Metro St. Louis Bus Changes Are 8 Days Away. Are Riders Safe On The Buses?

The St. Louis public transit agency, Metro will be instituting the final phase of its service restoration program on August 30th.  That's eight days from today, and I'm seriously concerned that Metro has sacrificed customer service and safety in the interest of getting new service up and running ahead of the original schedule they gave their patrons.

My impressions of Metro's management and staff have gone up and down in the years I've used their system.  I do think there are some very committed and well meaning people in the plush offices Metro occupies on Laclede's Landing in St. Louis, but I think they're too concerned with getting the service we so desperately need  restored as quickly as possible and have less regard for the level of training of new employees and the conduct of existing operators than they should have. 

Metro wants to get their new routes implemented, but that's meant that they have had to hire a small army of operators, mechanics, and other personnel.  It also means that they're restoring the service with some FIFTY less buses than they'd like to have in order to provide service with the right sized, properly maintained buses they'd like to have. 

Maybe its just my bad luck, but in the last couple of weeks, I've experienced these disturbing incidents on Metro Buses:

• I was thrown from my seat as a careless operator turned his bus at a high rate of speed, injuring my knee and having some of my belongings damaged.  After well over a dozen calls with various Metro people, this case remains unresolved.  In the interest of getting this situation behind me, I think I should not go into details of the accident or the calls with Metro employees.
• A new driver had no idea where he was supposed to go, and despite the fact he was holding turning  directions in his hand, had to ask passengers where and when to turn.
• Buses have been clocked going ten to fifteen miles over the speed limit on a busy winding road in St. Louis County on multiple occasions.
• An operator completely missed going into a Park and Ride lot, part of the route he had driven for months.

I'm happy that Metro has accelerated their rollout of service changes, but have they done so at the potential risk of passenger safety and customer service?  I'm guessing I can't just pick up the phone and chat with the people who run Metro about this.  So I took advantage of a public bi-weekly chat the local newspaper runs.

Here's a conversation I had with Metro's COO Ray Friem during an STL Today Web chat last week. 

MarkE: I saw the same thing at the Ballas Center last night. That computer is an embarrassment, has been vandalized, and should be removed. On another note, are you comfortable with the level of safety your riders are experiencing based on the large number of new bus operators?

Ray Friem: We are committed to taking care of the kiosk you mention. Regarding the safety of our bus operators... we are very selective in those we accept into training. Then we put the potential operators through a rigorous training period. Included are defensive driving and customers service. All operators must obtain a commercial drivers license issued by the State and must pass written and on-the-road tests. We continue to monitor and supervise all operators. The new drivers may not be able to give you all the Metro system information immediately. That will take some days/weeks/months of on the job training.

 Do we have "days/weeks/months" to train people driving 40 foot buses?  How many other people get injured on Metro buses due to (what I contend is) operator error?  Would the same thing that happened to me be a bigger problem for an elderly person?  

Over the next week, Metro management and other employees will be taking time away from their jobs to promote the service changes.  Here's how their news release describes the campaign:

Metro will help customers prepare for changes to more than 50 bus routes starting on August 30 by delivering literally busloads of information to many of the Transit Centers across the region starting Monday, August 23, through Friday, August 27.
“Information Buses” – buses loaded with Metro transit experts, new route schedules and other information about the service changes that start August 30 – will be at many of the Transit Centers. Information tables staffed by transit experts with schedules and information to distribute to customers will be located at other centers.

I agree that it's important to let riders know what is about to happen to their bus routes and what kind of new service options are available to them.  But at a time when the COO of the organization admits that his employees are enduring "on the job training", couldn't these "Metro transit experts" be using their time to show employees how to drive safely and provide customers with decent service?

I want to ride Metro.  The new service on August 30 is a tremendous leap forward and will bring a bus much closer to my house and to thousands of other potential riders.  But I want to feel safe and confident that the operator knows what he or she is doing when I get on the bus.  Right now, I don't feel that way, and I find it hard to champion the work Metro is doing when I look behind the curtain and see what is really going on.

Metro is about to hire a new $200,000 a year CEO, perhaps before the restoration of service takes effect.  I hope this person has actually ridden a Metro bus as part of their research, because it looks like they're in for a very bumpy ride if the agency doesn't improve its safety and customer service.

A Glimmer Of Hope For St. Louis Public Transit

For the next few months, you'll be seeing me write about the public transit situation in St. Louis and the need to pass a modest tax increase in order to continue to provide even bare bones service to the area. This is a topic that's critically important to me as I rely on mass transit to get around (due to a visual handicap) but its also one of the key things that will determine how the St. Louis area develops. Without an effective public transit system, the region will atrophy and ultimately lose even more jobs and residents.

I found a piece of what could be great news today in regards to the upcoming ballot issue, thanks to my co-workers at KMOX Radio.

Posted: Wednesday, 02 December 2009 4:25AM

Metro sales tax officially resurrected; message in focus
Michael Calhoun Reporting
mrcalhoun@cbs.com
CLAYTON (KMOX) -- Last spring, Chesterfield opened its wallet to prevent transit cuts in west county. Now, the
town's mayor is heading up efforts to find permanent funding for Metro.

"After what happened this year, people are now very aware public transportation and the cuts and what it meant to the region," John Nations says.

