Poll: Top 3 Reasons Why You Don’t Ride Public Transit?

Fifty-eight years ago today a forty-two year old Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama:

The Montgomery City Code required that all public transportation be segregated and that bus drivers had the “powers of a police officer of the city while in actual charge of any bus for the purposes of carrying out the provisions” of the code. While operating a bus, drivers were required to provide separate but equal accommodations for white and black passengers by assigning seats. This was accomplished with a line roughly in the middle of the bus separating white passengers in the front of the bus and African-American passengers in the back.

When an African-American passenger boarded the bus, they had to get on at the front to pay their fare and then get off and re-board the bus at the back door. When the seats in the front of the bus filled up and more white passengers got on, the bus driver would move back the sign separating black and white passengers and, if necessary, ask black passengers give up their seat.

On December 1, 1955, after a long day’s work at a Montgomery department store, where she worked as a seamstress, Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus for home. She took a seat in the first of several rows designated for “colored” passengers. Though the city’s bus ordinance did give drivers the authority to assign seats, it didn’t specifically give them the authority to demand a passenger to give up a seat to anyone (regardless of color). However, Montgomery bus drivers had adopted the custom of requiring black passengers to give up their seats to white passengers, when no other seats were available. If the black passenger protested, the bus driver had the authority to refuse service and could call the police to have them removed.

As the bus Rosa was riding continued on its route, it began to fill with white passengers. Eventually, the bus was full and the driver noticed that several white passengers were standing in the aisle. He stopped the bus and moved the sign separating the two sections back one row and asked four black passengers to give up their seats. Three complied, but Rosa refused and remained seated. The driver demanded, “Why don’t you stand up?” to which Rosa replied, “I don’t think I should have to stand up.” The driver called the police and had her arrested. Later, Rosa recalled that her refusal wasn’t because she was physically tired, but that she was tired of giving in.

The police arrested Rosa at the scene and charged her with violation of Chapter 6, Section 11, of the Montgomery City Code. She was taken to police headquarters, where, later that night, she was released on bail. (Biography.com)

The bus was so full of white passengers the driver wanted Parks to stand. In 1955 more of the general (read: white) population rode public transit compared to today.  Increased car ownership and decentralization of regions has changed who does — and doesn’t ride public transit.

For the poll this week I’m asking for the top 3 reasons why you don’t ride public transit — as your primary mode. One answer in the poll is that you do ride, I’ve also provided a field for you to submit your own answer. The poll is on the top of the right sidebar in the desktop view.

— Steve Patterson

Intersection of Clayton Road & Clayton Ave Still Not Right

In the last couple of years the intersection of Clayton Rd & Clayton Ave, between the giant Amoco sign and Cheshire Inn, went on a much-needed road diet.

The space gained from reducing the public right-of-way is now part of the Cheshire parking lot, see the related: Pedestrian Access Route to The Cheshire Easily Blocked. Finally there was a chance to improve this intersection and get it right.  Well, it’s improved — no doubt about that.  Unfortunately, it isn’t “right” given that it’s new construction.

In addition to the ramps/detectable warnings being poorly situated, there’s no crosswalk. Crosswalks help guide the visually-impaired and reinforce to motorists to look out for pedestrians crossing the street. Pedestrians have the right-of-way, motorists must yield to pedestrians.

The City of St. Louis either designed this, or approved the drawings of the contractor. Either way it’s pretty pathetic given how easy it would’ve been to do it right. What would be right? Just look at the nearly identical situation at Olive & Lindell.

I’m emailing this post to various officials, including 28th ward alderman Lyda Krewson, though it’s too late now without great expense.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: How should Missouri make up the shortage in funding for roads & highways? (pick 2)

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) says it needs more money than it receives:

MoDOT has been warning for years that its annual highway construction budget would decline significantly as bond payments for those projects came due. That drop-off has now hit: The annual construction budget has fallen from $1.2 billion to less than $700 million, and it’s projected to drop to $425 million by 2019.

Missouri’s highway system has long depended on fuel taxes. But the report, required by federal law, said people drive less, and vehicles are more fuel-efficient. Meanwhile, inflation is increasing the cost of projects, the report noted. The price of asphalt, concrete and steel are double and triple what they were 20 years ago, when fuel taxes were last raised, the report said. (Columbia Daily Tribune)

One idea from earlier this year, a sales tax, is back in the news:

A proposal to raise a statewide one-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects could be headed to a Missouri ballot in 2014, if supporters of a new initiative petition are able to gather enough citizen support to put it there. (Kansas City Business Journal)

Other revenue options include tolls, increased licensing fees, raising the state fuel tax, and even closing roads/bridges rather than maintain/replace them. For the poll this week I’d like you to pick your top two options. Two because one alone might not be sufficient enough, the poll is at the top of the right sidebar.

