Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transit topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident urges revision of proposed bus-route cuts that affect early-morning riders
Summary
A resident raised concern about proposed summer transit route cuts and early-morning service that serves students and workers, urging the council to reconsider proposed eliminations and to postpone cuts until alternatives are settled.
Sherman Effinger, an Oklahoma City resident, urged the council to reconsider proposed transit route adjustments that would reduce service on some lines and eliminate others.
Effinger said some proposed cuts would not reflect actual working hours and would harm riders who rely on early-morning service. He said he currently uses a 5:50 a.m. route that would fall outside the draft rush-hour protections and that cutting or moving that service would "do a disservice" to workers and students, specifically calling out impacts to riders traveling to the OU Health Sciences Center. He urged postponement or reallocation of service reductions and suggested reviewing overserved routes (he mentioned Route 10 and Route 18) as potential places to reassign capacity. "If you slate it back farther, you're gonna run into more logistical errors with traffic and people missing their timelines," he said.
Effinger asked council and staff to review routing and service windows before cuts take effect and to consider the equity implications for riders without access to cars. The council noted the broader context of declining revenue and that the manager's proposed budget includes service reductions that staff must try to balance against available funds; no formal transit decision was made during the hearing.
Ending: Staff acknowledged the concern and the need to examine schedules and service levels; no vote or amendment occurred at the meeting.
