urbanSTL

thanks dweebe... btw, I rarely see anyone buy a ticket... I wonder what % of passengers don't pay, it's gotta be like 50%.

bpe235 wrote:thanks dweebe... btw, I rarely see anyone buy a ticket... I wonder what % of passengers don't pay, it's gotta be like 50%.

I was riding the train the other night and they checked tickets. Everyone I saw (including myself) had weekly or monthly passes.

dweebe wrote:

bpe235 wrote:quick question... ...how do they include pass holders in ridership figures?

I guess they base their counts on the security guards who walk through the trains and check tickets. When they get to the back of the train I guess the write down the ridership count.



Plus maybe they're using the security cameras and software to count entrance/exits from trains

They count riders on MetroLink using "lasers" in each door. No security guards necessary.

I wonder what % of passengers don't pay, it's gotta be like 50%.

I ride Metrolink regularly and in the last five days (10 trips), I've been checked 6 times, and I only ride from CWE to Forsyth. I've seen ast least two people pulled off the train for not having a ticket. Anyway, the non-paying ridership was covered somewhere in this forum when everyone was talking about different ticketing methods. Studies here have shown a very low %, something like 3% I think.

Metro can't be beat. The trains and buses are always crowded.



I posted before that a one-way trip from Convention Center to St. Mary's Medical was only 35 minutes.



Yesterday, one-way from Convention Center to Washington University's Knight Center was 19 minutes. Return trip to downtown and then a bus to Soulard was exactly 42 minutes.

I wonder how much of a boost in the ridership numbers is from all the Cardinal post season games? Talking to one of the redshirt Metro cops he said they estimate 10% of a baseball/football/hockey/concert crowd will ride Metrolink.



8 post season games plus the victory parade = approximately 40,000+ additional rides.

8 post season games plus the victory parade = approximately 40,000+ additional rides.

From earlier calculations there are more than 21,000,000 boardings annually. An additional 40,000 would be 0.19%.

I just got this email. This really sucks. I say start'em young and they'll be metrolink riders for life. Anyone want to reply to umsl via email to explain the importance feel free.

Due to the escalating cost of the Metro Link Pass Program, the program has been canceled for the summer semester, 2007. Currently, the University is in negotiations with Metro to discuss the future of the pass program.







Student Affairs is interested in holding a town hall meeting, however at this time we feel that it is important for us to first gauge the level of interest Metro has in developing a different model for UMSL. Please be assured a town hall meeting for students will be held as soon as we have more information to share. The University wants the new model for the pass program to be affordable for current and future students.







Student Affairs values student input on all issues and encourages your feedback on this matter. Please feel free to send an email with any suggestions or concerns to student_affairs@umsl.edu.

I can tell you they must get peak ridership one cardinal's game days. I went to the ballgame and there must have been 10,000 people waiting to get on metro back to the county after the game ended. I was really impressed.

^ I am one of those that enjoy taking metrolink to the Cardinals games. It beats driving down to, paying, and looking for parking in downtown. I drive to the Brentwood I-64 station and park there instead.



Plus, after the game you don't have the wait and hassle of exiting the parking garage! All while wasting gas idling! Although, the trains are very crowed and usually standing room only, but its still better than all that I listed IMO.

Originally UMSL paid a very low fee for the universal pass resulting in an average revenue per boarding of 14 cents. Metro's board approved a pricing system which essentially prices Universal passes at $1.00 per boarding. Metro estimates Metrolink boardings by fare type based upon a large platform survey in the fall. Metro also offers the university a fixed fee priciing but its a little higher to insure that Metro does not collect less than $1.00 per boarding.



UMSL admin and students felt that Metro did not understand the difference between Wash U or SWIC and UMSL. We are supposed to charge UMSL students less per boarding than the other university's. Wash U pays $1.00 boarding and $1.04 next year. SWIC pays the same per boarding fee as Wash U.



Metro will not be pricing its universal passes less for one university (per boarding) than others. That's a certainty. It is a shame that the program was cancelled. I had many conversations with them over the years. Never the less, for those who object to our proof of payment system, pricing UMSL passes at extremely rates (like 14 cents, 30 cents or 50 cents will not be acceptable.

As always, Busdad thanks for your response. I completely understand and agree with your policy of charging universities the same rate across the board. I just wish UMSL put a little bit more effort into promoting Metrolink. An article in the UMSL newspaper stated talked about how they estimated that only roughly 1400 students took advantage of the metro pass. I guess part of the problem is that UMSL is primarily a commuter school and it is just not covenient for some of the students who don't live near the line.

