Motorist hits & damages building in South City

In the very early hours on Tuesday a week ago a motorist traveling southbound on Kingshighway Blvd missed the bend in the road at Devonshire Ave. The car hit the fence, the corner post for the building and then a cast iron post next to the window.  The corner post was scuffed but not moved.  Lily’s was closed for the day as they cleaned up the mess.

Accidents such as this tell me our roads are designed to travel at too high of speed.

– Steve Patterson

Readers want more frequent transit service, additional light rail

The poll last week asked, “Now that Prop A has passed, what do you want to see in our local transit system?”  Here are the results:

1. More frequent service 47 [ 27.98%]

2. schedules & maps at bus stops 37 [22.02%]

3. Other answer… 35 [20.83%]

4. GPS on buses to indicate next arrival time at bus stops 33 [19.64%]

5. Doesn’t matter, I still won’t ride public transit 8 [4.76%]

6. don’t know/unsure 5 [2.98%]

7. With the old routes restored the system will be perfect 3 [1.79%]

As you can see above “other” was the third most popular answer.  This is primarily due to my failure to include an option for new rail lines.

Here are all of the other answers from readers:

1. MetroLink to Westport, Text message schedule information

2. another metrolink line

3. A north-south Metro line up Gravois and Natural Bridge

4. more metrolink line

5. begin planning and build north-south metro line

6. Light rail from South County to downtown.

7. Expanded Metrolink

8. Expand MetroLink

9. wireless

10. all of the above

11. Metrolink Fare Enforcement.

12. MORE STOPS / ROUTES

13. A north-south line within the city – Jefferson to south 55

14. Expanded Service

15. extensions out to other major areas and restorations, more frequent routes

16. expansion

17. expand metrolink

18. weekend circulator route serving high-density business districts

19. BRT (with dedicated lanes and higher frequency) on Grand!

20. Trolleys!

21. weekend circulator route serving high-density business districts

22. Weekend circulator route serving high-density business districts.

23. The north-south Metrolink line

24. Light rail in South City, more frequent service, schedule and maps, better signs

25. responsible fiscal management

26. more lines

27. Restored service and upgrades of exsiting stations, like BATHROOMS!

28. metrolink expansin

29. north south metro expansion in the city

30. Expansion.

31. Expanded light rail system. This time lets be a little more strategic

32. restoration of old routes expanded Link service

33. Metrolink Expansion

34. Expansion

35. services aimed at not just the transit-dependent

I personally wouldn’t build another light rail line in our region, especially not one on local streets.  What I would do is build a network of modern streetcars to serve more local service.

I like the idea of at least our longer bus routes having WiFi such as Madison County Transit’s “WiFi on Wheels.”

– Steve

Poll: Thoughts on the $630 million dollar Mississippi River bridge

On Monday officials will “break ground” for the new $640 million dollar bridge across the Mississippi River.  The ceremony will take place on the historic Eads Bridge.

Sadly I will not be able to attend the event.  The poll for this week asks your thoughts on the new bridge which is expected to be complete by February 2014.  The poll is in the upper right sidebar.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Prop A transit tax passed, now what?

Last week voters in St. Louis County approved a half cent sales tax for transit:

In November 2008 the same measure was narrowly defeated by a narrow margin (48.45% to 51.55%).  Now what?

“The sales tax increase will generate about $80 million a year for Metro. The measure also triggers a previously passed 0.25 percent tax increase in the city of St. Louis.

By the end of the year, the bus and light-rail agency will restore all the routes and service it had to cut last year, said Metro President and Chief Executive Bob Baer. Metro will also be able to maintain and add jobs, he said. “Instead of a loss of 600 jobs, we’ll be adding 125,” he said.”  (full story: Voters approve Metro tax – St. Louis Business Journal)

So the poll question this week is what would you like to see in the way of changes & improvements to the system.  Obviously the prior level of service will return but I think we should expect more. Some of you have said you’d like route maps and schedules posted at bus stops.  I’d like to see Metro add GPS to buses and display at bus stops how long until the next bus arrives. For the poll in the right column I’ve listed a few items but feel free to add to the list.  As always, share your thoughts in the comments below.

– Steve Patterson

A bike I can ride?

When I moved downtown in November 2007 I brought two bicycles with me: an urban hybrid and my beloved orange Kronan:

I rode this bike once that Winter before my stroke in February 2008, since then it has served as art in my loft.

In May of 2009 I rode a friend’s tricycle:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7NDCIQVWPs

The ride was very encouraging. I think I can balance a bike once again, but getting on  the trike required someone to help and involved tipping me over onto grass to get off the trike.  My orange bike is a one size fits all and the bar was always a challenge for me.  Sadly, I’ll never again ride that bike.  So I plan to sell it and my hybrid so I can buy this bike:

At first glance you might think this is a woman’s bike, but as more and more active adults seek ways to stay active bikes like this one from Biria’s EZ Boarding Series may help fill a void. Old ideas about what bikes men & women ride are going away.  I’d rather deal with snickers from a few rather than not be able to cycle. The nearest dealer is in Chicago so on my next visit I will take my helmet and schedule a test ride. Hopefully by this time next year you will see me tooling about downtown on this bike.

– Steve Patterson