Public Transportation

Police: Imani Shakoor Steals Woman's iPhone on MetroLink, She Pulls His Hair To Stop Him

Imani Shakoor, 21, allegedly stole a woman's iPhone right from her hands while she was riding on the MetroLink. Unfortunately for him, he was not able to get away fast enough -- and the victim was not going to let her smartphone go without a fight. Police say in trying to get her phone back, she c ... More >>

Bottoms Up and All Aboard

Metro's Advertising Rules Allows Easy Censorship, Removal of Gay Pride Ad Latest

In the end, Metro admits it screwed up. The St. Louis public transit agency should never have removed advertisements from its buses for this month's gay pride festival, PrideFest 2012.It was unclear yesterday just how many Pride St. Louis advertisements disappeared from Metro buses this week after a ... More >>

The People vs. Public Transportation

Editor: Tef Poe is an artist from St. Louis City. Through powerful imagery and complicated honesty, he has earned a reputation as one of the best rappers telling the story of St. Louis, which is about much more than one place. Poe has been featured in music publications such as XXL and Urb Magazine. ... More >>

MetroLink Employee Wanted Government to Examine Shoddy Construction

The federal government has declined to pursue a whistleblower lawsuit against MetroLink on behalf of an employee of the transit agency. As KMOX reports this morning, Eric Fields, an engineer for Metro, filed a lawsuit last October claiming that the light-rail line had serious construction defects ma ... More >>

"New" Loop Trolleys Been Here the Whole Time

Well, howdayalikedat? Apparently the Loop Trolley project has abandoned its plans for new streetcars that would run on batteries and electric. Instead the $43-million initiative -- slated to break ground this year -- will use salvaged electric street cars from the mid-1900s.

81,000 Households in Metro St. Louis Don't Have a Car

Who knew so many St. Louis households depended on one of these?​The Brookings Institution is out with a study looking at the public transportation access within America's biggest cities, and St. Louis is near the bottom of the list. According to Brookings, 82 percent of area residents without a ca ... More >>

Metropolitan Area Transit Riders Alliance Hopes to Fight the Metro Transit Blues

MATRA's goals include the creation of a citizen's alliance board to give input on local bus routes.​Right now, Edward Williams Jr. is taking the bus. All around him are the signs and sounds of a ride that is not going ideally: He is late, and apologetic error messages are coming from a robotic ... More >>

MetroLink: Conduit for Deer?

break.comJust like the Loop and Galleria troublemakers, this guy probably didn't pay his fare either!​In 2008 Riverfront Times (and yours truly) took a lot of flack for a story examining the role MetroLink may play as a conduit to crime. At the time, the Galleria shopping mall and the Delmar Loop ... More >>

Another Report Links MetroLink to Rowdy Teens in the Loop

KMOV-TV (Channel 4) is the latest media outlet to report concerns from Delmar Loop store owners that rowdy teens are venturing into the entertainment district by way of MetroLink. The station says a MetroLink security guard told their reporter off-camera that it's "overwhelming" when as many as 60 t ... More >>

Hypocrisy Alert! Post-Dispatch Links MetroLink to Unruly Teens in Delmar Loop

The P-D editorial page once accused RFT of giving credence to "thinly concealed racist sentiments" -- for a view now echoed on its own front page.​Don't look now, but the Post-Dispatch has done the unthinkable! They've linked crime and hooliganism in the Delmar Loop to MetroLink! It's right there ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Blame Societal Ills, Not MetroLink

Today's comment comes in response to a post about a Post-Dispatch article today that reported how some business owners and patrons in the Loop blame MetroLink for the influx of teenagers causing trouble in the district. When Riverfront Times reported a similar story three years ago, the Post-Dispatc ... More >>

What Are We Supposed to Do About All Those MetroLink Freeloaders?

Tunrstiles work just fine at San Francisco's BART, but then, that's a heavy rail system​One argument wielded by Proposition A opponents of hiking the St. Louis County sales tax a half cent to restore and expand Metro transit services is that there's too many  f ... More >>

Prop A Leader: Transit Tax Must Pass or Region is in Deep Trouble

​Chesterfield Mayor John Nations, the man leading the charge for Proposition A campaign, spelled out the dire consequences that could befall the entire metropolitan region if the transit tax fails to get a thumbs-up from St. Louis County voters next month. "If it is defeated," warned N ... More >>

Show-Me Institute Hopes to Derail MetroLink Expansion

Would MetroLink expansion be worth the cost, or just another, well, trainwreck?​The conservative think tank Show-Me Institute dispatched an op-ed column to local media on Friday blasting Metro's plans to expand light-rail in the region. Coincidentally (or not), Friday was also the day Metro presen ... More >>

Why Is St. Louis Not Part of the 2010 No Pants Subway Ride?

