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Metro Service Change Scheduled for December 1
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The upcoming Metro transit quarterly service change, scheduled to be implemented on December 1, will transform the #2 MetroBus Red Line route.
Currently, the #2 Red Line route serves customers in North St. Louis County, St. Louis, Clayton, Richmond Heights, Maplewood, and Kirkwood. It has been challenging to keep that route operating on time given the distance covered between the Rock Road MetroLink Station and St. Louis Community College at Meramec.
To improve the on-time performance, the #2 Red Line MetroBus route will be divided into two smaller segments. Starting December 1, the #2 Red Line will only provide service between the Maplewood-Manchester MetroLink Station and the Rock Road MetroLink Station. A new route, the #68 Big Bend, will operate between St. Louis Community College at Meramec and the Brentwood I-64 MetroLink Station beginning on December 1.
Metro transit is constantly monitoring and reviewing feedback from customers and operators as part of the commitment to build a better transit experience for the St. Louis region. The quarterly adjustments to MetroBus routes and MetroBus and MetroLink schedules are made in an effort to better improve MetroLink connections and MetroBus on-time performance.
Details of the service change effective December 1, 2014 are as follows:
- #2 Red Line: Service will be provided between the Rock Road MetroLink Station and the Maplewood-Manchester MetroLink Station. Weekday service will be adjusted from 30 minutes peak and off peak to 30 minutes peak and 40 minutes off peak. Saturday service will be adjusted from 30 minutes peak and off peak to 40 minutes service all day. Sunday service will be adjusted from hourly between 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 30 minutes from 11 a.m. to end of service to 40 minutes all day Sunday. For service between the Brentwood I-64 MetroLink Station and St. Louis Community College at Meramec, please see the new #68 Big Bend route information.
- #11 Chippewa: An early morning trip has been added westbound from Jefferson and Russell on weekdays and Saturdays.
- #16 City Limits: Time adjustments to improve on-time performance on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- #17 Oakville: The Reavis Barracks Park-Ride lot will only be served on weekdays during peak commuting hours. Weekday service will be adjusted from 30 minutes peak and hourly off peak to 40 minutes peak and 80 minutes off peak. Weekday hours will be extended to later in the evening. Saturday service will be adjusted from 90 minutes all day to 80 minutes all day.
- #18 Taylor: Time adjustments to improve on-time performance on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- #42 Sarah: Time adjustments to improve on-time performance on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- #44 Hazelwood: An early morning trip added northbound from North Hanley MetroLink Station to Village Square on weekdays.
- #46 Tesson Ferry: Weekday times will be adjusted from 30 minutes peak to 40 minutes; midday and evening service will be adjusted to operate every 80 minutes. Weekday hours extended later in the evening.
- #47 North Hanley: Route change: Trips will now end at the Flower Valley Shopping Center due to Jamestown Mall closing. Service between Flower Valley and Jamestown Mall will continue to be offered by the #27 North County Shuttle. Time adjustments on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- #56 Kirkwood Webster: Weekday service will be adjusted from 40 minutes all day to hourly, 30 minute morning rush hour service to the Shrewsbury-Lansdowne I-44 MetroLink Station and 30 minute evening rush hour service from the Shrewsbury-Lansdowne I-44 MetroLink Station. Selected trips will serve Webster University every 30 minutes. Saturday service will be adjusted from 40 minutes peak and hourly off peak to hourly all day on Saturday.
- #58 Clayton Ballas: Time adjustments to improve on-time performance on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- #59 Dogtown: Time adjustments on weekdays and Saturdays after 6:30 p.m. to improve connections with MetroLink at Brentwood I-64 Station.
- #61 Chambers: Time adjustments and trips added on weekdays to relieve overcrowding.
- #68 Big Bend: New route will provide service between the Brentwood I-64 MetroLink Station and St. Louis Community College at Meramec. Service will remain every 60 minutes on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- #70 Grand: Time adjustments to improve on-time performance on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- #74 Florissant: Two late night weekday trips added between St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley and Goodfellow connecting with the #61 Chambers.
- #75 Lilac Hanley: New Routing between Bellefontaine road and Lilac. The new route will serve Larimore, Coal Bank and Lilac. Time adjustments on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- #94 Page: Time adjustments to improve on-time performance on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- #158 Ballas West County: Time adjustments to improve on-time performance on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- #210 Fenton Gravois: Route change due to the closures of Sanford Brown College and Anthem College. New routing will serve downtown Fenton via Gravois Road, Old Highway 141 to Gravois Bluffs Boulevard. Due to Sanford Brown closure, new routing will loop to serve south side of Bowles Avenue. Time adjustments to improve on-time performance on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- #258 Clayton Chesterfield: Route change on eastbound trips between Chesterfield Mall and Chesterfield City Hall. Route will use newly constructed bridge over I-64 on Chesterfield Parkway West. Time adjustments to improve on-time performance on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- North Hanley MetroLink Station: New MetroBus bay assignments, additional bays added to west side of parking garage.
Customer Service representatives are available from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, by calling (314) 982-1406 or (618) 271-7879.
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What’s the reasoning behind the timing on the #17? The only connection at the Reavis Park and Ride lot is with the 40X, yet it doesn’t seem to be lined up with that line at all:
In the morning, SB #17 arrives at Reavis at 6:58 (that’s the last one serving the lot)
The next 40X is at 7:23 which is 25 minutes later – even though there was one at 6:53 – five minutes before the #17 got there. (Also, there’s no shelter or anything at this stop even though it’s a listed transfer point.)
In the evening, the first NB#17 doesn’t serve the lot until 5:23. That lines up with the 40X run that gets there ar 5:17, but if that bus is late, the next NB#17 isn’t until 5:53. Meanwhile there are several 40X runs in the evening that hit the lot well before 5:23. (4:03, 4:33 and 4:57), but the NB#17 isn’t set up to handle any of these.
I think this is the last straw. Time to bite the bullet and just drive to work every day. Metro has made it really difficult to keep supporting them, and I’ve been using you pretty faithfully for the past nine years.
Thanks,
John Petterchak
John, here’s is the response from our Planning Department:
Metro transit ranks bus routes by ridership per hour. The #17 Oakville is rated 49 out of our 52 total routes in Missouri. We will reduce service on that particular route. Rush hour was every 30 minutes (it’ll go to every 40 minutes on Dec. 1) and off-peak was every 60 minutes (it’ll go to 80 minutes).
With the new service, the express operates every 30 minutes and #17 Oakville operates every 40 minutes. These two routes will not connect.
Metro unfortunately can not add service due to funding. We’re using the savings from the #17 Oakville and other routes to add service where ridership is increasing.
The Reavis Park and Ride lot does not have enough service to provide a shelter at this location.
Thanks for the update. I do question why the #17 serves the lot in the first place since I think everyone who parks there uses the 40X and not the 17, but maybe I’m wrong on that.
As far as the lack of a shelter, there are several bus shelters that are still being maintained which are no longer on a bus route (like the one at Gravois and Weber Rd.).
Thanks,
John Petterchak