Mass Transit Update! - Important

[blangtang]

cotpa is more concerned with parking garages and silly boat routes than bus transit.

[ssandedoc]

So what was the outcome of the meeting on Tuesday?

[angel27]

That's what I keep wondering.. wanted to go but had a conflict. Lot of people show? Someone let us know.

but boats are way cool, btw.

[metro]

I didn't make it but some colleagues did, I will check with them. I believe another formal meeting (not sure if public) is taking place next week.

[metro]

This is the short version from the online City Sentinel. There is more info and comments in the printed version.


City Sentinel Online | OKC Downtown & Bricktown's Favorite Weekly Newspaper - City leaders discuss future of public transportation

City leaders discuss future of public transportation
Wednesday, 24 September 2008


The Downtown Metro Transit Center at Northwest Fifth Street and Harvey Avenue is the main focal point for the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority (COTPA). City leaders and the COTPA public trust are looking at ways to improve the public transportation including the possibility of adding streetcars, commuter trains and enhanced buses to its fleet.
By Rod Jones

As if city leaders needed another indication that public transportation is a popular issue amongst residents, the turnout for a special workshop at the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens brought yet another sign.


The packed meeting room last Tuesday morning served to confirm what the two most recent annual citizen surveys previously stated — residents want a better public transit system more than almost every other topic in the survey.
The Oklahoma City Council and the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority (COTPA) held the joint workshop to discuss new ideas on how the city could help move people around its expansive area.
While a successful public transportation system might be considered expensive, especially considering the higher cost of fuel than recent years and the city’s physical size, COPTA officials pointed out that the money invested could bring back several times that amount in economic benefits.
“Every dollar invested in public transportation projects generates approximately $6 in local economic activity,” pointed out one transportation board trustee.
COTPA’s “fact book” handed out to council members gives several other financial benefits to transportation investments:
• Every $10 million in capital investment in public transportation yields $30 million in increased business sales
• Every $10 million in operating investment in public transportation yields $32 million in increased business sales
• Real estate — residential, commercial or business that is served by public transportation is valued more highly by the public than similar properties not as well served by transit
• Public transportation enhances local and state economic growth in many ways, increasing the local customer base for a range of services.
Even in light of those figures, the overlying issue expressed by council members was apparent — how to pay for the nearly $400 million price tag to install, plus the annual $50 million operational expenses, to get what the agency considers the optimum transportation system as indicated in its fixed guideway study.
“The key issue is still ‘how are we going to fund it?’” said Mayor Mick Cornett. “And which cities are on board to help?”
Some council members suggested starting by expanding a few services initially, then studying how they succeeded before jumping into the rest of the plan.
“There’s got to be a way to test it before we spend the money,” said Councilman Pat Ryan.
Rick Cain, COTPA director, said the agency has already seen results when expanding service on certain routes, particularly a line up and down 23rd Street between the Capitol building and McArthur Boulevard and a route around the Quail Springs Mall area. He also said the city’s recent decision to put bicycle racks on some buses has yielded surprising results with more than 110 cyclists using them.

Read the rest of this story in the September 24 issue of The City Sentinel


Rail for the long haul


On a related topic, John Dougherty of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation announced that the State of Kansas his turned in a report to Amtrak regarding extending its rail service south through Oklahoma into Texas.
The joint feasibility study will study how to get passenger rail service added from Kansas to Texas via Oklahoma, with a strong likelihood that Oklahoma City and others would be included in the list of stops.
Such a service would essentially complete a loop for the Heartland Flyer, which currently dead ends in Oklahoma City in its service to and from Ft. Worth, Texas. If plans continue on repairing and adding a rail line toward the north, Amtrak service could get local residents into Newton, Kan., a major railroad crossroads going east and west.
The study will look at where rail needs to be added, where it needs to be repaired and how much the service would cost to operate and get into service. If everything stays on track, so to speak, from that point Dougherty said the new line could begin operating as early as 2010.
Dougherty said the popularity of the Heartland Flyer has made Amtrak consider adding a second daily trip, which would probably mirror the departure time of the original but from the opposite end of the route. He said such frequent use is evidence that a continuous route — all the way through from Kansas to Texas — might have a pretty good chance of success, especially when considering the current costs of driving.
He advised the city to “step forward” with other cities that would benefit from the expanded service and encourage their state and federal government representatives to support the effort.
“There’s not a lot of support in Congress right now for Amtrak, but I think that has to change,” he said.

