OKC Regional Transit System

[oklip955]

I was going to reply to a post on another tread but it seems that post really belongs here. As far as rapid translit and a regional system, if one is taking the .......bus, train, monorail etc into the city for shopping, a classes etc. and one has their books, brief case etc and then needs to go shopping ie stop at Sam's Club etc and then say the hardware store or other specialltiy stores, how does one do that. I cannot ammagine going to say a big box store and getting food, toliet paper, paper towels and all the usual stuff and stopping some where else for say a doctor's appointment and taking your medical records etc. How does one do this? If you can your truck you can stop at the feed store, then hardware store and then say Sam's club and then go to say a doctor's or denitist appointment. Or do you go to one place then say back to Edmond then catch another train/bus and go to another place and back home and repeats. Just trying to wrap my mind around why one would consider ridign such a thing. Does not seem practical to me. I usually ride around with a lot of stuff that I need in my truck and trying to figure out how one would carry that around when one is taking a train say to the city for shopping and doctor's appoinment and then on the the feed store.

[shawnw]

I do this currently, ride the bus and stop for shopping. Often I'll have my work laptop. You just have to manage, multiple trips and such. I'll take two or three reusable bags with me. Whatever I can fit (the priorities usually) goes home with me that first trip. Sometimes I'll need to make a second trip for lower priorities later in the week. HUGE things like TP I'll order online. I get the recycled varieties anyway which most places don't carry. I'll do this on the way home from work instead of a dedicated trip usually. I see some people take collapsible baskets with them so they can carry more stuff home and only make one trip. When I was a kid, mom, sister, and I would walk a mile to the nearest grocery store and all three of us would have arms full of bags in the one trip back. Mom didn't want to take the bus (this was in Philly, and we didn't have a car). Taking the bus is an improvement. Sure a car is great, but it's doable if you want it.

[d-usa]

Sometimes it’s not a case of “why would someone want to”, but rather a case of not having other options.

[shawnw]

When I was a kid we didn't have a choice. Currently I have a car, but choose to take the bus as much as possible. It's probably been a month since I drove it last. I went a stretch last summer of 3.5 months without driving it.

[d-usa]

For close to a year I did it by choice, but it was fairly easy because we still had one car that my wife took to work and we used for shopping. I used the bus to get to work and back.

[PaddyShack]

I know whenever I stayed in places with public transit my trips to the store were closer together, which I really didn't mind much. I prefer to buy only a couples of meals worth of food at a time and return to the store frequently for more when needed. I find myself using up food more instead of letting it go to waste. As far as the bulk items such as dog food and larger items, most stores will ship to the doorstep so you wouldn't need to worry about carrying it on public transit. But I also have never noticed large wholesalers around public transit. It is just a difference in life style. When you live in the city you don't need to stock up for a month or two, and you usually have a store within a few minutes. Whereas out in the suburban/rural areas, stores can be up to 30 or 45 minutes away, making more sense to stock up on every thing in as few trips as possible.

[Ross MacLochness]

I know whenever I stayed in places with public transit my trips to the store were closer together, which I really didn't mind much. I prefer to buy only a couples of meals worth of food at a time and return to the store frequently for more when needed. I find myself using up food more instead of letting it go to waste. As far as the bulk items such as dog food and larger items, most stores will ship to the doorstep so you wouldn't need to worry about carrying it on public transit. But I also have never noticed large wholesalers around public transit. It is just a difference in life style. When you live in the city you don't need to stock up for a month or two, and you usually have a store within a few minutes. Whereas out in the suburban/rural areas, stores can be up to 30 or 45 minutes away, making more sense to stock up on every thing in as few trips as possible.

Great reply. I did the same thing when I lived in a much more urban area. It was convenient to pick up items to cook for dinner on the walk or bike ride home, so that's what I did pretty often.

[HangryHippo]

Great reply. I did the same thing when I lived in a much more urban area. It was convenient to pick up items to cook for dinner on the walk or bike ride home, so that's what I did pretty often.

Mirrors my experiences as well.

[Teo9969]

Great reply. I did the same thing when I lived in a much more urban area. It was convenient to pick up items to cook for dinner on the walk or bike ride home, so that's what I did pretty often.

Only issue with this and like-minded responses is that the post that these responses are all in reference to comes from a person who clearly hasn't lived in a legitimate urban environment. This of course is not a knock against the reference poster at all, it's just that when trying to imagine how this all fits into Oklahoma City, a leap of creative thinking is required and to be honest, as someone who has lived in an urban environment, that creative thinking is hard for even me to do.

