In my ongoing
tour of North American transit systems I visited St. Louis, Missouri
a few days ago. Unlike the TTC, this Midwest city’s rail network
relies on streetcar-like trains and not subways. Now that Toronto is
preparing to build the Transit City light rail network, I looked
more closely at some unique features of St. Louis’ 14-year old rail
service.
First,
MetroLink is a product of popular will – it was a determined group
of transit advocates that gathered political and grassroots support
and encouraged this car-dominated city to become a showcase for
light rail technology. MetroLink now stretches across a vast urban
area, even crossing the Mississippi River into the state of
Illinois, serving the depressed city of East St. Louis.
The
organization Citizens for Modern Transit (similar to Toronto’s
pro-transit group Rocket Riders) deserves great credit for the
clean, frequent, light rail trains that connect many major
attractions, sports stadiums as well as the city’s airport.
MetroLink does not use city streets but travels through open
trenches or along rail corridors, plus what are obviously old
tunnels under downtown.
The advocates
are still very active, and now that a new MetroLink branch opened
last year, they have turned their attention to getting a heritage
streetcar line built along a popular local avenue.
Volunteers from
the organization also regularly monitor rail stations, submitting
reports to the transit authority’s maintenance department.
Apparently there is very low tolerance for graffiti and scratching
on the system – stations and vehicles are in great shape.
Of course, it
helps that security officers are prominent everywhere. Nonetheless
-- the level of care taken in maintaining the transit environment is
inspiring. What has to happen for the TTC to attain a similar state
of good repair and cleanliness?