» bus bridge

From Saturday, December 26 at 9:00 a.m. – Sunday, January 3, MetroLink riders will use a bus bridge to go from the Central West End to the Grand MetroLink stations.  MetroLink service between these stations will be interrupted for the demolition and construction of the Vandeventer Bridge.  The elderly bridge is in disrepair and suffering from settling problems.  Automobile and pedestrian traffic was closed on Vandeventer Avenue near the bridge starting December 7, and construction will continue until early spring.  Regular MetroLink service will resume on January 4.

So what is a bus bridge?  A bus bridge is a series of buses that shuttle MetroLink riders from one station to another due to service interruption.  Service could be down for a number of reasons, like scheduled construction or repair, or in the case of an emergency.  These buses are dedicated to serving the bus bridge and will not serve MetroBus routes along the route.  The bus bridge will operate both eastbound and westbound on the Red and Blue MetroLink lines.  Below is a map of the Vandeventer bus bridge route:

Vandenventer Bus Bridge Route Map

If you are planning on taking MetroLink from December 26 – January 3, here’s what to expect from the bus bridge service:

1. When you are heading eastbound, exit the Central West End MetroLink station to and walk towards Taylor Avenue.  If you are going westbound on MetroLink, exit the Grand Station platform and head east towards Scott Avenue (do not go up the stairs).  Metro employees will be guiding passengers towards the buses at both stations.

2. Look for MetroBuses with the overhead sign reading “Bus Bridge”.

3. You will not need additional fare. Please keep your MetroLink fare present.

4. Buses hold up to 40 people, so multiple buses will be used for larger MetroLink loads.

5. Expect some delays in travel time, and please budget extra time for your trip.  Eastbound bus bridge route should take 4-5 minutes; the Westbound bus bridge route should take 6-7 minutes in additional to wait time at the MetroLink stations.

6. On Christmas Day and New Years Day, Metro service runs on a Sunday schedule.  Schedule info at Metro’s website.

We do appreciate your patience through this process, and have safe and warm travels through this holiday season!

A “bus bridge” is the use of MetroBuses to “bridge” between MetroLink stations when the train cannot continue its normal schedule due to a rail blockage or operational problem. (There are times when a blockage or operational problem occurs and our controllers can use a “single track” — one of the two existing tracks — to keep trains moving. Single track operations move at slower speeds, however, since trains use one track to travel in both directions but in alternating patterns.)

There are two kinds of bus bridges, ones that are scheduled in advance, and here is a Rider Alert that was posted for a planned bus bridge.

For an emergency bus bridge, the situation varies depending on the day, time of day, type of incident, number of stations affected and length of service outage. Here is a Rider Alert posted when there was an emergency electrical outage.

We encourage customers to check our Rider Alerts during bad weather and sign up for Metro’s RSS feeds for notification as Alerts are posted.