urbanSTL

I'll keep that in mind when walking the extra few hundred feet on the unsecure greenway because I can't exit to the east.

As per KMOV, the station won’t be open in time for Fair St. Louis.

Too bad it will miss one of the biggest ridership events of the year.

wabash wrote: ↑

Jun 27, 2018

As per KMOV, the station won’t be open in time for Fair St. Louis.

Too bad it will miss one of the biggest ridership events of the year.

That story also said of Cortex that they hope to open it later this year.

Previous reports have said "this summer." They've been super noncommittal on the timeline for opening. I hope they're just playing it safe rather than prepping us for a trolley-esque cavalcade of delays.

While there is more residential nearby all the time I expect the station will be more work destination than residential origin for some time to come. Probably not too big a deal if it isn't open as an origin for holiday trips downtown. Would be nice, but . . . probably not mission critical to its primary purpose. Would have been nice, but it will still be a good thing when it's done.

July 31, 2018.

http://www.metrostlouis.org/nextstop/me ... k-station/

^ meanwhile, Loop Trolley has been announced for July 31. 2081... finally a date I believe in!

Are those info boards in the Cortex station digital (the Metro rules and such)? They looked digital from my train passing through today.

That's extremely optimistic, given that I've seen people punching holes through the current glass over paper ones.

Hope they budgeted for replacement.

St.Louis Transit, where we spend $11,000,000 so that people working at Cortex don't have to walk .5 of a mile from the Central West End station.

^ and $50M on an amusement park ride that overlaps with an existing light rail line, while spending millions to forever study and restudy a N-S light rail line, while cutting bus service to the 2/3 of the city that most relies on transit, while building TOD automobile dealerships next to light rail stations.

dbInSouthCity wrote:St.Louis Transit, where we spend $11,000,000 so that people working at Cortex don't have to walk .5 of a mile from the Central West End station.

Do you begrudge that for some reason?

It seems like a pretty good idea to me. Most of Cortex is further than .5 miles from a Metrolink station (for instance, the Microsoft building and BJC @ Cortex are .7 miles/14-15 minute walk) which is a distance that causes transit use to significantly drop off, whether in St. Louis or otherwise.

Of course this investment isn’t just for “people working at Cortex” (nice red herring there), but will serve the adjacent areas (northeast Grove, southeast CWE) with better transit.

Considering it’s $10 million in federal dollars and $5 million in private funding, it seems pretty savvy that we didn’t spend any local public funds on the construction of this transit asset.

So slight correction: “St. Louis transit, where we spend other people’s money so that we’re better connected.”

^ agreed.... I guess we could try removing all the downtown stations within a 1/2 mile of 8th and Pine though.

^ I'm just trying to imagine the number of stations that would suddenly disappear if such a rule was imposed upon the Metro systems of New York or Paris!

mill204 wrote: ↑

Jul 30, 2018

^ I'm just trying to imagine the number of stations that would suddenly disappear if such a rule was imposed upon the Metro systems of New York or Paris!

Theres almost 250 stations just within the city limits of Paris, which is half the area of St. Louis' boundaries. It's crazy to think about.

Downtown stations were built when the system was built- that was the priority at the time, to build a line. This wasn't Metros priority whatsoever, as evident by the fact that they weren't even involved in the applications for $, it was CMT. We get a limited shots at Fed $, i think metro would have taken a shot at other things like bus replacement, rolling stock replacement, maybe even BRT

lets not bring up Paris and NYC for any comparison- in Paris 60% use transit to get to work and 40-45% in NYC....here 2.8%

dbInSouthCity wrote: This wasn't Metros priority whatsoever, as evident by the fact that they weren't even involved in the applications for $...i think metro would have taken a shot at other things...

Metro was the official applicant/sponsor for the Tiger grant application that funded 2/3 of the new station. So, not only were they involved, they were the ones that submitted the application. Also, Metro did take a shot at other things. That same year they applied for $3.5 million to study two BRT corridors. They didn't get the funding, but completed the BRT corridor study anyways. So both Metro priorities were fulfilled.

As for new buses or rolling stock, Metro has never applied for a Tiger grant to replace them, before or since the Cortex station application.
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dbInSouthCity wrote: lets not bring up Paris and NYC for any comparison- in Paris 60% use transit to get to work and 40-45% in NYC....here 2.8%

That comparison you just made underscores the fact that St. Louis could benefit from more transit infrastructure investment.

