The Impressive Revival of Transit in St Louis!
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- St Louis has long been underappreciated by many people as a city, however it seems that transit is on a path to reviving the city. With Metrolink having plans to extend transit and enhance its existing transit, it's possible St Louis could become a great transit city!
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I know the rolling stock needs to be replaced but dang the current ones are probably the most charming looking in the country. Or maybe Im just a sucker for the boxy look and big windows
I feel that way too tbh hah
Yeah I was thinking this same thing! Like noooo STL please don’t replace those cute ancient looking 90’s nostalgia boxes
I was just about to say this
Maybe we can reuse them elsewhere somehow...
Yeah. I grew up with these trains and will definitely miss them.
Great video. Lifetime STL'n and frequent Metrobus and Metrolink user. The number one way that Metrolink can be improved is FREQUENCY. We actually had 12 minute frequency on each of the Blue/Red at one time (which, then meant in the co-tracked area between FP and Fairview Heights, it was effectively every 6 minutes). That would be amazing to just get back to that. Along with the Green Line, the number one long-range improvement Metro could make is to get the 70-Grand (my home bus, I live about a third of a block off Grand at the south end) dedicated bus lanes, it would immediately improve the lives of thousands of people. Other than around the CWE station, or at ball games, the 70 is always more crowded than Metrolink.
Very easy when you have ZERO grade crossings
@@qjtvaddict Metrolink has street grade crossings? Several between Cortex and CWE, to start. But also on the Blue line by Sunnen and the Red past Rock Road. Or am I missing what you are saying?
Nice
Separate and reroute the blue turning it into a regional north south line in addition to the new line. We should embrace monorail and give up on slow street running rail buses aka Light crap💩rail
Neighbor! Yeah, I show up at every public meeting I can to beat the drum for signal prioritization for the 70 Grand. It'd speed up the route so much that we'd get the benefit of one extra bus per hour, back to where we were pre-plague, without having to hire a single additional driver. And I checked with the streets department: the signals on Grand already came with the necessary hardware. Lowest hanging fruit ever, I tell you.
TIL St. louis has two airports!! Glad to see rails with trails because its a great use of nearby ROW. hopefully to see some TOD with service.
Mid-America Airport opened in 1997 as a way to ease perceived congestion at Lambert International Airport. That congestion never happened, both because St. Louis is on the decline population-wise, but also because American Airlines pulled their hub from St. Louis and Lambert built another runway to increase capacity. Both airports are on opposite ends of the St. Louis area, so pretty far apart. Originally Metrolink only went to Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, but then they extended it to Scott AFB and now finally it will be extended to the airport. The airport ended up being a huge bust. There were many years where no carriers were flying in or out of there. Honestly the airport probably would have closed if it weren't for Scott AFB. There is a taxiway that links the airport's runway to Scott's runway, which allows the military to use it if the need to. Boeing and a few other airplane related companies also have facilities on or near the premises, so that also could have helped keep the airport open. In 2012 Allegiant Airlines showed up and saw a resurgence of the airport. Wikipedia says they had like 302k passengers in 2018 who flew in or out of Mid America. Eventually passenger traffic was enough that they're expanding the airport terminal to allow for more passengers, ticket counters, and gates.
Four, actually. Chesterfield, Lambert, Parks, and Mid-America.
@@jbradhicks 6. You forgot St. Charles County Smartt Airport and Creve Coeur Airport.
I live without a car in downtown St. Louis. The East-West limitation of MetroLink is definitely one of its biggest drawbacks, but I would say the frequency of the train and its speed is one of the worst aspects of MetroLink. Every 15-20 minutes is simply inconvenient and literally any bus could take you faster than the MetroLink does. Because of this, I have seen personally that ridership is extremely low throughout the day and I don't know if you can really justify having it compared to just a solid bus line
90% of routes in STL are hourly or worse I’ll take 15-20 minutes over that
Nah. Metrolink frequencies are much better than bus frequencies and are less vulnerable to having service cuts or cancellations like bus routes. Transferring from the bus to the train is much easier than transferring from the train to the bus.
