urbanSTL

There are a few cranks in the city (streets and BPS) who refuse to change anything. No innovation. That’s why STL falls behind with traffic calming, parklets, micro-mobility, street design, etc.

The only reason bikes/scooters were implemented is because Bi-State made equitable access a priority. That stopped once bi-state decided it wasn’t their job.

Trailnet conceptualized and led the parklet at Laclede and Vandeventer, Louisiana Traffic Calming, and cycle tracks on Tucker and Tower Grove. I sat in the room for most of it, watching the city drag their feet at every step. Only making more demands with each meeting.

Here’s hoping the charter amendment flushes the whole operation. Damn shame the mayor doesn’t care enough to pressure change internally.

^This is some interesting insider information. 

I realize that plenty of federal processes take a while but I'm less forgiving when that has to do with pedestrian/bicycle infrastructure than Metrolink. Like numerous other American cities (and cities in the poorer developing world for further comparison) built bicycle infrastructure much more quickly than STL, furthermore I think there's more room for creativity that hasn't been pursued. 

We don't need every cycle track to be fancy and cost $$$, repainting the roads to be narrower and using bollards as traffic barriers I think could make the city much safer for bicyclists quickly but I don't see willingness on the part of the streets department to do so even though the death rate of pedestrians/bicyclists is really at a crisis point right now imo. 

I just don't think the city has the funds to be honest. A lot of our infrastructure is antiquated and run down compared to a lot of other peer cities. I think it's also a consequence of St. Louis being such a fragmented region. I've also commented in the past that we have some of ugliest commercial streetscapes in the country. A few have been upgraded, but compared to other cities it seems that infrastructure in St. Louis is just not a priority.

I don’t really mind the city taking a slow and steady approach, and focusing on trails with grade separated bike paths. I would rather take a new nice grade separated trail once every few years than the patchwork deployment of plastic post bike trails you see in other cities. I just get annoyed when a relatively modest project like bike walk tucker will go years past its initial timeline with little communication on what the holdup is


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goat314 wrote: ↑

Aug 24, 2023

I just don't think the city has the funds to be honest. A lot of our infrastructure is antiquated and run down compared to a lot of other peer cities. I think it's also a consequence of St. Louis being such a fragmented region. I've also commented in the past that we have some of ugliest commercial streetscapes in the country. A few have been upgraded, but compared to other cities it seems that infrastructure in St. Louis is just not a priority.

The city could save a lot of money by converting streets to bike trails. It's not just lack of funds.

I don't know much about Missouri Eastern Railroad but they picked up a nice FRA grant to improve their rail.   MER serves outskirts of the St Louis Metro area.  I believe at one point the proposed a auto rail facility that got dropped

https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot ... s_PDFa.pdf

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/ ... ate--65586

Just your weekly reminder. Elliott Davis and “You Paid for It” is gotcha journalism and the St. Louis region will be better off when Mr. Davis retires and Fox2 goes bankrupt. St. Louis journalists need a big hit of humble and start recognizing their unchecked authority of StLs future.

A whole hit piece because reported incidents went from 236 to 249.

I can’t imagine doing such mindless job.

https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/repor ... nvestment/

Journalism has sort of morphed into propaganda and has been weaponized to make a point no matter how wild that point may be. It's more visible on the local level, but we're continuing to see it on the national level.

This is one reason why I advocate for additional blogs on a bunch of differing issues. Give people an alternative to read. It might not be centralized, but you'll have better stories than most media organizations can provide. Blogging is not the same as journalism, but you have the power to inform people. Use that power wisely and not as a tool to infect the minds of readers. Tell them the facts and let them decide. 

What Mr. Davis is doing is appealing to one side of the crowd while sprinkling in some facts. This is meant to reinforce preconceived notions about crime on MetroLink and attempt to disregard any other comments about the issue. To an overwhelming majority of those who see his story, this works. 

Is there a actual database on metrolink crime where we can get the breakdown in more specific categories? Cause lumping rape murder in robbery all into one category seems a bit dishonest.