St. Louis County Councilmembers Tuesday officially resurrected that half-cent sales tax to fund Metro and introduced it for consideration. A tentative vote will happen next week.

Nations says there's little federal help and no state funding, so it's all on Saint Louisans.

"A lot of people rely on businesses which rely on public transpiration even though they themselves don't ride it," he says of the message to come ahead of April's election.

The half-cent sales tax would generate about $80-million each
year.

Look at the campaign finance reports, he says, and you'll find
both Republicans and Democrats agreeing on that.

In the face of $45-million deficit, Metro earlier this year slashed service to parts of the region. A state bail-out helped restore some of those routes.
Copyright KMOX Radio

Why is this good news? Four words. JOHN NATIONS GETS IT. In a region where so few politicians and their stooges have no appreciation for mass transit, Mayor Nations has distinguished himself as someone who understands why transit in St. Louis is important, not only to people like me who use it, but to everyone in the region.

After the disastrous campaign to get more money for Metro, the St. Louis transit agency, in November of 2008, a monkey could run a better effort for the upcoming ballot question. The people behind the measure went a quantum leap over that and got one of the region's most visionary leaders to lead the charge and hopefully convince enough people to spring for the half cent tax to fund mass transit in St. Louis.

This isn't a partisan thing, its about what's right for the region as a whole and the patrons of mass transit as well. I hope to share objective information about how the campaign is run, the chances of passing the ballot measure, and call out the creeps should they rear their ugly heads. If you're not from St. Louis, please bear with me as this is an important issue. If you are from St. Louis, watch this space for updates.

FROM THE DESK OF ST. LOUIS MAYOR SLAY

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Saturday, September 26, 2009 Bob Baer and Metro In December 2007, I wrote here that I had every confidence that interim Metro president Bob Baer would do a great job of restoring public trust in Metro’s direction that had been lost by its previous managers. Looking at a new study of public opinion about Metro, it is clear that Bob’s leadership has done that. People’s concerns about Metro’s future have once again focused on issues other than its management. Instead worrying as much about its litigation strategy and lack of fiscal oversight, people now are talking wanting the region’s public transportation system to go more places, to be more convenient to their homes and offices, and to be safe. That’s Bob Baer’s mark at Metro so far: he has reassured us that the transportation agency in back on track. To my surprise and pleasure, Bob Baer has agreed to become Metro’s permanent president. As its top official, he will be very prominent in the public discussion of Metro’s request for additional revenues to maintain and expand public transportation in the region. St. Louis County voters will be the first to weigh Bob’s arguments, most likely at an election this coming year. But, voters in St. Charles County , Jefferson County , and in southern Illinois will not be far behind. (City voters have already approved additional funding.) The stakes are high: a useful and efficient system of public transportation is one of the keys of the region’s economic prosperity. The panic of suburban employers over recent budget-related cut-backs in service surely reminded everyone of the stakes. I do not envy Bob Baer the challenges ahead. I cannot think of anyone else more likely to overcome them. He will have my strong support.

via mayorslay.com

Some observations to the actual words of Mayor Francis Slay's own words (because he would never use a professional PR person to write the blog) are here:

TO MY SURPRISE AND PLEASURE????????? Surprise because Mr. Baer, who is not a bad guy, has accepted the second worst job in St. Louis, the worst being in charge of attracting major national conventions here. But he's pulling in 190K a year, so he should be able to afford enough antidepressants to make the job worth his while.

THE PANIC OF SUBURBAN EMPLOYERS OVER RECENT BUDGET RELATED CUT-BACKS IN SERVICE SURELY REMINDED EVERYONE OF THE STAKES. Yeah, nobody within the city limits must have cared about the gutting of the bus system. Is that what you're trying to tell us, Mr. Mayor? When's the last time you've been to where the buses used to run in South City, or perhaps at AG Edwards/Wachovia/Wells Fargo on Market Street? I forgot, the city is wonderful and the county is EVIL and that's why you want to combine them into one completely dysfunctional unit of government.

HE WILL HAVE MY STRONG SUPPORT. Until I have to tell all the suburbanites on TV or Charlie "I Hate Metro" Brennan's show that I support a tax increase that will not build a nice new Arch Grounds, Sculpture Garden, or Ballpark Village.

Personally, I think Bob Baer, Jessica Mefford-Miller, and other very dedicated people really do want the system to improve and better serve its customers. The problem is that County Executive Charlie Dooley, Mayor Slay, a posse of legislators in Jefferson City, and tens of thousands of citizens are working hard to make sure the St. Louis region STAGNATES because nobody with political and public opinion influence will properly explain the benefits of a good mass transit system and how a small tax increase will benefit everyone in the area, even the elected officials who wouldn't be caught dead on a bus unless it was for a photo op when unused buses are turned into cooling shelters.

COMMENTS ARE WELCOME AT HTTP://MARKONTHEWEB.BLOGSPOT.COM

Posted via web from Mark Edwards 3.0

MASTERMIND OF FAILED ST. LOUIS TRANSIT FUNDING CAMPAIGN "RESIGNS"

From the Tuesday, September 22 St. Louis Business Journal:

St. Louis County lobbyist Cline to resign

St. Louis Business Journal

Darin Cline

View Larger

Darin Cline plans to resign as St. Louis County’s chief governmental lobbyist.

