urbanSTL

To me the most glaring issue of station accessibility is T2 at Lambert by far. It’s a harrowing journey with luggage across parking lots and multiple flights of stairs (or often non functioning elevators. I use it frequently despite the challenge of getting to the station and I never see more than 1 or 2 people using it.

Incentivizing more usage to the airport is by far the easiest way to drive more usage. Most people won’t ever use the train for a daily commute or running errands around town, but with a better set up, you could get a lot of people out in the county using the train exclusively to and from the airport simply for the cost savings vs Ubering or parking. That would be tremendous progress.


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TheWayoftheArch_V2.0 wrote:^Used this yesterday, and the elevator was functional!  Like you, we were the only 2 on the platform.  About 5 - 8 people, employees mostly, got off the train when it arrived.  Was early Sunday morning, so i wasn't surprised.  Definitely an awkward approach, and signage/wayfinding definitely needs improvement.  Signage is so subtle its like they don't want you to find it. 

It’s symbolic to me that you have to weave your way through all the other less desirable modes of transportation (Uber/Taxi, Shuttles, Parking), just to get to the Metrolink.

Get the station more accessible to the terminal and address some of the perceptions of safety on the Red Line at night, and I think ridership goes way up.


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I would rather use funds to improve and enclose the T1 station as it will see almost all airport traffic after the terminal consolidation.

In terms of the greater landscape of our inaccessible metro stations, the only real solution is to seriously incentivize proper TOD construction around the station sites on a massive scale. Each stop with enough space should be a little village oriented around the station. The red line going west of the Forest Park stop and basically every single Illinois stop have tons of room around for development.

I'm fine not seeing a cent of tax dollars from this for a decade, that's how impactful it will be to properly build out

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Nov 12, 2024

I would rather use funds to improve and enclose the T1 station as it will see almost all airport traffic after the terminal consolidation.

In terms of the greater landscape of our inaccessible metro stations, the only real solution is to seriously incentivize proper TOD construction around the station sites on a massive scale. Each stop with enough space should be a little village oriented around the station. The red line going west of the Forest Park stop and basically every single Illinois stop have tons of room around for development.

I'm fine not seeing a cent of tax dollars from this for a decade, that's how impactful it will be to properly build out

While TOD should be incentived, even improving access to existing areas would help. We have so many one-sided stations which drastically reduces the radius of service, for example it's a long way to the areas south of Clayton or east of Richmond Heights or north of Brentwood due to a combination of highways and fences. Priotiy 1 should be to address the island that the Grand station is on. I hope these types of mistakes are not repeated with the Green Line design.

Possible station configuration at Jefferson and existing Metrolink. I'd like to know more about how people are meant to move between the two platforms. I don't want a repeat of how it is at the Grand station.

Guy responsible for billions of dollars of highway expansion in STL is against transit.

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Dec 12, 2024

Guy responsible for billions of dollars of highway expansion in STL is against transit.

It's funny how the article goes "Trump will say no, so we shouldn't do this" and then has a bunch of false or arbitrary reasons to not do it that have nothing to do with the possibility of the FTA not giving STL grant money. Disturbing that this idiot was ever in a leadership position at the Gateway Council.

His social media and comments in the public only hurt the region.

Also, please at least understand how the funding actually works.

I've talked to Les on Twitter before. He seems to think that St. Louis had it's chance to build out Metrolink years ago and failed. So basically in his opinion the system should never expand again, unless the city and county can coordinate to build a major regional line.

I submitted a rebuttal op-ed,  ill post it here if Biz Journal doesn't publish it but here is the opening 

First, I’d like to thank Les Sterman for his decades of service at East-West Gateway during a transformative period of highway expansion. His expertise has been invaluable to regional planning and the growth of the suburbs, and his continued engagement is a testament to his dedication to St. Louis. However, I respectfully disagree with his conclusions about the proposed MetroLink Green Line.

It's an actual nightmare of mine that all of the excitement about the Green Line goes up in smoke. Same goes for Gateway South, the Mississippi River freight project, and some of the other bigger reasons for hope in the metro. 

We can't let an opinion piece like this take the project down. 

Okay MO family, what’s our marriage and birth rates???

We're in demographic winter, so not good.

Could be worse. Illinois is shrinking fast.

delmar2debaliviere2downtown wrote: ↑

Jan 31, 2025

Okay MO family, what’s our marriage and birth rates???

The irony is that this new policy would hurt rural and white states the most. It's a ridiculous policy anyway and would definitely be shot down in court.

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Jan 31, 2025

Could be worse. Illinois is shrinking fast.

Could be better, Illinois spends like $100 per resident per year on transit.

quincunx wrote: ↑

Jan 31, 2025

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Jan 31, 2025

Could be worse. Illinois is shrinking fast.

Could be better, Illinois spends like $100 per resident per year on transit.

You can move there. You wouldn’t have to change anything about your life other than your address

I couldn't walk to work.

But you could still take public transit. And btw Illinois fertility rate is lower than Missouri’s.

A move to Chicago might not be a bad idea.

You wouldn’t be the first.

David Stokes is at it again

Hey Elon, Here Are Some Cost Savings for You in St. Louis . . .

https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/transp ... -st-louis/

I love being lectured to by an organization that doesn't pay taxes and contributes absolutely nothing charitable.