November 28, 2011 | 22 Comments

Quarterly Service Changes Start Today

Here’s what you need to know regarding this quarter’s service changes effective today, November 28, 2011, and subsequently January 2012. NOTE:  Information with maps and schedules is on Metro’s website.  Customers should use TripFinder (on the website) because it will take a few days for Google Maps to update information.  Customers can also check with customer service during business hours 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Mon-Friday.

Effective November 28, 2011

#1 Gold – From the start of service to 7:00 p.m. on Weekdays, service will operate every 20 minutes instead of every 15 minutes, and all trips will operate from the Central West End Transit Center to the Clayton Transit Center.

#8 Bates Morganford – This route will no longer serve Russell Ave to the Civic Center Station. The route will include service between Central West End and Botanical Garden now operated on the #14 Botanical Garden. Service during the daytime will operate every 40 minutes.

#13 Union – Service will operate every 40 minutes instead of every 30 minutes. Preview: Schedules.

#14 Botanical Garden – This route will be discontinued in the present form. Service between Central West End and Botanical Garden will be operated on the #8 Bates Morganford, and service between Tower Grove and the Hill area will be operated on the #80 Park Shaw.

#16 City Limits – The Jamieson Bridge will re-open in late November 2011. The #16 will resume regular route. The routing will be changed to serve the Senior Apartments on Hodiamont and Etzel. Southbound trips will access the Delmar Station westbound on Des Peres.

#30 Soulard – The first northbound trip adjusted to time connect with the #70 Grand northbound at Grand & Arsenal.

#33 Dorsett Lackland – Trip time adjustments to provide better connections with the Metrolink. Preview: Schedules.

#47 North Hanley – The last northbound trip on Weekdays and Saturdays will leave 8 minutes later to connect with the Westbound MetroLink scheduled to arrive at North Hanley Station at 12:10am.

#59 Dogtown – Service will operate every 40 minutes between Central West End and Webster Groves during the day, and every 60 minutes at night. Service between Central West End and Forest Park Community college will operate every 20 minutes during weekday hours.

#64 Lucas Hunt – Trip time adjustments to provide better connections with the Metrolink.

#70 Grand – The first northbound trip adjusted to time connect with the #11 Chippewa at Grand & Chippewa and the #30 Soulard at Grand & Arsenal.

#80 Park Shaw – Route extended to provide service between Tower Grove and the Hill Area now served by the #14 Botanical Garden.

#180 Russell – This route will be operated as a van shuttle serving the McKinley Heights neighborhood along Russell Boulevard between Grand Boulevard and Gravois Avenue to the Civic Center MetroLink Station. Service will operate Monday – Friday every 40 minutes from 5:00am – 8:00am and from 3:00pm – 6:00pm. This change will be implemented on November 28, 2011. This service will be replaced by the #8 Bates Morganford in early January.

 

 

January 2012

#80 Park Shaw – This route will continue to provide service to the Civic Center Station and will be extended to also provide service to the Central West End MetroLink Station via Tower Grove Avenue. Service will operate every 40 minutes during rush hour and hourly during non-rush hour. This change will be implemented in early January 2012.

#8 Bates Morganford – This route will return to its pre-November 2011 configuration, and will return to serving Russell Boulevard to the Civic Center MetroLink Station. Service will operate every 40 minutes during rush hour and hourly during non-rush hour. This change will be implemented in early January 2012.

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Author:Courtney

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  • http://www.stlelsewhere.blogspot.com Daron

    Boo!!! This change was poorly announced in advance. I found out through public meetings, but nobody at my bus stop in the mornings had any idea what I was talking about when I told them. Consistently in October and early November when I tried to look stuff up to show to my fellow riders, I saw nothing on Metro’s website. I certainly don’t remember ever being asked for input. My bus stop was removed over my objections, and now no longer has a bus that gets me to the CWE. Southwest Garden has lost easy access to it’s closest MetroLink station unless we walk to Kingshighway or Tower Grove Avenue.