Cline’s duties include acting as liaison to the state of Missouri.

Cline also was County Executive Charlie Dooley’s campaign manager in 2006.

“He had an opportunity to get back into full-time political consulting, and it was an opportunity too good to pass up,” said Mac Scott, Dooley’s spokesman. “The county executive wishes him well.”

Cline did not return a request for comment.

All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.

Here's the story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Curiouser and curiouser...

Home "> Blog Zone "> Political Fix "> Political Fix "> As the rumor mill turns: Dooley aide resigns amid political frenzy

09.22.2009 9:18 am

As the rumor mill turns: Dooley aide resigns amid political frenzy

By Jake Wagman

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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Cline

As our St. Louis County beat reporter Paul Hampel reports in today’s paper, there was intrigue out of Clayton last night, where an aide to County Executive Charlie A. Dooley abruptly resigned.

His departure has nothing to do with persistent rumors of a federal probe into county government, Darin Cline, Dooley’s director of intergovernmental relations said.

Nor, Cline added, was he leaving because of a pending IRS inquiry into his personal finances, though that at least is real, Cline acknowledged.

“My attorneys and my accountant are handling that matter on my behalf,” Cline told Hampel.

Welcome to St. Louis politics, circa August/September 2009.

Since the guilty pleas of two state lawmakers that straddled the city limits — former State Sen. Jeff Smith represented St. Louis, ex-State Rep. Steve Brown calls Clayton home — suspicions have run rampant among Democrats across the region.

Adding to the frenzy is that Smith was caught on a wire worn by Brown, who in turn was busted with the help of recorded conversations he had with now-jailed Democratic strategist Milt “Skip” Ohlsen III.

In other words: You never know who is listening.

Cline’s departure may have more to do with politics than justice — with Dooley gearing up for what could be a tough re-election campaign, he does not need any distractions on the Ninth Floor.

That’s not to say the feds are done with their crackdown of political corruption. But it’s anybody’s guess if the next conviction, should there be one, will finally temper speculation — or add to the paranoia of who might be on deck.

Tags: Charlie Dooley, Darin Cline, Jeff Smith, Skip Ohlsen, Steve Brown

I've written about this gentleman many times before in this blog, and from everything I've been able to ascertain, this is the person behind the embarrassingly amateurish and woefully unsuccessful campaign to add a one half cent sales tax in St. Louis County to fund mass transit. The campaign was run out of St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley's office because Metro, as a public agency, can't conduct a political campaign.

Cline seems to have been the henchman, I prefer the term HACK, charged with running the campaign, and his efforts were so horrid that a freshman PolySci student would have been sent home with his tail between his legs after having proposed a campaign that so underestimated the needs of the people and the importance of the issue. In a real business, this guy would likely have been fired for blowing the campaign, endangering the economy of the entire St. Louis region, and not carrying out his duties on behalf of the people of St. Louis County.

I don't know Darin Cline, but not for lack of trying. I've tried to link to him on Facebook and LinkedIn, but clearly this man wants nothing to do with me. I've written him asking to meet to discuss how I can help the disaster that is mass transit in St. Louis County. Not a word in reply. Maybe its the whole thing about me caring about the St. Louis region. Whatever the reason, it looks like Cline's days are numbered and he might be taking up residence in lovely Terre Haute, Indiana.

As of now, a tax to help raise money for mass transit in St. Louis is due to go on the ballot in April of 2010. County Executive Dooley is in for a major battle for re election, as he has proven once and for all that he is no Buzz Westfall, someone who would have NEVER let Proposition M fail in 2008.

Dooley, and EVERYONE in St. Louis, needs someone with an understanding of the importance of public transit, the economic value to the future of the St. Louis region that comes from a complete transit system, and the ability to communicate a message that will get people to vote for a small tax increase in April. Darin Cline is all but gone, what's the chance Dooley and his cronies can do better and actually get the ballot measure passed?

Great Expectations Lead to Great Disappointment

Monday, August 3rd. The day Metro bus routes throughout St. Louis were restored. I got up, actually on time, called a cab to take me to the bus stop, and it came quickly. OK, I thought, we're on a roll here. Even the Bus Stop sign had been set up correctly, telling me a bus would soon come.

And come it did. Right on time at 5:56AM. But there were issues. The farebox didn't want to take my money, and the operator had to turn it on and off about a dozen times before it took one of my two dollar bills. Finally, he just gave up and told me to have a seat because the farebox was messed up and it wasn't worth wasting the time for the other dollar. BONUS!

The bus wasn't exactly packed when I got on as this video shows:

But as we went along, more and more people did get on, leading to a high of 14 passengers. Metro chose to use a smaller bus, so it seemed pretty full. But there were issues. The fare box still wasn't working, so people who wanted to pay cash got a free ride. The air conditioning kept turning itself off, so the operator told us we could open the windows if it got warm. Twice, he had to restart the bus because of some ind of problem with the air pressure, whatever that means. Not a good look since Metro has had MONTHS to maintain the buses that have been off the streets since the service cutbacks.

