Thank You for Choosing Metro... Have a Bodacious Day!

Thank You for Choosing Metro... Have a Bodacious Day!

This week's RFT has a feature story on Larry Salci, CEO of Metro (better known to most of us as Bi-State Development Agency; indeed, that's still its legal name according to the agency's charter approved by Congress and President Harry S. Truman in 1949, with Metro serving just as a "Doing Business As (DBA)" tag).

In light of this article, and the troubles with the Cross County MetroLink extension that prompted it, I thought I'd try to figure out:

Just how much bus service has been eliminated in the past 15 years by Bi-State / Metro?

Here's a start:

The following bus routes, many of which I used to ride, no longer exist (although some have been partially replaced by other service, many have not).

#01 Vandeventer (service on Vandeventer Ave. north of Enright was not replaced)

#02 Forest Park Shuttle Bug (service on Euclid Ave. was not replaced; current Zip2 service is seasonal)

#03 Morganford-Arsenal (entire route eliminated with no replacement)

#05 Gravois (particularly the Loughborough branch, which was not replaced by other service, as well as the western part of the Holly Hills/Eichelberger branch)

#14 Garden Express (merged into the #13 Union-Garden)

#17 Clayton-Oakville (entire route eliminated with no replacement)

#19 St. Louis Avenue (North Market portions not replaced)

#20 Cherokee (service on California Ave. was not replaced)

#21 Tower Grove (merged into #30 Soulard)

#29 Berkeley Shuttle (entire route eliminated with no replacement)

#30 Cass (mostly converted to #30 Soulard)

#37 Jamestown-RiverRoads Shuttle (replaced partially by #36 Spanish Lake)

#44 UMSL-Northwest-WestPort (entire route eliminated with no replacement)

#49 Lindbergh (service from South County Mall to V.A. Hospital, and service through the Lindbergh tunnel under the Airport Expansion)

#52 Forest Park (mostly merged into #52 Clayton-South County)

#53 Litzsinger (entire route eliminated with no replacement)

#55 Clayton-Galleria Shuttle Bee (largely taken over by #58 Clayton-Ballas)

#57 Manchester (service on Chouteau Ave. from Vandeventer to Broadway/4th)

#62 Kirkwood-Clayton-Wellston (entire route eliminated with no replacement)

#63 Clayton-Northwest Plaza (entire route eliminated with no replacement)

#68 Big Bend (portions replaced by #47 Cross-County)

#73 Carondelet (service on California Ave. was not replaced)

#96 Walnut Park (small portion replaced by #195 Carter Shuttle)

#98 McCausland-Delor (entire route eliminated with no replacement)

#99 Lafayette (service on Lafayette Ave. was not replaced)

#17x Oakville Express (service on Telegraph Rd. south of Gebhardt Dr., and on Reavis Barracks Rd. from Telegraph to Lemay Ferry, was not replaced)

#73x Lemay Express (entire route eliminated with no replacement)

#80x Southampton Express (entire route eliminated with no replacement)

#92x St. Louis Hills Express (entire route eliminated with no replacement)

#111x Kirkwood Express (merged into #11x Shrewsbury Express)

#120x Affton Express (service via Morganford was not replaced)

#140x Broadway-Barracks Express (merged into #240x Oakville Express)

#152x Manchester Rd. Express (entire route eliminated with no replacement)

#173x Mehlville-St. Louis Express (merged into #340x I-55 Mehlville Express)

#211x Big Bend Express (Sappington Road portion was not replaced)

#220x Watson Road Express (service on East Waston Rd. was not replaced)

#273x? Forder-Union Road Express (portions replaced by #52 Tesson Ferry Express)

#373x? I-55 Express (partially replaced by #340x I-55 Mehlville Express)

#410x Eureka-Pacific Express (service to Pacific was not replaced)

#474x Jennings Express (entire route eliminated with no replacement)

That's all I can remember. I think there were several other express routes quietly dropped over the years as well; and possibly some major branches of some local routes as well.

While I applaud Metro's efforts to improve reverse-commute service to places like Earth City, Chesterfield, etc., I am still disappointed by all the cuts that have been made. I recognize some of these routes had extremely low ridership, but some did provide connections to employment opportunities.

Not to mention the rather recent cutback in peak-hour MetroLink service intervals from every 7.5 minutes to every 10 minutes.