[Rover]

Not to mention that in the smaller urban residences floor space is expensive. You don’t want it taken up with big side-by-side refrigerators, freezers and pantries. In most of the world, those are minimized and food is not stored so much.

[shawnw]

Details for tomorrow's event

http://www.acogok.org/all-aboard-may...tral-oklahoma/

[Hutch]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/kfor.co...h-transit/amp/

[Hutch]

https://twitter.com/davidfholt/statu...27537468481536

[Plutonic Panda]

RTA News: https://www.normantranscript.com/new...7de026da4.html

Does anyone think 4 stops in Norman is a bit much for commuter rail?

The current plan for the south corridor, which includes south OKC, Moore and Norman, would place four stops in Norman, with locations at Tecumseh Road, The Depot, Lindsey Street and Highway 9.

I think that'd be a max amount of stops for even light-rail...

[jedicurt]

RTA News: https://www.normantranscript.com/new...7de026da4.html

Does anyone think 4 stops in Norman is a bit much for commuter rail?



I think that'd be a max amount of stops for even light-rail...

i agree... i see tecumseh, depot, and lindsey street or highway 9... don't need both

[mugofbeer]

RTA News: https://www.normantranscript.com/new...7de026da4.html

Does anyone think 4 stops in Norman is a bit much for commuter rail?



I think that'd be a max amount of stops for even light-rail...

I used to ride the Denver light rail downtown to a point within 3 blocks of my office. Unless the weather was bad, I stopped riding it most of the distance because there were 17 stops. As soon as the train got up a head of steam, it was already stopping again because RTD put stops at every mile street to catch feeder busses. While I understood the concept, it would have been better to re-route the busses towards downtown and have 4-5 fewer stops along the way. Only in bad winter weather when I knew the highway would be gridlocked did I ride the rail all the way in by the time I changed jobs to the suburbs.

Number of stops is a definite consideration. There should be fewer stops with the transit parking facilities directly next to the train stop for maximum convenience. I vote North Norman, downtown and Duck Pond at OU or a point slightly south of Lindsey.

[baralheia]

Personally, I think that's too many stops if they're all in regular service. The Lindsey St stop makes a ton of sense if it's a special event station, only used on gameday or other large events on campus, but otherwise normally bypassed. The southern terminus of the line at Highway 9 would be the perfect location for a Park-N-Ride station. The downtown depot stop makes perfect sense. The Tecumseh Rd stop may be useful in the future, with how rapidly the gap between Norman and Moore is closing, but I am not sold on the need for one there when commuter service starts. That said, there is a lot of open, available land there so that could be a good location for a Park-N-Ride.

[fightlessllama]

I absolutely think the station on OU’s campus is warranted. I mean look at any other commuter rail that passes through a tier 1 university and you better believe they all have a stop. And you actually have a young, often car-less population, in a dense and walkable environment. Most aren’t going to walk to OU from highway 9 or downtown Norman. And the station needs to be a regular stop. Not just for special events like games but there’s a lot of people who travel from Edmond/okc to OU and vice versa on a daily basis. Undergrad and graduate commuters, health science students and faculty, kids going home to visit family, students who have internships in the city, plus the couple thousand employees who work on campus. But there shouldn’t be a park and ride station smack in the middle of campus so then you have Tecumseh and highway 9 stations for that. And with how bad the traffic is going up I35, one more station is a drop in the bucket.

Also, this may be putting the cart before the horse but I honestly think the stop should be on Brooks St instead of Lindsey. Lindsey may be closer to the apartments east of the tracks and it looks like the city owns the land west of the tracks but Lindsey has a lot of fast moving traffic and it’s a bit farther from campus. Also, I actually walked that stretch of Lindsey from campus to that Braums once and there’s actually a hill there and the wind is terrible next to Brandt park. A Brooks stop is calmer, closer to campus/campus corner, has those apartments as a wind/monotony break, and directs you right to the heart of campus, the football stadium, and what I would bet is the future on-campus basketball stadium (if it ever happens, but it would be an amazing spot for people to take the train for all those weeknight games).

