How do I get there by foot, bus, rail or bike?
A couple I’ve been talking with online is planning a visit to St. Louis in March – if all goes well they may consider relocating from NYC (Staten Island). I’m working with them as their REALTOR® to find just the right house – one of their biggest criteria is proximity to mass transit (bus & light rail).
As part of their trip planning they are selecting a hotel and trying to decide on the various attractions they wish to see while they are here. Being native New Yorkers (born & raised in Manhattan) renting for the week is just not something that is in their mindset. If they can’t get around the city by foot, bus or rail then this is not the city for them.
So, in checking out places to visit they alerted me to a startling fact – places such as the St. Louis Art Museum only give you directions via car. Curious, I looked up a few more places and sadly found that many popular destinations assume access by car – even though bus or MetroLink are an option. None of the random destinations I searched even mentioned arriving by bicycle & availability of bicycle parking.
Many places such as the Contemporary Art Museum simply give you their address. It is up to you to figure out how to arrive.
The Saint Louis Art Museum does briefly mention a shuttle in the summer but doesn’t tell you to take the Forest Park MetroLink stop and walk through the park. After all, who walks besides poor people and we all know they don’t do to museums…
Directions to the Museum are:
By car:
From Interstate 40/64 West, exit right (34D). Continue north into the park, then follow the park signs to the Art Museum.From Interstate 40/64 East, exit right (34D). Continue north on the highway overpass into the park, then follow the park signs to the Art Museum.
From Interstate 44 East, exit right (286). Turn left onto Hampton Avenue. Continue north into the park, then follow the park signs to the Art Museum.
From Interstate 44 West, exit right (286). Turn right onto Hampton Avenue. Continue north into the park, then follow the park signs to the Art Museum.
Free parking is provided in front of and behind the Museum. Allow plenty of time as parking is limited. Designated parking spaces for persons with disabilities are available.
During the summer, Metro St. Louis will be running the Zip2 shuttle bus, which will make getting round Forest Park easy.
The Roberts Mayfair – A Wyndham Historic Hotel downtown is only two short blocks from a MetroLink stop yet directions from the airport assume you are going to rent a car, take a shuttle or taxi.
STL - Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
Distance : 17 milesDirections
70 East, exit Broadway. Follow exit and turn right on Washington. Turn left on 8th Street, and the Mayfair is located on the right side.Transportation Costs:
Shuttle $15.00
Taxi $30.00 (One Way)
The Chase Park Plaza hotel & entertainment center isn’t far from MetroLink and access by bus is easy. I believe a shuttle still runs up Euclid to get people from the MetroLink?
From the Lambert International Airport:
Upon exiting the airport, take I-70 East to 170 South for approximately 9 miles. Exit to Highway 64/40 East. Exit Kingshighway North and proceed to Lindell. Immediately after you cross over Lindell, make a right into our main entrance at 212 N. Kings highway.From Points South or North (Interstate 270):
Follow Interstate 270 to Highway 64/40 East. Exit Kingshighway North and proceed to Lindell. Immediately after you cross over Lindell, make a right into our main entrance at 212N. Kingshighway.
The Saint Louis Science Center like the others assumes arriving by car when bus, bike or a walk from the MetroLink to the Planetarium entrance are feasible.
Our main entrance is off of Oakland Avenue, half-a-block east of Kingshighway. From Highway 40/I-64, exit south on Kingshighway then immediately go right on Oakland for half a block. From I-44, exit north on Hampton for almost a mile, then go right at the light on Oakland for a mile, half a block past Macklind. Lot parking behind the Science Center is at $7 per vehicle for the whole day.
Our Planetarium entrance is in the Southeast corner of Forest Park. From I-44 and from Highway 40/I-64, exit north on Hampton. Turn right on Clayton Avenue into Forest Park and follow the Planetarium signs for half a mile. The Planetarium building is on your right. Limited free parking is available adjacent to this building and elsewhere in the Park.
A notable exception is the Saint Louis Zoo which gives detailed instructions from various sources. If they had mentioned cycling and at which entrances they had bike racks they’d get an A+.
Directions
By Car:
From US-40/I-64 — take Hampton Avenue/Museums/Zoo exit.From I-44 — exit Hampton Avenue. Follow Hampton north one mile to the Zoo.
From I-270 — take I-170 south the U.S. 40/I-64 east to Zoo/Museum exit.
By Metrolink:
Ride the Metrolink mass transit system to either the Forest Park or Central West End stop. Then take the Route# 52 Forest Park bus from the Central West End station or Route #90 Hampton from the Forest Park Station to the Zoo.By Bus:
Bi-State Transit Authority buses stop and pick up at the Zoo. Take Route #52 Forest Park or Route #90 Hampton.Parking:
Parking on the Zoo’s two lots is $8 per day. Limited street parking around the perimeter of the Zoo is also available for free. RVs, buses and motorhomes can park on the South lot only (Wells Drive) for $16 a day.
Another exception is the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. Given that you can see the MetroLink stop from the building it would have been foolish if they didn’t mention it. Bus & bicycle rack information, however, is missing.
From MetroLink
Exit MetroLink at the Forest Park Stop History Museum is 2 blocks to the south along Debaliviere.History Museum Parking
Parking is on the east and west sides of the museum Bus drop off is at the north side in front of the fountain.
But the most humorous directions came when I was searching the city web site trying to find directions to city hall. I never found general directions but did find direction to the City of St. Louis Division of Air Pollution Control. Yes, the division of city government charged with controlling air pollution assumes you’ll be driving a car from a major highway if you are visiting them. They are located on North 13th Street a couple of blocks North of Cole so walking from a downtown MetroLink station is not out of the question and buses certainly run along Tucker. Sad, very sad.
