Regional long-range transit plan presented to Edmond City Council

Chip Nolan, planning manager for Embark, told the Edmond City Council on May 27 that Embark, MAPS and the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG) are developing a 30-year long-range transit plan for the ACOG region and solicited community feedback.

The draft plan lays out a regional vision for connections to future high-capacity corridors and proposes a mix of service types, including 15 high-frequency routes, 25 enhanced routes, 15 on-demand zones and capital facilities. For Edmond specifically the draft lists one high-capacity route, four routes with service enhancements, two on-demand zones, four new routes and one new capital facility.

Why it matters: the plan is intended to create an overarching, fiscally constrained long-range transportation element that can be folded into ACOG’s metropolitan transportation plan, which makes projects eligible for federal funding if adopted. The plan guides where service should be provided and what types of service (fixed-route, on-demand/microtransit, express) are recommended; however, Chip Nolan said the study does not itself set operating models or funding sources.

Nolan summarized the project scope and timeline and described the plan as a high-level “cone” of planning: a regional vision first, then more detailed corridor and capital studies, and finally implementation programming and design. He said the effort builds on prior local plans such as Edmond Shift and OKC Moves and coordinates with RTA corridors including proposed commuter rail between Edmond and Norman and bus-rapid transit lines.

Nolan said the regionwide vision is intended to be phased over three 10-year segments and that staff expect to bring a final plan to ACOG for adoption in the fall: “After we have this vision, we’ll start to write those implementation plans...hopefully this fall we’ll take the final plan to ACOG, for adoption,” he said.

Council members sought clarity about funding, governance and near-term steps. Several cautioned that the public will want to know how projects would be paid for and whether the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) would ultimately operate systems now run by municipal agencies. Nolan responded that the long-range plan intentionally does not prescribe funding or operating arrangements: “This plan is really focused on creating the vision...Some of those questions about funding and service models...are something that the RTA and the member cities will have to continue to work on,” he said.

Councilors also asked about microtransit and how Edmond-specific needs would be reflected; Nolan said staff have met with the Edmond Mobility Commission and other local stakeholders and will hold additional workshops and a virtual town hall. He urged residents to review the online story map and provide input at connectcentralok.com.

The council did not take any formal action on the plan at the May 27 meeting; the presentation was informational and the next formal step is finalizing the draft for ACOG consideration and public comment.