Due to the failure of a half-cent sales tax measure in St. Louis county, Metro has been forced to slash nearly 2,300 of its 9,000 bus and train routes including any routes to the outer-belt suburbs and all of its express services. The cuts here are some of the deepest in the nation, in a metropolitan area already struggling with an economic downturn. Find out how you can help reverse it behind the cut.
Recently, St. Louis has become a poster-child of sorts for the paradoxical state of mass transit in the United States. Piggybacking on gas prices from last summer, transit ridership is increasing, yet due to budget shortfalls, public transit agencies are being forced to cut services.
In fact, we've been on the front page of national news sources multiple times now detailing just how deep and how drastic the cuts here are.
ST. LOUIS — Buses will no longer stop at some 2,300 stops in and around this city at the end of next month because, despite rising ridership, the struggling transit system plans to balance its books with layoffs and drastic service cuts.
The New York Times, 02/04/09
"I might end up losing my job or not being able to take my daughter to day care," is how she sees the consequence of her bus route being shortened so that it no longer stretches out to her community. "You can't afford a car; that is why you use public transportation. So a lot of people are going to be in a bad situation."
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And the impact goes beyond Metro riders. Some 200 drivers also are slated to lose their jobs
Shaking her head, Dianne Falk offers this analysis: "That doesn't seem like what (President) Obama wants."
CNN - Bus route closing devastates disabled couple 03/27/09
Not to mention the local coverage.
Hopefully we are all on the same page with the importance of mass transit to our metropolitan areas in the 21st Century. For environmental reasons, economic reasons, and social justice reasons a viable public transit system is mandatory for a metropolitan area in the coming decades.
So what's this diary about then? Of course we know public transit is important, and of course we're all frustrated about the metropolitan areas that aren't using stimulus funding to support and expand public transit infrastructure. But what to do?
Well, what you might not know is that Missouri as a state funds public transit less than most other states - in 2003 for example, they spent barely one dollar per person on public transit at the state level, where states like Illinois spent well over $50 per person. In fact 30 of the 50 states spend more money per person than Missouri does.
I'm not going to get into the nitty-gritty of ARRA and why the stimulus money can't be used for operating costs, or why I think that is a shortsighted inclusion. However, the state CAN step in and make up the budget shortfall and allow public transit service to be restored in St. Louis. In fact, the Transit Appropriations committee is meeting tomorrow to talk about just that.
I've set up an easy web form here with a sample letter - in usual e-advocacy fashion, all you have to do is fill in your personal information, customize the letter if you desire, and click send. A copy will be emailed to each of the MO House Representatives on the Appropriations Committee that will be meeting tomorrow, as well as the MO House and Senate reps associated with your address.
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/...
The transit cuts have been a disaster so far. Many people, including myself, have seen our already long commutes turn into a maze of transfers, overcapacity buses, and long delays. Nearly 94% of public assistance recipients rely on public transit and it has been estimated that over 25% of the ridership of St. Louis's transit system is living on less than $10,000 a year. Meanwhile, the job growth areas of the exurbs are now entirely cut off to inner-city St. Louis residents. Public transit isn't just an environmental issue, or an economic issue, it's a moral issue.
The once lively bus stop in front of my house has been shuttered. My 1/2 hour commute now takes me an hour or two, depending on time of day. Last week, I had to pay for a taxi twice to get to medical appointments (for which I am, of course, uninsured) because it would have been a 5+ mile walk to get there from the nearest public transit stop.
And I'm able-bodied, healthy, relatively young and have a job.
Cutting transit services is a horrible downward spiral. Those who lose service are less likely to support transit taxes in the future. Those who are on the line between using transit or owning a car are much more likely to choose a car. And for those of us who can't or won't own a car, well we're stuck shivering outside in the rain for another half hour while we wait for a bus to take us to a train to take us to another bus which will maybe get us within a mile of where we need to go.
St. Louis is facing some of the deepest and fastest transit cuts in the nation. While politicians cry for fiscal responsibility, we are pouring money into large highway projects and outer-exurb roads. Meanwhile, our city continues to deteriorate as we become one of the poorest and most violent inner-cities in the country. The arguments against public transit in this metropolitan area have always been blatant in their racial and class overtones. But it need not be this way, an expanded and viable public transit system helps everyone in the metropolitan area.
Please take action today and tell the Missouri State Government to use state funds to plug the current holes in Metro's budget. Meanwhile, the rest of us will go back to putting that sales tax on the balance and convincing our neighbors that a half-cent is a small price to pay for a forward thinking metropolitan area.
SUPPORT PUBLIC TRANSIT IN ST. LOUIS
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Orgs working for public transit in St. Louis
Citizens for Modern Transit - http://www.cmt-stl.org/
Missouri Public Transit Assocation - http://www.mptaonline.typepad.com/
Restore and Expand Public Transit in St. Louis facebook group