Wednesday, September 20, 2006

No More Transit on DeMun in Clayton

No More Transit on DeMun in Clayton

WashU Transportation sent out this notice about a half-hour ago. It's not on the Metro Rider Alerts page yet.

#2 WUSTL Red Route Change October 9th
In the DeMun Neighborhood

Effective Monday, October 9, 2006, Metro will remove bus service provided
from the DeMun Avenue neighborhood streets including Northwood, Rosebury,
and DeMun operated on the #2 WUSTL Red. The revised route will operate on
Skinker to Clayton Rd in the southbound and northbound directions.
Alternative access to this bus route will be available at existing bus
stops on Skinker Blvd. (at Northwood, Rosebury, Southwood) and on Clayton
Rd. at DeMun.

This decision was made at the request of the City of Clayton in
collaboration with DeMun neighborhood residents.

For information call Metro at (314) 231-2345.


I believe part of the problem, at least according to one local discussion board, is that residents and/or customers of businesses park in the no-parking zones near corners along DeMun, resulting in too tight a squeeze for MetroBus.

I think this is crap. Clayton should, as somebody noted on that board, just enforce their parking regulations. Metro drivers are pretty skilled at this sort of thing. Just the other night, I was riding the #93 Midtown-South County southbound as it turned from Lemp Avenue onto Cherokee Street. At the same time, the northbound #93 made the turn in the opposite direction. There's a tavern on that corner, so there were cars parked on both sides of the street close to the corner. While it was tight, the bus operators both managed to negotiate the turn successfully, after a bit of maneuvering.

Just because DeMun happens to be a bit higher-end shopping district than Antique Row, doesn't mean it can't also deal with the issues surrounding public transit service.

Then again, it's not really that far to walk from DeMun to Skinker, right? However, crossing Skinker in that section is not particularly easy nor safe. And the #16 City Limits already services that section of Skinker, so this is just duplicative service.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Personally, I'd take frequency over coverage, which this change helps.

It could be more user-friendly for those living less than routine lives to always walk to the same bus stop on Skinker and be less mindful of schedule if heading somewhere served by either route, such as MetroLink. Then, if you miss a bus, another is not as far behind.

In my own neighborhood, I'd rather have multiple routes all on Arsenal for frequency, rather than coverage on both Southwest and Arsenal. Similar to Skinker and DeMun, Arsenal and Southwest are just one to two blocks apart.

Doug Duckworth said...

Hey Joe quit complaining.

Your wonderful Washington University has a separate bus line whereas us low class UMSL students are stuck with horrible suburban parking, new dorms that flood, and an additional Metro fee.

You still have it pretty good.

Joe said...

Doug, I agree the UMSL 'infrastructure' fee plus charging for Metro passes is quite unfair. When I was a student there, the Bi-State decal (at the time) on your student ID card was completely free.

Then again, until this fall I had to pay full price for a regular monthly pass because I'm too old to qualify for the regular University Pass. Still much cheaper than parking; and I'll only get about a year's worth of use out of the WashU freebie Metro pass, since I'm nearing the end of my time as a full-time student.

And many of the newer dorms at WashU are pretty suburban looking, too. But yeah, three sprinkler breaks in just over a month at the new Oak Hall at UMSL is simply ridiculous. I hope the University sues the pants off the general contractor and applicable subs.