METRO'S NEW GATEWAY CARD: HOW METRO COULD ATTRACT MORE RIDERS AND REALLY SERVE THE PUBLIC

Metro has a new Transit Debit card they are bringing out in 2015.  As usual, it is just enough to produce reams of self-congratulating marketing propaganda, but not really anything new, useful or revolutionary.

http://www.mygatewaycard.com/

It's the third story down on this article:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/traffic/along-for-the-ride/03700176-1c14-50c0-aab3-7a74ebddf147.html

That's great that it the card will "tap out" at $7.50 but to really do something useful, they need to have it tap out at $78 every month (the price of the monthly pass).

Moreover, as OPTINSTL keeps reminding people, WHETHER YOU RIDE METRO OR NOT, YOU PAY FOR IT!  Metro needs to be separated from Bi-State Development Agency and it needs to be community or communally owned by the cities and municipalities and counties it serves. 

EVERYONE should get a Gateway card, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to have people's names on it.  EVERYONE should get two free rides (two hour passes) a year on the card.

And EVERY ELECTION DAY and the FOURTH OF JULY should be FREE FARE DAYS.

If Metro was run by people whose only purpose was to make public transit serve the needs of the public, instead of being a funnel for massive government funds for Bi-State to use in leveraging "business development" and making private contractors rich, and thereby padding the CEO's future political ambitions, these changes would have already been made.

We would already have a North-South Metrolink (instead of those worn-out reconditioned 64 foot buses at $1.5 million each).  And that $5 million a year fare increase would have been paid for with the funds currently going to "Contributions to Outside Entities" (that's political campaign donations).

CALL METRO, CALL THE GOVERNOR, CALL MAYOR SLAY AND YOUR LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES AND DEMAND A BETTER GATEWAY CARD, FREE FARE DAYS, AND AN END TO THE PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP OF METRO AND BI-STATE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY!

METRO TO SENIORS: TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET

It's not much, but you can at least get a little discount. 

It's a hike to Affton.

http://fox2now.com/2014/07/10/metro-reduces-fares-for-seniors/

Metro has a page on it, but I can't get their site to load. 

http://www.nextstopstl.org/12247/senior-sign-up-events-at-schnucks/

You can go their site and it is the first story featured:
http://www.metrostlouis.org/Default.aspx

I really wish it were required the executives use public transit at least one week a month for all their
 travel needs.  They need to be out with us, experiencing what it is like, and engaging us in surveys and discussion. 

RED WHITE AND BLUE FLU

The news media really downplayed the Metrolink Blue Flu today.  That's usually a good sign.  It means the union is getting visible public support and the Ole Boy Network has made the proper phone calls to media station managers and senior editors.

http://fox2now.com/2014/07/04/possible-blue-flu-halts-metrolink-fair-st-louis-parking-rates-drop-to-20/

Of course, it appeared that not nearly as many people attended Fare St. Louis in Forest Park than had been anticipated, and also that fewer Fare-goers used Metrolink than expected.

This did force them to lower that $30 parking price tag to $20.  Maybe that kept a lot of people away.  The local government, in keeping with the state and federal government, has been doing a fine job of making plain that constituents are just cash cows to be milked at every opportunity.  Land of the free indeed.

You know, they could have made public transit free today.  Even if you don't ride it, you pay for it.  That would have been a true gesture of celebration and thanks.  And probably attracted a lot of new riders.

The city leaders are walking on eggshells right now.  The spike in violence and crime in the poorest areas of the city are always harbingers of larger problems, about to boil over.  The government is broke, but they won't raise taxes on corporations, or any of the other necessary changes.

One thing I found myself musing on, as I watched the parade on television, is how lackluster the parade seemed going through the park.  Not just the sparse attendance.  It just didn't strike the same response as seeing the same marching bands and floats glide down the streets of downtown.

Part of what makes a parade so exciting is the way it takes over and transforms the ordinary streets.  I wonder if Saint Louisans won't feel a emptiness, a need to fill the streets?

I think the city leaders, for their own sake, should have kept the parade downtown.  Parades, in times of strife, are "demonstrations by proxy".

The Metrolink operators deserve our support.  They are fighting for their union, their pensions, and their pay.  We should all join them in securing those things for ourselves.  We can start by calling Metro and telling them we support the drivers, and demanding they negotiate a new contract.

And we need to demand a few "Fare Free" days a year for the city.

BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT SENDS IN MILITARY POLICE TO STOP TRANSIT WORKERS STRIKE

This article is from June, but I just saw it yesterday:

http://revolution-news.com/cops-attack-subway-workers-in-brazil-free-fare-movement-announce-june-19th-actions/

Mass transit worldwide needs to be Occupied!