Metro’s frequencies downtown are literally every 10 minutes.
@@rorypaul153 Only if you're travelling within the sections where the red and blue line overlap. If you're headed to Clayton, you would have to take a westbound blue line train that runs every 20 minutes
@@noahhart5454 you can take a Red Line to forest park (on the other 10 minutes) and then catch a Blue Line
STL is plagued by jurisdictional issues and a lack of state-level investment. So you have a situation where the state that is willing to pay for transit has mostly rolling fields and suburbia (Metro East Illinois), while the state that refuses to finance transit has urban areas that could really use the service. For example, nearly $100 million in state funds are being used in Illinois to extend MetroLink, with no federal match. This doesn't happen west of the river. Politically, transit is critical to redeveloping the City of St. Louis, but it receives no state-level support. Apologists for Missouri would argue that the City of St. Louis has the ability to levy enough sales, property, and income taxes (aka the "earnings tax") to finance transit on its own. However, this just encourages relocation to suburban areas, including St. Charles County, which have repeatedly voted transit improvements down. When Bi-State Development Agency proposed a sales tax in St. Charles County to extend the Red Line to the fast-growing areas of the metro area, the residents of St. Charles County were quoted as saying, "We don't want 'those people' coming out here. We moved out here to get away from 'those people.'" I say all of this not to be a Downer, but to say that STL does a magnificent job for the resources it has and could have one of the best transit systems in the country if not for racism, sprawl, MAGA Jefferson City, and plain ignorance.
THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
As a Missourian from the northwestern St Louis suburbs... You couldn't have described it more accurately. Everyone outside of the city just thinks it'll bring MetroLink "crime" with it and can't be bothered to actually find out that it won't.
Thats also glossing over the fact that "crime" in regards to the city tends to just be a cover for racism around here.
It is really interesting that the "old" rolling stock looks very simmilar to west-german Düwag trains that can still be found in some cities
Siemens actually made the Duwags. And actually MTS in San Diego used to run them frequently
@@climateandtransitkinda the box design is really based off of the P865 in LA most light rail was based off of them that have that boxy look
love taking the Missouri River Runner to STL from KC !! always fun to go car free and use the public transportation network. The MetroLink is a fantastic system that really punches above its own weight. I have a soft spot for the 70 bus route too, the articulated New Flyer busses are so nice
St. Louis is my home city, so I'm always going to rep it! Have been riding Metrolink since I was a little kid (90's baby) and have loved it, even if the throughput could be faster. There are things that could be improved on this Green Line plan, but overall it will have some positive impact on the city and we can always fight for better next time and fight to continue to improve it.
Another north/ south route is needed on the east side connecting the Alton, Granite City, and Edwardsville areas with East St Louis and Columbia. We also need improved bus service. The bus service has undergone massive cuts in service and frequency since before the Pandemic. Many buses run on an hourly schedule. I often use the # 74 bus, which is a north / south route and is always really crowded. It needs something like a 10 minute frequency to make it more convenient.
The quality of your videos is great for a channel of your size. Keep up the great work!
I think the green line should be grade separated for its entire (or the majority of the) route, where it can have a below-grade section in downtown with the Stadium and 8th & Pine stations, and an above-grade section on everywhere else.
But what the city should be doing is turning the Union Station back into a train station. Its a huge place that could definitely have some platforms beneath its glass shed. I also think it would help establish the citys importance as a terminus station, making it somewhere worth having a transfer, instead of the current station, which I remind you, is between an interstate and a freight yard. The Union is also more pedestrian friendly, leading directly onto Market St, whereas for the current, you would walk to the Metrolink station, where you walk into the greyhound station, where you take the walkway to the platform.
They probably won't do the Union Station thing. After it was a train station it was a shopping center of sorts with shops and restaurants, but its since been converted into the St. Louis Aquarium, so I doubt it's possible to go back to being a train station. I think it's a beautiful and unique looking station and I wish it could be so, but it's doubtful.
impressed that you got the pronunciation of DeBaliviere right, lmfao
@ncliffordjr: Must be a predominantly French area settled by the French years ago. Although St.Louis years ago was predominantly POLISH - JEWISH and RUSSIAN -JEWISH.
