i have lived in a few other cities, kc, new york, breifly in chicago. i hated kc with a passion, it was dead after about 9 or 10, but they lack a metro system, and it does not look like they will get one anytime soon. just as long as the people keep not giveing up thier land to do so. new york was ok, but the thing that i loved the most was that the subway runs 24 hours a day. how can we get started to keep mertolink and the busses open even just a few hours later? does not have to be 24 hours, but open long enough to ejoy all the city has to offer, by the way, i'm new here. not to the city, born and raised in st. louis.

bikin' man,



Welcome to the forums, first off.



Second, I totally agree. I went to a baseball game last summer and decided to ride the Metrolink from my cousins place off Delmar. We ended up going out to Paddy Os after the game, and got stuck on the last train that terminated at Grand, from there we took a bus home, the bus driver was actually totally cool and let us off just a block from her place...not the regular stop (cuz we were two of about 5 people on the bus). But it's still frustrating to have to worry about that stuff. I don't even think we closed down Paddy O's, I think we left at about 12 or so.



They need to keep at least a train or two running during all times.

I completely agree that it needs to run until at least 1 am.

METRO TRAINS RUN:



Roughly from



M-F

4:45 a.m. to

12:52 a.m.



Sa/Su

5:12 a.m. to

1:02 a.m.



All Metro East trains run outbound later on weekdays to 1:02 a.m.

and to think that all this time I thought they only ran until 11 pm.

this is what i got from merto



We wish we could keep the entire transit open longer to encourage its use, but

the funds to make that happen just aren't available. Passenger fares pay only

20% of the cost of operation with the remainder coming from local sales taxes

which have been flat or declining the past three years. Until there is a major

commitment from the region for increased, stable funding for transit, we won't

be able to provide any more service than is currently available. Maybe you can

become a voice for that better transit system we all want. You might want to

check out this link http://www.cmt-stl.org/ and perhaps join in their

supportive efforts.

I am a metro rider. I believe there is a demand for 24 hour bus service on some lines such as Grand, Kingshighway and maybe a few others. There would definately be a demand for 24 hour metro rail service between Grand and 5th and Missouri or maybe even from CWE to J J C (with 20-30 minute intervals).



Metro doesn't have the ridership nor the funding to run all lines 24/7. There are some lines that need to be cut such as the 74 florissant the stops at Flo-Valley at 1am. That is total waste.



Better management is definately needed for metro. If they cut the waste, they could possibly do a few 24 hr upgrades.

i agree, later at night, less trains. just as long as there will be one that shows up. in new york that is what happens, even on the most popular lines.and mta is a publicly funded orginazation that is as much debt, if not, more then metro. but the commuter rails end early, so yes, don't have every station open at night. keep one going as far as delmar, and when cross county is open, as far as clayton. it does not have to be a full opperation. but let's see what mckaskial has to say about the spending.

More metro all the time. That is my motto. You can't have enough of it! I always thought it should run on a limited basis until the bars closed. Ok, 15 minutes after the bars close so people have a chance to stumble to the stations . Might keep some drunks off the road. Getting the money to do it? That is the real problem.

I was at the Card's game last night and we used Metrolink to/from Southwestern Illinois College to get to the Stadium. The trip there was relatively uneventful (despite an entertaining dispute between a passenger who got caught without a validated ticket and local Shiloh police), but the trip back was LOOOONG! We left the game a bit early but had to wait at Stadium station twenty minutes for the train to come along. Then the train "ended" at Fairview Heights, so we all got off and had to wait another twenty minutes or so for another train to take us to our station. In total, I think the trip took us just under an hour and a half for what is essentially a 20 minute car ride.



Just an observation, but if you want to increase ridership, they've got improve upon this level of performance. I'm sure there's some sort of mathematical equation they use that limits the amount of trains going east at certain times, but the 35 or 40 of us who were a little ticked last night will certainly think twice about using Metrolink again to see a Card's game.

This has been my point so often! There's NO reason to ride metrolink into downtown, when you can park for $3 at the 7th and pine garage for a night/weekend game! That's cheaper than a round trip ticket now!

