OKC Regional Transit System

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Originally Posted by mugofbeer

Fill me in since I am out of town. ls there seriousctalk about reviving the old interurban to OU/Norman or is it just something that could be done? l was at the Duck Pond last weekend and it only seemed 3 blocks or so from the stadium. Most people park that far on football Saturdays

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For older people… which is what the majority of OU’s football crowd is these days that is too far especially if they are sitting on the west sides of the stadium…There are thousands of parking spots either for sale or that require a donation that are either closer or would not require as much wasted time in arriving back home. Many are located near restrooms, food and shelter with heat and air.

The OU event station needs to be located on a short spur line in a building located north of OU’s Track and Field facility in an area that is now a large parking lot. This would save a lot of time and effort by anyone who would ever use the system, even for everyday use.

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Originally Posted by soonerheart

For older people… which is what the majority of OU’s football crowd is these days that is too far especially if they are sitting on the west sides of the stadium…There are thousands of parking spots either for sale or that require a donation that are either closer or would not require as much wasted time in arriving back home. Many are located near restrooms, food and shelter with heat and air.

The OU event station needs to be located on a short spur line in a building located north of OU’s Track and Field facility in an area that is now a large parking lot. This would save a lot of time and effort by anyone who would ever use the system, even for everyday use.

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LOL, l'm fine with your suggestion about the spur but l sit on the west side and the crowd is far younger than it was 10 years ago. lts not a bunch of blue-hairs. ln my section, average of about 45. Older folks can't stand up an entire game.

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Originally Posted by dankrutka

I park on Main Street every time I go to an OU game. Lots of people park pretty far away. I don't think this would be a big change for many people. Moreover, if people were so worried about the weather then why do thousands of people tailgate before every game?

Again, if more trains were made available to OU on gamedays, there would be a market there.

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No doubt there would be a market ….The question is how is that market best maximized and not just for football games….The faster and more user-friendly the commuter rail system is... the higher the ridership numbers become even for everyday use.

Unless the weather is miserable I walk for about 1 hour around campus before every home OU game. I’m often on campus on Friday nights.

Most people who tailgate before games have the ability to take shelter in a tent (or RV) that provides a means to stay dry, provides shade, and the means to stay out of the cold wind…More people are using heaters…I have even seen swamp coolers used.

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Originally Posted by mugofbeer

LOL, l'm fine with your suggestion about the spur but l sit on the west side and the crowd is far younger than it was 10 years ago. lts not a bunch of blue-hairs. ln my section, average of about 45. Older folks can't stand up an entire game.

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I believe your off by about 10 years… but regardless of that... by the time this is up and running those 45 year old people are in their 50’s and probably not as eager to do as much walking and standing….

It gets worse as we age and look at the decades ahead. The less old people do before a game the more they can stand during a game ….allowing them to keep buying season tickets longer in life which is something OU needs.

I know an almost 103 year old lady who was able to attend the Rose Bowl and stayed for the entire game…There are a lot of older people attending, more than many know. They tend to sit in areas where they have elevator access and where the crowd is less likely to stand. They tend to park very close by. A walk across the street to the train station makes it more friendly for everyone everyday.

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Originally Posted by baralheia

I just checked and Embark doesn't appear to have stopped sharing transit data with Google; on my Android phone I can get transit directions from Children's to the 'Peake no problem. Even includes delay info. Maybe it's an Apple thing?

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I am on android/google maps as well.

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Originally Posted by baralheia

I just checked and Embark doesn't appear to have stopped sharing transit data with Google; on my Android phone I can get transit directions from Children's to the 'Peake no problem. Even includes delay info. Maybe it's an Apple thing?

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Yes, it DOES appear to be an Apple thing in OKC, but Apple does show transit info from other cities.

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Originally Posted by soonerheart

When we consider the non-student average age group who attends OU football games or other OU sports/ events I pretty sure that not very many of them (who often have health issues) are going to want to walk from the stadium all the way to the rail road tracks east of the Duck pond and stand around in the heat, cold and wind….Almost all of these people can make arrangements to park much closer and would continue to do so if the system is slow/time wasting and keeps people out in the elements to long. There are many commuting students and employees who would feel the same…

I don’t want a commuter rail / transit system that targets poor people for its ridership. It needs to be as user friendly as possible for everyone from the very start even if it cost significantly more.

