Talk to Metro about buses and MetroLink
Ask Metro Transit about bus and train schedules, new technology, fares and more in our monthly chat with the Metro experts. Join them at noon Wednesday, Aug. 7, to get answers to all your questions about how to get around the St. Louis area.
-
-
Regional leaders who are part of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments help decide where MetroLink would be expanded in the future. It cannot be extended or expanded, however, without a designated funding source or sources. That could come from federal grants, state money, and/or local sources which could include private partners, like the Cortex Station which opened last year through a public-private funding partnership. The next MetroLink extension will occur in St. Clair County. You may have seen in the news recently that the Illinois Legislature and Illinois Governor approved $96 million dollars to extend MetroLink from the Shiloh-Scott Station to MidAmerica Airport.
-
-
-
Jake, MetroLink, like nearly all light rail systems in the United States (for example, Minneapolis, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles, etc.), is designed as a proof of payment system. While MetroLink’s 38 stations vary in design and neighborhood context, many stations are deliberately designed to be well connected to their surrounding environment. Unlike heavy rail systems designed to carry very large volumes of passengers (for example, Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York, etc.) these proof of payment systems rely on a coordinated team of security, law enforcement and operations personnel to be present across the system to enforce fares, a passenger code of conduct, and criminal codes. Metro Transit is working to improve the presence and effectiveness of these teams across the transit system to reduce the incidence of fare evasion as well as nuisance behaviors and criminal activity. We have made progress, and there is still hard work ahead. Declining ridership and fare evasion are also occurring on heavy rail systems (with fare gates)- these are not challenges that we can build our way out of. We must rely on that coordinated law enforcement and security presence across the system, that presence that would still be necessary even if gates were present.
-
-
-
Good afternoon. Can you tell me when access to the Union Station platform via Clark street will be available again? This is the second time that this has been taken off line in the past year or so and with the other construction nearby it makes access to the station harder to get to.
-
-
-
Karen, thank you for being a loyal Gateway Card user. Your participation with this fare option allows our team to observe this technology in action and allows us to make modifications along the way. Since this is a pilot program, we intend to keep the usage size relatively small. Currently, Metro riders can purchase a Gateway Card – full-fare or reduced fare – at the MetroStore near the 8th & Pine MetroLink Station downtown or online at mygatewaycard.com. We plan to test an online reloadable feature for the Gateway Card, but a start date has not been set. In the meantime, we continue to explore alternative fare options such as Metro Mobile, a mobile fare option. We’ll continue to monitor feedback and evaluate how this type of technology fits with our other fare options.
-
-