I'd like to see a Webster U stop. I think that would do some really great things in connecting the school with the rest of the area. Sitting in Webster, as it is, sort of separates it from the region. Obviously, that...if it would ever happen...is a ways away. But you could eventually connect both downtown Kirkwood and downtown Webster on a short line that could connect in the Brentwood/Richmond Heights area.
I think one reason is because Wash U likes to believe that it is the "best" school in STL, so they didn't want to be trumped by other institutions that already offered this service
Anyway, does this apply to grad students? I never saw a definite answer to this same question. I'll probably assume it does since grad students have to pay service fees and A LOT of tuition.
I think one reason is because Wash U likes to believe that it is the "best" school in STL, so they didn't want to be trumped by other institutions that already offered this service
STL has some very good schools in the area. Webster is ranked very high in the master's category...SLU has med, law, and pharm, etc, etc. STL universities offer a great education while living in a great city.
^Don't want to be argumentative, especially since I am a partial product of one of these institutions, and this is getting off-topic, but this is a pet peeve of mine. I personally think St. Louis is woefully lacking in this department. All of the great cities out there are what they are mostly because of their advanced educational institutions. Every successful major metro area I can think of has at least one very large university in town, has one nearby, or has several highly-regarded smaller schools. As a state and community we need to spend more to upgrade these institutions. Washington University may be a nationally recognized university, but it is still a small school, as is SLU.
If magically somehow, one of these universities could be made large (like in the 20 to 30,000 range), while maintaining its national rankings (or becoming nationally ranked in the case of Webster and UMSL) it would almost single-handedly transform this metro area. I don't see this ever happening at Wash U or Webster because they are landlocked by expensive land (unless Wash U can effectively move the majority of its campus north of Delmar), but I see no reason why UMSL can't achieve this, other than the weak funding from Missouri's rural controlled legislature, and the narrow-minded idea that Missouri-Columbia should be the "main" university and others just satellites. I could also see SLU becoming much bigger, although I would prefer St. Louis had a large public university.
Moreover (another pet peeve), with the exception of SLU, none of these institutions have seemed to want to even acknowledge, or have anything to do with, the city of St. Louis until very recently.
EDIT: And the fact that not one of these schools has an accredited, nationally ranked Urban Planning/Design program is an outrage and might be part of the reason why our metro fails so miserably in that area.
Ever been to UM - Rollas campus? DONT -- there are 3 ages of the buildings there: ancient (from the 1800s - 1920s), the 1960s (when the school became part of the UM system - ugly square white) and since 1995 or so ('nice' 'modern' etc)....
Anyway runor has it that in the mid 80s the powers that be saw that every major academic building needed MAJOR work in the next 30 yaers (mid 90s - 2025 or so) and that it would cost just as much to pick up the campus all-together to another location (seeing several promonate professors passed up jobs becuase it was in the town of rolla etc and rolla REALLY sucks) Those same powers that be saw UMSL as a struggling campus that was (still is) basicly a veyr large commuter campus, no real school spirit, comunity involvment, national draw. Anyway the UM system watned to basically move the entire faculty from UMR into a brand new complex on the UMSL campus. Both problems could be solved - good (decent, great whatever you want to call it) engineering school inside a major city. Add the decent draw of both campuses and you get a great campus that competes with Mizzou in size, ranking etc. It would have been awesome for everyone invovled (excpet the city of Rolla) --- but it obviosuly didn't happen becuase the major alumni supporters who were needed to fiance the new buildings weren't interested in UMSL engineering... Needless to say they have redone numerous buildings since then are are planning on a lot mroe -- UM-Rolla will be IN ROLLA for a long time to come....
This would have made for a world class instituiotion in St. Louis (and MattnSTL to tie this into this thread would have added at least 5,000 student s to the ranks of those who have metro passes). Plus another enigneering school couldn't hurt with the design input or flow of ideas into the metro projects....
**I haven't ever heard an official tell me this is true - it may be urban legend - so dont quote me**
Great idea, especially if other schools get on board. For one, it gets people used to riding the public transportation system. Metro could end up a winner if people like the system and continue to use it even after they graduate.
By comparison, Chicago provides all universities with "U-Pass" unlimited access to the CTA. I graduated from Loyola, and they charged about $90 per year for the pass.
To answer St.Louis UAB alumni's question, yes...the pass is applicable to graduate students. I would confer with your respective registrar just to be safe, but as a graduate student in the Architecture program, we have access to the passes, as does the entire newly formed Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts.
to any of the current SLU students or recent SLU graduates, do you think that SLU student ridership via the Grand station would be affected, positively or negatively, if MoDoT actually goes through with the Grand overpass reconstruction? Or would it have no affect on ridership? I attended SLU for my undergrad work ('98-'02) and their connection, or attempts at connection to the metrolink were woefully inadequate. Are they doing anything currently that attempts to better integrate student life/activities with the metrolink? I would love to see this change somehow.
