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Free screening of Beyond the Motor City in University City. Tonight is a free screening of Beyond the Motor City: The Future of U.S. Transportation at the Tivoli Theater in University City.  Film starts at 7 p.m., and the panel of Rep. Russ Carnahan, BTMC director Aaron Woolf, and Citizens for Modern Transit’s Tom Shrout will answer audience questions immediately following the screening.  Want to have an even more intimate conversation with director Aaron Woolf?  He’ll be joining other St. Louisans at our Transit Tweetup at Pi Restaurant in the East Loop at 5pm.

Metro Tax Puts Trainees in Driver’s Seat. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch takes a look at the first round of hires for Metro’s new bus operator positions for service restoration.

Missouri Passes Complete Streets bill in House. Big week for Complete Streets in Missouri!  On Friday, the Missouri House of Representatives passed Complete Streets legislation with one hour left in session.  For a reading on what that actually means for Missouri roads and sidewalks, see the complete text.

Aldermen Shane Cohn Introduces Complete Streets Bill. This week, Alderman Shane Cohn (Ward 25) introduced Complete Streets legislature to the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen. We’ll be watching to see what happens next.

Kansas Approves Express Buses on Shoulder. Under a new law approved by the Kansas Legislature, Johnson County (Kansas City, KA) has won approval to run express buses on the shoulder of Interstate 35 during rush hour.  Great news for Kansas transit!

May 21 National Bike to Work Day. Friday is National Bike to Work Day, and Trailnet is partnering with organizations and businesses throughout the region to provide support and a continental breakfast for those biking to work at four local refueling stations 6:30 – 9 a.m.

Here are some interesting tidbits from around the internet to help you kick off your Halloween weekend.

• Metro President & CEO Bob Baer sat down with the Post-Dispatch’s “Along for the Ride” crew and discussed his recent decision to stay on permanently at Metro, as well as the agency’s fiscal future.
• Is it out with the hybrid, and in with the…nothing?
• The East-West Gateway Council of Governments has started a blog, Renewing the Region.
• Bike-share Vending Machines – a good idea/ Would it work here? Would you use them from time to time?
• MoDOT tv: Watch “The Life Cycle of a Highway“
• Enjoy some photos from last week’s Metrolink prom, here and here.

MetroLink Prom Queen, courtesy of Miss MetroLink

Here are some interesting transit or St. Louis-related links from around the internet to help kick off your week.

• The bus painting last weekend at the Green Homes Festival went very well. Check out this report on Provacative Nation and Green Homes Festival’s Flickr feed for some great images from the event, including the one below – Mother Nature approves of the bus!
• According to the mid-year Housing Report (warning: opens .pdf file!), downtown St. Louis gained 400 new residents in the first half of 2009, despite the economic downturn; and occupancy rates were stabilized by the conversion of some loft units into apartments. (Thanks to Brian for the info.)
• Justine Petersen is hosting the Aspen Institute Scale Academy (warning: opens a Word document!) from Sept. 28 – October 2 here in St. Louis. Justine Petersen is a friend of Metro’s, and operates justBiz (a business resource and WiFi center) in the commercial building at the Emerson Park MetroLink station. (Look for a future post concerning their activities and the ways they are bringing economic opportunities to the St. Louis region – I’ve been meaning to get over there and talk to them for a while now.)
• STL Rising ponders questions of leadership and how to retain creative people.

Rainbow bus, courtesy of Green Homes Festival

Here are some links to transit and urban planning-related items from around the internet that you may have missed.

• Jack Schuler and Richard Baron had an interesting editorial in the Post-Dispatch about Missouri’s aging infrastructure.
• Save the Date! MetroLink prom this year will be taking place on Friday, October 23, with a special appearance by Miss MetroLink. Apparently, 80 people participated last year in this (non-Metro-sponsored) event. Via CuriousFeet St. Louis, who also told us about Urban Studio cafe’s grand opening yesterday.
• The Transport Politic wonders, Do we need better local transit service before we move on to good intercity transit?
• There will be a second public workshop on Saturday, September 26 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. regarding the Central West End Sustainable Development Plan and Code. The workshop will be held at the Schlafly Library at 225 North Euclid. More info and background courtesy of Saint Louis Urban Workshop blog.
• Streetsblog examines whether highway users cover the costs of highways, and a lively discussion in the comments ensues.
• A reader sent me a link to this Transit Pass post about the recent T4 America study on the effects of recent nationwide transit cutbacks (the cover of which features Metro’s infamous bus-service-suspended signs) and a state-by-state look at transportation.

