Three Years of Driving Post-Stroke

It was three years ago yesterday when I registered a used car I had bought, a 2004 Toyota Corolla.  For the prior 12 months I didn’t own a car, I just had my trusty 49cc Honda Metropolitan scooter. But after my stroke I could no longer ride the scooter or a bike.

I felt bad about buying a car, I enjoyed not having the expense.

In the last three years I’ve driven just under 17,000 miles. About 4,500 of that was three trips to Oklahoma and two to Chicago leaving 12,500 for local driving. Many people drive this much, or more, in a single year. Granted, I don’t have to drive to a job everyday like most folks do.

But it has only been the last 10-11 months that I’ve managed to cut down my miles driven in half — by using public transit. Most of the time my car collects dust sitting in the basement garage at my building. I’d sell the car but it does come in handy at times. Insurance is the single biggest auto expense for me, the car is paid for and it gets decent fuel economy.

Thankfully Progressive Insurance introduced a program they call Snapshot.

With Snapshot, Progressive’s usage-based insurance program, you could turn your good driving into huge savings—of up to 30 percent—on your car insurance.

For the next 30 days, you’ll keep track of your good driving habits with the Snapshot device. You can log in to your Progressive policy anytime to see your projected Snapshot DiscountSM.

On day 31, your initial Snapshot savings—which can be anywhere from 0 to 30 percent— kicks in. After six months, you’ll send back the device, we’ll finalize your driving snapshot, and you can keep saving for as long as you’re insured by Progressive.

You can only save money with Snapshot—your rate won’t go up—but if at any point, you decide the program isn’t right for you, just call us and then send back your device.

Here is the annoying Flo to explain:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggWY7OPag0s

I’m nearing the end of my initial 30 days. I have to say I like seeing the reports, although I have more hard braking than I thought I would. I’ll report back after my initial savings and at the end of six months.

– Steve Patterson

Lambert Airport Main Terminal MetroLink Extension Opened 17 Years Ago

When our light rail system, MetroLink, opened on July 31, 1993 it didn’t quite reach Lambert Airport, as it does today. Originally the line stopped at the Hanley Station. Eleven months later, on June 25, 1994, the 3.15 mile extension to the main terminal opened.

The original line used existing railroad right-of-way but new structures had to be constructed to get the line over I-70 & I-170 to get to the airport. Many use MetroLink to get to/from the airport for flights or work.  In fact, MetroLink has been a success:

“More than 15 Million passengers boarded Metrolink in FY 2010.”- Metro’s 2010 Annual Report

The airport’s Terminal 2 (East) opened in May 1998 but , due to several delays, the MetroLink  station didn’t open until December 23, 1998.

– Steve Patterson

Guest Opinion: Champaign-Urbana Transit Employing Useful Technology

Contributed by Matt Heil

When it comes to planning and this blog, in particular, public transit is a hot topic. In case you were unaware, transit funding is extremely different between the two states of Illinois and Missouri. I’m originally from the St. Louis area but spent the past few years living in Champaign, IL, going to school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Even though the Champaign-Urbana region (pop.120,000) is significantly smaller than St. Louis, their public transit agency, Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD), is much more organized, runs more frequently and has embraced many new technologies in public transit.

Some of their technologies include: GPS tracking, hybrid buses, a multi-modal transportation hub and elongated buses.

Their GPS tracking was extremely useful and, during my stint in Champaign, I used this feature almost daily but at least two-three times a week. Every bus is equipped with GPS receivers that forward real-time arrival and departure information to MTD’s website, which is accessible via-smartphone; their texting service, which every bus stop has a specific code you can text to MTD; and also high volume bus stops, which are all equipped with LED signs that post the arrival times of the next buses.

Hybrid buses were added within the last two years and incorporating hybrid technology into urban buses make quite a bit of sense. Buses mostly operate at lower speeds and make frequent stops, which are both, important for the regeneration of battery power.

Another great part of Champaign’s transit system was that the system integrated multiple hubs within the network. Most of these hubs were in and around the University of Illinois’ campus but two other important ones included Downtown Urbana and the largest one in Downtown Champaign. Illinois Terminal, located at the southeast portion of Champaign’s downtown, was built in 1999. At the time, it was a state of the art facility and continues that legacy today. Like the new Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center (Amtrak and Greyhound Station), finished in 2008; Illinois Terminal integrates intercity bus service (Greyhound and MegaBus), intracity bus (MTD=Metro) and Amtrak, all into one location and was designed as a multi-modal (intermodal) transportation hub.

As mentioned earlier, Champaign is significantly smaller than St. Louis yet their public transit works extremely better than St. Louis’. This is because Champaign’s main employer (13,000employees) and destination is the University. Additionally, the population living within a 2-mile radius of campus is quite dense. Both density and a central employment/destination hub are very crucial for maximizing public transit’s efficiency. MTD has much higher ridership on some of their routes, compared to St. Louis. To cope with higher ridership, some of the busiest routes use elongated or extended buses, which aren’t even seen on St. Louis’ busiest line: the #70 Grand Bus.