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My friends and I take the Heartland flyer from downtown OKC to Norman now for games that kickoff between 11AM and 3:00PM. Depending on a lot of variables, we'll take it back to OKC for the same games.We have to walk from downtown Norman to the stadium and the walk isn't that bad considering that traffic is awful for hours before and after games and it isn't much different than walking to your car unless you pay enough to have a spot right by the stadium.It's perpetually delayed on the ride back into OKC but we never care. It's a lot better than waiting in traffic, taking a $80 uber, or driving after drinking all day/night. Even with one scheduled departure time to and from Norman and a mile away from the stadium, I would take the Train every time. It's comfortable, cheap, and takes you close enough to the stadium to make it worth it. There are a decent amount of people that take the train now in this limited capacity, I'm sure it would kill it with a closer station and higher frequency.

I think you have kind of a scewed prospective of the demographics of non-student game attendees. Elderly people with health issues make up a very small percentage of the crowd and are still getting to and from the stadium currently with some walking involved whether that be a shuttle from Lloyd Noble or elsewhere or a parking spot in the stadium. If those people are hell bent on parking and driving, then the train won't be a good service for them no matter how long they have to wait or walk. There is a ton of waiting involved no matter how you get to and from Norman, so I don't really think a short walk to a train waiting area where you have to wait 30 minutes in a covered area would be that big of deal, especially when it bypasses the hour plus wait in traffic just to get back to downtown OKC.

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Originally Posted by soonerheart

For older people… which is what the majority of OU’s football crowd is these days that is too far especially if they are sitting on the west sides of the stadium…There are thousands of parking spots either for sale or that require a donation that are either closer or would not require as much wasted time in arriving back home. Many are located near restrooms, food and shelter with heat and air.

The OU event station needs to be located on a short spur line in a building located north of OU’s Track and Field facility in an area that is now a large parking lot. This would save a lot of time and effort by anyone who would ever use the system, even for everyday use.

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Lol, that's hilarious and completely unrealistic. There is not need to build an additional ROW to bring it a block closer. The Duck Pond is fine. It's a shorter walk than most people currently have to their cars and would definitely be a shorter wait time from the stadium to their final destination than the nightmare of traffic out of Norman. They could provide golf cart or other services to handicapped individuals from the stadium to the station. I lived by Sarkey's and we had all sorts of elderly and young people alike parking in our yard for every game that had no issue walking to the stadium and liked how close we were...and the duck pond is two blocks closer.

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Originally Posted by mugofbeer

LOL, l'm fine with your suggestion about the spur but l sit on the west side and the crowd is far younger than it was 10 years ago. lts not a bunch of blue-hairs. ln my section, average of about 45. Older folks can't stand up an entire game.

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Yeah, we have a pretty healthy mix in our area on the east side but I would guess it's an even distribution between about 25-55 all of which stand for most of the game.

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Originally Posted by PhiAlpha

Lol, that's hilarious and completely unrealistic. There is not need to build an additional ROW to bring it a block closer. The Duck Pond is fine. It's a shorter walk than most people currently have to their cars and would definitely be a shorter wait time from the stadium to their final destination than the nightmare of traffic out of Norman. They could provide golf cart or other services to handicapped individuals from the stadium to the station. I lived by Sarkey's and we had all sorts of elderly and young people alike parking in our yard for every game that had no issue walking to the stadium and liked how close we were...and the duck pond is two blocks closer.

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There is the perfect spot for a station where the pocket park is located between the creek and tracks. Then an easy walk to the stadium or into campus down Brooks. OU will continue to expand to the east toward Trout Ave over time and the area to the east of Trout to Boyd to Brooks will fill in with more high density apartments. If anything OU should make Brooks more of a gateway into campus by raising and improving the bridge over the creek and creating better sidewalks/lighting/landscaping, right now it is not in the best shape.

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Originally Posted by soonerheart

When we consider the non-student average age group who attends OU football games or other OU sports/ events I pretty sure that not very many of them (who often have health issues) are going to want to walk from the stadium all the way to the rail road tracks east of the Duck pond and stand around in the heat, cold and wind…

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You understand that it's an open air stadium, right?

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Originally Posted by hoya

You understand that it's an open air stadium, right?

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You do understand there are hard limits to how long people can stay outdoors when the weather is not near perfect.

We want them staying at the game as long as possible…We want maximized ridership for everyday use and to not cause people to waste their valuable time. We need to minimize peoples walk in bad weather.

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Originally Posted by PhiAlpha

I think you have kind of a scewed prospective of the demographics of non-student game attendees. Elderly people with health issues make up a very small percentage of the crowd and are still getting to and from the stadium currently with some walking involved whether that be a shuttle from Lloyd Noble or elsewhere or a parking spot in the stadium. If those people are hell bent on parking and driving, then the train won't be a good service for them no matter how long they have to wait or walk. There is a ton of waiting involved no matter how you get to and from Norman, so I don't really think a short walk to a train waiting area where you have to wait 30 minutes in a covered area would be that big of deal, especially when it bypasses the hour plus wait in traffic just to get back to downtown OKC.

