typical back to Norman trips are mostly the 9:25 and sometimes the 2:55. Neither is ever packed, but typically about 30-40% full.

A while back when I was working in south OKC, I'd sometimes ride in on the later morning bus, wait at Transit then take a bus to within a block of work, or sometimes ride in earlier, get off two blocks from work and enjoy a right decent breakfast then stroll on to work. Due to no evening service back to Norman, I only did this if my lovely was driving up to join me in OKC that evening for dinner, ZooAmp, movie, etc.

I'd be smiling big if there was a back to Norman route at noonish or anytime really between the 9:25 and 2:55 runs. Smiling even larger if there was a Norman OKC at 6-7ish pm and a OKC-Norman at 11ish-midnight or even later. Not going to happen, but I'd be smiling if it did.

[CaptDave]

This is how DART ran their commuter service from suburbs like Plano to downtown Dallas 25 years ago. I think it gave enough people a vision of not driving that made their light rail initiative a no brainer for many people. Of course we still need a regional transit authority like DARTto get all these operations under one umbrella.

[bradh]

You gotta start somewhere. This area is large enough now to where you need something like METRO or DART to really bring it all together.

[CaptDave]

There are people working very hard on getting a RTA established pahdz. Hopefully we will see it soon.

[bradh]

Good to know. Like I said, I wouldn't even use it, but I know it would work and serve others well.

[bradh]

BRT? Not familiar with that acronym