Gateway Transportation Center Officially Open, Tours Today & Saturday
I just returned from the ribbon cutting of the long-awaited Gateway Transportation Center (aka the Multimodal Transportation Hub), the new home for Amtrak & Greyhound in St Louis. I’ll have a full review next week but I wanted to let you know that Greyhound and Amtrak are welcoming visitors to check out the new building as well as examples of the latest bus and trains today (11/21/08) until 4pm and tomorrow, Saturday 11/22 from 9am – 4pm.
The following is the press release:
St. Louis City Opens New $26.4 Million Multimodal Transportation Hub
(Gateway Transportation Center)
ST. LOUIS – The City of St. Louis is pleased to announce the official grand opening of the Gateway Transportation Center (GTC), the city’s new $26.4 million multimodal transportation hub. Mayor Francis G. Slay, Comptroller Darlene Green, representatives from Amtrak, Greyhound, MoDOT, Citizens for Modern Transit and other local officials dedicated the facility on Friday, November 21 at 10:45 a.m. The GTC is located at 430 S. 15th street in downtown St. Louis, one block south of the Scottrade Center. The event is open to the public. Directions are available at the Gateway Transportation Center web page, www.stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/comptroller/gtc.
In conjunction with the Transportation Center’s grand opening, the city, Amtrak and Greyhound also invite the public to enjoy equipment displays and tours from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. The displays will offer the public tours of new Amtrak state-of-the-art passenger rail equipment and Greyhound bus equipment. Also, Amtrak and Greyhound will offer the public a chance to win free travel vouchers to destinations in the continental U.S. City Treasurer Larry Williams has offered free parking on Saturday during the display hours at the Gateway Transportation Center lot and at the lot south of the Scottrade Center. Both of these lots are owned and operated by the City Treasurer.
For nearly twenty years, a multimodal station to connect Amtrak, Greyhound, MetroLink and MetroBus service has been an important concept in the overall design of St. Louis City’s transportation systems, but until recently, it was only a concept. When he was first elected Mayor in 2001, Francis Slay joined with other city officials to make the completion of this facility a top priority. This vision has now become reality, thanks to the cooperation of a variety of wonderful partners.
Today, the Gateway Transportation Center is the City’s state-of-the-art multimodal transportation hub operated by the City of St. Louis Comptroller’s Office, led by Comptroller Darlene Green. It is conveniently located in the heart of downtown St. Louis where Amtrak, Greyhound, MetroLink and MetroBus service converge. This new facility provides passengers with a clean, safe and friendly transportation center featuring 24-hour operations staff, security and food service.
Since the March 2006 groundbreaking, the City of St. Louis worked in partnership with Bi-State/Metro, the Missouri Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, Amtrak, and Greyhound to complete the new Gateway Transportation Center. Construction was managed by the City’s Board of Public Service and built in three phases.
Jacobs Engineering and Kennedy Associates were the primary designers for this $26.4 million project. Development Programming Associates provided coordination and oversight. K & S Associates served as general contractor for the $14.2 million terminal and concourse linkage project. R.V. Wagner, Inc. was the general contractor for the $4.5 million track package. RQC Quality Constructors was the general contractor for the $2 million Bi-State/Metro bus facility. The total project cost also includes design and other pre-construction expenses. The MetroLink portion of the complex was previously constructed as part of the original MetroLink alignment.
Amtrak Service
At St. Louis, Amtrak offers five daily round trips to and from Chicago via Springfield and Bloomington-Normal, two daily round trips to and from Kansas City via Jefferson City, and one daily round trip to and from Arkansas and Texas, via Little Rock, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio. Amtrak passengers also have access to a daily shuttle connecting St. Louis with Carbondale, Illinois, and a daily train to and from New Orleans, via Memphis.
Most of the service to Chicago is sponsored by the Illinois Department of Transportation. Both Kansas City round trips are sponsored by the Missouri Department of Transportation, which recently announced plans to rename the service. More information about the “Name the Trains” contest will be available at the new St. Louis Gateway Station.
Amtrak has relocated its trains and ticketing from a building at 551 South 16th Street, which has served as an interim station since 2004. Designed as part of this project, that facility will be converted into an operations base for Amtrak train, engine and maintenance crews.
Greyhound Service
From the Gateway Transportation Center, Greyhound offers 35 daily scheduled trips to destinations across the United States, including Chicago, Memphis, Nashville, New York, Kansas City, Denver, Springfield and Los Angeles. Greyhound also provides Greyhound PackageXpress (GPX) shipping from the St. Louis Transportation Center location.
Greyhound has been serving the St. Louis area for nearly 80 years. Greyhound is the largest North American provider of intercity bus transportation, serving more than 2,300 destinations with more than 10,500 daily departures across the continent. The company also provides GPX, as well as charters and shore services. For fare and schedule information and to buy tickets call 1-800-231-2222 or visit the Greyhound’s website at www.greyhound.com.
MetroLink and MetroBus Service
The MetroLink Civic Center station (located immediately adjacent to the Gateway Transportation Center) offers daily arrivals and departures to destinations like Lambert Airport, Scott Air Force Base and Clayton. The MetroBus terminal (located just east of the GTC) offers daily routes to destinations throughout the St. Louis metro area. For a complete listing of all MetroLink and MetroBus routes, visit www.metrostlouis.org or call 314-231-2345 from Missouri or 618-271-2345 from Illinois.
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Hmm, hasn’t this been open for awhile? I drive to IL on 40 every day and I’ve been seeing Greyhound buses coming and going.
The need for free multi-day parking for Amtrak passengers (just as there was until the move into the new station) is important. Both Kirkwood and Alton stations have free parking. The Amtrak service is so nice for those of us who find flying an expensive hassle and cannot drive long distances without falling asleep at the wheel (I’m 64 and also unable to have caffeine). Many people also prefer avoidng the stress of highways and airports. On the train we can read, doze, enjoy meals, or plug a laptop computer into an outlet provided at each Amtrak seat.
I am a big fan of mass transit, although I do love driving my car, mass transit would help out alot!
I stopped by on Friday – it’s a very functional facility. I’m not so sure about the “architecture” and how well it will age, but it looks like it will serve the needs of its users for many years to come. As for “free” parking – you have to pay at the airport, so why not here?
As far as the parking goes, I’d feel better about parking my car at one of the Metrolink lots rather than that Amtrak station. Park at Metrolink and take the link to the Amtrak station. Metro’s lots have plenty of security cameras and security guards walking around so I’d feel my car was safer there rather than down at the Amtrak. Amtrak is a government run agency. So that means you have government run people watching your car IF ANY. How safe is that, lol.
Being in the parking business, I am sure there will be a long term parking option for Amtrak travelers, as long as there is a need for it, meaning economically viable. There is vacant land available right across the street.
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My question is about the old Greyhound Station, or aka the old Cass Bank. It is listed on the STLDC site as available. Does anyone know what if anything is being proposed for it?
Well at least they’re trying now.
Here in DC we have a place called Union Station which is where Amtrak is located, where Greyhound stops, a station on metro, and a mall.
It’s rather amazing that St. Louis chooses to spread all these uses into 3 different locations and rather than giving people multiple reasons to be in a single location.
But hey, at least they aren’t using Union Station in St. Louis as the backdrop for movies like Escape from New York anymore.
No… it’s being used as backdrop for REO Speedwagon concerts.
Expand mass transit! Don’t contract it!