Downtown Trolley

[brianh]

I was in Fort Worth this week and they have this really nice trolley system that comes by the stops every 15 minutes. It basically does a loop around the two main streets in downtown.  All the city visitors I was with, including myself really loved it. I thought with the Mayo Hotel opening, the new ballpark and the BOK center this would be an ideal time for the city to consider this.  I am not sure how we would pay for it, but it would be nice to find a way, maybe tack on an extra furlough day or something(joking).  The trolley does need to be free to ride by the way. Here is my ideal route map, I am not a good graphics artist:



The little red dots are approximate stop locations.

[Conan71]

We've got one unless you are suggesting a rail trolley.

http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A20322

[brianh]

yeah, I like the Tulsa trolley, but they need to tweek its stop locations and I would like to see it run all the time like between 11am and 2am every day. Or do a new one.

[Conan71]

yeah, I like the Tulsa trolley, but they need to tweek its stop locations and I would like to see it run all the time like between 11am and 2am every day. Or do a new one.

The owner of the trolley is scraping by as it is.  It'd be nice if merchants could kick in a bit more or Tulsa Transit could underwrite some costs like fuel.  I don't know if Blake Lund reads TN or not, but I'd be happy to take your suggestions to him.

[OurTulsa]

Gotta bring it down to 10th to pick up the kids at TCC...charge a quarter to ride it.  Call it the quarter trolley and highlight the route downtown with marked/sheltered stops at primary points.

[TheArtist]

There aare still really not the number of riders and destinations along the route to make a real go of it.  Most of the time there are still not enough people on the streets wanting to go to a place along the route where they cant park near that destination already, or not enough multiple destinations. Plus that area shown is quite small and easily walked.

During events the trolley is great. I have used it several time this year. But the rest of the time... I have always found a parking space within 2 blocks of my destination and rarely have multiple destinations that arent within close proximity.

Get the "musuem/arts and entertainment" districts going in the Brady/Greenwood/Blue Dome areas, the hotels in the "Deco District", plus ever more events and people living and working downtown, and your weekends might start to create a more plausible scenario in which a trolley or two could run all day and on a few more occasions.

I got asked to bid to paint some large floor numbers on a parking garage downtown next spring. My impression was that this was going to be a new parking garage. May be wrong on that though. Has anyone heard of the city or someone building a new parking garage? Anywhoo, my point would be that we do not need the city building any new parking garages. Would rather the city use 1/100th of that budget towards helping out the trolley and a good chunk of the rest going to work on any future rail. Our mindset should be focused on getting density and pedestrian friendly streets combined with mass transit going in and around downtown, not parking.

[TheTed]

I appreciate Mr. Lund's effort but the trolley in its current form is not really useful.

Absent any type of schedule, there needs to be no more than 15 minutes between trolleys. I don't want to finish dinner, then end up standing at the curb for 30 minutes. The fear of standing and waiting for a trolley indefinitely is what frequently keeps me from riding. It just puts a major damper your whole night if you wait for a bus for 45 minutes (done this before, not for the trolley), then call a cab and wait another 45 minutes for it.

There's no information coming out of this T-Town Trolley service. If they stopped running today, would anybody even know? Their website hasn't been updated in months.

I can't even find a map of the route anywhere. I find some maps, but they're outdated based on where I see the trolley stopping.

It seems like Tulsa Transit could have some type of $1 circulator providing better service between the entertainment districts.

A good example is the TANK in Cincy/Northern Ky: A couple of color coded routes running from Northern Ky suburbs across the river to downtown Cincy. There are maps at hotels and it's just very easy for tourists and anyone else to use. It's very popular among guests staying at Northern Kentucky hotels.

Would tourists even know about the T-Town Trolley or be able to glean enough information online to give it a try?

[Wilbur]

Believe me, with that tiny loop, one trolley should cover that entire circuit in 15 minutes or less.

[Red Arrow]

I still subscribe that a "trolley" rides on rails and gets electric power from overhead wires.  That aside, the (so-called) Tulsa Trolley is a good thing even if it doesn't accurately predict the ridership of a real trolley.  With any mass transit if you need a schedule during heavily used times of the day, it doesn't run often enough.  If I can walk to my destination quicker than waiting for the next bus/trolley, I will walk in all but the worst weather.

See www.lightrailnow.org

[brianh]

Yeah, I realize that it is a tiny loop. I was basing that off this one in Fort Worth, the Molly Trolley.

[Red Arrow]

It seems like Tulsa Transit could have some type of $1 circulator providing better service between the entertainment districts.

Some places I have been have all day passes for a reasonable fee.