Holiday Magic Train Will Light Up St. Louis This Holiday Season

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Courtney

Last year on Nextstop, we asked readers if they would like a holiday train in St. Louis, similar to the festive train that runs annually in Chicago.  The suggestion came from former Chicagoan and St. Louis blogger Jim Barnthouse. We received an overwhelmingly positive response, with many people sending emails, phone calls and social media posts in support of a holiday train for MetroLink.  We then updated readers with the promise of a holiday train in 2010. So…Little Drummer Boy drumroll please…

Metro is happy to announce our First-Ever Holiday Magic Express Nov. 26 – Dec. 31!

Thanks to the St. Louis Convention and Visitors’ Commission (CVC), the Holiday Magic Train will be decked out in lights, ornaments, garland and festive cheer for the holiday season as part of the CVC’s Winter Magic campaign.  The train will run from a.m. to p.m. rush hours weekdays and select weekend hours, alternating on the Red and Blue lines, as part of normal MetroLink service.

Holiday Magic Express Train Schedule

Mon – Fri Nov. 26 – Dec. 31    Start of service to ~ 6:30 p.m.
Mon, Wed, Fri – Red Line
Tues, Thurs – Blue Line

Saturdays ~ 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Dec. 4 & 18 – Blue Line
Dec. 11 & 25 – Red Line
Sunday, Dec. 5 ~ 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. – Blue Line

Friday, Dec. 24 & Dec. 31 will operate 10:00am-7:00pm. MetroLink will operate on a holiday schedule on those dates.

Rhythm & Rails On-Board Holiday Concert Series

Metro and 88.1 KDHX present Rhythm & Rails on the Holiday Magic Train, a live, on-train holiday concert series on Dec. 11 and 18 from approximately 2pm-4pm.  Riders, for the regular MetroLink fare, can enjoy the spirited sounds of St. Louis’ Rough Shop on Dec. 11 and Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three on Dec. 18. Concert riders will receive a commemorative holiday postcard from Sleepy Kitty Arts.

Fares and Rider Information

Regular MetroLink ticket or pass fare required to ride Holiday Magic Train. Children under 5 years old ride free!

Holiday Magic Dec. 3-5 at America’s Center

We also encourage riders to take the Holiday Magic Train to check out Holiday Magic at America’s Center at the Convention Center MetroLink Station Dec. 3-5.  In addition to shopping, carnival rides, and a skating rink, Holiday Magic includes a trackless train ride and of course, Santa!  At on Saturday and Sunday, the Holiday Magic Express will have live holiday piano music!

Dec. 4 & Dec. 5, live piano music will play on the Holiday Magic Express from 1:21 – 3:23 Saturday on the Red Line and 2:31 – 4:32 Sunday on the Blue Line.  See the Rhythm & Rails Concert Schedule for identical Holiday Magic Express boarding times.

***

Special thanks to the CVC, KDHX, and all of our riders who expressed their support for a St. Louis holiday train.  We hope this is the start of a magical tradition for the St. Louis holiday season!

Posted in Explore St. Louis, Transit in the Community | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

What Metro Learned From Today

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Courtney

Early this morning, MetroLink experienced a failure in the overhead power system. Unlike most failures, this one caused power outages at a number of locations between Grand and Emerson Park Stations.  As a result, MetroLink service was delayed, and bus bridges from Emerson Park Station to Grand Station were used to move customers.  This occurred during the morning rush hour, and many people traveling the system were affected.  All available Metro resources were deployed to work through the problem.  Thank you to all of the employees who worked together to keep the system going and fix the problems as quickly as possible.

Delays due to mechanical problems will occasionally happen despite the most aggressive preventative maintenance efforts.  However, we heard from many of you that our communication to the customer should be better, especially to those on the ground who are trying to figure out what is going on.  We received letters, phone calls and online communications from many customers, some positive, but many more expressing frustration with our response to today’s incident.

We want you to know that we are listening.  We hope to take the concerns and experiences that you have shared with us to improve the process of getting information to you, especially during unexpected problems.  We heard that you wanted to know more about the problem more quickly, specifically the cause and extent of the delay.  We also heard that you wanted more information from the Metro operators and security guards on your bus and at transit centers. We know that you these situations can be confusing and chaotic, and we know we must work to better communicate the situation with our customers.

We sincerely apologize for all of our customers who experienced frustration today, and we appreciate all of the honest feedback.  Please know that many people will be working to learn from today, and trying to incorporate those lessons into future solutions.

