St.
Louis
San
Diego offers a look at the oldest post-war Light Rail system in
the country; St. Louis is one of the newest, having opened in
1993. Known as MetroLink, the single 18-mile line runs from East
St. Louis, Illinois, across the Mississippi River to St. Louis,
Missouri, through the downtown and out to the airport. It serves
many of the city’s central attractions, including the historic
riverfront district at Laclede’s Landing, the Convention
Center, Busch Stadium, the Kiel/Civic Center, Union Station (redeveloped
as shops, restaurants, and the Hyatt Regency St. Louis), Washington
University Medical Center, the University of Missouri-St. Louis
and the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. A fleet of 31
electric Light Rail Vehicles provides service every seven minutes
during rush hour and at 10 to 15-minute intervals otherwise from
5am to 1am daily.
MetroLink
offers service of the highest quality. Since opening day, trains
have been 99+% on time. Cleanliness is to Swiss standards. Among
its amenities, one is unique: a corps of unpaid volunteers mans
stations to provide information and assistance, especially to
first-time riders. Perhaps most important, MetroLink goes where
people want to go – something not always true of rail transit
lines in other cities.
MetroLink
was built for the remarkably low price of $20 million per mile,
total system cost – track, overhead wires, cars, everything.
Part of the reason for the low price – freeways in cities
can easily run $100 million per mile – was highly imaginative
use of existing facilities. MetroLink crosses the Mississippi
River on the Eads Bridge, built in 1874. It passes under downtown
St. Louis in an old railroad tunnel, opened at the same time as
the bridge. Most of the rest of MetroLink runs on the right-of-way
of the former Wabash Railroad. Both in its construction and its
operations, MetroLink offers a model for other cities considering
Light Rail. In fact, if MetroLink does not offer its services
as a consultant, it should.
MetroLink’s
availability is excellent in terms of destinations. However, the
line does not serve many residential areas directly (planned extensions
will change this). And parking is limited, currently to about
3000 spaces.
Yet
from its opening day, MetroLink has been highly successful, carrying
far more riders than projected. An early study, done only a year
after the line opened, noted that
Ridership
graphs (for all public transit in St. Louis) swung from a long
trending downward slope to a sudden and steep upward climb with
the introduction of the multi-modal transit system. Total ridership
on Bi-State’s bus, rail, paratransit system for Fiscal Year
1994 was 45.6 million commuters, an increase of 21 percent over
the past fiscal year. The reason for the increase was the popularity
of MetroLink which brought new customers scurrying to public transit.73
Specifically,
"Bi-State projected 13,000 MetroLink riders for initial service,
increasing to 17,000 at the end of the first year. By July 1994
– the twelfth month of service – weekday ridership was
44,414. Average Saturday and Sunday ridership for July 1994 was
50,725 and 50,623."74 So much for the critics
who claim that Light Rail systems always carry fewer people than
projected.
Absent
better data, one of the strongest inferences that a transit system
is competing effectively for transit competitive trips is the
proportion of riders from choice, and, more broadly, "upmarket"
passengers. "The survey (in 1993 of public transit riders
in St. Louis) substantiated past findings in that patrons use
buses due to limited access to automobiles and to avoid traffic
congestion, while most MetroLink passengers use Light Rail for
economical reasons and are customers of choice."75
In a 1997 survey, only 27% of MetroLink’s passengers either
did not drive or had no car available, compared to 61% of bus
passengers.76 38% of bus passengers owned no car, but
only 9% of rail riders; conversely, 55% of rail patrons owned
two or more cars, but only 32% of bus passengers.77
34% of train passengers were black, and 62% were white; for buses,
the numbers were almost reversed, with 63% black and 32% white.78
59% of bus passengers had incomes below $25,000, compared to 24%
of rail riders; 32% of the latter had incomes over $55,000, compared
to 8% of bus patrons.79 The survey makes clear the
relationship between quality transit and upmarket passengers:
Light Rail passengers gave satisfaction percentages in the 70s,
80s, and 90s, compared to the 50s and 60s for bus riders.80
Nor
can it be argued that MetroLink has merely shifted riders from
buses to trains. In 1993, the year the rail line opened, "79%
of MetroLink passengers were new to public transit."81
In a 1995 survey, 85% of MetroLink’s passengers had not previously
used the bus.82 In fact, bus patronage rose when MetroLink
opened, and between five and nine percent of local bus riders
started using transit because of Light Rail.83
These
last numbers point to a surprising fact: in St. Louis, people
do seem willing to use a bus to get to a train. The 1995 passenger
survey notes, "The rate of transfer from train to buses has
moved from 26 percent in 1993 to 43 percent in 1995."84
One reason may be that St. Louis did an unusually thorough job
in rerouting its bus lines to become feeders to the rail system.