As we reached about 45 minutes into the trip, the bus finally gave in and broke down at the corner of Lindell and Compton, just a few blocks from the new bus stop Metro put up (see yesterday's post) for my convenience, but too far for me to walk to work. The operator talked to his dispatcher, who tole him to not try to restart the bus and have the passengers wait until the next 58X bus came along, which was supposed to be another half an hour. Of course, while the decision to scrub the mission (thank you NASA) another bus going in the same general direction as ours flew past us on our left.

The poor operator was only following directions, but the combination of missing what could have been a ride downtown, where most of the other passengers were going, and knowing it would be (now) about 25 minutes until a replacement bus would be on the way led to some of the "bus behavior" I've come to know and love in St. Louis:


Most of the passengers got off the bus, hoping something would come along to take them downtown. I waited on the bus with another passenger until the next bus came, which was about half an hour after the original bus broke down. The new bus stop was where it was supposed to be, although I couldn't see one on the other side of Compton for the ride home, and I got off and took the two block walk to the office. The trip took just under two hours from when the cab came to my house until when I hit the office.

So let's review the pros and cons of Service Restoration Opening Day:

PROS

• The bus came on time
• No problem finding a seat
• Half price fare
• As promised, Metro put a bus stop near my office
  

CONS

• Metro didn't collect what they should have from the farebox (an important source of funding) because the farebox was broken
• The bus had multiple mechanical problems on its first day on the newly restored route
• The unavoidable confusion and lack of communications when the bus broke down made many people miss a bus that could have gotten them to their destination almost on time
• Half hour wait for a replacement bus to pick up stranded passengers
• In the end, the best laid plans of Metro were negated by poor execution

I started the day with such high hopes. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that there were problems, but the problems make Metro look less than competent to their customers and the people their customers tell about the experience, and that's a shame knowing what I know now about what it took to get the bus I took on the road at all.

And me? I'm thinking of taking a cab home tonight. Yes, its more expensive (by a long shot) but I don't have to worry about delays and equipment issues. Maybe, hopefully, Metro needs just another day to "iron things out".

Words Of Praise For St. Louis Mass Transit Agency

Anyone who has read this blog or looks at the archives is well aware that I pull no punches in sharing my opinion of the St. Louis area's mass transit agency, Metro. Due to my visual handicap, I can't drive, so I have always relied on public transit, and the system in St. Louis is plagued with problems. I know how hard it is to run a public transit agency, but I firmly believe that Metro is a shambles, run poorly, and not providing the service that will keep the St. Louis region as vibrant as groups like the local version of the Chamber Of Commerce claim it is or want it to be.

I stand by my thoughts about Metro, and have learned a lot in the last few months about why they are in the shape they are in. Much of it is because they are stuck in the vortex of the "St. Louis Way" of politics, with inadequate support from the region's political establishment and even less support from local opinion leaders like Charles Brennan at KMOX Radio. Full disclosure, I work for the company that owns KMOX, but not for that radio station, and any comments made on this blog are purely personal opinions. Like all public transit agencies, Metro is fighting an uphill battle, but they indeed face more obstacles than most, and that is a sad commentary on the St. Louis region.

That being said, I have words of praise for Metro, and a glimmer of hope for the future of the agency and mass transit in St. Louis. On August 3rd, Metro will restore service that was cut after the loss of funding, both to the city of St. Louis and the suburbs, where I live. That will not only restore bus service to many areas of the St. Louis region, it will bring some 300 people back to work at Metro, and hopefully bring growth to businesses along the newly restored bus routes.

Thanks to the efforts of the city of Chesterfield and funding from the public and private sector, transit service was restored to my area well before the rest of the region. The route they restored first certainly was a help to me, but not an ideal solution. I had to take a taxi, a bus, light rail, and another taxi to travel between my home and office. But at least I was able to use Metro again.

On August 3rd, Metro will reinstate the route I used to take, which stopped literally right in front of my office. This is what the bus stop looked like when that service was suspended, and the way it looks now. That's because when Metro decided to restore the route, they changed the way it ran in Midtown St. Louis, and the bus, actually NO bus, will pass by my office. While I know that affects ME, I also understand and appreciate that the new routing will help provide some kind of bus service to other areas that also had to do without.

Taking this newly restored route will not be a perfect solution either, as I'll have to take a taxi to a bus stop further from my home to get to the bus. However, the bus ride (which will be just under an hour) will take me to the area I work in without having to change to other buses or light rail. After checking out the new route, both on the internet and in person, I discovered there were no bus stops on the new route within a reasonable walking distance of my office. While the bus passes a couple of blocks away from the office, Metro didn't have a place for it to stop.

I contacted Jessica Mefford-Miller, Metro's acting chief of planning and system development, with the request that Metro consider adding a bus stop on Compton, a street just west of my office, so I could board the bus there. I made the request about a week before the service was to be restored, and I honestly had very little hope of even getting a response, let alone any action on my request. I have had very low expectations for Metro, but I know you never get if you never ask.

Much to my delight, I received a very prompt response from Ms. Mefford-Miller and we communicated via email a number of times during what had to be a horribly busy week for her. On Friday afternoon, I received this e mail:

Mr. Edwards,

Today Metro installed a bus stop on Compton between Market and Laclede. I hope you will find this additional stop will allow you to make your trip aboard Metro. We look forward to having you back.