Pretty interesting - While riding back on the Link Saturday from the Cardinals game as the train began to empty out I noticed a woman in her 50's that looked very familar. It wasn't until I saw her husband though that I new who they were. It was Chancellor Wrighton and his wife Risa. They were talking up Metrolink to the people around them and it was nice to see them put their money where their mouth is, so to say.
The Chancellor has been seem many times on Metrolink and not just for Cardinal games. He's seem boarding at Skinker on regular work days. That is impressive.
"Southwestern Illinois College is part of Metro’s UPass program, where the school pays for all or part of the pass for their students. Other area universities that are part of the UPass program include the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Washington University and Webster University."
Is there something missing from that list? Maybe an institution whose med school and main campus are within a half mile of Metrolink and connected by the most frequent bus route in the city?
At one point SLU was part of the UPass program, or at least offered free metro passes to students. However, according to people at SLU, the passes were rarely used by students or faculty so it was discontinued 7-10 years ago or so.
billikens&bricks wrote:At one point SLU was part of the UPass program, or at least offered free metro passes to students. However, according to people at SLU, the passes were rarely used by students or faculty so it was discontinued 7-10 years ago or so.
That's not surprising to me. When I was there I didn't know anyone who used the MetroLink, and when I told people I did they looked at me like I was crazy. And this was the case at the law school even after it moved downtown. SLU doesn't attract the kind of students who are inclined to use public transportation.
Anglophile wrote:SLU doesn't attract the kind of students who are inclined to use public transportation.
Why is that? You see SLU students out all over, whether it's South Grand, Soulard, or Downtown. The fact that they have a med school campus, law school building, and main campus strewn around some of the densest parts of the city, all of which are extremely well served by transit, makes one wonder why public transit isn't a bigger part of the SLU experience.
The program makes a lot of sense for Webster and UMSL - which have a great deal of commuter students. I doubt Wash. U. undergrads use it very often, but the grad students who are more clustered around the CWE, Debaliviere Place, and Clayton probably do. And I suppose it's part of general Wash. U. encouragement of and largesse toward public transportation (along with the #1 and #2).
Is it that SLU students aren't inclined to use public transportation, or that SLU doesn't particularly embrace or encourage the use of public transportation by its students? Do most SLU students have cars or take cabs? That seems kind of fancy for just about any university.
Perhaps SLU doesn't want to enable or encourage $tudents$ to live off campu$ $o that they live in dorm$ - which would be typical of its island in a city approach to urban living. It just seems ridiculous that this institution and/or its students, at the crossroads of the city, wouldn't embrace public transit more.
Anglophile wrote:SLU doesn't attract the kind of students who are inclined to use public transportation.
Why is that? You see SLU students out all over, whether it's South Grand, Soulard, or Downtown. The fact that they have a med school campus, law school building, and main campus strewn around some of the densest parts of the city, all of which are extremely well served by transit, makes one wonder why public transit isn't a bigger part of the SLU experience.
The program makes a lot of sense for Webster and UMSL - which have a great deal of commuter students. I doubt Wash. U. undergrads use it very often, but the grad students who are more clustered around the CWE, Debaliviere Place, and Clayton probably do. And I suppose it's part of general Wash. U. encouragement of and largesse toward public transportation (along with the #1 and #2).
Is it that SLU students aren't inclined to use public transportation, or that SLU doesn't particularly embrace or encourage the use of public transportation by its students? Do most SLU students have cars or take cabs? That seems kind of fancy for just about any university.
Perhaps SLU doesn't want to enable or encourage $tudents$ to live off campu$ $o that they live in dorm$ - which would be typical of its island in a city approach to urban living. It just seems ridiculous that this institution and/or its students, at the crossroads of the city, wouldn't embrace public transit more.
In my experience as a SLU student, I would say you are at least partially right. At the very least, SLU does not encourage the use of transit among its students. However, many students who live off campus only live a block or two off campus at most. Then if students want to go out downtown, soulard, etc it's usually just as cheap to split a cab among 4/5 people then it is to walk to the inconvenient metro station and pay the ride fees back and forth.
Not saying SLU does even close to enough but there are reasons outside of SLU. Plus, I don't think Metro did themselves any favors putting the station where they did.
I think it's a combination of all of the above. Most of the students have cars and the university itself has done next to nothing to integrate either of its campuses with the Grand station. Walking there can be pretty harrowing, especially at night. Just another item on the long list of SLU embarrassments.
The location of the Metrolink Station certainly isn't ideal. The walk isn't that far, but it's more the highway overpass, highway off-ramps, and general brutality that make it a turn off. But Metrolink is just one part of the equation. The 10 bus can get you from SLU to the CWE in 10 minutes or Downtown in 15. The 70 is even more convenient for getting to SLU Med & South Grand. Webster offers reduced rate student passes with no Metrolink in sight. So it goes.