But add in fuel charges (highest ever)

add in pollution (terrible ozone levels)

add in traffic (especially leaving the game)



Riding Metro helps everyone overall...



You can ride r/t on Metro for 3.00

You can park dwntn for 3.00 (furthest away from dtadiums) to 10.00 plus fuel and ozone emmissions, plus traffic, plus walking further to stadium.



Yet, this is America and we love our cars. It is your choice.

Loftlover, unfortunately, Metro cannot afford to run trains every 10 minutes or less at off-peak times. But fortunately, you have several choices to avoid your recent situation in the future.



One, you can drive to Emerson Park station right off of I-64 to park'n'ride, then every train will travel from there to Busch and back.



Two, don't leave the game so early that headways between trains are scheduled as off-peak times.



Three, print out a schedule from www.metrostlouis.org, time your walk from the train at Busch to your seats, look at your watch, and leave yourself adequate time to catch a scheduled train back to SWIC.

Matguy,

While the charges you point out (ozone, traffic, fule) may exzist, they are not evident when people drive and moreover, many of these still exist when you take metro. Traffic: try getting on metro right after the game. The platform is packed and can take sometime. Walk to another station you say? That as far as walking to the garage. Moreover, would you rather have people walking a little farthe to there cars downtown and putting people on the streets or trying to jump right on the Metro and zoming out to the suburbs...





Seems to me a car is very efficent and flexable for going downtown.

putting people on the streets or trying to jump right on the Metro and zoming out to the suburbs...

Ummm.... no. People's agendas are going to take them where they are going regardless of mode of transportation. I would be willing to bet more people mad dash to their vehicles than wait in a Metro line. Either way... and agenda has been set almost all of the time.



---------------



As for driving or transit. My opinions lean towards transit. Yours to driving. Drive away my friend. I'll be on the train reading my paper.

And i will be speeding along at 70 mph listening to the radio.

You're speeding :: LOL

Go J Go J Go

There are problems with each mode of transportation. You just have to pick what you prefer. I'd rather pop in my ipod headphones, and read something than sit in my car and listen to the radio. Personally, I HATE the radio with a passion. The only thing I can remotely stand is talk radio, because the music that is played is AWFUL. And what is worse, my CD player has an attitude and will only play CDs some of the time.



Plus, I drive a lot for my job, so I'd rather be escorted or driven to the places I want to get to. It's all just personal preference. But owning a car is, and will always be, more expensive than being carless. But if you own a car, you might as well use it...and get your moneys worth.

I don't drive, period, but my fiance does. We stopped taking the metro to baseball games after our 2nd one this season. You still have to drive to the metro station and park to take the train downtown. Then after the game (and a few beers), you have to wait on the platform for no less than 30 mins, then cram yourself as tightly as possible on the train. Then it stops for a little while because of the expansion. It took us well over an hour to get home via metrolink versus 10 mins by car. At least with your car, you are able to go out afterwards and not worry about being stranded downtown because the train has stopped running. To me, metrolink is a great idea....on paper.

yuppiegal wrote:I don't drive, period, but my fiance does. We stopped taking the metro to baseball games after our 2nd one this season. You still have to drive to the metro station and park to take the train downtown. Then after the game (and a few beers), you have to wait on the platform for no less than 30 mins, then cram yourself as tightly as possible on the train. Then it stops for a little while because of the expansion. It took us well over an hour to get home via metrolink versus 10 mins by car. At least with your car, you are able to go out afterwards and not worry about being stranded downtown because the train has stopped running. To me, metrolink is a great idea....on paper.

first, no one should drive after a few beers. second, if you live somewhere that requires you to drive to the metro station, no way it only takes 10 min. to drive home from the ballpark. third, stranded downtown??



look, transit systems are not meant to be all things to all people. if you live in an auto-oriented area, then you're going to be auto-dependent.

The problem I have with Metrolink is that it doesn't run past 12:30am.....if it ran till 3am that would be great cuz it would allow me and some friends to stay in downtown or the Landing longer without having to worry about not having a ride home.



Other than that, I like to park my car at the Delmar station and take Metrolink whenever I goto downtown to watch the Cards or the Rams, or to Union Station, Washington Ave. and the Landing....