They should look into implementing the fare gates that San Francisco plans on installing. They help to prevent fare evasion and don't look like revolving prison gates. I would like to see LA Metro install them as well.
I live here, super accurate video. even appreciate pronunciation of DeBaliviere!
The GCRTA will be using the Siemens S200 cars to replace not only the Breda Blue and Green line cars, but also the Tokyu Red Line cars as well.
Wendell Cox must be really upset with the fact that Metrolink serves his hometown.
The new routes are exciting! I’ve only moved to the area 5 years ago but being a resident of Saint Charles I would so love to see a route that links at the very least the Saint Charles riverfront to the system!
I don’t get why American transit systems use turnstiles rather than fare gates that open outwards. They are much easier to use and prevent people committing fair evasion
Some use both an on and off fare gate, like WMATA in DC.
Been waiting for this video!!
Add regional rail service on the River Runner corridor and to Centralia, IL
St. Louis sprawls really far to the W, SW, and S. I think commuter rail would make sense from Downtown to Warrenton, MO in the west, maybe Pacific, MO in the SW, and Festus, MO in the south.
@@jspihlman I've gone between a long commuter line with few stops and Metra IC between St. Louis and Centralia (possibly Evansville IN-but I might be biased having family in that area and Holiday World existing, even if that is still another hour by car from where I would realistically put a new station for the city at on Franklin St-although I would take it being by the airport for a Midwest Corridor type service if that is the only train that serves it)
The Jefferson line would probably be high platform psd to control operational cost from rolling stock and fare evasion
While the north-south MetroLink is happening, I increasingly think that Metro should IMMEDIATELY contemplate multiple BRT routes within STL city limits and parts of the inner ring of St. Louis County.
Grand, much less Kingshighway would be better corridors than any within St. Louis City…
While Olive (MO 340) & Watson/Chippewa/Gravois/Tucker (MO 366 & 30) between downtown or Delmar Loop & I-270 quite likely being successful even if they do “half-assed” BRT as opposed to IndyGo or Albuquerque ART standard…
I've visited St. Louis a number of times, and I really like Metrolink. I like the push for turnstiles, regardless of what they look like. I've been in far too many "proof of payment" systems where there is no enforcement of fare payment at all, and this in turn leads to violation of other rules and a lack of common courtesy among many riders. Minneapolis, Sacramento, and Portland could definitely take lessons from this and start enforcing their fare collection.
The payment system WITH security guards stationed at each one WILL improve the vagrants and rail rider situation.
St. Louis has a North-South economic divide. A north south train is needed
Amazing to see it expanding and refining things
Having a new line is great, but IMO issue number 1 for stl transit is terrible frequency. I swear just about every single bus comes only once an hour. In order to be effective it’s got to be reliable. Right now you could get most places in STL metropolitan area if only the buses were more frequent
I love the ambitious new green line, and continuous small expansions elsewhere.
But what i want to see next is a conversion of select interstates to be converted into metrolink ROW, with protected bikeway greenways and walkability, and a reduction of lanes from 4 each way to 2 each way at ~30mph speed limits with ample traffic calming. Thus the existing grade separation of the highways with bridges and underpasses becomes the asset for EASY rail and station retrofitting right up the middle, and then make the remainder of the interstate into a "parkway" or boulevard. Our highways within the cities are terrible. I-44 being the most unnecessary and my first pick to undo.
Link up I-70 as well, and then 55 and 64. Just use the existing infrastructure and we will be doing great.
We would be much better off if they made the line down Grand from Carondelet park to Fairmount Park. It’s the bus route with the highest ridership.
I live without a car just two blocks from Jefferson Avenue where the new line is proposed. Bus 11 is my daily commute!
Safety is actually a major concern on metro. I saw a woman get shot in the head at the Forest Park station. The newer turnstiles seem a little dramatic but they might actually be justified to make people feel safer.
