Streetcar

[Bullbear]

Streetcars on the full loop are running at almost 100% of passenger capacity. We had to let one go by because it was too full to get on. I'm hearing that the Bricktown loop is emptier. And they are running SLOOOW. People that came down just to ride the full circuit were telling me they'd been on the streetcar for over an hour.

Get those Vagrants off there!.. you cant just stay on there for hours for cheap shelter from the cold!!.. haha. well I guess that's a good stress test is them running FULL for a good while .

[dcsooner]

Rode it today. Very nice. Predict success!

[kukblue1]

So now that the streetcar is open looking for good places to eat in automobile alley or Midtown. Not top notice expensive something $10-$20 dinner price range? I heard nashbird is good. How far of a walk from streetcar and what else is out there?

[hoya]

Just rode it. Pretty cool, everybody on board was smiling and seemed to be enjoying it. It was moving pretty slow, I rode about half the trip and was there a full half hour. Of course, we were stopping at every stop to let people on and off.

[schrist]

A little of topic but, are there buses that travel from the Yukon / Mustang area to downtown OKC? Someone asked the question somewhere else and I could not locate that route. We have them for Edmond, Norman & MWC, so why not Mustang / Yukon?

[Midtowner]

I rode from the Dewey stop to the Downtown Business District to go file something this afternoon. Took about 20 minutes to get there. I hopped on at the Library stop to skip the Bricktown loop. Again, about 20 minutes back. It was very slow. If it stays this slow, I can't imagine using this when parking can be had for $2 near the courthouse and the trip down is ~5 minutes by car. I had to go a second time this afternoon and made the mistake of hopping back on at the Downtown Business District stop which took me through the Bricktown loop. I think that trip took me over an hour from when I left my office til when I got back. The Bricktown leg of things was unreasonably slow and it seemed like the driver stopped for several minutes just to talk to some rando.

I'm sure it's just opening day and all, but the utility of this thing is very much in question.

[Laramie]

OKC Streetcar Service Begins

[GoldFire]

I just took a ride to midtown and back for dinner and the whole ride was at 100% capacity, with lines at virtually every stop. We'll obviously need to see how it settles out once the newness wears off, but seems to be a nice start so far (I do agree that they need to speed it up as it did seem unreasonably slow at times).

[yukong]

I got on at the Law School stop, by my office...rode the entire loop. Took us 65 minutes to get back to the Law School. I had hoped it would be a great way to get to Bricktown for lunch from time to time...but if this is close to how it will run...then that is off the board. Because it will be almost an hour of riding time...then lunch. I know there are kinks to iron out...but I now wish it had been a two way, double track system. So you could go out and back without riding the whole loop.

[dcsooner]

I rode from the Dewey stop to the Downtown Business District to go file something this afternoon. Took about 20 minutes to get there. I hopped on at the Library stop to skip the Bricktown loop. Again, about 20 minutes back.. I had to It was very slow. If it stays this slow, I can't imagine using this when parking can be had for $2 near the courthouse and the trip down is ~5 minutes by cargo a second time this afternoon and made the mistake of hopping back on at the Downtown Business District stop which took me through the Bricktown loop. I think that trip took me over an hour from when I left my office til when I got back. The Bricktown leg of things was unreasonably slow and it seemed like the driver stopped for several minutes just to talk to some rando.

I'm sure it's just opening day and all, but the utility of this thing is very much in question.

This is a very astute observation. As currently implemented, the advantages of the SC could be lost, especially DT workers. The system could be enhanced by installation of a dedicated SC signaling system (where all wheeled vehicles are stopped). Just a off the head thought however, without some revision of the traffic engineering ridership could be impacted.

[kukblue1]

Relax people it's day one. Just wait until tomorrow for the Thunder Game it's probably going to be 100 times worse than it is now. It will level off once it's no longer free and the novelty wears off. You won't have 50 people getting off and 50 people trying to get on at every stop. It will be half that which will make things much quicker.

[gopokes88]

It’s super crowded so that’s slowing it down and the drivers are new. It’ll speed up.

[catch22]

I imagine they might be more cautious today as people may not be used to standing on transit. It would be horrible press for an injury to happen on opening day because they were operating at standard speed and someone wasn’t used to bracing while slowing or turning.

[gopokes88]

I imagine they might be more cautious today as people may not be used to standing on transit. It would be horrible press for an injury to happen on opening day because they were operating at standard speed and someone wasn’t used to bracing while slowing or turning.

Plus vehicle traffic not used to seeing the streetcar on the road.

[catch22]

Plus vehicle traffic not used to seeing the streetcar on the road.

Plenty of reasons to take it slow for the next couple days. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but I believe the time trials while testing were about 35 mins round trip on the main loop, and about 15 mins on the B-line. I imagine after a few days travel times will dramatically improve.

[dankrutka]

If they're running slower than expected it seems like that would be a good thing to communicate to riders since a lot of people seem to have concluded today that it's not functional.

Anyway, I'm heading up to OKC tomorrow to ride that sucker around. Pretty exciting.

