New Connectivity in Metro Transit System
If you have not yet picked up your free new Metro System Guide, you really should. I believe they're still giving them out today at Civic Center MetroBus Center, tomorrow at Convention Center MetroLink station, and Thursday at Clayton MetroBus Center.
Starting Monday, they're $3 each at MetroRide downtown and the new MetroRide branch in Clayton.
Under the new scheme, almost every route connects to MetroLink! The only ones not connected to at least one MetroLink station are:
#16x Workhouse Shuttle (a very short route -- but it does hook into the new Riverview-Hall MetroBus Center)
#36 Spanish Lake (also serves the Riverview-Hall MetroBus Center)
Hospital Connector (pretty short, too -- and via Ballas MetroBus Center, transfers to only a 10-minute ride on the #58 Chesterfield Ellisville to Brentwood I-64 MetroLink)
So on August 28th, there will be in total:
37 MetroLink stations (MO and IL)
8 MetroBus transfer centers located at:
Ballas @ I-64
Central West End MetroLink (Taylor @ Children's Place)
Civic Center MetroLink (14th @ Spruce)
Clayton MetroLink (Shaw Park Drive @ Meramec)
Gravois @ Hampton
North Broadway @ East Taylor
Riverview @ Hall
Shaw @ Vandeventer (well, sort of)
MCT Bus Stations in:
Collinsville (Clay @ Clinton)
Edwardsville (Main @ Hillsboro)
Granite City (19th @ Edison)
Many commuters will now need to transfer to MetroLink in order to reach downtown St. Louis. But the following 10 local routes will still offer direct service into the downtown core (east of Tucker):
#04 Natural Bridge clockwise loop via Tucker-Washington-Broadway-Market.
#10 Gravois counterclockwise loop via Market-4th-Washington-Tucker.
#30 Soulard crosstown northbound via 4th-Washington-11th-Convention-9th and southbound via 10th-Washington-Broadway.
#32 Wellston-MLK inbound via 10th-Washington-8th-Clark and outbound via Clark-7th-Locust-9th (until 9th St garage completion).
#40 Broadway crosstown northbound via 4th-Market-7th-Washington-4th and southbound via Broadway-Washington-8th-Market-Broadway.
#41 Lee counterclockwise loop via 14th-Market-4th-Washington.
#74 Florissant inbound via 13th-Tucker-Washington-8th-Clark and outbound via Clark-7th-Locust-9th-Washington-Tucker-13th (until 9th St garage completion).
#93 Midtown - South County crosstown northbound via 4th-Washington-Tucker-Olive and southbound via Olive-Tucker-Washington-Broadway.
#94 Page inbound via MLK-Tucker-Washington-8th-Clark and outbound via Clark-7th-Locust-9th-Washington-Tucker-MLK (until 9th St garage completion).
#97 Delmar bidirectionally via Washington to eastern terminal loop clockwise via 7th-Convention-Broadway-Washington.
Also, at rush hour 8 Missouri expresses and 5 MCT expresses (plus the Tri-City MetroBus) operate into the downtown core. The routing as of Monday, August 28th is:
#10x South Grand and #11x Shrewsbury (Gravois "express" routes); #40x I-55 Mehlville (only remaining I-55 express route); #58x Twin Oaks and #410x Eureka (both I-44 express routes): inbound via 14th-Market-7th-Washington-Broadway, ending Broadway @ Market (will change from 7th to 9th after garage construction completion); outbound via 4th (starting @ Market)-Washington-8th-Market-Tucker-Spruce-14th.
#174x Halls Ferry, #240x Bissell Hills, and #274x Paddock Hills (all I-70 express routes): inbound via Broadway-Washington-8th-Market-Tucker-Spruce-14th; outbound via 14th-Market-7th-Washington-4th (will change from 7th to 9th after garage construction completion).
Most of the time, the MCT routes already follow the same route as the I-70 Missouri express routes, inbound via 8th and outbound via 7th, with service to 14th and Spruce area.
