Public Transit: A Paradigm Shift?
October 7th, 2008
1986: “A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself a failure.”
– Margaret Thatcher
2008: The Mayor in London proudly sent their red Buses to Beijing to receive the flag for the 2012 Olympics.
It appears to have shifted in London and many other major metropolises throughout the world. One can only speculate as to how perceptions are changing in OKC, as the current level of transit service is so poor that perceptions cannot be said to affect ridership.
So what do you think? If service was better would “successful” people – however you define it – be found riding public transit in Oklahoma City?
October 8th, 2008 at 2:49 am
Probably not in the near future. Especially if they are from Ok. Most of the ones I hear complaining about the lack of bus service in OKC moved here from cities that had good bus service.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:28 am
I believe that Oklahoma City is and will continue to progress in the area of the environmental mindset. I moved to OK from CA in 2006, and since then, I have noticed, in the OK people, much more interest in Urban OK and a “green” lifestyle. Although I see a possibility for growth in OKC’s downtown transportation, I also feel that a lot of Oklahomans, like many Americans, feel that the car IS a status symbol. I don’t know that the majority of the successful would give that up unless they absolutely had to. I have lived in England and had my best transportation experiences there. So efficient and readily available! I so wish this for OKC and all of OK.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:09 am
In 2007 China brought 500 bullet trains into service. The paradigm has shifted. Will the U.S. continue to subsidize the private auto?
October 10th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I hope for its own sake that the answer is yes. If our city wants to “compete” with other major metropolises in the U.S. it must do so in all aspects. City officials and citizens can not be so naive to think that simply buying a NBA team puts us in the big leagues. We must follow it up with more advances. Green space, bike paths/sidewalks, urban transportation, and an advanced recycling program, just to name a few. The Oklahoma River has been a great new attraction to the city, even being featured in the NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/sports/othersports/22oklahoma.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Oklahoma%20City%20-%20rowing&st=cse&oref=slogin. Skye has a good point though, it will take more effort from those of us either not from OK or those who moved away and then came back (Blair) to make these changes happen.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Yes and no. Car people in OKC won’t consider it an option until it exists, because in their mind public transport is for people who cannot afford cars, instead of it being easier.
That’s why public transport in OKC has to be handled with kid gloves and its implementation has to be nearly certain of success, because if it doesn’t live up completely to expectations, it will be deemed a failure and naysayers will use it as an “I told you so” to prevent any further action.
How do we do this? We need a captured audience who would find public transport a viable option because of **ease** instead of **cost**. Homemakers who need to run errands during the day won’t be our trail-blazing transit riders. They will be the skeptical ones, because they need to go all over town when they want, where they want.
Our perfect captive audience would be commuters who work in downtown, but live somewhere like Edmond or similar place. They go downtown every morning around 8 or 9. They experience the traffic and mayhem and standstill highways. They don’t use their cars much–if at all–during the day. They don’t run errands. They work, and at 5 pm or so they drive back home.
That’s why they are the perfect candidates. Put in just one light rail line or something similar aimed at business commuters, so the stigma of “public transport=poor people” won’t keep them from using it. Show them how easy it is to use it if all they want to do is get to work in the morning and back home in the evening. Have a park-and-ride lot at the station in Edmond to make sure it is easy to get home.
They would see how successful it can be and how easy it can be, and will ease others’ minds on the issue. In other words, whatever we do, it must be an instant success or else momentum falls and naysayers/skeptics get the stronghold.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Hey Jordan,
I think you are right about the stigma and the importance of the initial roll-out. Targeting suburban business commuters might work, but it is an extremely expensive first step. Plus, once we get them downtown how are they going to get around? I fear that we would spend a bunch of money on an incomplete system and that commuters, if required to travel by car to the station anyway, will just decide to head for downtown.
I think we are probably safer, and ultimately better off, focusing on making downtown a park-once urban environment with a first class urban streetcar network. Once we have a streetcar system to get people around downtown, then I think your commuter line would make a great next step and make transit in OKC legit!
Either way, I agree that the first step has to be first class. Good stuff – thanks!