Broken Arrow Rolls Out On-Demand Electric Rideshare Service With MetroLink

Broken Arrow has started a city-wide rideshare service, developed in partnership with MetroLink, that lets residents request a ride through an app for a low flat fare.

A three-hour pass costs $1.75, while $3.50 covers a full day. Riders buy passes through the GoPass app. The service sits somewhere between a ride-hailing company and a conventional bus: a rider submits a request, and the driver collects them at the curb. If another request comes in while a trip is under way, the driver may stop to pick up that passenger along the route.

The fleet consists of four Ford Mustang Mach-E electric vehicles, each valued at about $60,000, along with one accessible van. The Indian Nations Council of Governments provided the funding for the purchase, with one condition attached: the vehicles had to be electric.

Amanda Yamaguchi, Broken Arrow's Planning and Development Manager, called the project innovative. "Using the electric cars for micro-transit is new for this area," she said.

The design grew out of a traffic study carried out by Yamaguchi's team to identify what Broken Arrow residents need from local transportation. Fixed bus routes, she explained, work well for people who keep a set schedule and know exactly when they must be somewhere. "So people needed the flexibility to get different places at different times of the day," she said.

Riders can travel anywhere within 20 miles of Broken Arrow. Through connections to the wider MetroLink system, trips can also reach downtown Tulsa, which could ease some of the pressure on the city's congested roads. Resident Ashton Bowers described local driving conditions as including "lot of traffic, lot of swerving, lot of [congestion] as well, lots of possible wrecks."

For the time being, the service operates Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The city has set up a dedicated webpage with details about the program.

Yamaguchi said the program could grow if demand supports it. "I would love to see it expanded, but ridership data is what we need in order to make those expansions happen," she said.