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Older doesn’t equal “Elderly” and even younger people can have heath issues.
A train station in my suggested location makes it a better a service for everyone…A station on the current tracks is well off the beaten path for a lot of people…Many young lady's will consider it an unsafe path at night.
There are several faster ways out of Norman after a football game than the suggested roads

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Originally Posted by PhiAlpha

Lol, that's hilarious and completely unrealistic. There is not need to build an additional ROW to bring it a block closer. The Duck Pond is fine. It's a shorter walk than most people currently have to their cars and would definitely be a shorter wait time from the stadium to their final destination than the nightmare of traffic out of Norman. They could provide golf cart or other services to handicapped individuals from the stadium to the station. I lived by Sarkey's and we had all sorts of elderly and young people alike parking in our yard for every game that had no issue walking to the stadium and liked how close we were...and the duck pond is two blocks closer.

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You have this totally backwards …..There are thousands of parking spots on level ground on a level walking path that are far closer to many buildings that offer shelter, food and restrooms …that a train station on the current tracks is nowhere near in the amounts needed…fans need these things before and after games!The closer they are the better….My location does this, yours does not.

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Originally Posted by soonerheart

You do understand there are hard limits to how long people can stay outdoors when the weather is not near perfect.

We want them staying at the game as long as possible…We want maximized ridership for everyday use and to not cause people to waste their valuable time. We need to minimize peoples walk in bad weather.

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They're outside for 3-4 hours in an open air stadium. Standing under a covered platform for 30 minutes at most isn't going to kill anyone.

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Originally Posted by soonerheart

Older doesn’t equal “Elderly” and even younger people can have heath issues.
A train station in my suggested location makes it a better a service for everyone…A station on the current tracks is well off the beaten path for a lot of people…Many young lady's will consider it an unsafe path at night.
There are several faster ways out of Norman after a football game than the suggested roads

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Uh, what?!? You mean all the young ladies that walk daily to and from the expensive new apartments on Brooks that take up half of the sidewalk between the stadium and the train tracks? Have you even been east of the stadium since 1985? Not sure why anyone would think that walk was dangerous, especially when you're walking through tailgates, by apartments and with hundreds of people after a game.

You realize that your location and the train tracks are less than two blocks from each other on foot, right? It's off the beaten path now because there is no reason to walk that direction unless you live or parked there but it would definitely be on the beaten path if it was a where a train dropped you off and picked you up.

You can take whatever roads you want, but it takes 20-30 minutes to get away from the stadium to whatever road you take out of Norman after games.

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Originally Posted by soonerheart

You have this totally backwards …..There are thousands of parking spots on level ground on a level walking path that are far closer to many buildings that offer shelter, food and restrooms …that a train station on the current tracks is nowhere near in the amounts needed…fans need these things before and after games!The closer they are the better….My location does this, yours does not.

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I just think your definition of close is different than the rest of the world's. You are acting like a 2 block difference between the track and field facility and the train tracks is the end of the world which is hilarious when most people walk half a mile or more to get from where they park to the stadium. The city/university couldn't justify the cost of losing the university parking to build a train station and lay track (which I'm not even sure would be feasible) to put a station at your location vs. the empty lot right by the RR ROW. It wouldn't make that much difference in ridership.

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Originally Posted by BG918

There is the perfect spot for a station where the pocket park is located between the creek and tracks. Then an easy walk to the stadium or into campus down Brooks. OU will continue to expand to the east toward Trout Ave over time and the area to the east of Trout to Boyd to Brooks will fill in with more high density apartments. If anything OU should make Brooks more of a gateway into campus by raising and improving the bridge over the creek and creating better sidewalks/lighting/landscaping, right now it is not in the best shape.

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Agreed.

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Originally Posted by soonerheart

You do understand there are hard limits to how long people can stay outdoors when the weather is not near perfect.

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Then you need to talk to Lincoln Riley about his offense creating 4 hour long games.

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Originally Posted by hoya

Then you need to talk to Lincoln Riley about his offense creating 4 hour long games.

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I think Lincoln would take that criticism pretty well. If he's anything like the team, he'd certainly have a hard time getting defensive over it.

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Originally Posted by PhiAlpha

I just think your definition of close is different than the rest of the world's. You are acting like a 2 block difference between the track and field facility and the train tracks is the end of the world which is hilarious when most people walk half a mile or more to get from where they park to the stadium. The city/university couldn't justify the cost of losing the university parking to build a train station and lay track (which I'm not even sure would be feasible) to put a station at your location vs. the empty lot right by the RR ROW. It wouldn't make that much difference in ridership.