As of August 28th, 2006, no buses will operate on Olive Street east of Tucker. And, except for the temporary detour segment on Locust from 7th to 9th, no buses will operate on Locust Street.
Also, express buses will no longer operate on Tucker north of Market. The only buses still operating on Tucker between Washington and Market will be the #04 Natural Bridge (northbound only), #10 Gravois (southbound only), and #93 Midtown-South County (bidirectionally from Washington to Olive only).
Another change worth noting is the #97 Delmar will now be the only MetroBus route serving Delmar Blvd. through the Delmar Loop area in University City.
The #91 Olive will operate directly via Olive-Skinker-Enright to Delmar MetroLink, and east on Delmar to DeBaliviere garage. The #60 Midland will operate directly via Midland-Delmar-Big Bend to UCity-Big Bend MetroLink, and southeast via Big Bend and Forsyth to end at the new WashU bus loop outside Mallinckrodt Center. And the new #02 WUSTL Red operated by Metro will service Vernon, a clockwise loop in Parkview Gardens via Eastgate, Enright, Westgate, and Clemens, then back to Vernon and via Skinker-Enright to Delmar MetroLink, then south on Skinker, but will not service any segment of Delmar Blvd.
No MetroBus will operate on Leland, North Loop, or Kingsland Avenues. WashU will still operate its own shuttle bus service (the Green Line) to Lewis Center on Kingsland and the Delmar Loop/Parkview Gardens area.
Other highlights include new all day service across South County on the #17 Oakville (reinstating most of the old #17 Clayton-Oakville service eliminated in the 1990s), and in far south City on the #08 Bates -- both serving the new Shrewsbury Lansdowne I-44 MetroLink terminus. The #08 serves what were the southernmost parts of the #90 Hampton, which now will terminate at Hampton-Gravois MetroBus Center in the south, but will be extended north from Baden via Halls Ferry and Riverview to terminate at the new Riverview Hall MetroBus Center. As previously mentioned, the former #90 service to the City Workhouse has been spun off into its own little route (#16x Workhouse Shuttle), operating exclusively from the Riverview Hall MetroBus Center to the Workhouse on Hall Street.
Anyway, don't delay -- get your new Missouri Metro System Guide today, while it's still free!
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3 comments:
The dramatic change in express routing off of the historic Olive/Locust couplet is the result of shifting employment (UP is no longer on Tucker) and the difficult turns required since the Federal Reserve closed the 400 block of Locust.
While I mostly understand the new express buses' routing, I think the #40 Broadway routing is completely silly. The #40 will soon diverge off of 4th and Broadway to 8th and 9th (7th and 8th during 9th street garage construction) between Market and Washington. The rationale Metro gives is to have a direct MetroLink connection at 8th&Pine (SB direct, NB still one block away) and Convention Center (both directions on Washington) stations. But the #40 already was one (SB) to two (NB) blocks away from Convention Center station from the #40 on 4th (NB) or Broadway (SB). Plus, this new routing adds yet another bus route that must make the difficult turn at evening rush hour to/from Washington at or east of Broadway, as motorists bound for the Eads and MLK bridges jam things up in an area squeezed between numerous superblocks (America's Center/Dome, St. Louis Centre, One Financial Plaza, Federal Reserve, Mansion House complex, Arch grounds).
So yes, congrats to Metro on connecting virtually every bus to MetroLink. But as for the Downtown routing of the Broadway bus, I think that goal was taken a little too literally. In the end, I think the #40 re-routing will only add more to the rush-hour mess that the #10, #30, #93 and all evening expresses will also face in having to turn at the regularly jammed intersections of Washington at 4th and at Broadway.
Don't bother going to the downtown transit center to pick up a free manual. Bi-State is already requiring $3. Found out this afternoon.
If you went to a number of events across town, including one at the Convention Center station, then you could have obtained a free copy of the system book. Even though system books, which include all schedules, are now $3, the full system map (fold-out, color) remains free, as well as multiple copies of individual bus schedules.
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