[metro]

From Steve's blog:

The Central Transportation and Parking Authority (MetroTransit) has been hit with a wave of complaints regarding its downtown trolley service - one of the nine original Metropolitan Area Projects.

Tourists say the service is unreliable. Downtown residents say the routes are designed to discourage their use by locals. Office workers say the rides are too far apart to be used at lunch time.

So you’d think COTPA would be trying to upgrade its performance, right?

So, here’s their latest accomplishment: they covered up their route maps in Bricktown with a decal encouraging folks to call 235-ride for information about the orange line - a route designed to serve not downtown or Bricktown, but rather the I-40/Meridian hotel corridor.

This notice also assumes every visitor has a cell phone handy or knows where to find a pay phone.

[Tom Elmore]

Take a look at OnTrac

2.86 cents of the federal fuel tax paid on every gallon of motor fuel used on public roads in the nation goes to the Federal Transit Trust Fund.

Oklahomans, thus, are said to pay 70+ million into the fund yearly.

What happens to that money?

The first phase of DART Rail -- 23.5 miles of light rail and commuter rail -- was created using a captured, local penny sales tax. The "price of admission" for suburbs wishing to participate was an equal contribution.

We have the money. We have the assets. What we -- so far -- don't have is the leadership.

The people need to insist.

...and I'd suggest a new public entity, a truly regional, multimodal transit authority, "COMET" -- Central Oklahoma Metropolitan Transit.

TOM ELMORE
NATI - Solutions to the Nation's Transportation Problems

[betts]

From Steve's blog:

The Central Transportation and Parking Authority (MetroTransit) has been hit with a wave of complaints regarding its downtown trolley service - one of the nine original Metropolitan Area Projects.

Tourists say the service is unreliable. Downtown residents say the routes are designed to discourage their use by locals. Office workers say the rides are too far apart to be used at lunch time.

So you’d think COTPA would be trying to upgrade its performance, right?

So, here’s their latest accomplishment: they covered up their route maps in Bricktown with a decal encouraging folks to call 235-ride for information about the orange line - a route designed to serve not downtown or Bricktown, but rather the I-40/Meridian hotel corridor.

This notice also assumes every visitor has a cell phone handy or knows where to find a pay phone.

How difficult would it be to come up with a decent trolley/bus system? There are plenty of cities to study to determine how to increase ease of use, which would also dramatically increase ridership. We are in the dark ages on this topic, and I don't know what can be done to beat the importance of this into the heads of our local leadership. Light rail is a nice idea, but what we really need is ease of movement in the CBD, close in neighborhoods, the Health Sciences Center area, etc and buses and trollies can do this quickly and efficiently. I'm thrilled we're going to have an NBA team. It truly is one step towards becoming a "major league city", but sensible, reliable, easy to use transportation is just as important.

[jbrown84]

On top of all their rail and bus service, Austin has trolleys like ours that are FREE and make a simple loop around the tourist friendly downtown areas.

We need to completely revamp this as well as begin to look at the next step for mass transit.

[The Old Downtown Guy]

...and I'd suggest a new public entity, a truly regional, multimodal transit authority, "COMET" -- Central Oklahoma Metropolitan Transit.

TOM ELMORE
NATI - Solutions to the Nation's Transportation Problems

Love the name Tom . . . how can we get that nailed down for future use?

[Kerry]

I prefer GOCART - Greater Oklahoma City Area Rail Transit

[betts]

I prefer GOCART - Greater Oklahoma City Area Rail Transit

Love it, Kerry!

[Luke]

We should rename the current system INERT.

Incompetent, non-existent rapid transit.

[southernskye]

On top of all their rail and bus service, Austin has trolleys like ours that are FREE and make a simple loop around the tourist friendly downtown areas.

We need to completely revamp this as well as begin to look at the next step for mass transit.

I lived in Austin from 91-04, and even in 91 Austin had better bus service than OKC has now. They also voted down light rail twice in the 90's.

The Dillo (trolley) runs every 5 min. in the downtown area during the week and like Jbrown said, its free.

They will have light rail service between Austin and Leander beginning in March.

The Red Line will run on 32-miles of existing freight tracks between Leander and Downtown Austin. It will provide convenient service for suburban and central Austin residents. Future connections are being studied along existing Capital Metro freight tracks from Downtown to Manor and beyond. Future extensions along TxDOT’s abandoned MoKan corridor are also possible.

[blangtang]

How about COTPA is inCOTPAtent. That orange line i believe was sposed to shuttle people back from the hotel corridor toward downtown, after a river cruise, but they never posted a schedule of when it actually operated.