Frankly, I was stunned. Someone at Metro was kind enough to take one person's needs into consideration and make using their system easier. I know Ms. Mefford-Miller and Ray Friem, Metro's COO, were instrumental in getting the first wave of service restored to Chesterfield, and Ms. Mefford-Miller's actions again showed me that there are people at Metro trying to make things better.

I applaud Metro (yes I said those words) for their efforts to obtain the funding to bring service back, for their planning the new service to help as many people as possible use public transit, and for overcoming the obstacles that challenge them on a daily basis in order to get all of this done.

I'm writing this before I board the newly restored bus, so I can only hope that its full of riders and that St. Louisians actually ride Metro, showing that the public will use mass transit. I understand Metro will try to get a new version of the failed tax increase it needs to operate on the ballot in the April, 2010 election. The last time the agency tried to get a tax increase, they enlisted the help of old school St. Louis political hacks who ran perhaps the most embarrassing campaign I've ever seen.

I hope the people at Metro who clearly do "get it" will not trust their agency's future to people who probably have never taken the bus and who don't have the vision to see the importance of mass transit to our region. Metro can't legally run their own ballot issue campaign, but surely they can find people who have more of a clue than the last set of goons they used that led to the defeat of Proposition M.

For now though, I'm grateful for Metro's efforts and optimistic that the darkest days are behind the beleaguered agency, the people who need its services, and the region that so badly needs good public transit.

PRAISE FOR METRO ST. LOUIS!

Its no secret that I've been more than a little bit critical of Metro, the St. Louis public transit system, for their incomprehensible lack of decent management and horrendous service cuts. The cuts have made thousands of people in the St. Louis region change their commuting habits, and many even change their jobs.

I won't rehash old posts, but I've written below about the tremendous efforts of the Mayor and staff of the city of Chesterfield, MO to get service restored to that suburb. For that I am eternally grateful. Now comes word from Metro that
a significant amount of bus service is likely to be restored in August of this year.

Assuming Missouri Governor Jay Nixon finds the bill on the pile of unsigned laws on his desk and signs it in the near future, about a third of the bus service that was slashed earlier this year will be returned.

It ain't over til its over, but it looks like Metro has worked hard to get the money they need and put it where its most needed. I applaud them on their efforts and only hope everything goes as planned.

Of course, the situation will be updated here.

CUTS IN ST. LOUIS BUS SERVICE MAY BE RESTORED

Friday, May 22-I just got this note from Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill's office with very good potential news for the St. Louis area's Metro transit system.

Good news for Metro St. Louis and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority
– a bill that passed the Senate late yesterday included language that will allow transit agencies in large cities to use some of their stimulus funding in a way that will help them to preserve services and avoid layoffs. A provision included in the legislation will make it possible for transit agencies to use up to 10 percent of their stimulus funding for operation costs. Last week, McCaskill asked that funding be available for operational costs, rather than for construction and capitol improvements only. The
legislation goes to House-Senate negotiations next, and we will keep you
updated on its progress.
READ MORE ABOUT MCCASKILL’S REQUEST

We still have a LONG way to go before Metro can even begin to restore a fragment of service they've lost, but with The possibility of some money from the State of Missouri to help fund the transit system, there is a faint glimmer of hope that some service might be resorted.
I'm being a bit more pragmatic than some only because both Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and President Obama have the final say on if the money will flow to Metro or not. Beyond that, the people who run Metro and their sometimes unpredictable Board Of Commissioiners need to finalize the services changes they're currently pimping on their website and actully make them happen.

Let's just hope the hard work of Senator McCaskill, the few people who really care about mass transit in St. Louis, and others isn't negated by the incompetent leadership at Metro.

UPDATE MAY 23 The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting that Metro plans to use the state money to restore and expand routes in August.

Again, one can only hope all this news is true, the bills that will provide the money will be signed by the President and Governor, and that Metro doesn't manage to find a way to screw things up.

A man can dream.

The Austin Model-Polar Opposite of St. Louis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3fUkvuvFHg&feature=channel_page

Clicking on the above video will take you to its YouTube site. You can also click on the headline to be taken to the video. Sorry, embedding of this video has been disabled, but I assure you its worth watching.

Submitted for your approval (sorry Rod) a commercial from candidate for Mayor of Austin, Texas Brewster McCracken. In this spot, the candidate takes an objective look at the CITY of St. Louis and how it went from boomtown to laughingstock. His message? Don't let what happened to St. Louis happen to Austin.

McCracken is spot on. The CITY of St. Louis has been allowed to die because of petty politics, a complete lack of vision for the region, and denying its residents essential services like well paved streets, decent schools, and functioning public transit.

As you can imagine, the locals here are up in arms about this shot at St. Louis. They're hurt, and I don't blame them. Its harsh, but its completely true.

St. Louis is the poster child of how to kill a city's soul, drive the people and businesses you need to thrive to the suburbs (where I live and could not be happier), and have city and county leadership spending too much time at the baseball stadium (with the vacant lot next door that was supposed to be a multi million dollar shopping/office/residential mecca in time for July's All Star Game) and not enough time looking around to see what a mess they've made or thinking of realistic ways to improve the quality of life in the region.