Thank you,

St. Louis Metro Transit

Posted in Inside Metro | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

MetroLink Will Be A Little More Magical This Holiday Season

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Courtney

Details coming soon.

Posted in Explore St. Louis, Transit in the Community | Tagged , | 2 Comments

What Does A Million Miles Look Like?

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Courtney

To be specific, 1,250,758 miles.  This MetroLink train was the fifth set of light rail vehicles Metro, then known as Bi-State Development Agency, received in 1992.  The 1000 Series trains are still in active service.

The train’s odometer does not go past 999,999 miles, so it has started over at zero.

The train still has many of its original components, though things like seat covers have been replaced or repainted over the years.

The view from the front of the train, and the driver’s controls.

Trains make routine visits to the “train hospital” at our Ewing facility to receive regular check-ups and physicals.  Superintendent of Light Rail Maintenance Marc Cruz said, “It’s just like going to your regular dentist’s visit.  We look for any ‘cavities’.”

According to Metro maintenance, this train is approximately 7-8 years from retirement, so it has many more miles before it sleeps.

Look for the 1000 Series trains, the elders of our MetroLink fleet.  They’ve traveled a long way for transit riders.

Posted in Alternative Transportation, Inside Metro | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Enter GOOD Magazine’s “Best Bus Route in America” Contest; Win Free Monthly Pass!

Posted on November 10, 2010 by Courtney

Merb's Candies at 4000 S. Grand on the #70 Grand MetroBus route. Do you have a sweet bus route too?

What makes your bus route awesome?  Is it your regular driver?  Is it the local businesses along the way?  Is it the architecture and scenery?  Do you have a great cast of characters you ride with everyday?  It’s time to put your favorite STL bus route front and center!  GOOD Magazine is sponsoring a contest for the “Best Bus Route in America.” Entry is easy – see the rules and contest prizes from GOOD below:

the OBJECTIVE
Show and tell us why your bus route is the best in America.

the ASSIGNMENT
Take a photo with your camera phone (no fancy cameras please) and send it to us with a 140 character or less caption by Friday, November 12 at 12:00 a.m. PST.

the REQUIREMENTS
Photos should be taken with camera phones and each caption should include the location and route. Please include your name and the best way to reach you.
Email your entry to: busroutes@goodinc.com
Tweet your entry to: @GOOD and use the hashtag #bestbusride

the DETAILS
GOOD and Transportation Alternatives will choose 15 finalists, all of which will be featured in a GOOD Picture Show.

Our Jurors’ Selection winner will be featured in the next issue of GOOD magazine and will receive a monthly unlimited ride transit pass on your system, a year subscription to GOOD magazine, and a Transportation Alternatives’ “Room to Breathe” poster.

Our People’s Choice winner will receive a Contest Streets documentary, a Not For Tourists Guidebook, and a one-year subscription to Transportation Alternatives’ Reclaim Magazine.

St. Louis has 75 bus routes, many of which have very distinct characteristics and neighborhood appeal. So Metro Transit riders – is your bus route the best in America?  If you enter, let us know.  Good luck to all entries!

Posted in Transit in the Community, Transit Lifestyle | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Service Changes Monday, Nov. 29 Seek to Improve Restoration 2010 Changes

Posted on November 9, 2010 by Courtney

You didn’t think it was over, did you?  After the Restoration, many of you sent in complaints of problems with buses running on time or having less-than-optimal time connections.  On Monday, Nov. 29, Metro will launch a round of adjustments or “tweeks” to the Restoration service changes implemented in June and August.

These changes were based on customer input, and issues relating to time connections and route concerns.  Many of these changes are slight schedule changes to maintain service frequency and schedule adherence, but they also include added service and route changes.

Here is a list of the affected Missouri MetroBus routes:

Service Change Descriptions Nov. 2010

Click here if you cannot view the Scribd reader.

Metro Ambassadors will hand out service change brochures and updated MetroBus schedules at the following locations:

Monday, Nov. 22, 6am – 9am:  North Hanley MetroLink Station
Monday, Nov. 22, 6am – 9am:  Riverview Transit Center
Monday, Nov.  22, 12:30pm – 3:30pm:  Florissant Valley Community College
Tuesday, Nov. 23, 6am – 9am:  Rock Road Station
Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2:30pm  – 5:30pm:  Shrewsbury Station
Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2:30pm – 5:30pm:  Maplewood Station
Wednesday, Nov. 24, 6am – 9am:  Central West End Station

This information will also be available at Civic Center Station and MetroBus Transit Center in information trailer 8am to 4pm and the MetroRide Store at 7th and Washington in downtown St. Louis starting Nov. 22.

