OK: MOVING IN TRANSIT: System would help homeless, single-car families, youth

A transit system is in the dream stages for folks working on the issue of homelessness, who hope that with the availability of transportation, those needing to keep a roof over their head can get to their jobs.

Tom Barlow, a resident who attends the meeting of Tahlequah Resource Outreach Team, is passionate about a transit system for the city.

"I've felt this way since 2000 when I came to teach at Northeastern State University," Barlow said. " Tahlequah has changed a lot, especially on Muskogee Avenue."

Tahlequah has a perfect transportation "T," which starts out with the university on one end, to the language school at Cherokee Nation, and from the sports complex to the hospital, Barlow said.

This would help kids get to the sports complex and transport residents to the other end by Northeastern Health System and W.W. Hastings Hospital, Barlow said.

This is so necessary in Tahlequah with students, seniors, single-car families — anyone who doesn't have transportation, Barlow said.

"We are just now getting folks together to verbalize ideas of how the transit system would work," Barlow said.

The group, a subset of TROT working on transportation, is planning to have a draft plan on how to get a transit system started. It can start small and expand as the ridership grows, and should be a collaborative effort to be successful, Barlow said.

The other two subsets within TROT are addiction and strategy/planning.

"If you get enough people looking at a problem long enough that have the solution and people in mind, and not the particulars, it will make itself clear," Barlow said. "My wife and I owned The Current magazine and people had a problem coming to work, and we had offices in four or five cities, so we know about the problems of transportation [for employees]."

Jeff Thorne, an advocate for the homeless and president of StepUp Tahlequah — a housing project for families — is on the transportation effort with TROT. The goal is to form an authority tentatively named Tahlequah Transit Authority.

"What we have to form is an authority, and the goal is to have at least a minimum of a bus stop every half hour," Thorne said. "The goal is that people who don't have good transportation and have a job can get to work by the bus."

Thorne said the Department of Housing and Urban Development states the first step in getting people housed is a roof, then it branches out into food, jobs and transportation.

"This is something that can help with the homeless situation because if you have a roof over your head, the way to keep that roof is having a job and transportation," Thorne said.

The comprehensive plan for the city of Tahlequah, "My Tahlequah 2040 Comprehensive Plan," mentions transportation 136 times. The focus, though, is on creating corridors — travel and transportation networks through communities for bicycles and walking.

City Administrator Taylor Tannehill said the plan doesn't elaborate much on public transportation, only that it lists it as a high priority.

"Currently, we have a contract with Ki Bois Area Transit System, which is a public transportation service," Tannehill said. "There have been some discussions about creating a more traditional service, but there are no plans currently to do so."

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