A Ticket to Ride
As momentum builds for work starting on a streetcar system, there are discussions going on behind the scenes as to whether the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority should actually be in charge of the operation. The thinking among some critics is that this city trust has done a poor job with the rubber tire trolley system created through the original MAPS initiative and isn’t winning rave reviews for its approximately half-century operation of the city’s bus system or the more recently launched river cruisers.
But the following article brought to our attention by planning consultant Otis Wright reminds us that history is filled with examples of private operation of public transit that don’t exactly work out as well as hoped for passengers and taxpayers. Oklahoma City’s own history with streetcars is looked back on fondly, but also had its ugly moments as detailed extensively by Oklahoma City’s beloved history blogger Doug Loudenback.
With all that mind, the question comes up: is the criticism of COTPA fair? Well, yes and no. I covered the Oklahoma Spirit trolleys from their launch on, and originally ridership was quite high. But the trolleys also were saddled with routes created through sheer political will – routes to the I-40/Meridian corridor that averaged 11 passengers a day (yes! think about that!) and yet couldn’t be killed without facing a backlash from politically connected hoteliers. So the system from the get-go faced a drain on resources, and then the agency, trying to please everybody, pleased no one by frequently changing routes, stop times, and ultimately leaving passengers in the dark by yanking schedule and map signs that provided people a clue as to when the trolleys might stop, and where they might go (to my knowledge the signs are still not back up).
Early on I asked former transit director Randy Hume if signs might be added to the entryway of the trolleys to provide people a better idea on the route and attractions hit by the trolleys. Such signage was used, very effectively in my mind, when I used similar trolleys in San Antonio.
Hume said it was a possibility – one that was never mentioned again.
So what do you folks think? Do you ride the trolleys today? (note: they’re now free, an idea that was brushed aside when the trolleys first hit the street). Will you ride the streetcars? How would you like to see them operated?
Thank you for joining our conversation on OKC Central. We encourage your discussion but ask that you stay within the bounds of our commenting and posting policy.
Comments
My own perspective on this, from last summer:
“The trouble with COTPA – well, one trouble with COTPA – is that it has two different missions, and inevitably one must suffer: organizations cannot multitask worth a flip. (See, for instance, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives, Salt and Salt Substitutes, Light Bulbs, and Energy Drinks.) So we have (more or less) acceptable parking facilities, but transit is marginal at best.”
Here is the key phrase in your blog, Steve, IMO: “…then the agency, trying to please everybody, pleased no one…
Can COTPA learn from its mistakes?
Thought Express Personnel or somebody had sponsored the Trolleys and they were free for a yer? Or is the year already up?
while i would love to use the trolley, i don’t. there is no signage, no route info available, nothing. i drove to town one day, planning to do that very thing, and i won’t waste my time on it again.
COTPA is incompetent. give them streetcars and they will indeed kill it. build the system and lease it to a private operator. it works for the canal boats.
I’ve never made a study of COTPA history and don’t know what factors influenced one thing or another. I can only say from participating in the Transit public meetings that Rick Cain struck me as a knowledgeable guy about transit, including streetcar, issues. My hunch is that he is twisted every which way but lose in his dealings with the political issues involved with transit. IF that be so, any “new” organization would likely have the same torments, unless in some way politics is stripped from the problems that must be resolved. Just a hunch.
The only time I’ve ridden on a trolley is when it has showed up on the line I ride when I take the bus to my work. In general, as a transit option, I am not impressed. They are uncomfortable and the fake trolley schtick just doesn’t work for me. I pretty much stay out of downtown so I don’t know where they go around there. If it was easier to get to and from downtown by public transportation, no doubt I’d go there more often and spend money there. But the buses stop running early and run very infrequently on Saturdays. When I read things like the 11 riders per day, I weep.
Of course the operation of the streetcar and the authority to implement solutions as time goes on, and the decision regarding future routes, and EVERYTHING streetcar-related, needs to be given to a public trust. Similarly to how Central Park in NYC is ran. A public trust of private citizens who donate their time to serve on this trust, and are not part of the public bureaucratic hierarchy and will have the guts to make decisions regardless of political pressure.
COTPA has failed at absolutely everything they do. The City Council says nice things to their face and praises them for doing something with so little. In reality they are awful at everything they do and it’s the opposite. Every dollar given to COTPA to run the bus system is not stretched, actually it’s utterly WASTED. If you want to have an $18 ROI margin, put the streetcar in the hands of a trust wholly independent of COTPA.
If you want the streetcar ran in the ground, I’m not sure how but a way will be found because that’s what COTPA does, then yeah..you know who to put in charge of it.