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People say they want walkability and trains that take people to the centers of activities for very real reasons …. Your vision to see what is possible with future development in this location is exceptionally limited!

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Originally Posted by PhiAlpha

Uh, what?!? You mean all the young ladies that walk daily to and from the expensive new apartments on Brooks that take up half of the sidewalk between the stadium and the train tracks? Have you even been east of the stadium since 1985? Not sure why anyone would think that walk was dangerous, especially when you're walking through tailgates, by apartments and with hundreds of people after a game.

You realize that your location and the train tracks are less than two blocks from each other on foot, right? It's off the beaten path now because there is no reason to walk that direction unless you live or parked there but it would definitely be on the beaten path if it was a where a train dropped you off and picked you up.

You can take whatever roads you want, but it takes 20-30 minutes to get away from the stadium to whatever road you take out of Norman after games.

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That’s according to you…Other people have other thoughts and ideas about what makes for a great game day experience and one of those for many people is to minimize the exposure to bad weather but also having close by desired amenities that do not exist at the stadium or near the current tracks...You still have this have this backwards.

Many young lady's will consider it an unsafe path at night because they don’t live near the tracks making it off the beaten path for the vast majority and there are wide open areas they would not like to walk at night. If you don’t know this you don’t know very many women very well at all !!!!!!!!

Nothing has been published that I know of…. but OU has desired a new parking garage on the northeast side of campus…Why not build the new garage in the parking lot north of the OU track location and then build the train station on the inside of the garage, probably on the second floor.

Somewhere a large heat and air conditioned space could be created with restrooms….This saves other OU land for other uses. It provides already needed parking and perhaps park and ride opportunity’s which could make nearby property more valuable, creating more redevelopment opportunities.

OU also desires a new basketball arena. One of the items mentioned about the Rock Creek & I- 35 arena proposal was that it would make travel easier for those fans coming from OKC…Since that is apparently no longer an option ….why not build a new arena directly north of the proposed garage / train station where OKC metro people could take the train to OU basketball games.

This is a winter sport; a short walk across the street is far preferable…In this location the facility would likely see higher use for other events…and like many other universities….would be a great place for activities on a football game day.

More people near Campus Corner more often helps those merchants and the Norman tax base.

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Originally Posted by soonerheart

People say they want walkability and trains that take people to the centers of activities for very real reasons …. Your vision to see what is possible with future development this location is exceptionally limited

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The train goes through downtown Norman, within half a mile of campus corner, within four blocks of the stadium. OU and private developers are actively building out dense development toward the tracks on Boyd, Brooks, and Main...that is the definition of walkability. Regardless of your vision for future development of that area, the area between Jenkins and the tracks is being targeted for both dense residential development and further campus development. Both private developers and the university have been picking up lots in the area for years now and you can see some of the results of that with the new apartments on Brooks and Trout. The next part to go to residential development will be Page Circle.

What's limited would be the feasibility of even building train tracks to the location you suggested. It just makes zero sense in any way. For one, there is no where to put it and two, it would be cost prohibitive with limited benefit, and three, It would take up space that the university is surely saving for a higher use than parking eventually. Game day or general commuter trains would also at least need the ability in the future to run south to south Norman, Purcell, Pauls Valley, and Ardmore. A two block spur would make it unnecessarily more difficult and time consuming to add a southern route. There is already a University bus stop within a stones throw of the train tracks on Brooks...it's like the University was preparing for the future development of that location...

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Originally Posted by soonerheart

That’s according to you…Other people have other thoughts and ideas about what makes for a great game day experience and one of those for many people is to minimize the exposure to bad weather but also having close by desired amenities that do not exist at the stadium or near the current tracks...You still have this have this backwards.

Many young lady's will consider it an unsafe path at night because they don’t live near the tracks making it off the beaten path for the vast majority and there are wide open areas they would not like to walk at night. If you don’t know this you don’t know very many women very well at all !!!!!!!!

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Most young women I know don't consider walking around campus, near the duck pond, or near the upscale apartments on Brooks at night to be dangerous. It isn't any less open than the large parking lot you want to put the station in. At any rate, a large university train platform would likely have security of some sort there late at night anyway. There are also campus buses that can drop students, etc off at the bus stop right next to the train station if they prefer not to walk. You have to build for the future and that is the direction the campus is expanding, there is no room to run train tracks into the campus. It will not be off the beaten path in the near future.