Metro will post rider alerts on buses and trains to remind customers.  You can find updated timetables now at www.metrostlouis.org.

Posted in Moving Transit Forward, System Changes | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

New Buses! FTA Clean-Air Grant Will Provide 12 New MetroBuses

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Courtney

Metro will get a boost in its program to restore transit service to customers with a new $4 million federal grant that the Agency will use to buy 12 buses. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has notified Metro that its grant application has been approved through the FTA Clean Fuels Bus Grant program to buy buses that meet current federal emissions requirements.

Metro immediately needs more buses to restore services that were reduced in March 2009 for financial reasons.  Metro began implementing service restoration in June and has been working to speed up bus acquisition.

Metro has been searching for grants to help rebuild its bus fleet because we had to cancel purchases in recent years because of financial challenges.
This is very exciting news!  As many of our riders have noticed, many buses in our fleet are older and some are experiencing overcrowding.

Metro’s Maintenance Department has allowed it to operate buses beyond the industry standard of 500,000 miles and Metro’s target of an average bus age of eight years. As of December 2009, 67 percent of the buses in Metro’s fleet had logged an average of 500,000 miles and 36 percent ranged from 10 to 18 years old. This year, 160 buses in the fleet of 360 are eligible to be replaced.

“Our goal is to get back to our base business plan where we replace about one-fifteenth of our fleet each year. Eventually, our target is to consistently buy 30 new buses a year. Right now, with us short on buses, we are expediting our purchase schedule, and obtaining grants such as this one is very helpful in those efforts,” COO Ray Friem said.

These buses will help find the right bus for the route, based on ridership.  In addition, new buses have much better emissions controls than older models and technological amenities such as on-board security cameras, GPS tracking, and low-floor kneeling for easier boarding.

Posted in Funding Transit, Making Transit Easy | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Metro’s Long-Range Plan Wins 2nd Place in International Innovative Public Participation Awards

Posted on November 4, 2010 by Courtney

OK, so this has been a week of tooting our own horns. But this news definitely merits recognition given the many, many people and hard work involved — including by many of our readers and partnering organizations.

At a recent awards presentation in Scarborough, England, Metro was honored by the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) for the level of participation by the public in the development of Moving Transit Forward, the plan that offers a menu of transit solutions to meet the St. Louis region’s needs over the next three decades. IAP2 honored projects from New South Wales and Logan City, Australia; Vancouver, Canada; Washington D.C. and Phoenix, AR. For IAP2’s Innovation Award, Metro placed second behind TransLink, the transit agency for Vancouver.

Director of Service Planning Lance Peterson at the Mehlville Public Meeting

Working with the East-West Gateway Council of Governments to develop the region’s first long-range transit plan, Metro provided more opportunities for the public to contribute than ever in its 60-year history.

Chief of Planning & System Development Jessica Mefford-Miller at the St. Louis City Hall Public Meeting

They included:

  • 22 public meetings
  • More than 150 presentations to business, civic, advocacy, and neighborhood groups
  • An advisory group of regional elected officials, business leaders, representatives of community organizations, and other regional agencies
  • An executive committee that engaged local elected leaders and other regional leaders from Missouri and Illinois
  • An interactive Web site
  • Its first blog – Nextstop!
  • Webinars
  • Facebook page
  • Twitter

The result was a plan that provides practical, realistic, and financially feasible options for expanding transit services and introducing new services, such as Bus Rapid Transit and MetroLink corridors.

Transit Rider Justin Chick at the Mehlville Public Meeting

For all of the hard work involved in creating the long-range plan, we still have much work to do.  Many opportunities to work the public exist, from passenger amenities, to new service, to transit-oriented development and land use.   Many thanks to everyone who commented, linked, attended a public meeting, sent an e-mail, wrote a letter or checked out the website, and provided feedback on the long-range plan.

What other ways can Metro engage with the public?  What are your suggestions for working together to make a better transit future in St. Louis?  Have you participated in other community engagement projects that you thought were successful and would like to see modeled?

