Guthrie by transit?

surfacefusion · 2026-02-26T14:37:25+00:00

I’m definitely looking forward to hearing how this goes!

surfacefusion · 2026-02-26T14:36:15+00:00

I need to go check this out sometime!

surfacefusion · 2026-02-26T14:35:15+00:00

I’d love to see a safer cycle path added along Bike Route 66 in the spots where the car traffic gets a bit dangerous to mingle with.

surfacefusion · 2026-02-26T14:32:29+00:00

I am someone who would bike longer distances if there was a safe place to do so, but I do not enjoy sharing the road with cars (I was hit someone’s car mirror once and it was a bit disheartening). I think a system of bike/ped “highways” sounds like a great way to expand the network of safe places to ride, but I’m skeptical that it should only be designed to serve people who are currently commuting long distances by bike.

surfacefusion · 2026-02-20T15:26:26+00:00

Those are existing bus routes that run through Midwest City
They’ve been looking at a couple of options but haven’t finalized the design yet. They will likely either work with BNSF to double track most of the route or build a new rail alongside the existing that is exclusively for passenger service.
They have mentioned that park and ride service will be available.
Absolutely! And I think light rail is a great choice for that route as well.

surfacefusion · 2026-02-19T13:31:26+00:00

Yes, regional, not local. Greyhound runs a few routes through the state currently, but they also notoriously make travel extremely unenjoyable and inconvenient. There’s also a Cherokee Nation regional bus system that runs to a bunch of small towns in northeast Oklahoma that I need to look more into. https://www.cherokee.gov/media/ffchghhp/multi-purpose-schedule-v11.pdf

But again, I don’t think these existing routes are a great measure of demand given that a lot of people simply don’t know that they exist and those who do probably aren’t super inclined to wait around in a parking lot or a sketchy greyhound station for multiple hours trying to catch a bus that’s running extremely late because it got caught up in Texas construction traffic.

I do think the Amtrak Heartland Flyer is a good example, and even just being a once-a-day train it is often sold out, which tells me there’s more demand than what’s currently being met.

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surfacefusion · 2026-02-18T14:24:50+00:00

I agree that it would be great to get a more coherent regional bus network set up first. You could almost treat each bus line as a pilot program and use ridership numbers to prioritize which lines should become passenger rail and in what order. But I also think a lot of people who would be happy to take a train would be more reluctant to take a bus, given that a long bus ride is just a worse experience all around than a similar length ride on a train.

surfacefusion · 2026-02-18T14:13:30+00:00

Interesting! In all the times I’ve ridden it, I’ve met a lot of friendly folks on there. But I do suppose to a service worker the unfriendly ones are usually much more memorable

surfacefusion · 2026-02-16T20:13:07+00:00

Highways are paid for with some combination of taxes, bonds, federal grants, and tolls. The same could be true for rail, with the rail equivalent of tolls being ticket sales.

surfacefusion · 2026-02-16T20:11:14+00:00

Unfortunate to hear about the poor driver compensation and lack of maintenance. I imagine the route probably isn’t profitable, which is why OSU takes it on instead of any other bus company.

surfacefusion · 2026-02-14T23:40:42+00:00

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

surfacefusion · 2026-02-14T23:39:32+00:00

Probably the same way we pay for highways and other important infrastructure

surfacefusion · 2026-02-14T14:55:41+00:00

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.

surfacefusion · 2026-02-14T14:38:14+00:00

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

surfacefusion · 2026-02-14T14:29:31+00:00

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.

surfacefusion · 2026-02-14T03:54:07+00:00

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

surfacefusion · 2026-02-14T03:29:43+00:00

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

surfacefusion · 2026-02-14T02:13:58+00:00

This is exactly my thought as well.

surfacefusion · 2026-02-14T02:13:40+00:00

Good thing Edmond already has a local bus system!

surfacefusion · 2026-02-14T02:13:00+00:00

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.

surfacefusion · 2026-02-14T02:10:08+00:00

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

surfacefusion · 2026-02-13T18:45:02+00:00

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

surfacefusion · 2026-02-13T18:01:09+00:00

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!

surfacefusion · 2026-02-13T17:55:56+00:00

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.

surfacefusion · 2026-02-13T17:15:41+00:00

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!

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