I don't know anything about Brewster McCracken. Wait, I do know ONE thing. He's got a better view of the sorry state of St. Louis than the people running our region do. Maybe our local leaders will take a minute, watch this commercial, and ponder what they've done to the once grand CITY of St. Louis.

Perhaps during the seventh inning stretch?

Metro Discovers It Has A PR Problem (DUH)

I've got to hand it to the fine people at Metro, the public transit agency in St. Louis.

I won't go into all the farces and fiascoes they've been responsible for lately, you can read them on earlier blog posts. But I've got to give them the award for UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE DECADE in Friday's article from The St. Louis Beacon. You can click on the headline to read the whole story about their budget problems and how the State of Missouri is going to ride in (presumably NOT on a bus) with twenty million bucks to bail them out. But if you go down to the bottom of the story, you see Metro's solution to one of the worst Public Relations practices in the Universe:

Making the case to the Public

Although 486 positions --- mostly bus drivers --- have been cut, Metro is trying to do some "resource shifting" to add a person to help bring the agency into the new technological age.

"Metro is behind the curve on new media," Metro spokeswoman Dianne Williams said. It’s not a question of preserving a bus driver instead of adding a public relations person. That person could assist "in bringing back enough money to put a whole lot more than one bus driver back on the street," she said.

"Everyone tells us we've got to get out in the community and tell the people our story," Baer said. Instead of using volunteers, "I don't think it's unreasonable to add one new media person," he added.

"We're looking at improving our public relations with the community," Klevorn said.

REALLY? YOU THINK?

If Metro had the slightest clue how to communicate with the public, both its customers and (more importantly) the people who can help fund their operation, they might not be in the horrific mess they've put themselves in.

But the Big Guy at Metro, Robert Baer remains clueless. Must be busy working on May's half hour update to the world.

Oh and Bob, thanks for not responding to my e mail of my last post. THAT'S the kind of "Public Relations" that keeps Metro so in touch with the community.

ST. LOUIS METRO AT ITS FINEST

As a media consumer and media professional, I've always been of the belief that brevity is key in communicating a message. Obviously, the good people at Metro, the agency responsible for the transit disaster in St. Louis, missed that memo.

Submitted for your approval and available by clicking the headline on this post, the newly posted Metro Customer Focus for April 2009.

Where do I begin to discuss the faults with this attempt to tell their tale of woe by FINALLY trotting our their President and CEO to talk about everything they're trying to do to get transit service restored to St. Louis?

Here are a few observations:

• THE VIDEO IS 24 MINUTES AND 26 SECONDS LONG. Mind you, that's less than the time between most bus service in St. Louis, but its FAR too long to hold even the most interested person's attention so whatever messages are supposed to be communicated are lost in the blur of the diatribe.
• Someone at Metro or their overpaid production company found the new technology called STEREO for this presentation! You get to hear the Metro Director of Communications asking questions in the right speaker and the Boss answering them in the left speaker. Let's hope everyone watching on their computer has two good working speakers so they can enjoy the miracle of binural sound.
• There's no transcript of ability to download the unnecessarily long video, so if you have a life or can't plant yourself for 24:26, you're out of luck.

Again, Metro shows its true inability to connect with the rest of the free world by trying to get their message out, but in a completely ineffective way. How much did the production, hosting, and bandwidth cost, and will they see any kind of ROI? Could the money be used somewhere else, like getting people to ride the nearly empty busses they've put into my part of the St. Louis area?

I pray that their efforts to make operating funds come from the State and Federal governments are just a little bit better thought out than this, another classic Metro public relations fiasco.

LAST MINUTE DEAL SAVES SOME WEST COUNTY BUS SERVICE

From stltoday.com:

Metro OKs buses to job centers
By Ken Leiser
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/27/2009

Buses will continue to roll to employment centers in the Chesterfield Valley through the end of the year under a tentative agreement announced today.

Massive service cuts will take effect on Monday and were to cut off bus service west of Interstate 270. But Chesterfield Mayor John Nations today pledged more than $173,000 to create a new route that will reach employers along the Highway 40 corridor.

That will represent the local match for a federal job access and reverse commute grant, said Metro Ray Friem, Metro's senior vice president for transit operations. Fare collections will cover the remainder of the cost.

Metro's board of commissioners authorized its top executive, Bob Baer, to negotiate details of the agreement with Chesterfield and others who are working to maintain bus service to far west St. Louis County through Dec. 31.

"Public transportation is an extremely important element of building a good business climate and consequently creating a good quality of life," Nations told reporters after today's Metro Board of Commissioners meeting.

The new route would begin at the Clayton MetroLink station, then go to the Ballas bus transfer center and points west along Highway 40.

Nations said there are 26,000 jobs in Chesterfield alone and public transportation is "an integral part" of that effort. It is critical to the nursing homes, hospitals and service sectors.

Chesterfield's pledge could include a mix of public and private money from businesses that have so far agreed to cover part of the cost, Nations said. Businesses may wind up funding the entire local share.

Some Metro commissioners expressed concerns about authorizing the 11th-hour deal without all of the specifics in hand. But others said it was important to prevent a disruption in bus service to parts of the region.

Metro, the region's largest transit agency, will dramatically scale back the reach of its bus system - wiping out two dozen bus routes and modifying others. Beginning Monday, service will be suspended to 2,300 of the 9,000 bus stops and bus shelters in the Missouri half of Metro's system.
MetroLink trains will run less frequently on both sides of the Mississippi River during peak commute periods.
Buses and trains that remain are expected to be more crowded.