Driving Directions:
From Interstate 70:
Follow I-70 into downtown area. Exit at Tenth Street.
Follow Tenth Street south to O’Fallon Street – turn right.
Follow O’Fallon Street west to Tucker – turn right. Parking lot and building are on the left.From Interstate 55:
Follow I-55 through downtown (becomes I-70). Exit at Madison Avenue.
Turn left at sign at the top of the off-ramp – cross highway and turn left.
Follow Tenth Street south to O’Fallon Street – turn right.
Follow O’Fallon Street west to Tucker – turn right. Parking lot and building are on the left.From Interstate 44:
Follow I-44 to I-55 North. Follow I-55 through downtown (becomes I-70). Exit at Madison Avenue.
Turn left at sign at the top of the off-ramp – cross highway and turn left.
Follow Tenth Street south to O’Fallon Street – turn right.
Follow O’Fallon Street west to Tucker – turn right. Parking lot and building are on the left.From State Highway 40:
Follow Highway 40 into downtown area. Exit at 10th Street (left-side exit).
Follow off-ramp to stoplight at Clark – turn left.
Follow Clark west to Tucker – turn right. Follow Tucker north approximately .5 miles – past O’Fallon Street.
Parking lot and building are on the left.
The city web site does redeem itself a bit with a good list of Transportation Links.
Our businesses and institutions need to think multi-modal if we are going to curb our auto dependance and make our city more pedestrian & bicycle friendly. It only works if we all participate in changing the predominate mindset.
– Steve
Interesting post! I was curious about the information provided by the MO Botanical Gardens and they too are lacking information. While they do mention a bus service available in the summer (Zip2), they fail to mention that the Shaw bus runs right by their facility year-round. SAD considering the type of environmental work they are known for around the world.
The thing is, institutional decision-makers are often progressive, pro-environment, pro-mass transit types IN THEORY who, no doubt, drive to work and everywhere else, like everyone else.
It took us a generation or two to become enslaved to the car and the development patterns and habits it has spawned. The return to a less car-dependent environment will be led by the cities.
We can contribute to this process by demanding that public institutions promote mass transit availability on their Web sites and in all printed communications in which such mentions are appropriate.
Hey Steve can you post something about the new theatere in the old Moolah Shrine building across from SLU?
[Joe – I’m working on a post of the Moolah and Lindell. Hopefully this week. – Steve]
Perhaps I am just different, but I take public transportation often (bus usually), even though it takes twice as long to get to work than if I drove. But I enjoy it. No hassle of driving, parking, etc. And of course, obviously cheaper in the long run.
The thing that floors me is that so many people here have this in-bred negativity about the bus system, so much so that they don’t even consider the possibility of taking a bus. This from a city of people who grew up riding the street cars. For some reason, they fear the people riding the bus, they can’t imagine taking longer to get to their destination, and it would be unthinkable to stand at a bus stop and wait for one to come along. I don’t understand this. Only on a rare occasion has there been someone on the bus that caused me to be cautious (no more often than just walking down the street). The people are generally very nice, and it is a “community” of sorts where most people know each other very well because they see each other on the bus at least once a day.
What is worse, the institutions and corporations perpetuate this attitude. As Steve pointed out, outsiders are made to feel as if driving is the only way to safely navigate this city, and I have met many people who live here now because of school, etc., that have never considered public transportation because all they hear is that it isn’t safe and isn’t a good way to get around in this city.
Somehow these attitudes have to be reversed.
I concur with Matt. Many Saint Louisans pooh-pooh the Metro system and proclaim that they would use public transit if St. Louis had a system like Chicago’s. Guess what? St. Louis already does. In fact, there are things that make the St. Louis system potentially superior: cleaner, faster and newer trains, more reliable schedules (try depending on Chicago’s Blue Line train to get anywhere), equal proportion of the city covered by bus, less need to transfer (Chicago bus lines tend to run down one street, while St. Louis’s run in more useful paths), etc.
I rely on transit here in Chicago and enjoy it. But I also enjoyed using transit in St. Louis, and intend to rely on transit, walking and my bike for 90% of all transportation in St. Louis. Since Claire does not know how to drive, she’ll be using the Metro system to go anwhere she can’t walk or bike to. We don’t anticipate many problems, although our friends in St. Louis look at us in disbelief when we tell them of our plans.
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Steve,
Good to know that you are helping those New Yorkers. I’m glad that I mentioned their post to you. I can’t think of another realtor who would be looking up mass transit directions for them. I hope that they move to St. Louis. As for the directions, I think it would be nice to make a website that includes transit directions to St. Louis attractions.
Good work. There needs to be alternative transportation options presented. Almost needs to be a law like ADA. I would call it the, “Lemming Effect”. Most everyone owns a car… although most of the cars I see are junky, have dents, have parts falling off, are on the side of the road. When I mention the concept of car sharing or even bike commuting to people they think I am crazy. They can’t give up their convenience. I know that if I had auto share in my area I would probably sell our only car. I would have to fight my wife on it…but she may give in once she finds out that we don’t have the big car payments like we used to. Thankfully we gave up our older autos and went down to one new car and I bike to work. Slowly working up to biking year round. I look forward to the expansion of the Metro Link. I may end up using that as an option on those really bad or cold days. I can ride a few miles to the station and then a few miles to Work. It would make my wife more secure since I wouldn’t be riding all 10 miles in the dark… I think between Auto Share (if it ever happens here), Metrolink, Metrobus and perhaps a centralized place (hub) for bike commuters we could really make a dent in the numbers of vehicles on the road!