It's probably a ways off, but what's going to happen withe the OCPD heliport?
It's probably a ways off, but what's going to happen withe the OCPD heliport?
Is this post sarcasm? This is a new urbanist community and new urbanism specifically includes cars for designing cities whereas “old” urbanism did not. How are these people supposed to move around with a car anyhow? Wait on buses for 30 minutes or stay at home until rail is built in 30 years!?? LOL!
At this point in time, most of those folks will still want to drive a car to work, the grocery store, home depot, church etc, but the idea is that over time, the neighborhood itself will contain many of these amenities and folks won't have to drive within their own neighborhood. The Paseo is already like this to an extent. You don't have to drive to go eat, get TP, go to entertainment venues, church, etc... hopefully, in the future, there will be an overall critical mass in core neighborhoods to warrant better transit and even better amenities so that more and more people won't have to drive as often. That being said, it is totally possible to live without a car right now in this city if you can find the right spot to live.
^
Deep Deuce pretty much has it all right now.
I have not had a car for the last 5 years. I use the streetcar pretty regularly as my primary transport to and from work, buses I would use more if the frequency was improved. I walk a decent amount to different places, living in midtown makes this pretty convenient. For the majority of groceries and incidentals I typically have them delivered, but I have also utilized the nearby homeland, uptown grocers when I want to pick out my own vegetables. I have used the Lime scooters a decent amount, I have about 300 miles traveled on my account and only two near death experiences from drivers not paying attention. I spend $150-200 on uber/lyft/lime a month, I bought a year pass for the streetcar, and I buy bus tickets randomly when I want to take a line up to a place. I would bike more if better infrastructure was in place, but as it stands biking is more of a fun activity than a genuine form of transit across the city. Living in OKC without a car is very doable and honestly it makes me happier on my way to work. Oklahoma has some of the least attentive ****ty drivers and some of the ****tiest roads I have encountered in the US, I have zero desire to buy another car at the moment.
I don’t live in OKC, but I’m car-less in Denton, bike everywhere, and absolutely love the lifestyle. Denton has worse infrastructure than OKC, but does have regional trains to the rest of the metro, which I use often despite the awful design of A-Train/DART. Just figured I’d share.
Keep in mind, I am not trying to advocate for OKC to only retain the personal car as the only mode available. I would love to see life made easy for those who don't want a car. I was only responding to the post asking why parking exists in this area. It's about practicability. Evidently those that live here see that too. Even in Deep Deuce I bet over 90% of people drive(probably 99%). If you live in OKC car free that is awesome and I am glad some do so it creates more demand for the lifestyle, but sacrifices are made in this city to do that.
Wow, good for you.
Even though we have a very long way to go in terms of bike lanes and mass transit, at least going carless is an option if you live in the core and are willing to deal with the inconvenience.
It sure is fun to think about how much money you could save by ditching a car completely. And how it pretty much forces you to experience your surroundings in a different way.
A car has pretty much become optional with little inconvenience in many parts of LA-- especially Hollywood, Studio City, Santa Monica, and Downtown. Once the LAX LRT line opens it will create a new world. The stores are already there. OKC lacks major retail and grocer no matter how much anyone wants to act like these tiny market are sufficient, they are not! Hopefully we a get Trader Joes or Whole Foods downtown soon along with a CVS and a City Target would do wonders in getting people out of their cars who live downtown.
What are your issues with DART? I love the DART system. My only complaint is it still sort of requires a car just to get to whatever DART station in the suburbs. But I would imagine that's more the fault each city, right? DART doesn't have much power and can only be built where it is allowed.
Edit - I'd kill to have the DART trains here in the OKC metro. I'd ditch my car in a heartbeat if OKC were to expand the streetcar or a railine to Edmond. Unfortunately I bought a house in Edmond. Ugh.
I haven't driven my car since February
My problem is with the A-Train. I shouldn't have included DART, which isn't perfect but pretty decent. The A-Train connects to DART's Green Line and is built as a commuter rail for car drivers. Every stop is a park-and-ride. They don't run at night. The A-Train ignores pedestrians, businesses, downtowns, and every other thing that would make it enhance the walkability of the north side of the metro. DART's green line isn't much better until it reaches Victory Station at the American Airlines Center, but other parts of DART are better.
I'm about to move back to OKC (into Wheeler, in fact) from the east coast. I haven't had a car since I left OKC and I've saved a ton of money. I don't plan on buying one when I return. I hope some of the transit money goes toward bus routes up and down Western. Until then, I plan to bike most places.
I take the bus now, gets to most places I need to go.
Also ride my bike sometimes.
Here in Vancouver and Seattle, we have Car2Go. Think Bird or Lime but it's a car. And usually they are Mercedes CA250 vehicles or the like.
I'd love to see them in OKC as well, that would alleviate the inconvenience of not owning a car but to have one on demand for the times you need.
Oklahoma City, the RENAISSANCE CITY!
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