This is significantly less service than there is today, but it is service that will reach the retail centers, nursing homes, and hospitals that were about to be cut off from public transit.

I applaud the hard work of The City of Chesterfield and especially Libbey Malberg, the city's Assistant City Administrator for Community Services & Economic Development. This is a rare example of a city government (Chesterfield, NOT St. Louis) working hard and committing resources in order to maintain jobs and quality of life for its citizens.

Of course, Metro has not posted official word of this deal or released the final route map and schedules. If this route starts Monday, they've got some quick work to do, something they aren't always known for.

In any event, this is a little victory, and for that I am thankful.

ST. LOUIS PUBLIC TRANSIT TO BE WORSE THAN BEIRUT

AS WITH ALL POSTS ABOUT THE PUBLIC TRANSIT SITUATION IN ST. LOUIS, THESE COMMENTS ARE PURELY PERSONAL OPINION AND NOT CONNECTED IN ANY WAY WITH MY EMPLOYMENT OR EMPLOYER.

Monday, March 30 is the day that the St. Louis region regresses to the Stone Age in terms of its public transit system, or lack thereof.

The March 22nd St. Louis Post-Dispatch has two well written articles about the situation. The first story, which the graphic comes from, is an overview of the transit changes to come. Story number two looks at the way regular people will be affected by the changes.

A peek at my previous posts will make my thoughts on how we were forced into this service reduction plan clear, so I won't waste bandwidth repeating them here. I urge you to look at those posts to get some background on this horrific situation.

Yes, as a visually handicapped person, I am directly affected by these changes since I don't drive and Metro is cutting any buses that come near me on March 30th. I've been fortunate enough to be included in meetings and communications about Metro's overtures to return service to the Chesterfield Valley, an important business destination, and some of the nursing homes in my area that rely on bus riders for employment.

Metro's publicized that they want to do everything they can to help restore the service, they've just forgotten to mention to the public that they've asked the businesses and governments in the West St. Louis County area for $300,000 to start the greatly reduced route and keep it running until the end of the year. They've also not mentioned that there will be at least a $600,000 shortfall should that service extend into 2010, and that's ONLY assuming they get a million dollars in Federal matching funds and $400,000 in farebox revenue. So yes, they've offered to help, but in today's economy, it seems fairly safe to assume that the resumption of service is a longshot at best. I think I'd rather bet on the St. Louis Rams to win the 2010 Super Bowl.

Forget my personal situation. I'll figure out how to get to work. I'm every bit as concerned about the long term impact these changes are about to have on the St. Louis region. Here's the bottom line. St. Louis becomes a THIRD class mass transit region on March 30th. Metro's years of mismanagement, the horrendous Prop M campaign orchestrated by St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and his cronies, and lack of honest public education about the economic impact of a horrid public transit system will converge into a perfect storm that will put people out of work, leave employers scrambling to find workers-even in this recession, and make anyone looking to expand or bring a business to St. Louis think twice.

I've said in other forums that St. Louis has a worse public transit system than Beirut. Here's proof.

I've had a number of conversations with senior Metro staffers about this situation, and it does seem that they do have real sympathy for the individuals about to the stranded and the huge hit the already staggering St. Louis economy is about to take. They had a plan to essentially launder Federal Highway Administration money and get their hands on it for operating revenue, but the Feds saw right through that and stopped it. They say they're still working on ways to increase service, and if nothing else they're putting another tax increase on the ballot in April, 2010. However, anything they do at this point to address the problems they've gotten themselves into over the years is far too little, and far too late.

We as citizens of the St. Louis region should be embarrassed and ashamed of our "leaders" and the Metro Board Of Commissioners for letting this happen.

Metro Wastes MORE Money

The fine people at St. Louis' Metro Public Transit Agency covered the bus stop I use to get to and from my office with this snappy cover.

Not trying to sound like a "banner geek", but having bought a number of banners over the years, I was struck by the high quality of the cover. Heavy weight vinyl, metal grommets, sewn edges, held in place by multiple zip ties. First class all the way. NOT an inexpensive item, and I'm told they put these on some 2300 bus stops in the St. Louis area.

Metro is making it impossible for thousands of people to get to their jobs after March 30th, but they can pay a pile of money for these "temporary" Bus Stop Sign Covers. Another absurd use of money by a horrendously mismanaged part of the inept St. Louis government system.

All of this while Metro continues to spread false hope that the Federal Government is going to give them money to continue suburban transit. The St. Louis Beacon fell victim to reporting the pipe dreams of Metro's Chief Operating Officer that through a complicated slight of hand move, Metro might get a few bucks to keep running buses to bring people from the city to their much needed jobs in the suburbs.

I wonder how many actual bus lines Metro could have kept running with the huge amount of money they spent to have these "temporary" covers made?

"I'm Screwed By Metro" in St. Louis Newspaper

More on the ugliness that is about to enter my life thanks to the St. Louis County Government and Bi-State Development Agency (Metro) incompetence in not getting funding for mass transit in the St. Louis area. Thanks to the Suburban Journals (click headline above for link to the story) for the chance to share my point of view. Again, this is my PERSONAL issue and in no way connected with my employment or employer.