    My bus stop will disappear. My bus (14) has disappeared. My new bus (8) is far away and less frequent. The bus I now take to the CWE was stolen from my friends in Fox Park who now have no bus at all.

    More importantly, I’d like to complain about some crazy information that NextStop put out a while back. You guys claimed that bus drivers must let riders on the bus if the bus is idle. I have consistently seen this to not be true on a day to day basis month after month. They always lock the doors and leave passengers sitting outside. Very often I see them eating on their empty buses like it’s their own private break room. It’s getting colder outside, and that behavior is getting more irritating. There’s nothing quite like shivering and being stared at through a sheet of glass by a lady shoving a big mac in her face. I like my drivers. They’re generally nice people, but I don’t think they know the rules as they are advertised to passengers.

    • Patti

      Daron: Thank you for your comments. I will pass on your feedback regarding your bus stop being eliminated and your observations of operators to the proper departments. The quarterly service changes were posted on our website more than two months ago and then due to public feedback, a bus shuttle was recently added to the quarterly service change.

    • Patti

      Daron: In response to you comments, the Planning Department wants you to know that changes will take place on January 9, 2012, which will have the #8 Bates Morganford return to service as prior to November 28, 2011, and the #80 will be extended to serve the Central West End.

    • Patti

      Hi, Daron: Wanted to get back to you about your feedback about letting passengers on the bus when it is idling. Please let us know the next time the operator does not let you and other passengers on the bus at the layover site. If you could give us the date, time, route, bus number, location and a description of the driver the next time it happens, we would really appreciate it. That way we can work directly with the driver to resolve the problem.

  • Mark

    Please keep the #8 Morganford running along Russel Blvd. to Civic Center. In fact, the frequency could be increased. Thank you!

    • Patti

      Thanks for your input, Mark. I will pass your comment on to our Planning Department.

    • Patti

      Mark: Planning tells me that on January 9, 2012, the #8 Bates Morganford will return to routing prior to November 28, 2011. The service will be hourly, with 40 minute weekday rush hour service.

  • RTBones

    Hi Courtney -

    Hope the Thanksgiving holiday treated you well.

    I’ve recently browsed through some of the comments people are making on other posts about the quarterly changes and rider feedback posts. I feel I need to add my comments “to the pile.”

    First, regarding Metro’s website – while you have the flash banner that encourages visitors to find out about quarterly changes and links to this blog – there is no direct mention in the ‘Plan Your Next Trip’ section that searches for connections that transit riders should search using the old Trip Finder for now instead of the direct link on the site to Google Transit. I suspect most folks doing a quick look for bus/train times are not going to click through and read and entire (and confusing – I’ll get to that in a minute) article about what is changing and where they need to go to look up ‘current’ schedules for a few days. You are going to upset riders this way, particularly those just trying to look up connections.

    Second, the past few posts regarding schedule changes, both quarterly and the rider feedback changes have been, in a word, confusing. While I applaud Metro for trying to give riders up to date information, Metro needs to be clear about schedules. If that means you wait a few days before putting information out, so be it. The last several scheduling posts have been a nightmare.

    Third, yet another reason more people don’t ride your buses – we hardly know when and where to catch a bus because Metro seems to change the schedules every other day (yes, an exaggeration, but I do it to make a point.) Its bad enough you can’t use the system without some sort of internet connection. Metro does nothing but make things worse by continually changing schedules. If you want people to ride, try leaving the schedules alone, please. I understand you are trying to respond to rider feedback, but how about you make those changes one every six moths or once a year. Planned seasonal changes are one thing – currently, the frequency of schedule changes borders on ridiculous.

    • Patti

      RT, thank you for your honest and thoughtful comments. I will send them on for Courtney to the folks in our Planning Department. We will try harder to be more clear and less confusing.