It seems the river cruises, which were initiated by the energy companies purchase of boats, then dumped onto COTPA to operate-and fund, have distracted the trolley mission.

I recently saw an advert for the river cruise and its not a public transport type of aim, more of an exotic, high-end escape being marketed. and the orange line is sposed to be a complement to this type of activity. sad...

/rant off

[CuatrodeMayo]

Love the name Tom . . . how can we get that nailed down for future use?

Yea...I kinda like that.

[metro]

Love the name Tom . . . how can we get that nailed down for future use?

Agree ODG, we need to make this happen. Great name too.

[sgray]

How bout something nice and ghettofied like "da 405"

[OKCTalker]

The trolly system has everything it needs to succeed (infrastructure, trollies, revenue), so there's obviously active resistance fighting it, but hidden out of view. This board has lots of smart, plugged-in people. Who's gonna root out the bad guy(s) behind this?

[betts]

The trolly system has everything it needs to succeed (infrastructure, trollies, revenue), so there's obviously active resistance fighting it, but hidden out of view. This board has lots of smart, plugged-in people. Who's gonna root out the bad guy(s) behind this?

Knowledge is power. Who plans the routes, schedules the routes and makes sure they run on time (NOT)? There's where the problem lies. If it's ODOT, that's not a single person, but there has to be a responsible subgroup. I don't know how one can influence a city to come up with workable, reliable mass transit, but I'd be willing to be a pain in the neck if it would help. Obviously I have plenty of experience doing just that.

[Tom Elmore]

For now, my strategy to promote the name "COMET" for a truly regional transit and transportation authority is to talk it up, and to show renderings of COMET services at local and regional stops.

I did not think up the name. One of our very devoted OKC natives now living in Austin imagined it.

Aside from arguably being "catchy," it would seem to be a name for the service to live up to. I think names are important and "telling" -- and with due respect to my friends at Metro Transit, I've always thought "COTPA" was "characteristically confusing." (Is it "COTPA" or "COPTA" -- and why would it matter?)

I know there are those in key positions at Metro Transit who would like very much to do much better. Alas -- "rocking the boat" would be involved -- and that's seemingly always dangerous for public employees who'd "like to remain public employees" in Oklahoma City.

That, too, needs to change. Why hire visionaries -- like Garner Stoll, et al, and then gag them? What a shameful reputation for a city to have! Many of our "biggest people" are apparently some of our "smallest." But, thankfully, not all.

Can we do better? We need to find ways to encourage it.

Anyway -- thanks for the good words.

TOM ELMORE
NATI - Solutions to the Nation's Transportation Problems

[metro]

The trolly system has everything it needs to succeed (infrastructure, trollies, revenue), so there's obviously active resistance fighting it, but hidden out of view. This board has lots of smart, plugged-in people. Who's gonna root out the bad guy(s) behind this?

revenue? really? I bet it's a money loser. most transit systems are. if we made it free and expanded the routes, it would be successful. FYI...Others and I have been tackling this issue for a long time now and finally seeing progress. I encourage you to join in the efforts. From time to time I post the public meetings that city leaders are talking about it. Feel free to scroll back a page or two. We need all the supportive citizens there that we can get. Here's a little trivia for you, there are people in ODOT, COPTA and Metro Transit that want to see mass transit overhauled in this city, but there are more powerful people that don't want to and have almost killed it. We need to get this in the public spotlight as much as possible so they can't continue to ignore the problem.

[andy157]

revenue? really? I bet it's a money loser. most transit systems are. if we made it free and expanded the routes, it would be successful. FYI...Others and I have been tackling this issue for a long time now and finally seeing progress. I encourage you to join in the efforts. From time to time I post the public meetings that city leaders are talking about it. Feel free to scroll back a page or two. We need all the supportive citizens there that we can get. Here's a little trivia for you, there are people in ODOT, COPTA and Metro Transit that want to see mass transit overhauled in this city, but there are more powerful people that don't want to and have almost killed it. We need to get this in the public spotlight as much as possible so they can't continue to ignore the problem.

Seems to me this forum is a pretty big public spotlight. Are you at liberty to share with us the names of the powerful people that would like to see mass transit killed? I'm just asking.

[metro]

andy, I'm not going to hang myself and mention names.

[andy157]

andy, I'm not going to hang myself and mention names.

Fair enough. I have no desire to see you hung. So at least for now the powerful continue to prevail from the shadows of darkness. Whats new?