Options 1 and 2 maintain the current $2 (MetroBus), $2.25 (MetroLink) and $4 (Metro Call-A-Ride) cash fares without any change. Reduced cash fares for eligible seniors, children and customers with disabilities would also remain the same.

Option 1 would increase the prices of Metro passes to more accurately reflect the number of boardings made using these passes. Monthly passes would increase from $68 to $75 ($34 to $37.50 for reduced fare); weekly passes would increase from $23.50 to $26; and the college semester pass from $145 to $155.

Option 2 also retains the current cash fare but would increase the price of the 2-hour pass/transfer from $2.75 to $3 (reduced fare would increase from $1.35 to $1.50.) Option 2 would preserve a greater discount rate for the weekly, monthly, and semester passes than Option 1 would do. Option 2 would increase weekly passes from $23.50 to $25; monthly passes would increase from $68 to $72 ($34 to $36 for reduced fare); and the college semester pass would increase from $145 to $150.

Option 3 would implement a 5 percent across the board fare increase for all fares, including cash fares, passes and Metro Call-A-Ride fares.

Metro is holding public meetings this week, starting this week:

Monday, April 16, 2012

• 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
• East St. Louis City Hall
• Rotunda (1st Floor)
• 301 River Park Drive
• East St. Louis, Illinois 62201

 Wednesday, April 18, 2012

• 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
• St. Louis City Hall
• Rotunda (1st Floor)
• 1200 Market Street
• St. Louis, Missouri 63103

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

• 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
• St. Louis County Government Center
• Second Floor
• 41 South Central
• Clayton, Missouri 63105

Thursday, April 19, 2012 – Public Hearing

• 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. (Formal presentation at 6 p.m.)
• Metro Headquarters
• Board Room
• 707 North First Street
• St. Louis, Missouri 63102

Public comment can be submitted to Metro until April 27, 2012, please make sure they hear from you!

If a proposal at the Missouri Capitol gains traction, St. Louis public transportation riders could be allowed to bring guns with them.

State lawmakers are reviewing legislation that would block cities such as St. Louis and Kansas City from using local restrictions to ban concealed handguns on city buses and trains. (STLtoday.com)

The bill is sponsored by Representative Ed Schieffer. Schieffer indicated he brought the legislation forward at the request of gun owners (HB1483). We recently held three events with transit riders talking about what we felt would improve the experience.

Safety was at the top of the list but carrying guns never came up. MetroBus carries more passengers than MetroLink light rail but there is no visible security at MetroBus transit centers or on MetroBus vehicles. We realize it’s not realistic to have uniformed security on each bus in operation but if passengers saw, at random, a security officer on a MetroBus we’d feel much safer. For the most part, we don’t feel unsafe, it would just be good to have some security for the majority of riders given the security overkill on the MetroLink system.

You can contact Rep Schieffer by phone (573) 751-9459 or email at Ed.Schieffer@house.mo.gov. Be sure to contact your own representative and let them know that we want uniformed security not guns on our transit system.

Some topics discussed last night were:

• A need for safer locations to make bus-to-bus transfers specifically in North St. Louis
• A need for a more visible security presence on MetroBus and at MetroBus transit centers
• The number of service changes makes Metro appear incompetent
• The need for a transit riders association with strong membership

Our steering committee will now begin the process of compiling, sorting and prioritizing the long list of topics gathered at these three events. Stayed tuned for updates.

Bill, Eddie & Ron were among those in attendance

Today we held a lunchtime transit talk, our second such talk. The first was last week in Dutchtown (see recap). For today’s event we were downtown at the Landmarks Association of St. Louis. Some of the topics discussed today were:

• Bus overcrowding
• Bus frequency
• Rerouting some buses back through the downtown central business district
• Pressuring elected officials to support annual allocations of transit taxes to Metro

Thanks to Jordan S. Wilson coming all the way from North St. Louis County! Be sure to check out Jordan’s Facebook group: Greater St. Louis Metro Transit Group

Tomorrow evening, Wednesday March 21, 2012, will be our third transit talk.  That event will be held at the Julia Davis Public Library, 4415 Natural Bridge, at 7pm. Everyone is encouraged to attend and participate in the discussion.