As for the armed security guard debate, I think tasers would be a nice middle ground. A guard panicking and shooting someone on the train would be a pretty eardrum blasting traumatic situation for riders.

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Metro to test single-car MetroLink trains in St. Louis area

Metro Transit will begin running single-car MetroLink trains Oct. 2 on a pilot basis across its entire 46-mile system to test how it affects customers and resources.
The transit agency said it's not known yet how long the testing period will last and when the system will return to its traditional two-car arrangement.
Running just one car on a train is more efficient for security patrols and wear and tear on machinery is cut in half, the agency said. MetroLink also has experienced a ridership decline in recent years.

"The pandemic has changed our region in a number of ways, including how people travel and how they use transit," Metro's chief operating officer, Chuck Stewart, said in a statement.

Metro tried out single-train cars for several weeks last year and has also occasionally in emergency situations, such as after heavy flooding hit the metro area in 2022.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/metro-to-test-single-car-metrolink-trains-in-st-louis-area/article_3a9499b6-5cbc-11ee-953b-17aa592e636b.html#tracking-source=home-the-latest

Is a single car still a train?

Chris Stritzel wrote: ↑

Sep 26, 2023

Journalism has sort of morphed into propaganda

Journalism was always propaganda. Do you not remember the Maine?

airforceguy1 wrote: ↑

Sep 27, 2023

Metro to test single-car MetroLink trains in St. Louis area

Metro Transit will begin running single-car MetroLink trains Oct. 2 on a pilot basis across its entire 46-mile system to test how it affects customers and resources.
The transit agency said it's not known yet how long the testing period will last and when the system will return to its traditional two-car arrangement.
Running just one car on a train is more efficient for security patrols and wear and tear on machinery is cut in half, the agency said. MetroLink also has experienced a ridership decline in recent years.

"The pandemic has changed our region in a number of ways, including how people travel and how they use transit," Metro's chief operating officer, Chuck Stewart, said in a statement.

Metro tried out single-train cars for several weeks last year and has also occasionally in emergency situations, such as after heavy flooding hit the metro area in 2022.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/metro-to-test-single-car-metrolink-trains-in-st-louis-area/article_3a9499b6-5cbc-11ee-953b-17aa592e636b.html#tracking-source=home-the-latest

This is exactly what I said would happen when they started testing the single car trains last year, that it was just another way to reduce service. What do you know!! 

I was hoping that single-car trains would mean more frequency. It appears that's not going to be the case. 

I can see the wisdom of not running two cars at night when things are pretty empty anyways. It’s just a bit of a bad sign for the system in general.


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RockChalkSTL wrote: ↑

Sep 27, 2023

I was hoping that single-car trains would mean more frequency. It appears that's not going to be the case. 

We can never count on Metro acting in good faith. When they repeatedly demonstrate that they don't care what the transit riding public thinks, believe them. 

I hope some local politicians or grassroots groups emerge to hold Metro accountable and put pressure on them, because I don't see any improvements coming from the inside. 

I've been riding MetroLink quite a bit recently. 

I've been pleasantly surprised with ridership. I really hope this is a temporary solution. 

Like it was said above, I wouldn't be upset if we saw them run a single car at certain times of the day (late at night when there are no events). At all other times, run two cars. 

PeterXCV wrote:

RockChalkSTL wrote: ↑

Sep 27, 2023

I was hoping that single-car trains would mean more frequency. It appears that's not going to be the case. 

We can never count on Metro acting in good faith. When they repeatedly demonstrate that they don't care what the transit riding public thinks, believe them. 

I hope some local politicians or grassroots groups emerge to hold Metro accountable and put pressure on them, because I don't see any improvements coming from the inside. 

Metro definitely sucks, but outside of rush hour and events I think one car would improve the metro experience. An increase in frequency would mean more drivers which metro doesn’t have. It would also require more security, and I think the system is still limited in frequency by the food damage last year.


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What’s the benefit of single cars? Labor is still the same. Maybe wear and tear but they got $200m to replace entire fleet so run these to the ground

Making it easier to have a security guard in every car would be my guess.


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