The OKC Streetcar reached its one million rider milestone on Sept. 10, since service began in December 2018, according to EMBARK officials. The OKC Streetcar was one of the 2009 voter-approved MAPS 3 public transit projects.
“I commend everyone at OKC Streetcar for working together to get through a two-year period that was very challenging across the country for public transit, downtowns and tourism,” said Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt. “As we transition into some normality, the streetcar continues to emerge as a valuable resource for visitors, who are themselves an ever more important part of our local economy.”
A project of the city's MAPS 3 program, the OKC Streetcar aims to strengthen community connections, support economic growth and enhance mobility for residents and visitors in OKC's core. OKC Streetcar construction was completed in October 2018, and the service officially launched on Dec. 14, 2018, with fare collection beginning in February 2019. The streetcar includes two route options: the 4.8-mile Downtown Loop and the 2-mile Bricktown Loop, and serves five Downtown OKC districts, including Automobile Alley, Bricktown, City Center, Arts District and Midtown.
The OKC Streetcar is the region's first local passenger rail in nearly a century. Now the Regional Transportation Authority of Central Oklahoma is conducting federal studies to bring regional commuter rail service to Edmond, Oklahoma City, Norman and Tinker Air Force base.
"As we begin to welcome more aspects of a comprehensive transit system, including the RAPID Bus Rapid Transit line and the potential for commuter rail through RTA, we will begin to fully realize the important role that the streetcar plays as a circulator for residents arriving downtown without a car," Holt said. "In the meantime, the streetcar has already spurred major economic development downtown, and in moving more than a million passengers, it has obviously already established itself as a desirable amenity."
The first MAPS (Metropolitan Area Projects) began on Dec. 14, 1993, when voters approved the first sales tax. MAPS for Kids was established in 2001 when voters approved a second MAPS tax, raising $700 million and benefitting public schools located in Oklahoma City.
Voters approved MAPS 3 on Dec. 8, 2009. The sales tax ran from April 2010 through December 2017. MAPS 4 was approved in 2019 and will raise a projected $1.1 billion over eight years. MAPS 4 will continue the transformation of Oklahoma City's public transit system with $97 million dedicated to dramatic new improvements, including two bus rapid transit lines and more than 500 bus shelters.
"Continuing to build transportation that is accessible to all means greater opportunity for our future generations," said Assistant City Manager and EMBARK Administrator Jason Ferbrache. "Today, the streetcar is a critical strategic element of our region's transportation future - connecting with as many as three RAPID transit lines, dozens of bus routes, bike share, and the RTA's visionary commuter rail network."