Professor William D. Warren notes, "Rail transit systems
should be networked with existing bus services, a feature that
is often absent or ineffective in old and new rail systems. MetroLink
interfaces directly with 46 Bi-State bus lines…. Many bus
routes have at least two station connections with MetroLink."85
The
data make it clear that MetroLink has greatly enhanced the ability
of St. Louis’ transit system to compete effectively for transit
competitive trips. Les Sterman, Executive Director of the East-West
Gateway Coordinating Council, the region’s official Metropolitan
Planning Organization, says, "It’s reinvigorated the
public transportation system, which was an object of scorn and
lightly used by people who had no choice. Now, MetroLink is used
by all kinds of people from all economic strata."86
The trends noted in earlier studies have continued. By FY 1997,
transit ridership in St. Louis was up to 53.4 million, a 41% increase
since MetroLink opened. 90% of that increase was due to Light
Rail, yet bus ridership also rose by one million. Light Rail has
also proved economical to operate. In FY 97, the farebox recovery
rate for MetroLink was 41.8%, compared to 20.3% for the bus system.
Light Rail’s cost per passenger was 22 cents, compared to
68 cents for bus.87
How
effectively does MetroLink compete for work trips and recreational
trips? The 1997 riders’ survey showed 69 percent were commuting
to work, a respectable figure. On the other hand, the same survey
found only 7% of trips were for recreation, down from 20% in 1995.
Here, the earlier figure may be more representative; the 1997
survey was taken in April, a time when there are very few sporting
events or tourists. The 1995 survey was taken in the summer.88
Other
evidence points to substantial recreational travel:
For
each St. Louis Rams football game, Bi-State buses and trains carry
20% to 25% of game attendance, one of the highest market shares
in the NFL (3000 on buses and 15,000 on trains). As a result of
the destination orientation of the existing system and special
event marketing, Light Rail ridership remains high throughout
the work day. On weekends, Saturday ridership averages 84%, and
Sunday 56%, of weekday ridership. This ridership pattern is in
sharp contrast to most other Light Rail systems which are often
underutilized outside the morning and afternoon peak commuting
periods.89
St.
Louis offers a final way to assess the ability of Light Rail to
compete for transit competitive trips. Here, history reaches out
her skeletal hand, taps us on the shoulder and asks, "May
I draw your attention to a surprising fact?"
In
1886, St. Louis installed its first cable car line (many cities,
not just San Francisco, once had cable cars). The cable cars ran
from downtown, at Sixth and Locust Streets, northwest to Morgan
Street. There, they connected with a narrow-gauge steam railroad
that ran far out into the countryside, ending at the town of Florissant.
The
fact that this corridor was the first to be converted from horsecars
to cable cars suggests that it was the city’s most important
artery. In 1891, the same line became the first in St. Louis to
be converted to electric traction. Astoundingly, not only was
the cable line converted, but the narrow-gauge steam railroad
as well, resulting in an eighteen mile electric railroad –
the longest in the country.90 The conversion further
attests to the corridor’s importance.
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