[Laramie]

As the drivers become more confident with the route; times will speed up. They have done test runs with empty to a few passengers on the streetcars for test runs; therefore imagine how difficult yet stressful it was to coordinate the streetcars running the 4.8 mile Downtown-Midtown Loop; the 2.0 mile Bricktown Loop and the entire loop. You probably had 5-6 streetcars running simultaneously.

Every streetcar appeared to be at capacity with many standing. Had to be a very difficult and chaotic day for the drivers as well as the passenger; especially with street traffic and making one to many of the 22 stops along the various routes.

[Midtowner]

It may have been near capacity around 12:30 or so when the thing first opened. I made two trips downtown, the first was around 12:30. From door to door, including walking probably about 3 blocks total, it was 26 minute trip down and about the same back. If you're going to the courthouse, it cuts a LOT [a good 20 minutes] of time off if you board at the library stop instead of where I got off at the business district.

When you look at the system design, you have to appreciate those stops so close together allowing you to skip the Bricktown loop entirely.

[Pryor Tiger]

I think it will help tremendously that it is not going to stop at any platform where there are no people waiting and no stop button pushed. That will allow for more speed as well! I thought the corner turns were painfully slow, surely that will get better. Definitely agree for lunch use it will need to be less than 30 minutes on the streetcar. All that said, people were jubilant yesterday, it was awesome to see everyone being a community - new friends everywhere. It’s a city confidence builder, and absolutely will be an economic engine. I imagine developers will quickly see this and start working on more housing within 3-4 blocks of the line. Visitors are going to LOVE it.

[Pryor Tiger]

Also I don’t think it can be said enough that the streetcar is, long term, likely to be expanded out through OUHSC and hopefully to the Capitol. Also I think the study has either a streetcar or BRT going into Capitol Hill to the south side. Eventually, 10 years from now or so we can ride light rail or a commuter train from Norman to the Sante Fe station and take the streetcar to work. It simply won’t be fulfilling its whole purpose right away.

[kukblue1]

So what are the tracks that run from Reno up to Sheraton on Gaylord Street by the Cox convention center. Is the plan maybe one day to use that track to skip bricktown say from 3-5 when people are getting off work or first thing in the morning.

[Pete]

I rode it last night about 7PM.

The car was full but not packed. Lots of families and kids checking it out.

I'm downtown all the time and frequently walk through the various districts. But riding along, I noticed things I had not before. Such an interesting way to tour the area, especially this time of year with so many places decorated for Christmas.

It also serves to remind how incredibly far we've come as a city, just seeing so much of it while riding along and being a passanger free to look around as much as you'd like.

I have to say, it was one of those chills-down-my-spine moments.

[LocoAko]

Rode it this morning. Was great. Everyone was so enthused, and without beating a dead horse it still felt kind of surreal to be on a train like that in OKC. Only took it from Automobile Alley to the Midtown/NW 10th stop to get to Elemental. When we went back to the law school stop to get back on, the wait had ballooned to 23 minutes (but then only another 7 for the one behind it). Like the above posters said, hopefully they get the kinks worked out and can get it to the point that they run reliably at ~< 15 min intervals. I agree with Pete that it somehow does give a different impression of the city. I kept thinking "oh, I didn't realize X was so close to Y", etc. I'm pretty excited and hope it is a smashing success.

Also, the website says there will be WiFi on board. Does anyone know what the name of the network is?

[SuburbanNation]

I rode the street car yesterday. The quality of the ride was fantastic and signage was top notch. I'm curious how well things will go once passengers are required to pay for rides. Wish it continued to be free like the Kansas City streetcar system. The larger loop takes 45-50 minutes. I actually got off about half way through the loop and found a scooter to ride back to the office, which was much faster--- Ha!

[BBatesokc]

The wife and I hoped on last night. We parked at my office and walked across the street to the platform near 4th and Hudson. We were headed to Jazmoz Bourdon Street Cafe. Took about 20 minutes for the streetcar to arrive and the people waiting said they’d been there for about 10 minutes already. The street car we got on was packed, which was expected. Everyone on board was having a good time and really friendly.

Took 40 minutes to get to the stop just east of the ballpark. By then we were running late and the streetcar just sat there at the platform. The security guard onboard said we could be there awhile because a car was obstructing the rail. We got off and walked to the restaurant about 3 blocks away.

It was kinda fun. I didn’t get the awe-inspiring “man, we are a big league city now” feel some people apparently got. But it was fine.

I wish the app was like Uber and would show you exactly where the street car was. For as small as our downtown is, it definitely was not more convenient.

After dinner we went to the Santa Fe platform to get a ride back to the car. That wait was 28 minutes in the cold and the kiosk kept saying it was only 8 minutes away. We definitely would probably simply call for an Uber next time while still in the warm restaurant. In the warmer months though it probably wouldn’t be a big deal - however, if it was warmer we’d most likely just walk.

We don’t go into Bricktoen hardly ever, so I don’t think it’s going to impact us much in the evening.

I’d consider it for lunch rides into Bricktown, but the wait is going to have to get considerably less to make that doable.

Be interesting to see how it all works in say 6-8 months.