Riders lose their way Metro service cuts will leave riders out in the cold


Rick Graefe photo/ Jim Moody of Mehlville waits for his bus to Chesterfield at the Ballas Road bus depot. Moody takes a bus from South County Mall to the depot then transfers onto the 58 line to get to work in Chesterfield.

By Shawn ClubbMonday, January 5, 2009 12:05 PM CST



Jim Moody doesn't need public transportation to get to work. He takes it for his sanity."I do it because I hate the traffic on (Interstate) 270," he said. "There's always an accident."When Metro cuts bus routes from Moody's home in Mehlville and to his office in Chesterfield, he said he will just have to drive.



But for Mark Edwards, the situation does not have a simple solution."In a word, I'm screwed by Metro," said Edwards, who has a visual handicap that prevents him from driving.Thousands of people who live or work in South County and West County are having to find alternatives if they use public transportation. Metro will eliminate all of the bus routes in these areas at the end of March to reduce its budget after failure of a county referendum to help fund the system.It will mean the end of the line for many people who can't drive, can't afford a vehicle, hate traffic or want to be environmentally-responsible.



Edwards, who lives in Chesterfield, takes an express bus to his job in midtown St. Louis. Because Metro will eliminate all West County service west of Interstate 270, he will be cut off.Edwards has a condition called optic nerve atrophy, which he describes as "a bad phone connection in the eye," so he cannot drive. He has looked into ride-sharing programs such as RideFinders, but he said it is a hard service to use. He also has contacted local large employers to see if he can find a ride through one of their employees."If March 30 comes and I don't have a ride, I'll be paying ridiculous money for cabs," Edwards said. "I don't really have an answer yet."



MJ Maroney, who lives in south St. Louis, also might end up taking a cab for part of her commute to work in an insurance business at Maryville Center. She used to take a scooter to work on days when the weather allowed it, but a crash has her undergoing physical therapy and riding MetroLink and the bus. Even when she recovers, she won't be able to ride until she can buy a new scooter.Maroney previously depended on the bus for transportation when her employer used to be located in Earth City. She said Metro changed that route and made it twice as long, so she bought the scooter.When Metro cuts service, Maroney plans to ride public transportation as far as she can to the Ballas Transit Center, which is located three miles from her job. She'll then take a cab."That will be $10 a day, $50 a week, $200 a month," she said. "That's ridiculous. That's going to be expensive. They're raising prices and decreasing service. It's painful to the very people who can least afford the pain."



Mark Gilligan, like Moody, also will go back to driving. He has taken the bus since May to get exercise, save money and gas and cut down on pollution. The 17 Oakville bus he takes from South County will be eliminated. The 49 Lindbergh bus he takes to get to work at Ursuline Academy in Kirkwood will be rerouted.Gilligan said he voted for passage of Proposition M in November, but he did it despite not seeing an effort by Metro to sell the need for the funding."Most people certainly did not know what was at stake - and that is definitely your fault," he wrote in a letter to Metro. "Now you seem to be seeking to 'punish' the riders in the areas where the votes did not go your way with your ridiculously unfair cuts."



Todd Plesko, Metro's chief of planning and system development, said he can see where riders would think certain areas are being punished when they look at the route cuts. He said the route eliminations were done to cut the budget. He said Metro had to cut routes that are highly subsidized due to low ridership."Coming up with $40 million worth of savings was not easy," said Plesko, noting that Metro had to raise rates effective Jan. 1.All Metro routes are subsidized, Plesko said. Including ones that are used heavily, such as the 70 Grand bus, which is subsidized by less than a dollar per passenger boarding. The 17 Oakville bus that Gilligan rides is subsidized by $13 per boarding, Plesko said. It carries just 232 passengers per day.Other routes with high subsidies that are being eliminated include the Eureka Express at $12 per boarding and Tesson Ferry route at $12.26 per boarding.Gilligan wonders why Metro couldn't just cut the number of times a route is run instead of eliminating it altogether."Metro said 'Let's preserve routes with the lowest subsidy that support the largest number of riders and not divert money from those routes,'" Plesko said. "Our instruction from the board and our funding partners was to serve the largest number of people and the largest number of jobs and do a credible job of serving areas where you can afford to provide service."



The service cuts are what Metro staff calls Plan D. Other plans had been brought to Metro's board for approval. Plan B included some West County and South County routes but would have cost an additional $7 million to $8 million. Plesko said Metro asked the city and county governments if they could fund Plan B but were told there was no money for it.



Like Gilligan, Edwards and Moody also think Metro did a poor job in convincing the public that the agency needed the funding that passage of Proposition M would have given it. Edwards said the loss of these routes will cripple the ability of the region to grow.Plesko said Metro and the city and county governments have asked for Metro to receiving funding as part of the federal government bailouts. He said Metro will be meeting with state leaders to seek funding. He also anticipates there will be an effort in the next year and a half to ask voters to approve more local funding. He said any such effort would require Metro to specify what the people of West County and South County would get with increased funding.



These service cuts are viewed by Metro staff as tragic, Plesko said."Metro is horrified that this is what this has come to," he said. "We're not going to give up. We're going to try to convince people that having good public transit is good for the region."