^ That's unfortunate all around. I had heard that there was to be some kind of preferred status for UMSL because it granted rights for Metro to go through the campus. Not true I guess. Why can't someone analyze the number of Metro trips needed to eliminate the need for a single parking space? Say a student takes Metro to class and back four times a week for a year. That's 128 days of class (this person gets an attendance award), 256 Metro trips x $1 = $256. Or you build another parking spot for ~$15,000 (surface)/$25,000 (garage). Charge the student $300 for a parking pass . . . UMSL's down at least $15,044. Of course the parking spot may be there for 20 years so . . . $256 cost for Metro ticket x 20 = $5,012. (I understand there are many variables I left out, but hopefully I've made my point) So how in the He(( does UMSL justify this - environmentally or fiscally?!?!

OT suggestion for Metro (now that we're OT a little anyway):



1) Clocks at 8th/Pine. There are four. They show four different times.

2) Can have "next train arriving in xx minutes" type messages? The Stephen Hawking "next westbound train arriving in 30 seconds" doesn't do much good when the train is 100 feet from the platform.

increase parking fees? Honestly, you're way off here doug! This is not an urban campus, get over it. Umsl is in the burbs. It's already $18/ credit hour for crying out loud (15hrs X $18=270) that's about twice what I paid in texas.... I think the parking pass is outrageous. (and don't try parking w/o a permit, it's >$70 a ticket.



I take metrolink to class a few times a week when it's nice out and i'm not in a hurry. But it's convenient by no means. From what I hear from people parking at shrewsberry it's about an hour trek up to umsl via metrolink... If I hop on in clayton, I'll need to leave my house 45 min before class to get there in time... I could drive in 10 min (15 if bad traffic). Even so, I love the Metrolink and am very discouraged that they can't come to terms with metro.

Doug wrote:It has had TOD potential for more than 10 years! If half of the students used Metro daily, we are talking about 7k more riders per day. A concerted regional effort would increase ridership thus frequency of trains. UMSL certainly could do its part. What it has done is promote on campus parking and neglect its two station opportunity. What it has done is build that money pit the Touhill. Alas, my complaining is rather moot, yet we shouldn't give UMSL credit or write them off as "suburban." They had more than 10 years to change that!



The MSC could have been placed closer to the North Campus Station thus reducing the walking distance.

Half of the students will NEVER ride metrolink. There are too many students from areas listed in the posts above (st. chuck, north county, West county, etc.) that metrolink doesn't serve. The MSC is perfectly placed in my mind. "Closer to the north station"??? It's right next to it, a 30sec walk at most.



Doug, I think we both agree that UMSL could do much more to promote ML. I think more student housing along the line would be a great start. Maybe even a mixed us building with some retail near the north station.

From what I hear from people parking at shrewsberry it's about an hour trek up to umsl via metrolink... If I hop on in clayton, I'll need to leave my house 45 min before class to get there in time... I could drive in 10 min (15 if bad traffic). Even so, I love the Metrolink and am very discouraged that they can't come to terms with metro.

In the peak hour, it takes 20 minutes to take the train from Shrewsbury to Forest Park. You then have a five minute wait for the Lambert train. The train ride from Forest Park to North UMSL Station is 10 minutes. The total time therefore is 35 minutes including the wait. At midday, the wait is up to three minutes longer so the commute to UMSL from Shrewsbury is 38 minutes.



From Clayton it is 8 minutes to Forest Park, a five minute wait, and a 10 minute trip to UMSL North Station. Total time is 23 minutes.



Now if you take transit, you do have to plan the time you leave your home to match the schedule. That could take you an additional 10 minutes if you don't pay any attention to the schedule if you travel in the rush hour. It could take 15 minutes if you travel in the midday. An alternative would be to read the timetable in advance to minimize the uncertainty penalty.



Now if it you can actually get to UMSL in 15 minutes from Clayton by car, the train time penalty is 8 minutes if you plan your departure time to the published schedule. That's not much of an inconvenience to save some money on parking and gasoline.



What is amazing to me is that students who complain about not having money, didn't get the $45 semester pass and park at N. Hanley, Delmar or Shrewsbury.



Using an automobile does offer the maximum convenience, but of course you have to drive. That makes it difficult to read, talk to other people, sleep, or a myriad of other things that transit riders receive as compensation from some of the time convenience.[/quote]

wow. now those are some facts. How long does it take from the Forsyth Station to get downtown say (eighth and pine)? Peak times and regular during the day, bus dad?

If they increased parking fees and lowered the supply you can bet Metro would sell like crack at Grand and Florissant.

You're a couple blocks off - the market's down at Grand-Flo, but I get the point. :hyper: