While I was in San Francisco, this summer, the entire Bay Area had some Spare the Air days. This meant that the public transportation in the entire Bay Area was free to everyone. Muni (Metro, buses, and cable cars), BART (and AirBART), AC Transit, etc. were free for those three days. Unfortunately, we didn't know about it before we bought a 7-day Muni pass. It was convenient for us because we didn't have to pay for BART.



I was wondering if Metro has ever done anything like this. I think a great way to promote the new MetroLink Cross County Connection is to make it free for a weekend. What if they corresponded this with a major event that is near a new station? If the new line is open in time, they could do this the weekend (or just one of the days?) of the St. Louis Art Fair in Clayton (9/8-9/10).



I don't know the results of the Spare the Air days they had in the Bay Area. It could have been a simple convenience to the people who already ride public transit. I would be interested to see if they gained a significant amount of regular riders. I see the purpose being two-fold; firstly, to gain more regular riders and secondly, to make the public more receptive to funding new public transportation projects (such as MetroLink expansions or streetcars).

A few ago Metro did have a free weekend of not charging fares. I don't if that was succesful or not. I only a notice a few more people on the bus than usual that weekend. I do agree that would be good to have a free weekend of not charging fares when cross county open. Metro current budget would have to be cut more because the st. louis public school district decided to stop buying transit tickets and using school buses for those students they used to but transit tickets for. Unless the county gives more the sales tax to pay for a free weekend i doubt metro can afford it. The city can't afford it because they already give all their sales tax to metro.

In Chicago, I know they do it on New Years. Cuts down car traffic and, more importantly, it discourages drunk drivers.

when they 1st opened it bk in 93, they gave free rides if i remember correctly. my family rode on it just for fun and out here metrolink is only a dream and i know some of my friends' families did that too so i'd say it works pretty well. at least if it's publicized on the news that theyll be giving free rides the opening day and i'm sure it will be.



another big event, although one that would bring in a lot of fare money: when baseball playoff time comes around.

If I'm not mistaken, they don't charge for rides between Union Station and Eads Bridge on weekdays.

Metrolink has two ride free zones during weekdays from 11:30 a.m- 1:30 pm between the two airport stations and also from union station to Laclede's Landing.

Weekday lunch hours are the only time to ride free downtown between Union Station and Laclede's Landing-Arch, but MetroLink is free 24/7 between Airport-Main and Airport-East. However, if you ever take MetroLink home from Lambert, be sure to buy non-validated tickets in advance somewhere other than Lambert. A ticket from the vending machines at Lambert costs significantly more than regular fares, currently $3.25 from Lambert verses $1.75 at other stations. Fares will increase the last week of August with the opening of Cross County and restructured bus routes. Here's a link to adopted changes to take effect August 28th.

southslider wrote:Weekday lunch hours are the only time to ride free downtown between Union Station and Laclede's Landing-Arch, but MetroLink is free 24/7 between Airport-Main and Airport-East. However, if you ever take MetroLink home from Lambert, be sure to buy non-validated tickets in advance somewhere other than Lambert. A ticket from the vending machines at Lambert costs significantly more than regular fares, currently $3.25 from Lambert verses $1.75 at other stations. Fares will increase the last week of August with the opening of Cross County and restructured bus routes. Here's a link to adopted changes to take effect August 28th.

The last time I took Metro to/from Lambert (June, 2006), I seem to remember a new (to me) fare system that restricts the allowable time for the return journey on a round-trip fare puchase (IOW: how far into the future you can use that non-validated return trip before it expires- e.g., 2 days or 2 weeks). My feeling at the time was that Metro was purposely eliminating the "discount" one can receive when buying tickets away from the Lambert stop. Do I have this wrong? What about the new fare structure? Anybody have a recently purchased RT metrolink ticket from which they can read the rules?

All tickets are preprinted with an expiration data on the bottom. Normally the date is six months from the preceding expiration date. Since the date is fixed for a period of time, the amount of time the ticket is valid shrinks as each day goes on. This isn't a change.