About your comment at 7:07, I think it would be amazing to have some more land develop around the area of the airport, besides the 8 apartment buildings that are currently stuck in the middle of a field with nothing useful around them. But I know people in the area would heavily oppose it. Ever since they proposed building the metro station people have fought against it because they are convinced crime will just pour out of the station and destroy any town around it, something like that. At least for me when it's completed, a drive to the station is 5 minutes shorter than the drive to Shiloh station.
9:04 omg this sounds exactly like whats going on in calgary!! a mid size city with 2 existing lines (also called blue and red) in dire need of a north to south line settle for a lowfloor train cheaper alternative :p
FYI, it's not upgrading the 70 Grand. It's going on South Jefferson, about a 20 minute walk east of where the 70 Grand runs. 70 Grand will still run as it currently does
The 70 on grand is not the new alignment. Its Jefferson Avenue.
Wish they could expand to st Charles… would love to be able to take a train to the airport instead of requiring someone to drive me at 5am or worse yet pay $65 for an Uber.
Personally, I think the key to changing st Charles is to build a local LRT first to show them it’s not all bad. Then slowly expand it lol
Thank You!
Personally not a fan of the chosen north-south alignment. Jefferson Ave goes right through the hole between downtown and the West End, with relatively few endpoint destinations apart from Wells Fargo and the soccer stadium. That means tons of potential daily riders will have to make an additional east-west transfer to get where they’re going. And that can be a serious impediment to ridership, especially if trains are only running every 15 minutes at best.
It's especially bad that they aren't doing a transfer station where green will meet red/blue. You have to walk a few minutes to the nearby station instead. That seems like a GLARING missed opportunity.
@jonathanstensberg It is a little unfortunate, though I feel like that argument could be made for any north-south stretch of road in the city. Where would you rather have seen the alignment? Grand?
@@jspihlman They are actually planning a transfer station between the green and red/blue lines. They're planning to build a new station at Scott Avenue/Ewing Yard (#6 on the map in the video) which will allow transfers between the lines.
@@jspihlmanthey’re planning an infill-transfer station that will require you take a 2 minute walk down or up to the platform. Not any different than the 70 Grand. Additionally, part of the point of it is to invest in historically underinvested neighborhoods and spur new development.
They want to connect to the new NGA campus
@@theman9920 The original plan had the N/S line detour into Downtown, then back out to Jefferson. I think it would have ran up Tucker. I also feel like it's a huge mistake to bypass the densest job hub in the city and the fastest growing residential neighborhood.
I see that these new light rail cars Metro is getting might have a stationary floor at the doors. These cars have the option to where you can have steps that lower. The thing that Frisco has on their new LRVs is that once the stairs are at level with the platform, they are not big enough to where they could all be lowered at once. I like the idea that the new rail cars we are getting in St. Louis have mono wipers, which is money back in Metro's pockets when it comes to maintenance costs. The overall design for the Green line they did wasn't all that bad but the stupid thing St. Louis made was that it's southern terminus is in a dangerous location. Right where Chippewa, Broadway, and Jefferson all intersects together. The route should have continued on down the old Broadway streetcar line. The Green line is where Metro shows off to people what MetroLink is to people especially to our seniors. It's the modern version of the streetcar.
R.I.P. free-in-practice metrolink :((
I'm honestly hype for their upcoming light rails to replace the current units MetroLink is operating but the gated entrances/exits they're currently implementing at some stations is just utterly disgusting
It would be a mistake to go with a low floor tram/streetcar when you already have high floor light rail lines that are about to get new trainsets. Build high platform light rail that would use the same trainsets as the existing lines. This is very shortsighted.
The biggest issue is safety. Many more people would use trains and buses in St. Louis if they felt safer in them.
Oh no! What urban renewal projects did they try and do?
Pretty much every highway and the gateway arch, as well as projects like the Pruitt Igoe housing projects.
I'd restore the 15 Hodiamont Streetcar Line.
Your comment about Transit Ambassadors for the Los Angeles public transportation system literally made me laugh out loud. I live in Los Angeles (downtown) and those people are a joke that do nothing for security.