But before answering that titular query you might be wondering, "What the heck is the no pants subway ride?"Excellent question. It's quite simple really: a group of hundreds of people (or in New York, thousands) rides the mass transit sans trousers. Confused onlookers gawk and gape and hem and haw. ... More >>

Metro Planning to Once Again Ask Voters for a Tax Increase

'Cause you can't keep MetroLink down.​That's the news from the Washington University Student Life newspaper. In an article today the paper reports that Wash. U. has already forked over $25,000 to support a tax measure that could go before voters as soon as this April. Philanthropist Sam Fox has gi ... More >>

MetroLink Prom This Friday Night

​It started last year as a joke. Two devoted MetroLink fans -- Liz Kramer and Claire Nowak-Boyd -- wanted to do something special to show their support for Proposition M, the ballot measure that would provide the light-rail system with tens of million of dollars in additional funding. Their idea? ... More >>

Video: Hive, the Latest Piece of Metro Link Art, is Dedicated at Delmar Stop

Photo: Nick Lucchesi"Hive," the latest piece of artwork featured at a Metro stop, was dedicated last night.​ Last night at the Delmar Loop Metro stop, "Hive," a honeycomb-on-acid sculpture by Minneapolis-based artists Janet Lofquist, was dedicated to the public, although anyone who's been by the c ... More >>

Metro Restores Some Bus Services; No Changes to Metrolink

Photo: Nick Lucchesi​The St. Louis public transit agency, Metro, today restored some of the bus service it was forced to cut March 30 due to budget shortfalls.The return of those bus lines comes as Metro takes advantage of a one-time $12 million appropriation from the state legislature. MetroLink ... More >>

Rep. Russ Carnahan Files Legislation to Aid St. Louis Transit Agency

flickr.com/photos/stlphotobloggerU.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-St. Louis) filed a bill in Congress yesterday that would allow public transit agencies such as Metro to use federal transit funding for day-to-day operating expenses. Under current law, transit systems located in areas with more than 200,00 ... More >>

Anyone Recognize This City? It's Not St. Louis -- Though You'd Think It Would Be

The advocacy group Metropolitan Area Transit Riders Alliance of St. Louis (MATRA-STL) recently launched a website drawing attention to its mission of bringing much-needed funding to Metro. As MATRA founder Edward Williams writes: We will fight for the public transit need of all citizens of the ... More >>

Freakonomics on MetroLink

RFT readers are still in a tizzy over Kevin Slaten's temper and whether MetroLink imports crime

More MetroLink Fallout: Post-Dispatch Editorial Board Farts in RFT's General Direction

Hear that whistle blow: Readers react with sound and fury over "Blood on the Tracks"

Out-of-control shoplifting at the St. Louis Galleria. Violent attacks in the Delmar Loop. Is MetroLink a vehicle for crime?

Cover of the August 21 Print Edition

Trolley Song: A new source of funds pushes forward the plan for streetcars on Delmar Boulevard

Changing of the Guard: What derailed Metro's contract with the world's largest security firm after just 44 days?

Takin’ It to the Streetcars

Tom Sullivan Takes on the Post

Metro Messy

Transit chief Larry Salci knows he has his critics. Ask him if he cares.

A-Lou-zing Race

This Saturday, hop aboard St. Louis public transit for one incredible scavenger hunt

Best Public Works Project

MetroLink Expansion

Rat Times at Richmond Heights

Has the MetroLink expansion unearthed a rodent invasion?

Letters

Week of April 14, 2004

Trolley Follies

In the race to return streetcars to St. Louis, Lacy Clay and Joe Edwards chart two very different courses

Best Bus Route

Garden Express

Golden Rails

Sure, MetroLink's expensive -- so's your Lincoln Navigator

Best Metrolink Station

Eighth and Pine

Terminal Lethargy

Is UM-St. Louis to blame for Bi-State's failure to build a much-needed garage?

Something Has to Give

Bi-State prepares to cut suburban routes that, by all logic, should have been packed

Letters

Week of July 11, 2001

The Transit Authority

Bi-State is losing riders and money. Mike McGrath, who has driven a bus for more than a year, thinks he knows what's wrong.

Letters to the Editor

Published the week of June 7

St. Louisans, Start Your Engines

Missouri again thumbs its nose at the area's mass-transit needs

Letters to the Editor

Short Cuts

You Can't Take the "Me" Out of Metrolink