2.8% is systemwide usage to work, which is what should be counted. It was higher 10 years ago but we lost about 7-9m riders/trips annually since. Which underscores the shift in where people live and work in this region. We’ve had metrolink downtown for a long time and over that long time downtown has lost workers. So if we want to pump up the numbers of workers taking trasnit in the region, we better start building west of Clayton.
I would love for us to double or triple the number of miles and stations in the next decade but it’s just not financial feasable, we would need to spend many billions to double or triple the system and hope that usage doubles or triples to 5.6 or 8.4%....many billions for those numbers isn’t worth it


CMT started the station planning by applying for a grant in 2010 to study it and finally in 2014 it gathered “key partners” to submit tiger grant.

dbInSouthCity wrote:2.8% is systemwide usage to work, which is what should be counted.

So was the 60% figure you cited for Paris actually for Ile-de-France, since the Metro serves more than the City of Paris? Of course not.

In other news, happy birthday Metrolink! The big 25.

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Jul 31, 2018

So if we want to pump up the numbers of workers taking trasnit in the region, we better start building west of Clayton.

I am by no means a planner so this may be a stupid question, but why? Why would we want to continue to build the system out, reaching further suburbs and making just a commuter line, instead of putting all the effort into building a dense system within the city limits or inner ring burbs? Shouldn't we be trying to draw residents back in with a system that works not just for commuting but for all trips that would otherwise be in a car?

From the CWE platform to the front door of 4240: 0.65 mile = 13 minute walk
To new Microsoft building 4220: 0.73 mile = 15 minute walk
To BJC @ The Commons 0.72 mile (15 minute walk)
To CIC@CET: 1.0 Mile (exactly a mile from Grand as well) = 20 minute walk
Cortex Station to CIC@CET: 0.4 mile = 8 minute walk

The new Cortex station will also allow an 0.52 mile 11 minute walk to the intersection of Manchester & Sarah or Manchester & Boyle. The last MetroLink train that passes through all of downtown will pull though Cortex at 12:20 a.m. The last train that goes to Civic Center goes through at 1:20 a.m. The last Blue Line WB train is at 12:09 a.m., the last Red Line WB train is at 12:19 a.m. Not saying it will be a huge hit with nightlife but I'll be using it.

One of the three digital signboards (the one facing E/B trains) at Cortex has been covered with plywood for the vast majority of time the station's been open. It must've broken or been vandalized a couple weeks after the station opened.

Does anyone know if the digital signboards were paid by Metro? They're big-ass screens with the same info that's on paper at every other station. Can't have been cheap.

Also, I've emailed Metro, but it seems as if Google is taking its sweet time in getting maps updated. It can't give proper directions from downtown to BJC WellAware (adjacent to the station). It thinks you should detrain at CWE and walk.

And most importantly:
Cortex Station to the Scottish Arms: .5 mile , 9 minute walk

aprice wrote: ↑

Jul 31, 2018

From the CWE platform to the front door of 4240: 0.65 mile = 13 minute walk
To new Microsoft building 4220: 0.73 mile = 15 minute walk
To BJC @ The Commons 0.72 mile (15 minute walk)
To CIC@CET: 1.0 Mile (exactly a mile from Grand as well) = 20 minute walk
Cortex Station to CIC@CET: 0.4 mile = 8 minute walk

The new Cortex station will also allow an 0.52 mile 11 minute walk to the intersection of Manchester & Sarah or Manchester & Boyle. The last MetroLink train that passes through all of downtown will pull though Cortex at 12:20 a.m. The last train that goes to Civic Center goes through at 1:20 a.m. The last Blue Line WB train is at 12:09 a.m., the last Red Line WB train is at 12:19 a.m. Not saying it will be a huge hit with nightlife but I'll be using it.

eee123 wrote: ↑

Oct 31, 2018

One of the three digital signboards (the one facing E/B trains) at Cortex has been covered with plywood for the vast majority of time the station's been open. It must've broken or been vandalized a couple weeks after the station opened.

yep. stupidest idea ever. when i read about them i was like, "welp, those will be smashed immediately."

eee123 wrote: ↑

Oct 31, 2018

Also, I've emailed Metro, but it seems as if Google is taking its sweet time in getting maps updated. It can't give proper directions from downtown to BJC WellAware (adjacent to the station). It thinks you should detrain at CWE and walk.

This issue appears to now be rectified - perhaps in part thanks to your insistence - which also now correctly shows the new east-west walking path that runs parallel along the north side of the station and tracks.

32 minutes from Lambert Terminal 1 to Scottish Arms. Not bad.