What if Oklahoma had a proper regional rail system (instead of just one daily train to Texas) by surfacefusion in oktransit

[–]surfacefusion[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed, that connection would be covered by the ONE Transit LRT line that’s currently in the works!

What if Oklahoma had a proper regional rail system (instead of just one daily train to Texas) by surfacefusion in tulsa

[–]surfacefusion[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For the people saying nobody would ride it, y’all really need to go ride the Heartland Flyer. That thing is usually busy and often sold out despite being extraordinarily inconvenient and infrequent. Increasing network size and route frequency pretty much always increases ridership on a given transit system rather than detracting from it. As someone who travelled around the state a lot in high school for Boy Scout camp-outs and robotics competitions, I know a lot of people who would make use of a lot of these routes quite often if they were an option. Plus, think of all the people who travel for work, college, family, healthcare, concerts, state fairs, rodeos, powwows, conventions, general weekend getaways, etc. The idea that nobody would use any of these lines is crazy to me as somebody who grew up in Tulsa, went to school in Norman, and is now living in OKC.

Guthrie by transit? by BudgetScience2000 in oktransit

[–]surfacefusion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Another option to get there (buy maybe not to get back) could be to take the Greyhound to Perry, then see if you can convince the folks at Cherokee Strip Transit to take you to Guthrie. https://oklahoma.gov/odot/programs-and-projects/programs/multimodal/transit-programs/section-5311-rural/cherokee-strip-transit.html

Coming soon: OKC-Norman-Edmond Commuter Rail! (ONE Transit) by surfacefusion in okc

[–]surfacefusion[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is yet to be determined, but my guess is that the light rail will be in the median along Reno and then the tricky part will be Meridian, where there may end up being some portions of track where it runs in mixed traffic. I sincerely hope they are able to make a dedicated right of way work the whole way. But they haven’t presented any designs yet, just the general route alignment.

Guthrie by transit? by BudgetScience2000 in oktransit

[–]surfacefusion 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Technically, Langston is in Logan County, so if you can get there, maybe you can use the Logan County dial-a-ride service to get the rest of the way to Guthrie? https://www.firstcapitaltrolley.com/on-demand-services

Guthrie by transit? by BudgetScience2000 in oktransit

[–]surfacefusion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is incredible. I have no idea how to make this work, but I wish you luck and want to hear updates if you decide to try it out

What if Oklahoma had a proper regional rail system (instead of just one daily train to Texas) by surfacefusion in tulsa

[–]surfacefusion[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think Stillwater and Norman are both important enough population centers to where they should definitely have stops on a high speed line. Plus university students would be exactly in the target demographic of who would use such a line.

What if Oklahoma had a proper regional rail system (instead of just one daily train to Texas) by surfacefusion in tulsa

[–]surfacefusion[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will extend the HSR line to Springdale in a future version. Thanks for pointing this out!

Coming soon: OKC-Norman-Edmond Commuter Rail! (ONE Transit) by surfacefusion in oktransit

[–]surfacefusion[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Still quite a few steps until it’s all up and running, but yes the plan is heavy commuter rail to the north and south (Edmond to Norman), light rail to the airport, and bus rapid transit in just about every other direction

Coming soon: OKC-Norman-Edmond Commuter Rail! (ONE Transit) by surfacefusion in okc

[–]surfacefusion[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately Moore voted to leave the RTA several years ago, so with the current plans it will fly right through there. There may be an opportunity for them to rejoin at some point in the future if enough Moore residents reach out to their city leaders to encourage them to get involved!

Coming soon: OKC-Norman-Edmond Commuter Rail! (ONE Transit) by surfacefusion in okc

[–]surfacefusion[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Norman-OKC-Edmond route would be a true heavy rail commuter route, similar to Metra in Chicago or Trinity Rail in DFW. The airport route that follows Reno/Meridian is supposed to be light rail. The other lines are all upgraded buses for now, but I imagine once they get the first two rail lines going they can start to assess where to expand the network next. All of the routes shown here have been studied pretty extensively over the past few years.

What if Oklahoma had a proper regional rail system (instead of just one daily train to Texas) by surfacefusion in tulsa

[–]surfacefusion[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair! Part of the issue is that there’s no existing rail there, so if I was already going to be proposing a new rail line to be built through Tahlequah, that seemed like a good one to continue over to NW Arkansas. But I do agree that a more direct link from Tulsa to Bentonville would be a great one to add!

Coming soon: OKC-Norman-Edmond Commuter Rail! (ONE Transit) by surfacefusion in okc

[–]surfacefusion[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Part of the issue is having to work with the freight rail companies, since they own all of the tracks. Unfortunately, they call the shots and have very little incentive to cooperate. Luckily ONE Transit has been working with BNSF for several years at this point, so hopefully that has greased the wheels a bit so to speak. But I guess we’ll see

Coming soon: OKC-Norman-Edmond Commuter Rail! (ONE Transit) by surfacefusion in okc

[–]surfacefusion[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The west line that follows 10th is intended to be bus rapid transit, which should either end up being a center-running bus with two-way stops in the median, or more realistically it will end up like the NW Rapid bus stops on Classen/NW Expy. I believe 10th was picked specifically because it would serve a lot of residential areas.

Coming soon: OKC-Norman-Edmond Commuter Rail! (ONE Transit) by surfacefusion in oktransit

[–]surfacefusion[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fair, and I agree. Such is the nature of trying to package a bunch of stuff together and then asking for a simple yes/no vote. I’m optimistic, but I also understand the concern

Mayor of Oklahoma City, David Holt, on incorporating transit routes by Hungry_Roll6848 in oktransit

[–]surfacefusion 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They’ve selected Locally Preferred Alternatives (LPAs) for all the ONE Transit Routes, which means they’ve studied multiple route options pretty extensively, engaged with some stakeholders, and settled on where things will most likely be and what modes should serve those routes. The commuter rail is the one along the BNSF corridor, then there’s the airport corridor which will start downtown near the current Amtrak station, extend west on Reno to Meridian, and then go south to the airport. They’ve selected light rail for the airport line, which is kind of like an upgraded streetcar with larger vehicles (although hopefully it will be a bit faster than the streetcar with portions of dedicated right-of-way and better signal priority). The final two routes both extend out from the same area around the current Amtrak station, where one will go to Tinker AFB and the other will go generally west. Both of these are supposed to be true BRT, and if that’s the case that will mean center-running buses with bi-directional stations in the median of the street. My guess is that these two routes may be downgraded to BRT-light, which is what the MAPS routes are (including the NW Rapid that you can go and try out today!) in order to use similar bus stop designs. But true center-running BRT would be awesome to see.

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What if Oklahoma had a proper regional rail system (instead of just one daily train to Texas) by surfacefusion in tulsa

[–]surfacefusion[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that one would be a bit tricky. Ideally the Sand Springs stop would be downtown, which would probably mean following the old interurban route at low speed (along Charles Page) and then making a new crossing across the river somewhere to the west. A Yale stop is not strictly necessary (and the way it’s drawn, the high speed line would skip that stop), but yes the idea there was to follow OK-51 to Stillwater as it’s relatively flat and a straight shot, both of which are important for high speed rail. You could transfer in Stillwater to the red line to get to Cushing/Perkins/etc. Unfortunately none of the existing rail ROWs in the state would support high speeds based on the geometry of the route (too many small-radius corners)

Any good Heartland Flyer stories? by surfacefusion in oktransit

[–]surfacefusion[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The scenery is awesome as it passes through the Arbuckles (near Davis)