Taxis Still Blocking Pedestrian Sidewalk at St. Louis’ Convention Center
This past January I had a post about the taxi situation in front of America’s Center, St. Louis’ convention center. Two things were happening. The main issue was the St. Louis Taxi Commission (which covers St. Louis City & County) set up a taxi stand in the direct path of pedestrians walking along Washington Ave. The second thing, as a result taxis were exiting the stand via the pedestrian crossing at 8th Street.
Above is a good overall view looking east along Washington Avenue with the convention center entrance on the left and the convention hotel on the right, across the street. In the direct line of pedestrians walking along Washington are various planters, bollards, and a taxi. In the next block is access to a light rail station. Pedestrians are forced to either share the space with the taxis or walk in the driveway off to the left. Either way pedestrians are placed in the direct path of cars or buses. You’d think, in the interest of getting more activity downtown, we’d try to make the sidewalks as friendly as possible.
The image above showed the pedestrian crossing at 8th street. Taxis leaving their designated stand would make a quick left through the ramp/crossing area to get onto Washington, go down 8th or head over to the hotel. For video of this in action see my prior post.
As of yesterday two additional bollards had been placed to help prevent the taxis from leaving the stand through the pedestrian crossing. The other bollards shown were already in place back in January. While I am glad these were added it does not address the fact the sidewalk along one of our more important roads is being consumed by auto uses. This is all next to a wide road (4 lanes plus center).
What does this image say about the priorities of St. Louis’ leaders?
In January I suggested the taxi stand be moved to the outside lane of Washington Ave. Here is what I wrote:
Set up the taxi stand on Washington Ave between 7th and 8th, moving the existing bus stop to the West of 8th but still in front of the convention center. Also allow parking on the opposite side of Washington next to the Renaissance Grand Hotel. A few spaces could be short-term spaces (15-30 minutes) for those running into Starbucks or Kinkos). The rest would serve the general area. At the end of that block An American Place restaurant could have 60ft or so for valet. Back at 7th and Washington I’d set up a single short-term space immediately adjacet to the visitor’s center.
Traffic, in my view, just isn’t that heavy to justify all the open lanes. Sure, we’ve got that 15 minute period in the morning and afternoon where traffic backs up for a block — maybe a block and a half. This section of Washington prohibits parking 24/7 while just up the street between 10th and Tucker (aka 12th) parking is allowed except for 7am-9am and 4pm-6pm. We simply do not have massive two hour rush periods on Washington Ave.
The solution is this, allow parking on Washington Ave. with a couple of exceptions. On the westbound lane (north side of street) prohibit morning parking from say 7:30am to 8:30am. This keeps the two westbound lanes open in the AM when it is needed most. Conversely, allow parking on the eastbound lane (south side of street) prohibit afternoon parking from 4:30pm to 5:30pm. The same logic applies, afternoon traffic is predominently eastbound in the afternoon so keep the parking lane open for an hour. There is absolutely no logic in prohibiting parking in both directions both in the morning and afternoon.
We want those who work downtown but don’t live downtown to stick around after they leave the office. They should want to stay to walk around, have a drink, grab dinner and do some shopping. Instead of providing a pleasant place for this to happen we have Washington Ave configured as a thoroughfare to make vacating the city easy. Where the lead taxi is shown above should be a vendor cart selling hot dogs, soft drinks and bottled water (so long as the cart doesn’t block the sidewalk). This would leave a far better impression on visitors/workers than a couple of taxis sitting on the sidewalk.
St. Louis’ leaders need to wake up and realize they can give away millions in TIFs but if we don’t attend to the details of people where it matters most we will not have the type of downtown we seek.
Steve,
Thanks for continuing to draw attention to this. I walk this route daily from my office to the Convention Center MetroLink station and it is aggravating to pedestrians. Even when there are no cabs, you have to watch to keep from walking through oil puddles. The Downtown Partnership Transportation Committee brought this up with Mike Tulley in past with no results to date.
Tom Shrout
Gee Steve I can provide numerous pictures on how MetroLink has blocked pedestrian walkways and paths by design. What does this say about MetroLink leadership? Or is this problem just another example of many that clearly illustrates how cycling-pedestrian alternatives are purposely limited and/or unenforced? By design, our transportation sytem reduces choice and reflects poorly on advocacy and leadership in the area. In your pictures, pedestrians have plenty of room to walk around the vehicles. A little inconvenience is nothing when compared to what MetroLink and MoDOT are destroying in this regard.
Another soultion would be to move the curb back another 12′ and create a true pull-out area for the taxi cabs. The downside is that it would then always be street, not a sidewalk. At least now, it still looks like and sort of functions like a sidewalk when there are no taxis present. You can’t just assume that the existing number of lanes aren’t needed – there’s a reason why things have evelved to the state they are in today.
Personally, I’m not that energized about this location. Yes, they’re “on” the “sidewalk”, but the sidewalk here is, what, 40′ – 50′ wide. (And it appears efforts are being made to contain them.) There’s plenty of room for pedestrians to pass by comfortably. I’m much more concerned further up the street (and elsewhere), where sidewalk dining at some establishments has taken over more than half the available sidewalk width for a private use. Hey, I like patio dining, but when two people can no longer walk comfortably past seated diners, then too much of the sidewalk has been appropriated. Much like losing the public realm to valet parking operations, there needs to be enforceable limits on similar uses of the public sidewalk and right-of-way for private gain. At least the taxis are paying hefty fees for the privilege to operate in the city!