Posted in Moving Transit Forward | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Bike Rack for North Hanley: A Lesson in Social Media Collaboration

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Courtney

Metro Engineering and New Construction Project Manager George Gress with new North Hanley bike rack

As the Online Media Specialist for Metro, I hear a lot of suggestions and concerns from Metro riders.  Almost all of these suggestions get passed along, and often are incorporated into our customer service feedback or planning decisions. Sometimes we run across the opportunity to take feedback from social media and engage it throughout the whole process, from suggestion to implementation. The new bike rack at North Hanley MetroLink Station is one example.

On May 6, Jennifer posted about the North Hanley capital project to repaving and repair the parking lot and bus bays.  In the comments, reader “Jazzy Jeff” made the following suggestion:

Any new “bike racks” for bicycle parking being installed? From what I have seen there are no “official” spots for bicycles to park at N. Hanley. If I am wrong please let me know. Thanks for reporting this since I have seen the beginning of this new construction and never was sure all that was going to be completed beyond the “heaters” on the platform just in time for Sprint / Summer ;0) LOL! Better than never I suppose…

Thanks!
Jeff

Flash forward a few weeks, on a dreary and rainy day, Metro Engineering and New Construction Project Manager George Gress and I were looking at the North Hanley station for possible bike rack locations. We even spotted a bike chained to a tree near the west entrance of the parking garage, illustrating the need for a rack. We scouted a spot near the north entrance to the parking garage, close to the roof overhang and near the security office – the kind of location suggested on Twitter to keep the area sheltered and within site of the platform. Patty Vinyard, former Executive Director of the St. Louis Bicycle Federation, had worked with Metro Engineer Jerry Wittenauer to find a bike rack style that cyclists preferred and that worked with Metro’s specifications. In this case, she suggested using an almost artistic helio design rather than the standard “U” shaped racks. Wittenauer passed along this information to Gress and Chuck Clemins, Director of Right-of-Way Maintenance.

Gress worked the bike rack into the construction project with the help of other Metro supervisors, and included a sidewalk and landing area around the rack. This grassy area was frequently walked over by pedestrians and was often muddy before the pathway was installed.

The bike rack is now installed, and I took a picture of the camera-reluctant Gress with the new rack. Many thanks to Director of Capital Projects Chris Rimsky, Chuck Clemins, and George Gress for going along with the project and incorporating the rack into the construction plans.

Now North Hanley has a bike rack and Metro staff have a good example of working with social-media feedback to improve the transit system. Good work, everyone!

Posted in Capital Projects, Making Transit Easy | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Transit Riders Called to “Donate & Ride” with Metro-MERS/Goodwill Coat Drive

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Courtney

Adella Jones from Metro is one of the first to donate a coat to the "Donate & Ride" program at North Hanley MetroLink Station

Now, this is one drive that all transit riders should get behind!

Metro and MERS/Goodwill, two of the Bi-State region’s largest organizations, are celebrating a 12-year working relationship and announced today the first “Donate & Ride” Coat Donation Drive to take place Nov. 1-30, 2010, at four of the MetroLink Park-Ride locations (Brentwood I-64, Fairview Heights, North Hanley and Shrewsbury). Through the “Donate & Ride” Coat Donation Drive, Metro and MERS/Goodwill aim to collect 4,000 coats in four weeks.

Can we do it St. Louis transit riders! Four thousands coats in 30 days! Let’s do this!

Metro President John Nations and MERS/Goodwill President Dr. Lewis Chartock speak about the "Donate & Ride" Program

“We are excited to further strengthen our relationship with Metro,” said Dr. Lewis Chartock, President and CEO of MERS/Goodwill. “Twelve years ago we began contracting employees to clean Metro’s Brentwood facility. Today, Metro is one of our largest contract employers, providing more than 100 full-time and part-time jobs. The majority of these contract employees have completed one or more of our job-training programs, which in turn are funded by our 40 retail locations that collect donated goods to support the community.”

Donate a coat. Someone else will get a reduced-price coat and yet someone else can receive job training. Win!

To participate in the Metro and MERS/Goodwill “Donate & Ride” Coat Donation Drive, visit the Brentwood I-64, Fairview Heights, North Hanley or Shrewsbury MetroLink Park-Ride locations. MERS/Goodwill donation bins will be conveniently located between parking lots and MetroLink platforms so that gently used coats and other apparel can easily be donated on the way to work, home, events, etc.

When you go to donate a coat, be sure to let us know!  Let’s show that transit riders are on board to “Donate & Ride” to those in need this winter season.

Dr. Chartock and Nations demonstrating how to use the donation bin. Only a few thousand to go!

Posted in Transit in the Community | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments