urbanSTL

I always assumed that if turnstiles were built, they would be this kind:

If Metrolink ever wants to become the widely used system and engine of development that it envisioned they need to completely eliminate or at least significantly reduce the fare. Currently the prime users of Metrolink are students with free passes, commuters with expensive daily parking options, and those who cannot afford a car.

In a society like St. Louis where most people of any means have some access to private vehicular transportation, $2.50 for a one way fare is just too much for the average person to justify using Metrolink for daily trips. If a family of four wants to go to a baseball game downtown they may consider using Metrolink before realizing that their round trip fare would be $20, which is more than the cost of parking or just taking an uber. When it comes to going anywhere with free parking (most of the city) the average person will just drive almost every time. It's simply cheaper, easier, and faster.

Now remove the fare and suddenly Metrolink becomes a viable alternative to access all of these places removing an enormous amount of car trips. Free Metro accessibility will be an enormous benefit to densifying these central corridor neighborhoods because accessing any of the vibrant areas on the system will be as easy as walking to a train station with no other investment needed.

If you would like a case study of this happening, look at the success of the free Kansas City streetcar compared to it's paid peer systems. By remaining free, the average walker has access to the entire corridor. When visiting the city without a car we primarily used this system to get around and thus ended up hanging out in the areas around the system. Should it have been a pay system it's unlikely our group of five would have even considered it as a mode of transport compared to uber. In terms of the quality of the ride it was busy and felt electric and "big city" despite it not being rush hour or preceding an event. Bring it back to a nice but uneventful day in STL, Metrolink would be almost as deserted as if it was 30 degrees.

To bring it to a safety perspective, the largely increased ridership will bring an element of self policing to the system. Outside of peak hours train stations can feel isolated and dangerous. Throw in a constant wave of non-peak users gained by eliminating the fare and suddenly that station isn't so scary anymore.

This is the power of free public transport. Development will explode around this system and some kind of localized tax (or God forbid state support) could easily pay for the ~16% of the budget lost by fare collection.

I could see it happening at a local level after some kind of Better Together consolidation. 50 mil a year is no small number, but definitely not an impossible one when looking from a state/federal perspective. It just requires the political will.

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Mar 06, 2019

$2.50 for a one way fare is just too much for the average person to justify using Metrolink for daily trips. If a family of four wants to go to a baseball game downtown they may consider using Metrolink before realizing that their round trip fare would be $20, which is more than the cost of parking or just taking an uber.

To be fair (or fare) here, no one would take daily Metrolink trips for $2.50 a ride. A daily commuter would get a $78 monthly pass, which works out to about $1.80 a ride (without accounting for any weekend Metrolink or bus rides). All things considered, $3.60 in total daily transportation costs (with "free" weekend transportation) seems like a really good value.

For a family of four going to the game kids 4 and under ride free and kids 12 and under are half price ($1.25). And sadly, incredibly, a lot of parking around the stadium is over $20. I believe Stadium East and Stadium West are each $25. Parking by BPV or just south of the stadium can get up to $40.

It's a far cry from free - but better than the picture you painted above.

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: If Metrolink ever wants to become the widely used system and engine of development that it envisioned they need to completely eliminate or at least significantly reduce the fare.

I could see continued expansion of the system (while maintaining the current fare system) achieving the same goal by making it more widely used, increasing the utility of each station and in turn driving land values around them. You could do a whole lot of system expansion for $50 million a year, and serve a wider swath of the Metro.

Black02AltimaSE wrote: I always assumed that if turnstiles were built, they would be this kind:

I don't think that style of turnstile would ever be used in St. Louis due to ADA/accessibility considerations. There'd be no way to get a bike, stroller or wheelchair through. Those work in NY because there is either a station attendant (which STL doesn't have) to let someone through a door or an alternative entrance to the station.

For my family of four example I was trying to illustrate how poor of an option that Metrolink becomes for group transportation. Maybe I'm still just a youthful optimist but I've always thought Metrolink has been missing out on its potential as a sober ride Uber/Lyft replacement. The majority of the central corridor bars can be accessed in some way via the train system and back when I had a pass it was a lot of fun to bounce around the different bar districts via train.

Unfortunately only one of my friends has ever had a pass and convincing the rest of the crew to use the train is particularly hard considering the fare. It's just easier and cheaper to uber.

As a individual transportation machine the Metrolink is great, but loses a majority of its utility once more than a few people want to make a round trip together.

"Overturning his predecessor’s policy, St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell said Monday his office has decided to resume the prosecution of people ticketed for MetroLink fare violations by Metro public safety officers."

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/cri ... ium=direct

^Oh hey, look, there's a new sheriff in town! That should win him some public support. It's not my place to talk about somebody elsewhere, but I feel like your new fellow is an improvement on McCulloch already. Thank you St. Louis County voters and thank you Mr. Bell.

Progressive Railroading- Metro Transit-St. Louis to launch mobile ticketing

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/ ... ing--60791

Something busted a tiny hole into the sunroof of my car over the weekend and so I've been taking transit to work this week while I get that fixed. 

I've actually really enjoyed the system and I've felt totally comfortable. I don't understand why so many people act like they're above it. 

That said, answering your question, eee123, I would assume - I would hope - that these upgrades would come with fixes for Metro ticket equipment. I can't see how they could spend all this money without giving the system an overhaul. 

eee123 wrote: ↑

May 06, 2022

The other day I was trying to get home. My Gateway Card "expired" itself for the second time in a month. Neither Cortex TVM accepted my card. Luckily I had cash, but at least I could've just ridden anyway, showing my card if needed. Even buying paper tickets in advance is a poor plan since Metro insists on making them expire in three months or something.

I think we have a separate thread for this but...
According to 73Carondolet on Twitter, metro has given up on the Gateway card and is just holding out for the next major fare system overhaul in the next few years. Hopefully something with direct tap payment like NYC's Omni system, Chicago offers direct payment as well, and London has offered it since 2011, I think.
From my bus riding experience, I'd guess about 70% of bus riders are still paying exact change every time they ride. I'd love to hear others' estimates. I recently found an article from 2016 saying that only 15% of bus and trolley riders here in Philly pay cash. While looking that up, came across and article saying that number was 7% in Boston. It's an absolute policy failure that it's so hard to use STL Metro's services.

I've taken the bus this entire past week and I found it easy - incredibly easy! - to pay without using cash. I didn't pay with cash once. In fact, I routinely paid my fare a minute or two before the bus arrived from my phone.

I think your 70% is based on nothing, as I noticed more people using their phones than using cash.

I love how you can watch where the buses/trains are and plan your trip accordingly.

It was raining hard one morning and with the app I was able to greatly minimize my time out in the wet.

Sent from my SM-F711U using Tapatalk

The Transit app ticketing is OK for Metrolink, as it's a frequent service. The bus tickets on the Transit app expire in 30 days, which is absurd. Combine that with infrequent/unreliable service, and it's a recipe to sometimes throw away a dollar. I've already wasted at least $1 on their dumb fast-expiring tickets. I know, it's just a $1, but it's the principle of it.

I'm an infrequent bus rider. Sometimes the buses don't show up or I miss the bus. More than once I've left 2nd Shift Brewing and a train has prevented me from making the bus. Sometimes the bus just doesn't make a run, and it can be an hour until the next one.

Meanwhile I have a Chicago Ventra Card that I use once a year or less that I never lose the value on. If we're going to use mobile ticketing, make it comparable, not forcing me to use it in 30 days for no apparent reason.

The 30 days actually seemed generous to me.

Someone that buys a ticket and doesn't make it to the bus inside of a month can most certainly call themselves an "infrequent" rider.

I guess we shall see what changes the new ticketing system brings, because there is most certainly a new one coming. They can't build what they're proposing without completely updating it.

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Stltoday - Metro Transit replacing ‘failed’ $10.3 million smart card system

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/gov ... 37c32.html

The new system, after it is installed over the next few years, will allow a customer's account value to be accessed through a mobile phone, smart card or smart watch. Riders also could choose to use paper tickets. Riders also will be able to simply use their phone or credit card to tap and pay to get on a bus or onto a MetroLink platform.

Tapping a credit card to board a bus is an incredible step forward. From what I know, this is only an option* in NYC and Chicago so far (has been available in many European cities for 10 years). I took Ubers in STL numerous times simply because I didn't have two $1 bills on me to board a bus.

*EDIT: I need to make a list of what transit agencies do and do not have contectless (you can tap a credit card) fares. Just spot checked a few, Dallas has it, Seattle and LA do not. Edit again: I've started the list, of the approx 20 cities I've checked so far, NYC, Chicago, Dallas, and Miami are the only ones with contactless credit card fare payment.

Sounds like mobile ticketing has been pretty popular among bus riders (it was introduced after I moved away) but this move eliminates one more barrier. The transit card is still a necessity to account for transfers, daily caps, and weekly/monthly passes. 

If St. Louis gets contactless fares before Philly, I'll have some mix of anger, jealousy, and pride.

Mobile ticketing via the Transit app is the way to go. 

Does the transit app have a daily cap? I love that the fare cards keep track of all that and save me money valid indefinitely.

The other day I took a bus, then a while later the train. The train trip was charged as part of a two hour pass automatically because I have a gateway card. If I took more rides later, I would've reached the daily max.

Plus I just hate app over reliance.

Sometimes apps just put out some garbage update and crash nonstop. You're also reliant on data, which isn't free.

Sometimes the bus doesn't show up and I'm not waiting an hour, so I'm at risk of losing that dollar with the app's 30-day expiration.