OKLAHOMA CITY — Sunday was the first day of the new Northwest Bus Rapid Transit line opening to riders. Drivers have been practicing the route and schedule for about a month.
Living close to the end of the line at Meridian and Northwest Expressway, I rode the entire route to the Transit Center downtown at NW 4th and Hudson.
On the way in I asked driver Ashley how things had been going not just that morning but over the weeks that they have been practicing the route.
Ashley said that she was glad to finally have passengers.
As to the drivers sharing the road, Ashley said that for the most part, people were doing well with the new signal lights that allow the BRT busses to advance through an intersection first before the rest of traffic.
“But, there’s always one,” Ashley said with a laugh. “They want to take off when we do.”
Ashley also said that because of unfamiliarity with the new system, they had people sometimes calling into EMBARK to report a “bus that ran a red light.”
Here is our explainer on the new system and how to share the road as a driver and ride as a passenger.
Curiosity
Some passengers were already taking advantage of the BRT busses to get to where they needed to go.
But, others were taking advantage of the temporary free fare in December to explore the new busses and route.
Regular transit passenger and cyclist Jordan Evans loaded up their bike on the front bike rack and boarded with friend Jose Jimenez.
Evans said that they had been riding the new busses since the first one was out around 7 am. Evans was happy to see the new line enter the system and seemed eager to use it.
So was Jimenez, who works on N. Lincoln and rides EMBARK busses to work and back every day.
Jimenez said that the new addition to the system would add even more opportunities for people to have a way to get to work and where they needed to go without a vehicle of their own.
Signal priority challenges
The bus signal priority intersections are a change but one of the biggest changes is at the new 42nd and Classen BRT station outbound.
When a bus stops at that station or goes on through, the rest of the traffic is held at that new pedestrian crosswalk signal for a short time more to allow the bus clear lanes to change into as they approach the left turn lanes at NW Expressway and Classen.
Both drivers — Ashley on the way inbound and Devon on the way outbound — said that the new arrangement at that stop is where they see some drivers become impatient and run through the red light holding traffic.
Transit Center
We arrived at the Transit Center downtown at NW 4th and Hudson on time around 30 minutes after leaving the end of the line. As transit officials put it, the Transit Center is the hub on the “hub-and-spoke” type bus system that EMBARK employs.
There are people from all walks of life who come through the Transit Center but almost all are simply on their way to somewhere else.
For the first day, many EMBARK officials were on hand — both from operations and from public relations — to assist passengers.
It was necessary not only because of the new BRT line but because the addition of the line caused schedules and some routes in the system to change to integrate the new line, according to Embark’s Public Information Officer Michael Scroggins who was on hand and visited with me about the changes in the system.
Crossing the street to take a streetcar up to Neighborhood Jam in Midtown was easy. I was finishing my breakfast only an hour and a half after boarding at the end of the BRT line in NW OKC.
After riding the streetcar back to the Transit Center, I boarded one of the outbound BRT busses where the ride back to the end of the line went without a hitch.
It won’t cost you anything but your time to try out the new BRT line since anyone can ride for free until January 2 when regular fares will start applying.
Watch this space for more reporting on the progress of the new NW BRT line. And, if you would like to contribute a short reflection on your riding experience in public transit in OKC, send it to info@freepressokc.com with the subject line “Opinion submission.”
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