Steve,
Thank you for your continued interest regarding the taxi stand situation at the America’s Center on Washington Avenue. Your goal to make the downtown sidewalks as friendly as possible is commendable.
Under state law, local municipalities have absolute jurisdiction over their curb space. I can only make suggestions and cooperate with the presiding jurisdictions when it comes to the placement of cab stands. When coordinating taxi stands, there are many voices in the decision process. They include business owners, local police, parking authorities, and politicians — just to name a few. Since bringing this issue to our attention in January, the MTC staff and I have spent some time addressing your concern.
The Taxicab Commission did not establish the taxi stand in question. The Commission has and will continue to work closely with officials from the America’s Center to improve the situation. Bollards were purchased at their expense to control the movement and staging of taxis. As you noted, two additional bollards were placed to prevent taxis from leaving the stand through the pedestrian crossing. It is our continued desire to have the taxis and the pedestrians coexist in harmony.
Your suggestion to relocate the taxi stand to the outside lane of Washington Ave has merit. The idea is better channeled through the City of St. Louis Street Department, which regulates traffic lanes, not the Taxicab Commission. The Taxicab Commission has no authority over the streets of any municipality.
I believe Mr. Shrout attended the same the DSTL Partnership Transportation Committee meetings as I, where the taxi stand situation was discussed. At those meetings the Commission’s response and the actions of the America’s Center were brought up, addressed, and reported back to the Committee.
The Commission always appreciates input from the public to better the taxicab service in St. Louis. Thank for your comments.
D. Michael Tully
Director
I’ve been tempted to just walk over the top of the cabs blocking the sidewalk. I came close to doing it one time ’till I saw the Taxi Stand signs. The cabbies are just following the rules, it’s not really their fault the rule is stupid. Block the box or stop in the middle of a cross walk, though, and they are fair game.
Steve,
I walk by this spot a couple time a week. When the cabs are there it is an inconvenience to walk around or attempt to navigate the obstacles. I think the reality is there is no need for this cab stand. Even when there are mutliple downtown events (say a conference, good weather, and a baseball game), I still dont see very many people getting in the taxis at this location.
*Below is probably off topic.*
As for further down Washington, if restaurant servers can navigate the open sidewalk space with plates of food I don’t see why other pedestrians would not be able to. For me the real problem on Washington is the “faux bike lane.” There are Bike St. Louis Signs, and the bike route marked by paint, however on street parking blocks what would be the safest area for the cyclist. This causes the cyclist to ride in main lane traffic. Normally this would not be a problem, but the coblestones in the middle of Washington cause people to drive in the outside of the lane. This squeezes the cyclist between moving and parked vehicles. In the two months I have been riding this route regularly I have been tapped by an automobile twice. (Sorry, just my Washington Ave. Vent)
I’ll remind again that I brought this up to the head of the convention center (Bruce somebody) when I was president of the Downtown St. Louis Residents Association. Five years ago.
And now, in 2007, the best we can get is “the Commission’s response and the actions of the America’s Center were brought up, addressed, and reported back to the Committee.”
Nice. I’d like to publicly offer to attest to this history as a witness for the plaintiff should any poor pedestrians find themselves injured and need to show just how actively negligent, and for how long, the convention center has been in this matter.
Any risk managers reading this?
One, taxis are a critical component of any successful, urban convention center. There will always be a certain number of out-of-town conventioneers who will be directionally challenged, have enough money and/or be afraid enough of a strange downtown (and remember, we’re #1!) that they will insist on having taxis available to shuttle them to their hotel and restaurants (no matter how good our public transit system is and/or if it’s only a 2-3-4 block walk). Two, the taxis don’t need to be on the sidewalk, they just need to be close to the/an entrance. Three, 20-22 hours a day, blocking a lane on the street would have NO impact on the ability of the street to move the traffic present – it’s only an issue during rush hour or special events. This is obviously an “expedient” or a “quick-and-dirty” solution (depending on your perspective.
The next step should be moving the taxis (back?) onto the street during those 20-22 hours a day when their presence would be a non-issue. The city (?) needs to come up with a better solution (only!) for those 2-4 hours where traffic IS an issue. Many hotels rely on doormen with whistles to summon cabs from staging areas out of sight of their main entrances – why can’t something similar work here? Have a staging area “around the corner” somewhere, hire/empower door people / cab starters (who could easily work for tips) to “work the area” when there is actually a need for cabs at the center. It could be a win-win – better service to conventioneers, a more upscale-appearing operation, and a few new jobs . . .
Steve, the circle drive in front of the convention center appears to be about 30-35 feet wide on both sides of the central rotunda that bulges out into the space (narrowing the drive at this point), so is there a reason the cabbies cannot line up in the outer lane (the parking lane) next to the row of big grey bollards… thus leaving the sidewalk area closer to the street free for pedestrians? It seems that there would still be two lanes available in the drive for drop off puposes… maybe I’m missing something here?
I think Paul suggestion is a good one.