- Metro Transit (Oklahoma City)
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This article is about Oklahoma transit authority. For other transit authorities, see Metro Transit (disambiguation).
METRO Transit 
Founded 1966 (from 1992 as Metro) Locale Oklahoma City Service area metropolitan area Service type bus service, paratransit, express bus service Routes 28 Hubs Downtown Oklahoma City Operator Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority Web site gometro.org METRO Transit is the public transit authority of the COTPA (Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority) trust, the largest transit agency in the state of Oklahoma. METRO Transit has 28 interconnecting routes covering the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area, including a weekday Express route to Downtown Oklahoma City from Norman, and the "Oklahoma Spirit Trolleys", a trolley-replica bus network.
Contents
History
The Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority was established on February 1, 1966 by the Oklahoma City City Council to continue transit service as private operator Oklahoma Transportation Company had announced it would discontinue transit service due to low ridership. There were initially only 18 buses, all leased from OTC.[1]
The system was rebranded as MassTrans in 1975[2] and used that name until 1992, when it was rebranded as Metro Transit[3], though the official name remains in use as well.
COTPA was reorganized in 1989, when the city established a Transit Services division to provide senior management through an inter-local operating agreement. COTPA also bought Union Station which serves as headquarters to this day.[4]
METROLink
An unusual aspect of METRO is the METROLink program, which is a combination of owl service and paratransit service. Since regularly scheduled routes operate only until about 8pm local time, and not at all Sundays, METROLink provides nominally fixed route service from 7 pm until 12 midnight Monday through Saturday, and Sunday from 7 am until 7 pm. The four routes may however, deviate by as much as three-quarters of a mile from the fixed route if the customer notifies METRO by 4 pm the day before (or by 12 noon Saturday for Monday service). An additional fee will be charged in that instance, but customers using the fixed stops will be charged the normal fare.
Fares
Oklahoma City Local Fare
- Regular: $1.50 - Special Patron: $0.75
Express Service
- Regular: $2.25 - Special Patron: $1.10
One express route serves Norman on Monday through Friday only. Service in the City of Edmond will no longer be provided by METRO Transit effective June 30, 2009. The City of Edmond's new Citylink service began July 1, 2009.
Passes
- 30-Day Unlimited and Express Passes - Regular: $50.00 - Special Patron: $25.00
- 1-Day Passes - Regular: $4.00 - Special Patron: $2.00
- 7-Day Passes - Regular: $14.00 - Special Patron: $7.00
Routes
- 1 Garden Day/NE 23 & Bryant
- 2 Miramar/NE 23rd & Lottie
- 3 Park Estates/NE 10th & Lincoln
- 4 Belle Isle/NW 23rd & Walker
- 5 Quail Springs/NW 63rd & Western
- 7 N May/NW 63 & Independence
- 8 French Market/Wilshire & Lyrewood
- 9 Reno Crosstown/Reno & May
- 10 N Portland/NW 16th & Penn
- 11 Airport/Oak Grove/S Meridian
- 12 OKC Community College/SW 29th & May
- 13 Capitol Hill/SW 74th & S Western
- 14 SE OKC/SE 59th & Sunnylane
- 15 Midwest City/Reno & Douglas
- 16 Exchange/SW 89th & Penn
- 18 State Capitol/NE 13th & Lincoln/Musgrave
- 19 Green Pastures/NE OKC/NE 39th & Hiwassee
- 20 SE OKC/Crossroads/SE 74th & Shields
- 22 M L King Blvd/Zoo/Remington Park
- 23 N 23 St Crosstown/NW 10th & Council
- 24 Sooner Express/Norman
- 38 Fairgrounds/NW 10th & MacArthur
- 40 S Walker/SW 104th & Santa Fe
- 84 Shepherd Mall/St Anthony/MetroTech
References
External links
Categories:- Bus transportation in Oklahoma
- Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
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