Transport / ride shares / etc

[tlombard]

Definitely route/traffic/passenger volume dependent when it comes to top speed on a route but even on a route like Grand which is the most used route in the system, in my opinion, the bus gets along almost as well as traffic. Other than stops at somewhere like a Metrolink with high volume of passengers getting on and off, the stops are very quick even if they are frequent. The doors are opening as the bus is stopping so they can step right on. Most people boarding are showing a transfer or swiping a pass and the bus is moving before they even finish that. Even if they are feeding bills into the machine, the bus is moving. They don't play around.

When people are getting off, 99% of the time they are at the door and off within two seconds of the door opening and the bus is moving again.

[GeddyWrox]

OK, so a friend of mine on Facebook posted a rant about possible Metrolink expansion. I'm lost as to what he's really against here.

Original Post:

Are they wasting money again? I swear, St. Louis wastes more money on stupid sh*t instead of what matters.
<link to Metro survey asking where it should expand next>

Our comments:

Me:
Mass transit is highly beneficial to underserved populations. StL's public transportation is a joke compared to other major metro areas. Expanding Metrolink would be a great thing for our region. MHO

Him:
(@me) transit to crime? Maybe they should stop focusing on shining objects and focus on important issues that the thousands of dollars they waste would actually benefit. I agree public transportation is a must. I also agree that is helpful and much better utilized in other cities. This one needs to model those cities and solve their major problems instead of covering up with shiny objects.

Me:
Or maybe transit to jobs and better opportunities

Him:
(@me) jobs that require you to pay to park to go-to work. Jobs that also require you to pay an extra 1%... Where that doesn't exist in any.other part of the region? No thank you. I shouldn't have to pay to go-to work. And not have say in where the money is being wasted... And yep.. it's being wasted on an epic scale.

Me:
But you already have reliable transportation. It's for people who have no other options.

Him:
(@me) and those people are in the county and their only option is downtown? I find that logic extremely difficult to understand.

Me:
Maybe North County. Sure. Possibly in the city somewhere wanting to work in the county. I don't understand why that logic is difficult.

The guy isn't racist on an interpersonal level. He leans more conservative than I do, but he's usually pretty reasonable about most of the stuff we talk about. It seems like he's really more upset at StL City politics than the Metrolink itself. But IDK. This whole convo has been weird, and not like him.

[ghostrunner]

OK, so a friend of mine on Facebook posted a rant about possible Metrolink expansion. I'm lost as to what he's really against here.

Original Post:

Are they wasting money again? I swear, St. Louis wastes more money on stupid sh*t instead of what matters.
<link to Metro survey asking where it should expand next>

Our comments:

Me:
Mass transit is highly beneficial to underserved populations. StL's public transportation is a joke compared to other major metro areas. Expanding Metrolink would be a great thing for our region. MHO

Him:
(@me) transit to crime? Maybe they should stop focusing on shining objects and focus on important issues that the thousands of dollars they waste would actually benefit. I agree public transportation is a must. I also agree that is helpful and much better utilized in other cities. This one needs to model those cities and solve their major problems instead of covering up with shiny objects.

Me:
Or maybe transit to jobs and better opportunities

Him:
(@me) jobs that require you to pay to park to go-to work. Jobs that also require you to pay an extra 1%... Where that doesn't exist in any.other part of the region? No thank you. I shouldn't have to pay to go-to work. And not have say in where the money is being wasted... And yep.. it's being wasted on an epic scale.

Me:
But you already have reliable transportation. It's for people who have no other options.

Him:
(@me) and those people are in the county and their only option is downtown? I find that logic extremely difficult to understand.

Me:
Maybe North County. Sure. Possibly in the city somewhere wanting to work in the county. I don't understand why that logic is difficult.

The guy isn't racist on an interpersonal level. He leans more conservative than I do, but he's usually pretty reasonable about most of the stuff we talk about. It seems like he's really more upset at StL City politics than the Metrolink itself. But IDK. This whole convo has been weird, and not like him.

I don't understand this line

jobs that require you to pay to park to go-to work. Jobs that also require you to pay an extra 1%... Where that doesn't exist in any.other part of the region? No thank you. I shouldn't have to pay to go-to work. And not have say in where the money is being wasted... And yep.. it's being wasted on an epic scale.

Does he think he doesn't pay to go to work now? Roads, gas, car maintenance, etc... The only difference I see is that goes directly to him and not other people. But if you pay to park for work, then transit would seem to solve that, no? IDK.

I agree public transportation is a must. I also agree that is helpful and much better utilized in other cities. This one needs to model those cities and solve their major problems

It's weird how often these kinds of responses are just word salad. Shiny objects, etc... There's no argument being made whatsoever. He seems to be saying nobody would want to go downtown, and there's nothing to get to down there, but I'm not sure

[GeddyWrox]

Yeah, parsing his thoughts on this is hard. LOL

[Schlich]

I mean, a BRT system would probably be more cost-efficient than a metrolink expansion, but somehow i don't think that's what he meant

[Big Amoco Sign]

Car society sucks. Affluent people in St. Charles county being skeeered has been a thing for three decades now. I remember when they tried to block Page Ave extension for "crime concerns." Coded classism/racism, all it is.

Build more trains. Less cars. Period.

The crime boner around the country post-2020 has really been something. A lot of it is made up and skewed by property crime data too.

[GeddyWrox]

I mean, a BRT system would probably be more cost-efficient than a metrolink expansion, but somehow i don't think that's what he meant

Heh, yeah, definitely not what he was implying.