  • Julie

    Is there anyway you can fix 33 because now there is a 50 minute window between the 6:30 am and 7:20 at Woodson/Lackland. Could you please either bring 33 up by 10 minutes to 6:40, or down by 10 minutes to 7:20. It really makes a difference in which bus will allow me a leeway for when the bus will be late (and it will) so that I have a back up train to catch so that I don’t have to leave even earlier than I already do.

  • Julie

    bring it down to 7:10 i mean.

  • http://www.stlelsewhere.blogspot.com Daron

    Patti: Thank you for responding. Any idea what the frequency of the new super 80 will be? It will still be serving the Hill, right?

  • http://www.stlelsewhere.blogspot.com Daron

    Ok ok, I see in the post above it says every 40 minutes.

  • Julie

    So can I assume Metro will fix the problem with the 33 bus in the morning? Giving a bus 50 minutes will not make it run on time. It’ll just make more people late as it misses the train. Please fix the problem and return the 7:20 bus to the 7:13 time slot. I’d rather miss the 7:29 westbound train than the 7:41 westbound train.

    I am getting so sick and tired of Metro finding a million ways to place nothing but inconveniences on the passengers. No wonder people are leaving the bus behind in favor of cars. Who wants to waste money on crappy service and then be talked down to or ignored by the very people whose jobs depend on there being a ridership.

    I seriously wish I could take my vote back on Prop A. Not worth wasting money in taxes and then have to deal with the 33 getting worse each service update.

    Thanks for nothing.

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

      Julie,

      We are still waiting on feedback from our planning department. I will let you know as soon as I can. Thanks!

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

      Julie, I got word from Lance in planning that starting Monday, that bus will be coming four minutes earlier than currently scheduled along the entire run to get to the train 4 minutes earlier. We will be updating the website and schedules as well.

  • Robin Gray

    The driver last Tuesday the 29th, very cold day, at 3:00 p.m. at the CWE, the #8 Southbound, a woman driver, did not let the passengers on the bus when she took her break. I wasn’t sure if it were allowed or not but as I see here it is.

    Any idea when the new #80 map and timetable will be available? Will it still go into the hill neighborhood as well ans the CWE and Civic Center?

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

      Robin, thank you for letting us know about the driver. Our Chief of MetroBus operations has requested that we send this information to her to follow up with operators, as there is a policy to let passengers on the bus during colder weather. Please let us know of any examples of this in the future.

      As for the #80 map and timetable, I do not have the date for its release, but as soon as we find out I will post the information on the blog and on our rider alerts page.

  • Julie

    I looked at the schedule and at the woodson/lackland stop it says it still runs at 7:20 which means the bus will still miss the 7:41 train.

    Might as well not bother changing the bus schedule if you aren’t going to put the 7:20 bus back to running at 7:13 again.

    Getting up at 5:30 for something that starts at 8:00 is absolutely unacceptable. Ideally, the 7:41 train is perfect but Metro and 33 are so unreliable and always so late that it NEVER makes the train on time. But when the bus came by Woodson at 7:13 and arrived at the station by 7:29 (missing the 7:29 train) at least there was enough time to catch the 7:41 train.

    The bus shouldn’t be arriving at Woodson at 7:20. It should be arriving at the station or be close to it by that point.

    Does Metro ever plan to do anything right? Ever since Prop A, you guys have done nothing but make bad decisions after another. I am so tired of this. 33 was better off prior to Prop A. You guys killed the bus.

  • Julie

    Also, moving the 6:30 bus to 6:26 makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. That is why I said originally to run it 10 minutes later.

    Just go back and tell them to fix the 7:00 bus and have the 33 arrive at the station at 7:29 instead of 7:34 because believe me, the 33 bus drivers do not take their job serious enough to try to be on time on top of the fact that 33 has been burdened with 35′s load.

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

      Julie, I’ll pass along your frustrations and suggestions to planning, and to our operations. Hopefully, we all can work together to find a reasonable solution.

  • Tony

    Is the 80 still going to serve The Hill area after the early January change?