News

Metro Begins Removing Temporary Bus Stop Covers

With the passage of Proposition A on Tuesday, April 6, 2010, Metro began immediately rebuilding the region’s transit system. Tomorrow, the Agency will begin removing the green and white “temporarily restored” bus-stop covers from bus stops that will remain in service because of the passage of Proposition A. Bus-stop covers were placed on bus-stop signs where service would have ended without passage of the measure.

It will take several weeks to remove covers from more than 2,000 bus-stop signs. A media representative will be available from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. near Schuetz & Dorsett roads, and from 11 a.m. to noon near Market & 10th streets.

Background:

The St. Louis region was faced with a large budget deficit for supporting transit services because Metro has long been without a permanent, stable source of transit funding sufficient to meet current needs. In response to the deficit, Metro reduced MetroBus, MetroLink and Metro Call‑A‑Ride service by more than 30 percent on March 30, 2009. These reductions included the elimination of 24 MetroBus routes and service reductions on remaining routes. MetroLink frequency was also reduced. Metro Call‑A‑Ride service was eliminated in many communities where MetroBus service was no longer available.

To help restore some of the lost transit service, the Missouri General Assembly approved a one-time, emergency appropriation of $12 million to help Metro restore a portion of transit service that had been eliminated. The $12 million would have preserved the temporary service through May 2010, when more reductions would have been necessary. The passage of Proposition A has eliminated the need for more service reductions.