LATS begins education effort for new fixed routes

The education process has begun for the first major route changes in LATS history.

New fixed routes (routes that run hourly past the same fixed points) have been in the works for about two years, with Hendrickson Transportation Group working with community entities and talking to riders and interested residents in a series of public meetings and comment sessions held as recently as late February. The goal has been the same at each: identifying key areas to help increase ridership and enhance services, while getting community feedback, said LATS General Manager Ryan Landers.

The tinkering is done, new routes are set and LATS staff members have begun reaching out to businesses and organizations to set up “meet and greets” as they prepare for an early June launch of those new routes. It’s the first major changes since LATS crafted its original routes and began operations in Spring 2002.

Landers said the idea behind those new routes is prioritizing those on arterials — in other words, getting buses out of neighborhoods. He said for the most part, LATS’ new eight routes will be focused on arterials, although some collector streets (such as Meadowbrook) have been included. That’s a distinct change from original routes that now travel through some neighborhoods, paths that can be a problem during inclement weather (LATS already moves all its buses to arterials on snowy/icy days).

Landers in addition to weather conditions, some residential streets just aren’t suited to large buses, and such areas already cause problems for bus drivers who must navigate streets too narrow to allow passage of large vehicles by cars parked at curbs.

“This is the biggest change to the fixed route system since we started in 2002,” Landers said. “We are changing all our routes to try and make them more efficient and, at the same time, try to provide more service.”

The net result has been covering more areas of Lawton using fewer buses, LATS officials said, of a system that will use eight buses rather than today’s nine.

Those new routes were carefully crafted, continuing what has been a long-standing LATS tradition: ensuring Lawton sites that draw a lot of foot traffic are served by buses. That’s why every Lawton Public School campus is on or within an easy walk of a LATS route, as are many medical facilities, Cameron University and Great Plains Technology Center, governmental services, and popular shopping sites such as Walmart.

Tony Hansley, director of operations for LATS, said new route patterns will “overlay each other quite a bit,” to provide multiple bus opportunities for popular destinations. Hansley and Landers also said that while some service areas are being dropped, others that have never had bus service before have been added. For example, Bishop School, south of West Lee Boulevard on South Sheridan Road, will be on a route, as will Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport’s terminal.

Hansley said there also will be a change in how routes are identified. Traditionally, fixed routes have been referred to by color, while new routes will be referred to by number (although colors still will be associated with them).

While the focus is new routes, it won’t be the only change.

Landers said fixed route hours will be expanded to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday (Saturday service will remain at 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Sunday service (which LATS has never offered) is still under discussion, and Landers said that discussion includes whether LATS would set fixed routes for Sunday service or use an on-demand service micro-transit.

Micro-transit already is being discussed for destinations that don’t require fixed route buses, such as Fort Sill and the west industrial park, as well as areas of Lawton that may need some service but don’t warrant a fixed route bus.

Landers said LATS officials now are working on their public education campaign, to include videos and images on its website, or offering a chance for residents to visit administrative offices for details.