Champaign might be a sleepy college town and surrounded by cornfields but, when it comes to their public transit, Champaign can compete with some of the largest cities in the country. Some have even referred to the Champaign-Urbana area as a micro-urban area. Compared to St. Louis, Champaign built their multi-modal transportation hub almost an entire decade before St. Louis. So, we should probably expect Metro to incorporate other technologies like, extended buses and GPS tracking within the next decade too, but still lagging behind areas with less than 10% of our regional population.

- Matt Heil

Matt Heil is a native of Edwardsville, IL and current resident of St. Louis. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

Transit Changes During the Komen Race for the Cure Saturday June 11

Thousands will gather in downtown St. Louis for the annual Komen Race for the Cure. Thousands means thousands of cars.  Public transit is an option for those coming to walk, run, volunteer or just watch.

First the good news, Metro is operating MetroLink light rail trains on a rush schedule, from the alert:

Komen Race For the Cure Special Service- June 11, 2011

DETAILS

On Saturday, June 11 from 5 a.m. until noon, MetroLink will operate:

Every 15 minutes on both Red and Blue Lines

Every 7-8 minutes between the Forest Park and Fairview Heights MetroLink stations

And now the bad news, because 14th Street, Market and Olive are closed during the event nine (9) buses will be rerouted:

• 74/94/97
• 4/10/11
• 30/32/41

Hopefully those who ride these buses to get to work are aware of these reroutes.

If you are coming to the event please consider taking a MetroBus or MetroLink.  Those coming from Illinois should definitely consider taking transit:

I-64 Weekend Closures:

MODOT will close all lanes of westbound I-64 from the Poplar Street Bridge to 20th Street beginning 8 am Saturday, June 10 for bridge repairs. The closure will end at noon Sunday, June 11.

Komen Race for the Cure Participants should be aware of several closures that could impact getting to the event:
• On Saturday, from 5 am to 2 pm for the Komen Race, the following ramps will be closed: the eastbound I-64 exit ramp to Market Street/Bernard and the exit ramp to 20th Street and Chestnut and the westbound I-64 exit ramps to 21st Street and Market, and the exit ramp to the 3000 block of Market. (source)

Have a great weekend!

– Steve Patterson

St. Charles County Needs Public Transit

St. Charles County now has more people than the City of St. Louis (360,484 vs 319,294).  That population is spread out over a much larger area giving the county a low population density of 643/sq mi compared to St. Louis City which has a density of 5,158/sq mi.   St. Louis County’s population density is 1,966/sq mi.  One might conclude from these numbers that St. Charles County lacks the density to support transit.

In Illinois, St. Clair County contracts with Metro for transit service despite having a population density of only 393/sq mi (270,056). In addition to bus service, they funded and built an extension to the MetroLink light rail line.  In neighboring Madison County, the population density is a mere 366/sq mi yet they have the separate Madison County Transit (MTC MCT) system.

Again, St. Charles County has no county-wide transit service.  The City of St. Charles operates the horribly named SCAT (St. Charles Area Transit) system but that is little more than a senior shuttle service.

The St. Charles Area Transit system, otherwise known as SCAT, consists of five bus routes that provide transportation to various locations within the City of St. Charles as well as to the Metrolink North Hanley Station. Curb-to-curb service is provided for all riders, and all busses are equipped with wheelchair lifts.

All routes run Monday through Friday. Please allow 5-10 minutes leeway for each time listed. The routes and schedules are subject to change.

I have a copy of the fold out paper map showing the routes, none are online (wtf?). Yes, seniors need such systems but what about others? What about the other 294,691 St. Charles County residents that don’t live in the City of St. Charles?

In terms of its growth spurt, St. Charles may still be in its tweens.

“We’re probably kind of in the middle,” Anthony [director of community development with St. Charles County] says. The county estimates that its maximum capacity is about 640,000 people, he says, considerably more than the county’s current population of 360,484.)

With much more growth ahead, the county and cities within it have several things to consider moving forward, chiefly the very things that brought people out in the first place. (STL Beacon)

More growth with no plan to get folks from home in Wenzville to work in O’Fallon?  Part of me would like to just sit back and wait for the realities of an aging population combined with rising fuel prices to sink in to the average St. Charles County resident. But by the time that happens they will be in crisis mode. As part of our 16 county region we can’t allow such a large area fall into transportation crisis.

I’m not the first to realize St. Charles County needs a system. They created the St. Charles County Transit Authority and East-West Gateway studied the idea in 2006-07, an update to a 2001 plan.

East-West Gateway suggested that a sales-tax of 1/8 cent (or less) could support the proposed system which would, in turn, provide the local workforce with a transit option that is financially and environmentally friendly.

Polling commissioned by the Transit Authority in January 2008 and paid for by private donations did not indicate sufficient support for a sales tax for public transit. Voters opposed a bus sales tax for two main reasons:

1. taxes are already “too high” or
2. this particular tax would be an “unwise” use of taxes.

In addition, a large group (20%) stated they would not use the bus system or would not access it because its proposed routing is not convenient for them. (source)

Leaders in St. Charles County need to work on passing a transit tax so the Transit Authority can begin the work of setting up a transit system.

– Steve Patterson