City and transit officials unveiled branding and design concepts Thursday for the bus rapid transit line along Peoria Avenue.
It will be known as Aero. The name and design concepts are meant to call back to Tulsa being in the vanguard of the aerospace industry and a center for Art Deco architecture. Mayor G.T. Bynum said he loves the branding.
'Because these buses, we're hoping, will begin a change in mindset that Tulsans have about public transit by making it more accessible, nicer and opening up a corridor of this city that is densely populated and has a lot of job opportunities along it," Bynum said.
A study says one in five Tulsans live or work within a mile of the Peoria Avenue bus rapid transit corridor.
Officials also showed where the route’s 50 stations will be. Four of them are north of the original end point of 36th Street North, extending the route to 54th Street North and making it 18 miles altogehter.
Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper said with buses every 15 minutes, bus rapid transit will make a big difference in north Tulsa.
"It certainly makes job availability or even, you know, grocery shopping or doing anything — any daily living–type activities, it makes it easier when you have that dependability that you can count on," Hall-Harper said.
Aero will stop at roughly 81st and Riverside at its southern terminus. Service is expected to start in spring 2019.
Three levels of stations are planned, each with more features than the last. There will be four public workshops next week for people to weigh in on station amenities like bike racks, weather protection and neighborhood tie-ins.
Tulsa Transit Interim General Manager Debbie Ruggles said buy-in from everyone is important.
"Whether people decide to be a rider of the BRT or not, their tax dollars are being used to build these facilities," Ruggles said.
There are two workshops Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. One is at Spirit Life Church, 5345 S Peoria Ave. The other is at Rudisill Regional Library, 1520 N Hartford Ave.
Two workshops are downtown on Wednesday. One is at 1 p.m. at the Denver Avenue Station, 319 S Denver Ave. The other is at 5:30 p.m. at the Cyntergy Community Space, 810 S Cincinnati Ave.
