OK: Survey to gauge interest for public transportation system
The City of McAlester is gauging public interest for a public transportation system through an online survey.
McAlester Interim City Manager Ken Wimer said the discussion began because the city has a letter of commitment from American Li-Ion, which will provide nearly 300 jobs with its new industrial facility. Some people may not meet workforce requirements without reliable transportation, and a public transportation system could fix that need, Wimer said.
The conversation branched from transportation to jobs, to transportation to everyday places like doctor’s appointments and the grocery store, according to McAlester Mayor Justin Few.
“We have all these conversations about what are the needs in the city? One of them is, ‘How do you get people to work? How do you get people to the grocery store?’” Few said.
Few said a public transportation system would benefit the community by alleviating the cost people pay for individual car transportation, bills and groceries.
Wimer agreed and said “this as an opportunity to kind of fill a gap right now for some of our more needful citizens.”
The survey supplies the data the city needs before taking on the project. It is important that the city knows where public interest lies before beginning projects like this, Wimer said.
“We don’t want to take on any responsibility for something that the public is not going to be enthusiastically accepted of,” he said. “We don’t want to spend taxpayer dollars on a service that’s not going to be used or going to be held in low regard by the citizens.”
Few said if there is a need for public transportation, the city will develop a plan matching the need.
“We’ll have to take that data and then turn that into what is a budget look,” Few said. “If there’s a small need, maybe additional funding for something like the KATS Bus, just expanding a service there. Whereas if it’s a large need, like you would envision a large metro city bus, then we would probably have to look at partnerships, grant funding, those sorts of things.”
Wimer said although it is in an early stage, local agencies have expressed interest in what the city is looking to do.
Few said that partnership could be key to driving the plan home if a need is discovered.
“Just like McAlester’s data driven, we’re also partner driven,” Few said. “We love to partner. It seems to make everyone’s life easier not reinventing the wheel and figuring out how we can all work together.”
The survey link can be found at https://forms.gle/1YsR4aN2rGrg4bZP9 and is on the City of McAlester Facebook page. The survey ends Jan. 4.
For more information or to express thoughts regarding the potential system, call 918-423-9300 and ask to be transferred to Wimer.
© 2025 the McAlester News-Capital (McAlester, Okla.).
Visit mcalesternews.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.