March 2, 2010 | 8 Comments

Public Transit and St. Louis Businesses: John’s Story

What time do you get up in the morning? 6 a.m.? 7 a.m.? How about 3:15 a.m.??

Transit rider John gets up every workday morning at 3:15 a.m. to catch several buses to get to his job at St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield from his home in North St. Louis County. He is one of the hundreds of people who take transit to the healthcare businesses in Chesterfield, and one of the thousands of people who take transit to work every day. People may not realize it, but transit riders are all around us, keeping the St. Louis economy going and making this a better community. What if people like John couldn’t get to their jobs?

Watch:

Metro Means Business – Healthcare Employee John from St. Louis Metro Transit on Vimeo.

For more transit rider stories, visit here.

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Author:Courtney

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  • steve

    Buy him a used car… you do live in the car-culture-extreme known as the Lou. Have da Mayor of Chesterfield subsidize car payments, not a bus with only one rider. Reduce pollution and vote down A. Mass transit on the periphery is a drain on resources. By the way, StL Metro is unfriendly to families, ever try to bring your kids on the trains when bikes are limited to two/car?

    • http://www.nextstopstl.org/ Courtney

      Steve,

      The bike policy is: two bikes back of front car, two bikes front end of the second car, and two bikes at end of second car for a total of six per train load. We can’t have them at the front of the first car because they can obstruct the operator. Bikers and bikes are definitely welcome on Metro (all buses also have bus racks for two bikes on front), and we want to encourage combining all forms of transportation. Just try to be courteous of other riders, especially those in wheelchairs or mobility devices.

  • John

    Seriously? Move closer to work.

  • nA

    Steve – Are you talking about that car culture where one will drive around parking lot for 1 hour so that he will get a parking spot closer to the store? :)

    It’s such a shame that people blame metro for their lack of enthusiasm in taking public transportation. There will be no one rider buses if people show at least a grain of initiative in taking public transit instead of cars. Why is a mass transit drain of resources on a periphery? You do understand that majority of people who work in downtown live in west county (And vice versa) and drive everyday for 2 hrs.

    STL Metro is unfriendly to families because kids cannot get their bikes? First of all tagging metro as unfriendly to families just because of that one reason is not fair. Have you ever tried chicago transit? How many bikes do they allow? Also, on weekends, metro trains run every 15 minutes, so waiting for the next train is not too painful.

    I am very proud to say that I rode my bike on both bus and train and I am very appreciative of the fact that I get opportunity.

    Finally, according to my observations, people have a very wrong impression of metro buses because they think that they are not safe.

  • Robyn

    Remember people not all of us can drive. Yes I live close to work but I am visually impaired. I don’t have the luxury of driving and maybe I cannot get someone to take me to work all the time. I could maybe walk but in the cold and snow an the way people drive when it comes to walking how safe am i crossing the streets in west county where no one respects pedestrians. If I did not have transit there are a lot of places I would not go. so get real and besides transit brings jobs and there is a good chance that at least one person you meet in a day relys on transit to get to work or school. In big modern cities like New York and Chicago everyone rides it.

  • http://www.beeshealthfoodstore.com Elizabeth Brewer

    Do you realize that there are many people who cannot afford an automobile, especially in this shot down economy. My granddaughter is one of those people. She works hard to make minimal wages and support her baby. Please consider more than your own convenience by voting for public transportation. If you don’t more people will be unable to work, because they have no way to get there. Mass transit also helps with the pollution problem caused by exhaust emissions. Think before you vote, the vote for mass transit.

  • Jimmy Z

    not directly related, but an interesting perspective: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/st_clive_thompson_texting/

  • patti

    you think St Louis is car crazy? move to Indianapolis- that’s a town that is car stupid u think the people would be able to drive but it has the worst drivers. theirbus system makes St Louis’ with the cuts really good. we don’t even have a rail line only buses that run around downtown and not much elsewhere