Thursday, August 04, 2005

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.

4 comments:

Jim said...

Harry S Truman

Joe said...

Yeah, I know, the middle initial "S" didn't stand for anything. However, it is still called the "Harry S. Truman Presidential Library"

Michael R. Allen said...

Thanks for the list, even if it isn't totally complete.

These cuts are huge! Disgraceful.

Anonymous said...

While the vast majority of recent re-routings cut service, some areas received improved service. Gravois was created as a main line and added service to Gravois Bluffs. Chippewa expanded service to Crestwood.

Clayton-South County merged Forest Park and Carondelet. Shaw-Southampton merged Lafayette/Shaw-Russell with Southampton. Taking these last two mergers along with Gravois, Natural Bridge and Delmar, there is a new bus loop in downtown with more frequent service.

More recently, service has been expanded in North County, connecting to St. Louis Mills for the first time, and improved service to Earth City.

Ultimately, most of the changes in increased service have benefitted reverse commuters, while many expresses have been eliminated. But since transit-dependent or zero-vehicle households living in the City continue to ride buses the most yet work increasing in St. Louis County, reverse commuting seems to be a strong trend warranting Metro's attention.