The first “transit talk” organized by the new Transit Riders Union of St. Louis was a great success, 90 minutes of good ideas on improving the transit experience for all riders on all modes.

Some ideas from last nights meeting included:

• Basic manners on transit: letting people off before getting on and exiting from the back of the bus
• A need for security on buses
• A way to highlight buses and the neighborhoods/local businesses they serve
• SLU’s desire to operate a shuttle between Midtown and Downtown (to their new law school) which will duplicate the #10 Gravois Lindell bus
• Businesses who work to remove bus stops in front of them and what we can do about it

If you missed the discussion last night at Urban Eats we have two more coming up — both next week.

Tuesday March 20th, noon – 1pm,  at the offices of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis, 911 Washington Ave (Suite 170) in the Lammert Building and Wednesday March 21st, 7pm-8:30pm, at the Julia Davis Library, 4415 Natural Bridge.  See our original post here.

Many thanks to Urban Eats for hosting our event!

We want everyone that uses Metro to join us so come as you are.

Monday March 12, 2012 (evening)

• 6:30pm-8pm @ Urban Eats Cafe
• 3301 Meramec Street STL MO 63111
• Food & beverage is available for purchase but we are under no obligation to purchase anything
• Transit: #70 Grand, #73 Carondelet, #40 Broadway + walk

Tuesday March 20, 2012 (lunch hour)

• Noon-1pm (Brown Bag Lunch) @ Landmarks Association of St. Louis
• 911 Washington, Suite 170 STL MO 63101
• A deli is across the hall where food & beverage can be purchased.
• Transit: #32 ML King Chouteau,  #99 Downtown Trolley, MetroLink (Convention Center or 8th & Pine stations) + walk

Wednesday March 21, 2012 (evening)

• 7pm-8:30pm @ Julia Davis Public Library
• 4415 Natural Bridge Avenue
• Food & drink are not allowed in the library
• Transit: #4 Natural Bridge, #18 Taylor, #41 Lee + walk

Please plan to attend at least one of these discussions!

Here’s the abridged version:

Ensured Loughborough Commons Remains Transit Friendly
Desco Group requested that their property at Loughborough Commons no longer be accessible by the Number 70 Grand Bus and thus loose all transit accessibility. Highly concerned for the transit dependent living and working in proximity to Loughborough Commons, Steve Patterson and Herbie Markwort caused an uproar on Twitter ultimately forcing Metro and The Desco Group to about face. Metro formally responded to the social media outcry via their blog Next Stop STL and cited the twitter discussion as the driving force in seeking to continue bus service to Loughborough Commons.

Introduced ourselves to Metro
The morning of September 23rd, the TRU Steering Committee attended Metro’s regularly scheduled Board of Commissioners Meeting and made our formal introduction to Metro administration. See a video of our introduction at the Commissioners Meting here.

After our introduction at the Board of Commissioners meeting on the 23rd, Metro CEO John Nations reached out to us for a better understanding of who we are and what we’re looking to accomplish.

New logo
Many of you connecting with the TRU on Facebook and Twitter have probably already noticed we have a wonderful new logo representing us. Transit supporter Hitomi Inoue volunteered to design our logo and we’re grateful for her willingness.

Engaging Riders
We’ve been talking with fellow transit riders on buses, on trains, at bus stops and on MetroLink platforms about how Metro is working for them. We’ve heard a wide range of opinions, gotten a lot of feed back and made some new friends along the way. If you haven’t had a chance to voice yourself, please email us at info@trustl.org or leave us a voice mail/text message (314) 643-7878.

Service Discrepancies: Heaters & Other Amities
After Steve Patterson begun to discuss the discrepancy of heaters on MetroLink platforms while their none to be seen at adjacent MetroBus centers, we inquired with Ray Friem, Metro’s Chief Operating Officer and Courtney Sloger,  Online Media Specialist for insight and feedback.

Going Forward
We’re excited to continue engaging riders in transit and we’re hopeful for a strong turn out at our first wave of public meetings. Stay tuned for more details in the near future.

