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Reminder: New MetroBus Service Plan Effective Monday
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A new MetroBus service plan for St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis will go into effect Monday (September 30).
This major service change will impact every bus route in Missouri and will provide frequent service, improved weekend service and more convenient options for getting around town.
This is the culmination of a two-year project, which took an in-depth analysis of the Metro Transit system to identify improvements that’ll better meet your mobility needs. Research, customer engagement and community outreach conducted during the project identified faster, more direct trips and more frequent service as top priorities.
Through the new service plan, Metro Transit is increasing frequency on many MetroBus routes. Ten routes, which carry nearly half of current MetroBus customers in Missouri, will offer service every 15 minutes or faster on weekdays. Today, the MetroBus system currently only has one bus route (the #70 Grand) that offers 15-minute frequency. In addition, the new service plan includes 35 MetroBus routes that will offer 30-minute frequencies, instead of the 40-minute or 60-minute service many routes operate on today.
Weekend service is also being improved through the Metro Reimagined plan. Nearly all MetroBus routes will have Sunday service, including many routes that currently do not operate on Sundays.
Plan Your Commute Today
Learn about specific details about your route and access new route maps, schedules and route information.
You may also contact Metro Transit Information for details or for assistance planning your commute. Metro Transit Information is available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. by phone at 314-231-2345 or by text at 314-207-9786. You may also plan your commute directly using the Transit app, available on iOS and Android devices.
Metro Reimagined Background
The Metro Reimagined project was launched in 2017 to effectively position the Metro Transit system to meet the evolving transportation needs of the St. Louis region. Community engagement and your input have been a key part of the Metro Reimagined plan, and adjustments to the service plan were made to retain service in areas, where possible, in response to the feedback.
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This whole reimagined plan is complete garbage. Myself and many other passengers regularly take the number 38 at Bermuda and Woodstock. You guys made the stupid decision to take that away. There are several elderly people along with working people and students that rely on that bus. Now this is just going to make our commute much harder. It’s bad enough that we have to deal with the drivers rude ass attitudes, now to add insult to injury, you are screwing up people’s means of getting to and from.🖕 you metro and your reimagined plan
Metro says don’t be quick to judge the reimagined plan. Give it time to work. My question, how can you judge something from nothing that no longer exists, by totally eliminating bus service from several of our communities, particulary from areas where there were sufficient riders regularly riding metro buses. Routes 38 and 39 were routes that carried sufficient passenger loads. Some of the routes where enhanced service have been provided under the reimagined plan probably won’t live up to their expectations. I say this because I have observed buses on some of the routes that are slated for high frequency service levels, that were carrying few and many cases no passenger. So how can you justify provide service enhancement at high frequency levels for routes that carry fewer passengers, then some of the routes that are being eliminated? If you are banking on the concept that providing enhanced service will draw more passengers on the routes designated under the reimagined program, whose to say this same concept couldn’t work for areas where service has been eliminated, and many of these areas are in locations that are highly transit dependent?
Mike, thank you for providing your feedback regarding the redesign of the MetroBus network. As you may or may not know, transit agencies across the country routinely review their service plan and make adjustments to better meet the current marketplace. In St. Louis, the Metro Transit system needed to be realigned to better serve today’s job centers, mobility needs and to curb years of ridership decline. This redesign will help address this. We understand these changes may take some time to get used to and we want to hear from you regarding your specific commute. Four times each year, Metro Transit has the opportunity to update its bus system and we will incorporate rider feedback like this into the next service change in December. We’ll make sure to forward this over to our Customer Care team, but if you’d like to provide more specifics pertaining to your particular transit trip, email them at customerservice@metrostlouis.org.
Why did you change it from 49 to 48 servicing the ballas transfer center and and the 49 doing the north side and now went back to the 49 and getting rid of the 48 i thought the 49 was to have frequent trips of every 15 minutes and i thought there was gonna be a bus on barracksview road going to south county mall as i can’t walk to the mall to catch bus 17
Does the fenton connector service horan drive by 990 horan drive by the riverchase rec center and does the 58 go out to chesterfield by Walmart
Stephanie, the #101 Fenton Connector does serve that portion of Horan Drive. The #58 Chesterfield Valley serve THF Blvd. where Walmart is located.
The #9 Oakville is really crowded in the morning. I board at 6:40am and most of the seating is already full. This route either needs bigger buses or more frequency. Priority seating is almost always taken by people who don’t actually need the seats leaving those with injuries or disabilities having to stand.
Erica, the #9 Oakville did increase frequency, providing 30-minute frequencies through most of the weekday. This route is served by a 35-foot bus, but could be served by a 40-foot bus as well. We do urge riders to refrain from using the priority seating, allowing those that require this space to use it first. If you’d like, reach out to Customer Care regarding where you board the #9 Oakville. The more detailed information you can provide, the better we can improve the system.
I board at Germainia and Primm at 6:40am and the bus is definitely full. The 40ft buses are really needed during rush hours in the morning and evening. Even the old buses with the steps would provide more seating during rush hours.
Well, a week after the new alignment for Route 56 happened, there are still no bus stops along a nearly one-mile stretch of S. Berry Rd. If your in-house staff can’t keep up with the changes, why not hire some private contractors to help?!
Is it possible to have #59 Oakland pick up contract workers Sunday and Monday mornings when Metro drivers report to work at Brentwood Garage? It will be very helpful to get to CWE station.
Rochelle, in general we do not serve Metro Transit property, however; it not to say it can’t be done. I will forward this to our Planning Department for consideration. Thank you for reaching out!
I live in the South County area that was serviced by the 20 for a while and now because of the Metro Reimagined plan that was implemented on 9/30/2019 has left not just myself, but people who live along Forder road completely isolated especially with some people with mobility issues like myself who cannot walk to the mall to get the bus and the Lyft program has its limits because they limit a 500 ft range for the $1 Lyft rides. When I worked often, I took the bus often not just for work but also to other places and regularly got around to appointments by bus, now people who live and work along Forder Road. If I had planned it I would have the 49 Lindbergh extended from the South County Mall via Forder to Jefferson Barracks to ensure the service served everyone.
Thanks for submitting your comment to the Metro blog. I understand you’re facing some difficulties regarding the changes to service from Metro Reimagined. One of the things I will do is share your feedback regarding the #49 Lindbergh with our planning team, which is helpful anytime they make adjustments to the system. Also, I see you’re familiar with the Lyft ride program – has it been able to help you make connections? Is there anything that can be done to the program to make it more helpful for you and others along Forder?
Frankly the idea of completely deleting a route because of low attendance is unjustified. I’m thinking specifically of the Big Bend route. For your first step, consolidation of the stops and less frequent arrivals (1 every hour instead 2) makes more sense. This would keep the buses going while freeing up more buses for your more popular routes. I’d imagine the people who took that route daily and depended on it would have liked it more than getting rid of it.
Also, the foresight of posting signs where the stops used to be so people do not get to the stop, are unable to find it, wait, and eventually give up and walk an hour would be kind (speaking for myself here, as you can tell. Maybe you did have signs and I just missed the window of time they were up? Idk, still inconsiderate).
Next time there is a Metro Re Imagining, I would find a better way of asking for feedback. Getting ideas from people who are not in the business of transit would be helpful, as when any company is steeped in data-harvesting and reevaluating, commonsense is often overlooked. Simple ideas are not thought about, and complicated ideas are not thought through. An example would be a company in the business of transportation trying to increase revenue by… offering less transportation.
Thanks for your feedback, Carl. We will share it with our Planning team for consideration of future service changes – and for them to review service in the Big Bend area.