Rant, Stl Metro

[Popeye_Card]

Trust me, I hate ridding the bus as much as anyone here... but the Metro rail system isn't the only game in town. There's an extensive bus system in the St. Louis area that takes you to quite a few places.

Of course, you'll never convince certain people (and I'm one of them) to ride a bus over a mass-transit system on rails. The best you can hope for is to make a bus look like a streetcar - people seem to be ok with that.

I don't ride the bus in StL because it would make my commute like 1.5 hours each way. Just bad routes for me.

Preference for streetcars is because they are faster and more energy efficient.

[Arthur Dent]

F the outer suburbs, as far as I'm concerned. If you want convenient/fast urban access, then live in the urban area. Plenty of houses available.

I agree with this, but I imagine financing would be a problem.

[Arthur Dent]

Trust me, I hate ridding the bus as much as anyone here... but the Metro rail system isn't the only game in town. There's an extensive bus system in the St. Louis area that takes you to quite a few places.

Of course, you'll never convince certain people (and I'm one of them) to ride a bus over a mass-transit system on rails. The best you can hope for is to make a bus look like a streetcar - people seem to be ok with that.

I never really used the St. Louis bus system, but in my experience elsewhere, buses are a pain. They're always stuck in traffic, make constant time-consuming stops, often run infrequently, and making connections is really inconvenient. Most of the time bicycling is a much better alternative to the bus.

[TimeForGuinness]

Here is the new North-South lines they are planning: http://northsouthstudy.org/maps.htm



I like these trains (better than the ones we have now) running on Jefferson with traffic

[tothebeach08]

F the outer suburbs, as far as I'm concerned. If you want convenient/fast urban access, then live in the urban area. Plenty of houses available.

I agree with this, but I imagine financing would be a problem.

OK, I wouldn't say "F the outer suburbs". There's alot of people in the outer suburbs who spend large amounts of money in the city which is a good thing. The only reason I'm ever in the city is to go to a sporting event, restaurant/bar, zoo, or museum. I have no desire to live there, but do enjoy the things that are available. To be completely honest, in my opinion until they improve the public school system (which is a HUGE joke), the people who choose to live in the city are # 1 those who pay to send their kids to a private school, # 2 people who don't have kids, or # 3 those who can't afford to live elsewhere. OF Course there are always exceptions to that and in no way do I mean #3 negatively. The fact of the matter is that housing and taxes are lower in the city than in the county. Where I live, the taxes I pay to live in the public school district that I live in is high - but I made that choice.

And when I go to the city, I would rather have my own car. I rode the Metrolink one time to a Rams game and swore never again. Getting there wasn't bad, but coming back was horrific being squished in a rail car with a bunch of drunk men.

[cardinalkarp]

Getting there wasn't bad, but coming back was horrific being squished in a rail car with a bunch of drunk men.

After riding down for Mardi Gras my wife refuses to take it ever again. Pretty much a similar experience to what you had. EXTREMLY over packed train cars.

[Arthur Dent]

I don't want to restart the city/suburbs debate gain. I just think that mass transit should be focused where it makes sense, serving urban areas. We don't need to be making new incentives to live way out of town.

[MrCrowesGarden]

When my family lived in St. Charles, we voted FOR the Metro to extend out there (well, my mom and dad did, I wasn't old enough).

We weren't really pressed for time ever, so the Metro was convenient. I know my dad loved being able to drive to Hanley, take a leisurely ride, and then walk the couple blocks to his workplace.

[JL21]

I know my dad loved being able to drive to Hanley, take a leisurely ride, and then walk the couple blocks to his workplace.

That's exactly how it worked for me when I worked downtown. And it was awesome. I'm a huge proponent of the STL Metro. I could get just about anywhere I wanted or needed to go during the work day. And instead of starting my day off sitting in traffic and being grouchy at other drivers, I started it off with 20-30 minutes of reading. Unless it was a peak run time (Rams games, Cardinals games, whatever other things might happen in the city), I'd always have a train show up at my stop within 5 or 10 minutes. That's a pretty reasonable wait time.

Given the size of the city, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. STL is a fraction of the size of Chicago, NY, etc... so their public transportation system isn't going to be as expansive. Don't get me wrong... I'm all for expanding it all over the city. I'm just not going to break the city's chops for that not happening.

As for lambasting the Metro for how cramped it is during Rams games, Cardinals games, and Mardi Gras.... No offense to those of you that have griped, but this would be akin to going Xmas shopping on Christmas Eve at 11:55 pm and complaining that they don't have any of the stuff that you wanted to buy. Of course it's going to be cramped during those times. Try it some other time. I'd venture that 90% of Metro use is during OTHER times- people going to work, getting around town, etc...

[cardinalkarp]

No offense to those of you that have griped, but this would be akin to going Xmas shopping on Christmas Eve at 11:55 pm and complaining that they don't have any of the stuff that you wanted to buy.

This was worse than cramped, it was illegal I'm sure for the metro to allow that many people on a train car. If someone would've fell (which was quite possible w/ the amount of people that KEPT piling on at each stop) they would've been trampled and not been able to get back up.

It completely ruined Mardi Gras that year. We didn't even get downtown, we had to force our way out of the train at some random stop and catch a cab home (which was about $40).

edit : I've ridden it after Rams and Cards games and this was NO comparison. I actually felt unsafe w/ the amount of people they were allowing to get on.