[baralheia]

I absolutely think the station on OU’s campus is warranted. I mean look at any other commuter rail that passes through a tier 1 university and you better believe they all have a stop. And you actually have a young, often car-less population, in a dense and walkable environment. Most aren’t going to walk to OU from highway 9 or downtown Norman. And the station needs to be a regular stop. Not just for special events like games but there’s a lot of people who travel from Edmond/okc to OU and vice versa on a daily basis. Undergrad and graduate commuters, health science students and faculty, kids going home to visit family, students who have internships in the city, plus the couple thousand employees who work on campus. But there shouldn’t be a park and ride station smack in the middle of campus so then you have Tecumseh and highway 9 stations for that. And with how bad the traffic is going up I35, one more station is a drop in the bucket.

Also, this may be putting the cart before the horse but I honestly think the stop should be on Brooks St instead of Lindsey. Lindsey may be closer to the apartments east of the tracks and it looks like the city owns the land west of the tracks but Lindsey has a lot of fast moving traffic and it’s a bit farther from campus. Also, I actually walked that stretch of Lindsey from campus to that Braums once and there’s actually a hill there and the wind is terrible next to Brandt park. A Brooks stop is calmer, closer to campus/campus corner, has those apartments as a wind/monotony break, and directs you right to the heart of campus, the football stadium, and what I would bet is the future on-campus basketball stadium (if it ever happens, but it would be an amazing spot for people to take the train for all those weeknight games).

This is a really good point actually and one that I didn't fully consider. Having a stop at Lindsey St or Brooks St would enable students to commute to school from farther away by train, and could help slightly lessen the demand for parking on campus.

I don't necessarily disagree, but for me who'd be going from OKC down to Highway 9, it makes it kind of hard to then get to South Campus without a car. Perhaps (hopefully) they'd make the Jenkins--Classen stretch of Highway 9 more walkable...

My thinking with a Park-N-Ride at Highway 9 is that would be an easier location for passengers from south Norman and Noble to get to, especially as Norman grows south past Highway 9. That station would be a more car-oriented one in my eyes (though making sure pedestrians can get to and from any station is always a good thing, especially since there are restaurants and retail nearby). Parking at a stop at Lindsey / Brooks would most likely be limited, as would parking at the downtown stop, so your main stations that would allow a lot of people to park and ride would have to be either north or south of Norman.

[LocoAko]

Personally, I think that's too many stops if they're all in regular service. The Lindsey St stop makes a ton of sense if it's a special event station, only used on gameday or other large events on campus, but otherwise normally bypassed. The southern terminus of the line at Highway 9 would be the perfect location for a Park-N-Ride station. The downtown depot stop makes perfect sense. The Tecumseh Rd stop may be useful in the future, with how rapidly the gap between Norman and Moore is closing, but I am not sold on the need for one there when commuter service starts. That said, there is a lot of open, available land there so that could be a good location for a Park-N-Ride.

I don't necessarily disagree, but for me who'd be going from OKC down to Highway 9, it makes it kind of hard to then get to South Campus without a car. Perhaps (hopefully) they'd make the Jenkins--Classen stretch of Highway 9 more walkable...

[shawnw]

If it helps, Brooks is already where the Sooner Express goes, so people are used to going there for commuter transit.

[jedicurt]

If it helps, Brooks is already where the Sooner Express goes, so people are used to going there for commuter transit.

this is what i kinda thought to... why lindsey, it should be here

[Plutonic Panda]

I think it could help if Norman invested into a streetcar connecting downtown to OU Campus. If they started planning now it could have an opening around the time this opens given the current schedule of this commuter rail.

[HOT ROD]

Purcell, Hw 9, Lindsey/OU, Main Street - those should be the "Norman" stops where:

*Purcell is a park-n-ride that is either in or just north of town [Terminal stop]
*Hwy 9 is a demand only South OU stop (in other words, no stop unless someone is there or is getting off).
*Lindsey/OU is a transit center with bus and shuttles fanning out. I'd love to see a streetcar from here going into and throughout OU as a master plan.
*Main Street - this is obvious and already exists.

As Panda mentioned, you dont want too many stops on Commuter Rail. Commuter Rail is warranted where you have mass of people moving long distance. Light rail would have more stops but the line wouldn't be as long.

[Swalell1960]

Okay, quick question asked with apologies if the answer has already been clarified: Are we talking about using existing tracks, say on the bnsf corridor for north/south movements? Or simply using ROW and installing new trackage parallel to existing tracks? Or both? Or something else altogether?