‘City on the Move’
Heide Brandes
8/21/2006
In order for the general population of Oklahoma City to start using mass transit or alternative transportation options, a drastic event will have to transpire.
That was the opinion of several panelists during an open discussion about the future needs of transportation in Oklahoma City. As the situation stands now, citizens will remain single-occupancy vehicle drivers, ignoring mass transit or light rail, until a major transportation disaster occurs.
“If you look at other cities, the truth is that a crisis has to develop before people starting using public transportation,” said Dean Schirf of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber and one of five panelists in the discussion. “HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes? It’s not in our mindset to do that. We are the largest geographic city in the nation that still meets the EPA standards, and we need to keep that.”
A Smart Growth Series event sponsored by Sustainable OKC and the Vivian Wimberly Center for Ethics and Servant Leadership at Oklahoma City University, the panel discussion was part of “City on the Move: Transportation in Central Oklahoma.”
The purpose of the meeting, held Aug. 8 at OCU, was to discuss future transportation needs of Oklahoma City. Local experts and policymakers discussed ways to make Oklahoma City’s transportation options more diverse and user-friendly.
In the recently-published results of SustainLane’s annual sustainable cities ranking list, Oklahoma City ranked 49th out of the 50 largest cities in the United States, largely due to limited public transportation options and carpooling.
Speaking at the panel were Russell Klaus of the Oklahoma City Planning Department; Ward 7 Councilwoman Willa Johnson; Director of Transit Services for Oklahoma City Rick Cain; Zach Taylor, executive director of the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments; and Schirf.
The resounding tone of the discussion was that Oklahoma is far behind in meeting future transportation needs and that citizens are reluctant to use public transportation or other options.
The majority of the discussion centered on the need for better bus systems and the possibility of HOV lanes or light passenger rail.
“Options for Oklahoma City are limited,” said Taylor. “Ninety-nine percent of traffic is personal vehicles with most having just one person in the vehicle. One percent is transit. Metro Transit can address an array of needs like door-to-door service and express routes, but we have a deficit of public transportation services.”
Taylor said America is facing its worse fuel crisis since 1974, and that crisis may spur use of public transportation if fuel costs continue to rise. In addition, he said, the number of seniors by year 2030 will rise 202 percent. Downtown Oklahoma City itself is changing with more residential property being utilized.
In order to make bus transit services more usable for the general public, the service will have to include more stops, more buses and more frequency of stops, said Cain.
“People want to come and go as they please, but the transit system we have now means waiting 30 minutes or up to an hour and a half between buses,” Cain said. “We’re too spread out as a city. We have 625 miles of area to cover, but right now, the transit system only serves 120 square miles.”
Other plans included light rail, trolley buses and commuter rail, yet the success of these factors would rely heavily on one thing.
“We can have electric rail, commuter rail, sidewalks that are pedestrian friendly… none of those plans will work without an established bus system,” said Klaus. “It has to be frequent, it has to be convenient. In order to have light rail, you will still have to find a way to get from the rail station to wherever you are going. You need buses for that.”
Sustainable OKC is a nonprofit organization that organizes projects to address livability factors for Oklahoma City.
Heide Brandes
8/21/2006
In order for the general population of Oklahoma City to start using mass transit or alternative transportation options, a drastic event will have to transpire.
That was the opinion of several panelists during an open discussion about the future needs of transportation in Oklahoma City. As the situation stands now, citizens will remain single-occupancy vehicle drivers, ignoring mass transit or light rail, until a major transportation disaster occurs.
“If you look at other cities, the truth is that a crisis has to develop before people starting using public transportation,” said Dean Schirf of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber and one of five panelists in the discussion. “HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes? It’s not in our mindset to do that. We are the largest geographic city in the nation that still meets the EPA standards, and we need to keep that.”
A Smart Growth Series event sponsored by Sustainable OKC and the Vivian Wimberly Center for Ethics and Servant Leadership at Oklahoma City University, the panel discussion was part of “City on the Move: Transportation in Central Oklahoma.”
The purpose of the meeting, held Aug. 8 at OCU, was to discuss future transportation needs of Oklahoma City. Local experts and policymakers discussed ways to make Oklahoma City’s transportation options more diverse and user-friendly.
In the recently-published results of SustainLane’s annual sustainable cities ranking list, Oklahoma City ranked 49th out of the 50 largest cities in the United States, largely due to limited public transportation options and carpooling.
Speaking at the panel were Russell Klaus of the Oklahoma City Planning Department; Ward 7 Councilwoman Willa Johnson; Director of Transit Services for Oklahoma City Rick Cain; Zach Taylor, executive director of the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments; and Schirf.
The resounding tone of the discussion was that Oklahoma is far behind in meeting future transportation needs and that citizens are reluctant to use public transportation or other options.
The majority of the discussion centered on the need for better bus systems and the possibility of HOV lanes or light passenger rail.
“Options for Oklahoma City are limited,” said Taylor. “Ninety-nine percent of traffic is personal vehicles with most having just one person in the vehicle. One percent is transit. Metro Transit can address an array of needs like door-to-door service and express routes, but we have a deficit of public transportation services.”
Taylor said America is facing its worse fuel crisis since 1974, and that crisis may spur use of public transportation if fuel costs continue to rise. In addition, he said, the number of seniors by year 2030 will rise 202 percent. Downtown Oklahoma City itself is changing with more residential property being utilized.
In order to make bus transit services more usable for the general public, the service will have to include more stops, more buses and more frequency of stops, said Cain.
“People want to come and go as they please, but the transit system we have now means waiting 30 minutes or up to an hour and a half between buses,” Cain said. “We’re too spread out as a city. We have 625 miles of area to cover, but right now, the transit system only serves 120 square miles.”
Other plans included light rail, trolley buses and commuter rail, yet the success of these factors would rely heavily on one thing.
“We can have electric rail, commuter rail, sidewalks that are pedestrian friendly… none of those plans will work without an established bus system,” said Klaus. “It has to be frequent, it has to be convenient. In order to have light rail, you will still have to find a way to get from the rail station to wherever you are going. You need buses for that.”
Sustainable OKC is a nonprofit organization that organizes projects to address livability factors for Oklahoma City.