I wish instead of paying for turnstiles they would pay the drivers more so they would be more likely to stay.
Light rail sounds nice but I don't see the demand for a short light rail line on Jefferson. I feel like it's useless without extending down Chippewa and Florissant or Natural Bridge. I see a lot of people take the #11 bus and it has above average frequency. If Metro could just implement prioritized signals, bus only lanes, 15min or better frequency, and continuous service between #4 and #11 so riders could pay one fare and not have to transfer buses, they could have similar results at a much lower cost and could start basically tomorrow.
Also a lot of buses have 40 min headways. This is confusing and it would be a lot easier to just have 30 or 60 min consistent service
Furthermore, it would be nice if buses could wait for each other for passengers to transfer. I often see people running across 6 lanes of traffic to try to catch an intersecting bus just for the bus to pull away and then have to wait an hour for the next one. (More frequent buses would make this not as bad)
Finally I wish there was better transit options when taking Amtrak or intercity transit. There are fewer buses than 5 yrs ago (fewer Greyhound routes, no Megabus). The first (4:30am) and last (12:30am) trains on Lincoln Service leave/arrive before/after you can take Metrolink or Metrobus to/from the station. The city doesn't allow scooters (e.g. Lime, Bird) to be used during these times within a mile radius of the Gateway transit center. There are no bike racks near the station and the company that ran the downtown bike commuter station moved away so unless you bring your bike with you for an extra fee if it's even allowed, that's not an option either
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60something car-free life-long St. Louisan here, and the "green line" train plan remains the dumbest idea I've heard since the Delmar Trolley. It's going to provide the same level of service that you'd get out of an electric bus running the same route at the same frequency but at 4 to maybe 10 times the price. There maybe something dumber than a train that stops at the same traffic lights as cars, but boy howdy, I can't think of one.
Before the plague, the outgoing CEO had made huge improvements to the service, sacrificing some of the exurban lines for improved rate of service across the whole service. Then the plague came, and the service is creaking by, still at least one bus per hour below where it was pre-plague, because of high staff turnover.
I feel the same way you do about the hideous turnstiles. (The previous design was even worse, as it had no provision for bicycles or wheelchairs. In 2022. For gods' sake.) But we're getting one good thing out of it -- they're redoing the pay system, merging their current four or five incompatible fair payment systems down to at most two, and we're finally getting tap-to-pay out of it, which is a pretty big improvement in convenience.
So as not to be "old man yells at cloud" entirely, I must mention one big improvement you missed. We've already converted about a quarter of our bus fleet to electric, with another quarter of the fleet on order for delivery this year, and the electric buses are NICE. Not just quieter and less polluting, but way more reliable, too; fewer moving parts to break. Now if we could just find (and somehow keep) enough drivers for them, they'd really be something.
NYC needs fare gates like that.
They do in certain stations, but in my opinion they are quite gross to use abd really inconvenient if you have a suit case
There's a way to avoid all provlems wirh fare rexovery, aka riding without ticket: make the system free of charge.
Yes, that's pretty communist, and what's free isn't reapected, but that's what Luxembourg has done - and cut costs by a few %, because selling tickets and controlling vehicles isn't cheap either.
FIRST
The 'haters" claimed that MetroLink would be used by thugs to go places like the Galleria to commit crime - I hate to say they were right, but.......
People don’t take trains to do crime
Now if only KC would upgrade their transit system!
They are expanding the streetcar further south- in downtown KC
I appreciate seeing more people bullying the MBTA on transit UA-cam.
Vyvanse and weed
Obviously it would be cool for STL to get a new LRT line, but IMO it should be extremely low on the priority list for federal funding. Why build additional rail in a shrinking city with very low ridership on existing lines when you could build something new in Charlotte, Austin or the other Sun Belt cities?
Because the US government literally has a program for “rebuilding communities” also it would make sense given that the city of St Louis is pretty dense, because of its historic origins and thus has a higher per mile ridership (if we exclude the Illinois portion) than the rust belt cities you mentioned