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Transit Board Decides to Fund Peoria Bus Rapid Transit Solely With Vision Money

When Peoria Avenue bus rapid transit service Aero launches next year, Tulsa Transit will fund it entirely through Vision Tulsa money.

The mayor’s office hoped Tulsa Transit would use some of its $7.5 million general fund budget for bus rapid transit operations. General Manager Ted Rieck said voters renewed the Vision sales tax for BRT and other specific projects, so those should be kept separate from other Tulsa Transit services.

"It’ll preserve the bus rapid transit project, but the services that connect to the bus rapid transit project may be more difficult for us to provide because our funding levels haven’t been keeping up with our costs," Rieck said.

Rieck said adjusted for inflation, Tulsa Transit’s general fund budget has been cut every year for the past decade.

"You know, miracles can happen, so we might find some new funding or be more efficient than we already are, but there is a possibility that a year from now we’ll be looking at some sort of service reduction as we launch the new bus rapid transit service," Rieck said.

At this week's Tulsa Transit board meeting, Rieck pointed to service reductions plans being made this fall to go into effect in April 2019.

Board members agreed while Aero will need regular bus service feeding into it, not fully funding bus rapid transit would make it difficult for Tulsa Transit to go after additional funding, like federal grants, to bolster other services.

Federal grants, however, are no sure thing.

"This current administration favors rural areas over urban areas, so that’s not a plus in our corner, but Oklahoma is a red state, so that’s a plus," Rieck said.

Tulsa Transit anticipates Vision funds will cover the Peoria BRT, Sunday service and a downtown circulator, but Route 66 BRT and a new transit hub will be pushed back.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.