You may have noticed that our posts have been a little light these last few weeks; we have been working hard to develop some great content, and have been holding it back for our “official” launch. (Did you know you’ve been reading the beta?) We are anticipating that “official” public launch of the blog very soon, which essentially involves emailing all of our friends & contacts and talking to some folks in the media to let them know we’re blogging. Once that happens we kick into high gear around here so keep your eyes open, and help spread the word about NextStop to your friends.

Here are some interesting transit-related links to ponder on this humid, end-of-summer Friday:

• Via KC Light Rail, Kansas City broke ground on a new Bus Rapid Transit line yesterday.
• ClimateBiz Blog discusses the return on investment for TOD.
• Pointer’s Market opened up in the Benton Park neighborhood.
• The Post-Dispatch Book Blog reports on the start of Metro’s Poetry in Motion contest!
• MIT students have discovered the true molecular structure of concrete, which will lead to advances in concrete strength.
• The Urbanophile ponders a city’s “sphere of influence” and marvels at the size of St. Louis’s.
• Reader and UrbanReviewSTL contributor Jim Zavist sent along a link to this website documenting the “once vital, now abandoned Rochester (NY) subway” system.
• Portland begins an experiment in cycling safety with their new CycleTrack program.

You may have also noticed our new color scheme – a somewhat more subdued blue. What do you think?

Some transit-related links and news for yet another unseasonably gorgeous August Friday:

• The Washington Post had a nice article about the (DC) Metro sign shop and the work they do.
• St. Louis Urban Workshop rewrites a Newsweek column in a more transit-friendly way.
• Don’t forget that the Moonlight Ramble is tomorrow night, starting at 14th & Chestnut downtown! Also, Gateway’s quarterly newsletter is out and you can download the newsletter (.pdf version).
• The CTA has teamed up with the Jazz Institute of Chicago and will begin offering a special-event train featuring live jazz bands.
• Ben at the Seattle Transit Blog looks at tunnel construction cost bids and price fluctuations that impact a project’s final costs.
• Tim Bryant reports that the Dillards building rehab downtown might soon be underway – starting with the removal of the skybridge. The Post-Dispatch also opined this week regarding Secretary LaHood’s visit and the current method of funding local transit.

Enjoy your weekend!

Here are some transit and development-related links worth passing along on a beautiful Friday.

• Tim Logan says it’s good news and bad news for the St. Louis housing market.
• From The Infrastructurist, beautiful photos of abandoned subway stations of the world.
• St. Louis Alderman Antonio French is excited about bringing jazz concerts to O’Fallon Park. (Update: Pictures here.)
• WorldChanging looks at the hidden costs of parking, and offers some ideas.
• STLUrbanWorkshop takes a preliminary look at the Livable Communities Act (and complains briefly about Cash for Clunkers).
• Creve Coeur is considering running a “lunch shuttle” service on Olive.
• The Transport Politic runs the numbers on high-speed rail in response to critics.

I was catching up on my blog reading early this morning, and there are just too many interesting things to pass by without linking.

Via The Transport Politic,

• The High Speed Rail Association’s new network plan – the two routes we St. Louisans would be most interested in (Chicago-St. Louis and St. Louis-Kansas City) are proposed for 2015 and 2020, respectively;
• A rebuttal to a New York Times piece critical of high-speed rail in the U.S.;
• Will light rail vibrations interfere with academic research or radio station broadcasts in Minneapolis?
• A discussion of bus route numbering and signage, with some examples of good and bad;
• And the struggle for transit funding in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Meanwhile, over at Human Transit, Jarrett ponders the impact on transit if the U.S. changed from paper bills to $1 and $2 coins, with a follow-up post encouraging readers to take part in the anti-paper dollar revolution.

There are always lots of interesting things happening on the internets relating to transit. Here’s a very small sample from the past couple days:

• Hurrah! The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a lovely article in the paper today about Metro’s rehired workers and our upcoming service restoration. It all happens on Monday!
• Treehugger has a couple of awesome slide shows featuring subway systems around the world. Check them out: world’s greatest subway systems and world’s most impressive subway maps.
• Planetsave covered a story about how public transit saves Americans hundreds of millions (catch that? hundreds of millions!) of hours each year. That is a lot of hours.

Enjoy!