Support the Free Fare movement!

METRO IS JUGGLING A LOT OF BONDS

I've been going through the audit report Claire McCaskill had done on Metro after the Shrewsbury lawsuit fiasco.

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-on-metro-lawsuit-against-original.html

I wish there was some sort of honorary degree in Public Transit I could get from a university. Just reading through the legalese in these things is ridiculous.

I admit I have to read slowly, and re-read a lot. But it is not completely incomprehensible. Let's look at this paragraph from page 8 of the document, which is page 12 of the PDF web page file:

http://auditor.mo.gov/press/2008-58.pdf

The Cross County Extension Project exceeded the original project budget by nearly $126 million and resulted in the issuance of an additional $150 million in bonds in 2005 to finance the project and $20.8 million in bonds in 2007 to refinance a portion of the debt service payments due in 2008 and 2009. The total debt service costs over the life of these additional bonds will exceed $293.5 million and will not be fully paid until 2036. The additional debt service must be funded by the Proposition M sales tax and as a result Proposition M sales tax funds available for funding operations will be reduced. A proposal to increase the Proposition M sales tax rate by ¼ cent had been placed on the February 2008 ballot in St. Louis County. However, that proposal was removed from the ballot by county officials following the unfavorable outcome of the Metro lawsuit against the CCC. Also, in early 2008, Metro was informed that St. Louis County would reduce Metro's funding from the ½ cent transportation sales tax by $8.5 million for fiscal year 2009 and $10 million for fiscal year 2010.

Now, those $150 million in extra bonds is a problem. Not only did they go way over budget, end up in litigation, lose the court case, end up paying a lot in legal fees and settlements, they also created a bunch of debt for themselves (a bond is essentially a way to borrow money, a big IOU).

And some of these bonds were to refinance the debt service payments due in 2008 and 2009 on other bonds!

They planned to repay this IOU (the "additional debt service") by Proposition M, which actually never made it to the ballot. (So, I was wrong that Prop A was a bond measure re-packaged to voters, the Transportation Bond failed. Prop A was just a quarter cent increase and three years later version of Prop M.)

And it seems that any monies that come from the County on Transportation Sales Tax IS decided by the County Executive. In both 2009 and 2010 they are looking at increasing reductions in the amount of money they can ask for.

So that explains A LOT about Prop A.

It also explains why Metro was hit so hard by the sub-prime mortgage fiasco that hit all the banks, and in turn, all bonds. The report continues with this:

As of April 30, 2008, Metro reported holding cash and investments of approximately $131 million and various trustees held $41 million. In March 2008, Metro prepared an analysis of cash and investments that indicated about $71 million would be available to fund operating deficits that were expected in fiscal years 2008, 2009, and 2010, if additional revenue sources could not be identified. The analysis predicted that cash and investments available to fund operations would be about $12 million by the end of fiscal year 2010. Also as of April 30, 2008, Metro and its trustees were holding $28.2 million in Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) securities that they have been unable to sell due to disruptions in the financial markets. The remainder of Metro's cash and investments, about $72.8 million held by Metro and its trustees, are restricted and unavailable to fund operating deficits.

As early as April 2002, Metro's former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) informed the St. Louis County Council that Metro was facing serious shortfalls in operating the region's mass transit system. In the fall of 2006 and spring of 2007, the former CEO and executives of St. Louis County met with legislative leadership to discuss new state funding to abate the pending financial shortfall. In May 2008, Metro adopted the budget for fiscal year 2009 that included a projected budget deficit of $10.8 million for fiscal year 2009, and also included $8.3 million in budgeted "other revenue sources" which were described as "the amount needed to balance the budget. The additional needed revenue could come from a successful tax referendum in St. Louis County, passenger fare increases, and/or revenues not yet determined. If no other revenues are identified, service reductions will be planned and implemented" during fiscal year 2009. The budget also projected a deficit of $45.8 million for fiscal year 2010. The planned spending for capital improvements was also reduced from $360.6 million in fiscal year 2009 to $68.6 million in fiscal year 2010. Metro has scheduled a series of public hearings regarding various options for fare increases that may become effective in January 2009. Those options range from increasing the cost of all passes and transfers to increasing all fares, passes, transfers and cutting service.

The second is obscene, considering what the former CEO was paid. In 2002 they KNEW BEFORE THE FINANCIAL CRISIS that they were already FACING SHORTFALL!

What did they do? They jacked up the public for more sales tax and higher fares.

