First Look At Metro’s Revised Bus Service (aka Metro Reimagined)
I’ve only begun looking at the new “Metro Reimagined” bus service in St. Louis City & County, haven’t even ridden a bus yet this week. I do recall other riders discussing it last Friday at the bus stop. One woman, who also lives just north of downtown, was upset about the west end of the #97 Delmar bus getting cut in St. Louis County. It will mean more walking for her to get to work.
Here are the four tiers used to organize the MetroBus routes:
- Frequent: 10 high-frequency routes offering service every 15 minutes or faster
- Local: 35 routes offering 30-minute service
- Community: 6 routes that provide important connections in low-ridership areas
- Express: 6 routes providing direct connections with limited stops to key destinations
My first place to start was asking “Will I be impacted?” by this change. The short answer is yes — every bus rider will see changes to service. Some positive, some negative.
Moving from Downtown West to Columbus Square in December 2018 means I have fewer bus routes available — basically the #32, with the southbound #40 another 1/10 of a mile further away than the southbound #32. The northbound #32 is considerably closer than the northbound #40.
Since moving I’ve rarely used the #40, the #32 is my primary bus route. Both routes are considered “local” routes, now with 30 minute frequency during weekdays. The service was every 40 minutes, so 30 minute frequency is an improvement.
The other bus I use is the #90 Hampton, when I visit my doctor 4x per year. While it’s listed as a “frequent” route with 15 minute service that only applies to the northern portion of the route from Riverview to Forest Park. From Forest Park to Gravois-Hampton service is every 30 minutes. I think service has been every 40 minutes, so another slight improvement.
Another bus I used to ride often is the #99 downtown trolley, introduced in
The recent Sunday Poll asked about this new plan:
Q: Agree or disagree: Metro’s new ‘Metro Reimagined’ with more frequent bus service will result in significant ridership increases.
- Strongly agree: 0 [0%]
- Agree: 2 [7.14%]
- Somewhat agree: 4 [14.29%]
- Neither agree or disagree: 3 [10.71%]
- Somewhat disagree: 3 [10.71%]
- Disagree: 5 [17.86%]
- Strongly disagree: 9 [32.14%]
- Unsure/No Answer: 2 [7.14%]
More than 60% didn’t think this will lead to a significant increase in ridership. That’s fair, I think the primary goal was to better serve existing riders — to stop losing ridership.
Riders in some parts of the county will see less service. My intention is for future posts to look at what’s working well, and what’s not.
— Steve Patterson