Mass Transit In and Around OKC?

[Double A]

The Edmond Sun
Sunday, January 29, 2006

Future generations of UCO students may be able to travel to Edmond on a commuter train, if Metro Transit officials have their way. In a few years, Edmond Sooner fans will also be able to travel to OU football games without today’s traffic or parking headaches.
After years of stonewalling by Congressman Ernest Istook, with his retirement local officials will finally be able to move ahead with plans for mass transit in the metro area. Consultants for the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority (COTPA) held a public meeting last week at the Edmond Public Library to outline their concepts and receive public feedback.
The backbone of the system will be commuter rail along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail corridor just west of downtown Edmond, stretching all the way to Norman. Increased bus service routes stretch east and west from the rail line like ribs, and a real streetcar system would circulate around downtown Oklahoma City.
A variety of financing strategies were discussed to pay for the project, ranging from increased sales and property taxes to parking meter fees and bonds.
Almost every major metropolitan area in the civilized world has some form of mass transit. Central Oklahoma once had an extensive rail system that was dismantled when automobiles became commonplace. Unlike many older metropolitan areas, the railroads were built before Oklahoma cities arose, making it possible today to rebuild commuter transit on existing railroad right-of-ways.
Edmond is farther away from Will Rogers Airport than any other suburb in the metropolitan area, but probably has a higher per-capita use of airlines. An efficient link to the airport is critical to the system’s success and Edmond’s use of the system. Unfortunately, the COTPA plan only contemplates buses running north from the airport on Meridian, then east on Reno to a downtown connection. Residents of northern Oklahoma County won’t embrace the system if they have to switch to buses downtown to reach the airport. Visitors should be able to fly into Oklahoma City and be whisked to their destinations, either downtown, the Capitol complex, Edmond or Norman, without riding buses first.
Portland, Oregon, has one of the nation’s most successful mass transit systems. At 1.3 million residents, it’s just a bit larger than our metro area. Portland has a comparable east-west main line, with a spur north to their airport. With 64 stations, trains arrive every ten to fifteen minutes. Ridership has increased annually since its inception in 1978, and they have seen over $3.8 billion in private development near rail stations.
Oklahoma County has hundreds of acres of underdeveloped land along the north-south BNSF line and one from downtown along Newcastle Road to within a mile or two of the airport terminal. Property owners would reap increased property values, and government services would benefit from increased tax revenues. Buses along Meridian and Reno would not have the same impact.
Imagine the efficiency of parking for free at an Edmond park-and-ride lot, then riding a comfortable train directly to the airport 23 miles away. In Portland that fare is $1.95 for a distance of 30 miles.
Imagine the luxury of taking an express train directly from an Edmond parking lot 35 miles to Memorial Stadium in Norman for a football game, for less than you pay now to park your car in Norman.
Edmond’s worst bottleneck is Second Street between Broadway and University. A six-block-long Main Street trolley from a railroad station across Broadway, past city office buildings, the library, Shannon Miller Park, and Mitchell Hall en route to the Student Union would shuttle hundreds of college students to class instead of congesting Edmond streets. It would also enhance downtown retail sales and ambience, and connect Edmond shops to a million potential metro customers.
Mass transit, if done right, will be a major benefit to Edmond, UCO and the metropolitan area. The sooner we move ahead, the better.