Draft Central Oklahoma long-range transit vision emphasizes 15-minute local service, links to high-capacity corridors

Luke Schmidt, a project manager with Kimley Horn, told the MAPS 4 Citizen Advisory Board on July 14 that the long-range transit plan under development calls for expanded local service and long-range capital investments intended to connect riders to planned high-capacity corridors across central Oklahoma. “My name is Luke Schmidt with the Kimley Horn Project TD. Today, I'm gonna step you through the long range transit plan update,” Schmidt said as he opened the presentation.

The plan — funded by MAPS 4 and the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG), led in project management by Embark, and coordinated with regional partners including the RTA and ODOT — covers a 20-to-30-year horizon and is intended for adoption into ACOG’s regional transportation plan so it can support future federal transit funding. “ACOG will ultimately be adopting this and roll it into its regional transportation plan, and this allows for federal funding from a transit standpoint,” Schmidt said.

Why this matters: the study area includes roughly 1.3 million people and more than 600,000 jobs, and the plan is intended to increase affordable connectivity, reduce congestion and create more competitive, reliable transit options across the region.

The draft vision contains four principles: expanded higher-frequency local service, better network connections, explicit linkage to high-capacity investments, and complementary programs. Under the proposal, areas shaded in green on the plan map would receive 15-minute headways for local service as part of the 30-year vision. Schmidt said the draft shows “over 23 new routes” and “over 16 facilities” regionally, and that a majority of corridors and projects fall within Oklahoma City — specifically, the draft shows 17 new routes and more than 11 capital facilities inside city limits.

Schmidt also described how the plan ties local service design to several planned high-capacity projects, including commuter rail running from Edmond to Norman and several bus rapid transit corridors. The plan would realign local routes to create more direct trips and stronger transfer connections to those higher-capacity lines.

Board members asked operational questions. One member asked, “What will it be like to use multiple of those services? Will there be an app or something that kind of connects everything together?” Schmidt replied that interoperability and a unified user experience is part of the next phase of the project: “That's the next phase of the project that we're working on now…so that'll be an important piece as the system goes forward.”

Complementary programs in the draft include upgraded bus-stop amenities, expanded park-and-ride options and on-demand service zones intended to “expand the footprint of transit,” Schmidt said. He emphasized the draft’s high-level nature: the presentation represents the planning “top of funnel” and additional implementation planning and studies will follow to refine specific projects, costs and timelines.

Next steps: the draft vision is being circulated for public feedback — the project team held a virtual town hall the prior week and maintains a project website and story map for public review. Schmidt said the plan is in the recommendation phase; ACOG adoption and subsequent detailed design and funding analyses would follow.

Board members and staff did not take formal action on the draft at the meeting.

For further information: the project team recommended using the Connect Central Oklahoma website and the project story map (QR code shared in the meeting) to review route maps and facility proposals.