My two big concerns with the plan are its biggest weaknesses – the failure to dream big and the failure to address suburb-to-suburb transit needs. Light rail is a big investment, but it doesn’t last forever. In twenty years, we’re going to have to start thinking about the non-glamorous issue of replacing our current rolling stock, and given the present financing dynamic, it could likely boil down to picking between expansion or replacement. Plus, “getting” a light rail line is a great incentive for voters to approve higher tax rates – when only one corridor is planned, three-quarters of your constituents have no reason to say yes.

As a region, an ever-increasing number of trips are, and will continue to be, from one suburb to another, bypassing downtown St. Louis (or Clayton) completely. This plan continues to focus on downtown St. Louis as the hub of a multi-spoke system. For an ever-increasing number of residents, this makes Metro evermore irrelevent for their transportation needs. Yes, this is based in both politics and land planning policies, but it’s also another chicken-or-egg challenge – if Alton, Arnold, Black Jack, Cottleville or Creve Coeur has absolutely no hope of ever seeing viable public transit (other than one or two local bus routes), then guess what, they’re going to plan and build for an autocentric world, and they’re not going to be willing to support a public transit tax.

Finally, @RTBones – Park-and-ride lots are a great solution to that “last-mile” challenge that many low-density suburban areas present. They don’t keep SOV’s off the roads completely, but they do keep them a lot closer to home. What happens is that the park-and-ride lots become virtual parking for higher-density areas (like downtown St. Louis or Clayton), areas that have ground costs and congestion that are high/bad enough to make transit an attractive alternative. And whether the connection is by rail or BRT really isn’t all that important – the real challenge/benefit is to get people out of their single-occupant vehicles for the bulk of their trip.

When I move back, I’ll probably live downtown again. I do not drive, now will I ever.

BRT can be very close to rapid transit, look at the successful models out there. It requires bus stops that are accessible and useful though. BRT is useful because many different buses can run along parts of the route. Like the new york subway trains that run to several destinations. BRT should go along a wide street, but not an interstate. Grand and Kingshighway are good. Tucker, Broadway, Market, many streets are wide enough.

And BRT, when you get right down to it, is just a BUS, not rapid transit.