Patterson begins:

Winter weather is here but not to worry, Metro will keep you warm. Unless you are like most transit riders and you take MetroBus. I’ve not inspected all the MetroBus Transit Centers but I know the Civic Center Transit Center doesn’t have any heaters, yet all MetroLink platforms do!

If you haven’t had a chance to read the entirety of Patterson’s post – MetroBus & MetroLink: Separate And Unequal – we encourage you to.

The TRU is well aware of service inconsistencies between MetroBus and MetroLink and has inquired with Metro administration for further details on this service discrepancy. We’ll keep those interested updated via blog, Facebook and Twitter.

Prepared remarks were made by Herbie Markwort:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpTShPk56Ds

I would like to take this opportunity to explain why we members of the Transit Riders Union felt that their was a need for another organization advocating for public transportation.

Our primary purpose is not to advocate for public transportation in general. Our purpose is to advocate and fight for the needs of the riders who utilize the transit system. Our focus is on the needs and wants of the people first, the needs and wants of the system second.

In our initial meetings over the course of the last few months, we’ve debated whether there were any other organization with whom we could align. For many reasons, Citizens for Modern Transit seemed like it could be the most natural fit, but we concluded that their mission statement runs counter to our beliefs. Their mission statement reads:

“CMT leads advocacy efforts to expand light rail as the critical component of an integrated, affordable and convenient public transportation system…”

Members of the Board, on account of a single word, this is where we members of the Transit Riders Union differ with CMT. Make no mistake, the TRU is proud of the MetroLink system which St. Louis is fortunate to have. Its frequencies, cleanliness, reliability and security are qualities that should be prevalent throughout the transit network on both bus and train. CMT, since its founding in the 1980s, has been an enormous asset and friend of MetroLink and public transportation in St. Louis and we thank them for all their efforts.

However, we believe that MetroLink is merely one critical component of the region’s public transportation network. After all, buses make up the bulk of the Metro transit network and almost twice as many trips are taken by bus than by train. Regardless of the investment that has been put into the MetroLink network, we must not forget nor neglect the numerous riders who depend on buses in the region. People who ride MetroBus are just as deserving of the all the perks enjoyed by people who take MetroLink.

The reason TRUSTL organized because a large number Transit Riders feel that their transit needs are not heard, addressed and/or met.

In closing, we just want to add that one word, despite its ubiquity in our work, is often missing in front of transit and most policy makers forget about, “the Public”. TRUSTL wishes to put the “public” back in public transit.

Upon conclusion of the meeting, the assistant to John Nations, Metro CEO reached out the TRUSTL Steering Committee with the desire to further discuss our purpose.

This evening, Justin Chick and Eddie Williams will be discussing the need for TRUSTL on KDHX’s Collateral Damage with DJ Wilson. Tune in to 88.1 FM at 8:30 pm.

Members of the TRUSTL steering committee began meeting a few months ago to address a growing need for a unified voice for all transit riders in the St. Louis region. As riders, we have all complained to Metro about one thing or another sometimes getting positive results, other times as if our needs were falling on deaf ears. We decided the time to organize as transit riders was now to insure the needs of all riders are heard and respected.

We want to have a way to hear what other transit riders have to say about the quality of the service and insure Metro listens and responds appropriately to our needs.

• restore urban vitality
• ensure transportation equality
• improve overall quality of life

• Equitably reliable, affordable and efficient transit for all riders
• Cooperation between all transit agencies in the region to allow for fluidity and simplicity of travel
• Transparent and easily used lines of communication between transit agencies and riders with mechanisms in place to address and respond to rider concerns
• Helpful, courteous service from employees of all regional transit agencies
• Safe, clean and regularly maintained transit facilities throughout the entire Metro region
• Accurate signage and up to date transit information made available aboard all buses, trains, transit stations and connecting bus stops
• Current schedules, routes and ridership data available online

• Justin Chick (Transit Turning Point)
• Herbie Markwort (Gateway Streets & Next STL)
• Steve Patterson (Urban Review STL)
• Charles Purnell (STL Legend)
• Eddie Williams (Formally of MATRA-STL)

See you in transit!

-Justin, Herbie, Steve, Charles & Eddie