Quote Originally Posted by Spartan View Post
What you see as "flexibility," is seen as developers as a temporary asset. It lacks physical impact, which OKC needs.

Impact is a more difficult thing to describe, but it requires vision. The streetcar isn't about one thing, but it's bridging our assets in a visible way that is as much about community and economic development as it is transit. It's the highest form of mass transit, and it elevates the service level in the entire system if planned right.

The key with OKC's transit future is to keep doing as much as we can at every moment. Right now we are doing that, because we are upgrading bus service, and also have this capital funding for a building project. Capital funding is not operations funding. The next step is to figure out rail operations funding and then to expand the rail into neighborhoods with other bus connections. Then just consolidate the service map into a core-area grid, with a few key arteries on the edge like NW Expwy and I-240 running at 15-20 minute intervals.

All of a sudden, you have a decently functioning transit network. Then add the commuter rail that ACOG is working on, and a MAPS 4 TRANSIT initiative. All of a sudden, OKC is in business as a great transit town. That's a vision that is attainable and currently underway. We should support it. The entire vision is vitally important, not just any one piece of it at the expense of another.
I just see it all as a big hassle for those of us that go downtown that drive, which is most everyone in Oklahoma. What that makes me envision is less parking, or the need to drive to a station, to get on some sort of public transportation to get to downtown because there is little to no parking downtown. That would keep me from going downtown. I'm not going to drive my car to a bus stop/street car stop, pay money for parking, then pay to get on the transit, just to get downtown. I'm going to go elsewhere. At this point there isn't much downtown that isn't elsewhere, accept for the Thunder and OKC Dodgers. Where I live now I'm never going to be able to be without a car, and I'm fine with that. I feel like too much focus on public transit and not a balanced approach, is just going to push many people away.