 — Steve Patterson

Fifth Anniversary of the Gateway Transportation Center 2008, Future High-Speed Rail to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport

During the last five years Amtrak has seen a steady increase in ridership.

The timing was perfect, although Amtrak’s FY 2009 showed a dip in ridership from 2008, it was still above 2007 levels.

I’ve taken trains out of this station five times now: Kansas City (x2), Jefferson City, Bloomington-Normal, Dallas. Bloomington-Normal was Memorial weekend 2012, our station was way too small for all the rail & bus passengers that weekend. The trip to Dallas was in July 2012, I continued to Fort Worth & Oklahoma City on Amtrak, returning to St. Louis via Greyhound bus.

Thinking about this post I was curious how our station compared to others in Missouri, Illinois, and nationally. Turns out St. Louis had more than double the traffic as the #2 station in Missouri, Kansas City.

Amtrak serves 46 of the 48 continental United States, no service to Wyoming or South Dakota. Of the 46 states served, and the District of Columbia, Missouri ranked 18th in FY13, Illinois 4th.

Clearly, our proximity to Chicago doesn’t hurt. Plus, Missouri and Illinois have both been making track upgrades which have resulted in reduced travel time. Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari told me the usage at the St. Louis station “has exceeded expectations.”

The Lincoln Service between Chicago and St Louis saw a 10 percent jump in passenger count, for the largest increase for any route in Illinois. It also saw a 22 percent jump in revenue. (Source)

The St. Louis station took years to be planned, funded, and opened. Now we need to plan a facility to handle high-speed rail traffic. How will a high-speed train cross the Mississippi River, a new rail bridge? Could it serve the region from a location on the Illinois side, or must it cross into Missouri? You think I’m dreaming, but I’m not:

The study concluded that a 220-mph HSR service from O’Hare Airport through downtown Chicago to Champaign-Urbana and on to St. Louis and/or Indianapolis is feasible and would be likely to cover its operating costs without subsidies. Express high-speed trains would travel from downtown Chicago to Champaign in approximately 45 minutes, to Springfield in approximately one hour and twenty minutes and to St. Louis or Indianapolis in approximately 2 hours. The study assumed that trains would run every half-hour during peak times and hourly at other times. The economic analysis of the HSR system showed potential substantial benefits to Illinois, including the creation of 409,000 to 792,000 job-years during five years of construction and creation of 10,890 to 13,820 jobs per year during the first 10 years of operation. In addition, analyses of several different cost and revenue scenarios indicated that the HSR system is expected to be operationally profitable. However, as with many large public transportation projects, the initial cost to build it is substantial and would require public and/or private sector funding to cover the initial capital cost.

Various public-private partnerships (PPP) have been successfully used to finance HSR overseas and the viability of adapting these to the US environment should be explored. An incremental or blended approach completed over a longer time period would reduce initial capital costs and provide other nearer-term transportation benefits, while simultaneously improving intercity transportation quality and travel times. This is similar to the approach commonly used internationally and should be studied further. (UIUC w/links to study)

Two hours to Chicago? Count me in!

— Steve Patterson

Readers: We’re Calling It The “Poplar Street Bridge” Regardless of the Official Name

Nicknames tend to stick, for better or worse. The I-64/Hwy 40/I-55 span across the Mississippi River was first known officially as the  Bernard F. Dickman Bridge and was recently officially renamed the Congressman William L. Clay Sr. Bridge.

In the unscientific poll last week readers made it clear they’ll  continue to call it the Poplar Street Bridge, after the street that was once at that location.

Q: In the future, what do you plan to call the I-55/I-64 span over the Mississippi River?

1. Poplar Street Bridge 99 [89.19%]
2. PSB 9 [8.11%]
3. Bernard F. Dickman Bridge 2 [1.8%]
4. Congressman William L. Clay Sr. Bridge 1 [0.9%]
5. Other 0 [0%]

I’m one of the 8% that calls it the PSB. Poplar Street still exists in a few places under the bridge, like at Broadway. Maybe in 45 years it’ll be officially renamed the Francis G. Slay Bridge.

— Steve Patterson