Quote Originally Posted by Rover View Post
I am following JTF on this and he is kind of saying what I am saying. (I can't believe I just said that ) You have to figure out where the people likely to use the system are going ... both from and to. You either build it to serve them or build it to influence development of things that appeal to that demographic segment and enable access to those things through cheap and reliable transit. Transit serves no purpose if it doesn't enable people to go where they want to go, safely, cheaply and reliably on the schedules they want. So, without knowing their transit destinations we know nothing. We should know where people who are likely users originate and what their movement patterns are. OR, build the route and then encourage development of compatible services along that route. Otherwise, it is just an amusement park ride.
I agree with your premise. They studied it. That's why they developed the route they did. The only argument I've seen that seemingly has merit is that it doesn't truck right through the middle of Deep Deuce. But it does serve Deep Deuce at the edges. And it's going to abut many high-density residential complexes that are under construction, soon to start construction, or recently announced. It also goes through the densest part of the Central Business District, the densest entertainment district in OKC, the only retail district in Downtown to speak of, and the hottest and fastest growing neighborhood in our city. It connects people to places of major employment, the arts district, one of the state's largest and fastest growing medical districts, the center of our municipal government, our city's most renowned tourist attraction, our city's greatest sporting venue, the parks, etc. To say this doesn't go where people are or want to go is just patently absurd. It is a blatant falsehood, a statement that is ridiculous on its face, so why keep repeating it?

The scope of the project was always to connect people to destinations throughout downtown. It does this. Some people wish the scope were different but that's always been the scope of the project.

I suspect this game of playing "catch up" on public transportation is not moving fast enough for many people who dream of a city with at least a functional transit system. We are not that city today. So they're lumping all of their hopes and dreams on the streetcar project when it is only the important beginning of what will hopefully turn into an enthusiastic embrace of better public transportation options for all of OKC.

This is a classic case of rising expectations. When things start to get better they don't get better fast enough to meet rising expectations, so people react. It's totally understandable and it is historically predictable.

The discussions are fine and healthy for the most part but it gets tiring to hear repeated garbage that doesn't square with the facts. The streetcar is not being designed to solely travel through empty sections of OKC in the vain hopes of TOD. It is NOT bypassing dense areas. It is connecting MAJOR downtown destinations. And it will travel near dense areas we know about today and it will inspire further densification. It will serve residents, visitors, office workers, and citizens from throughout the city. It will be used by people of every socioeconomic group. And it's going to have lots of riders.

That is why people fight for fixed-rail transit solutions; they cannot be moved around like a rave. The streetcar is going to be a fabulous asset to our city.