News

Metro to Celebrate 50 Years of MetroBus Service in the Bi-State Region with Commemorative Event April 3

Patti Beck
Interim Director of Communications
314-982-1440

WHAT: MetroBus celebrates 50 years of service to the Bi-State region

WHEN: Wednesday, April 3, 2013; 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: Central West End MetroBus Center, 4500 Children’s Place near South Taylor Ave.
St. Louis, Missouri 63110

WHO: Speaking will be John Nations, Bi-State Development Agency/Metro (BSDA/Metro) President & CEO; David Dietzel, Chairman, BSDA Board of Commissioners and Ray Friem, Chief Operating Officer Transit Services. Also on hand for the event and available for media interviews will be Gerhardt Petzall, an attorney who helped craft the original contract that created the BSDA bus transit system; former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Phil Sutin, who wrote a series of stories in 1973 surrounding BSDA’s operation of the region’s bus system, and 97-year-old Elloise Reese who is one of the original MetroBus riders and has ridden the bus her entire life.

SIGNIFICANCE: In celebration of the 50th anniversary of MetroBus, Metro will host a special event designed to recognize the importance and impact of the bus system on the St. Louis region over the last half-century. Highlights of the celebration will include an appearance by Fredbird who will select the grand prize winner of four tickets to the April 8 St. Louis Cardinals home opener. Entries for the drawing, which is being sponsored by Metro and the Cardinals in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of MetroBus, are being accepted now through 4 p.m. on Monday, April 1, via Metro’s website at www.metrostlouis.org. The 1960s tribute band “Ticket to the Beatles” will perform.