SOUND FAMILIAR? (Yes, City voters, you have ANOTHER Transportation tax in the coming election. Alderman Lewis Reed was conducting a survey about it in the Missouri History Museum a few weeks ago. The survey asked voters to choose what they wanted to spend it on. Metro was one of the choices. I haven't had a chance to look into the City yet at all, but I bet that money doesn't go straight to Metro for basic operating expenses. I bet there are a lot of restrictions on it. And Council and Commission approvals. The people they should be asking, the riders, are not even considered except as an afterthought.)

Metro has all the earmarks of Lehman Brothers in September of 2008.

People that think the current system is "doing the best it can" and "Metro is similar to other Transit Agencies in cities of a similar size" need to consider the lesson of Lehman Brothers. What they did was no worse than Bear Stearns.

Metro might be doing what everyone else is doing, but that doesn't mean they are doing what they SHOULD BE doing.

Metro needs to be re-structured. It needs another public audit. REAL SOLUTIONS need to be found. Those solutions might be unique to St. Louis. Metro likes to brag that it is the only public transit agency of its' kind in the country (still trying to figure out exactly what this means-- something about the way they are structured and the partnership with the two states). If it is the only one of its' kind it shouldn't be too difficult to actually make it work for the people that ride it.

And actually, right now, it is not working for anyone.

METRO, OPTINSTL IS DRIVEN BY YOU

Metro, you not only drive me (verrrryyyy slowwlllly) where I am going, you also drove me to activism.

Just when I think you can't be anymore ridiculous, you prove me wrong.

Today, on my transfer from the #16 at the Delmar Metrolink, as I ran around for twenty minutes trying to find a bathroom before I peed my pants (the hot dog place is gone, and the library doesn't have bathrooms, and the restaurants only have them for customers) I picked up a West End Word.

Imagine my delight at finding an article about a new $9 million station at Sarah street, that includes a bike rack and other "amenities".  (What amenities??? Despite the fact the most humans possess bladders, the news also does not consider toilets worthy of reporting.  Metro claims they have "amenities" at every station- but since they don't have toilets at most Metrolink and Metro bus centers, we have to assume they mean something else.  Like ticket machines, and security, and signs, and bike racks, or something.)

Of course, Metro, me and all the other real public transit riders know what this proposed new station is really about.  This is about Cortex getting to put its name on a piece of real estate under the guise of "job creation" because it is "key to achieving the company's goals." 

This is about Cortex, not YOU public transit rider!

Dennis Lower, president and CEO of Cortex, said the proposed station is key to achieving the company's goals of being an international standard for innovation communities."

Cortex has its sights set on the creation of a sustainable, walkable twenty-four/seven community and becoming a center for job creation," he said. "Our redevelopment plan includes work spaces, residential development, retail establishments and evening destinations. The development will attract international businesses with expectations of reliable and convenient public transportation. The MetroLink stop will serve the Cortex workforce and will be viewed as a regional connector."

http://www.westendword.com/Articles-Area-News-c-2014-04-08-192011.114137-9-Million-Price-Tag-On-Proposed-MetroLink-Station-For-Midtown.html

Metro, Mr. Lower, and the rest of you lot, we need a metrolink or two in north city and county.  We need toilets at every facility.  We need real jobs and real community development, not something that taxpayers fund for private companies to put their name on and claim credit for.  We do not want our $1 of funds to make Cortex $4 richer.

(Metro claims that every a dollar a "community" puts towards public transit "the community" gets $4 in return from Metro's government funding.  Pretty vague statistics meant to disguise what is really going on.)

Yes, Mr. Lower, we know that Metro CEO John Nations can expect a nice fat campaign contribution to his political career when he dumps Metro (he likes to tell his employees that he is only doing this for a few years to get his political career lined up-- of course, the private car and $250,000 a year salary don't hurt him either).

Mr. Lower, your company is named for part of the human brain, but you aren't very smart.  There is nowhere "greener" than a community without cars.  And you know there are a lot of places that need housing and retail and work spaces in this city.  But you aren't really planning on doing anything new or innovative, are you?

And seriously-- 800 boardings a day-- and almost 20 years to add 1000 more?  Pathetic.

And when you say "job creation" I wonder if you really mean minimum wage jobs in retail and restaurants, that workers will ride the bus two or three hours to get to?  With a big huge corporate Cortex logo on the building.  And "international businesses" setting up shop.  (Nice doublespeak for "multinational corporation".)

Yeah. We get it.

Mr. Lower, you seem like another crap human being.  Sorry. Your big cortex and you can't do anything more than figure out a way to spend $9 million dollars ripping out the current CWE station, moving it a few blocks, rebranding it with the Cortex logo, and building up another "development" that may or may not catch on, and may or may not include local companies, and may or may not have anything to offer anyone but yourselves and few already rich developers and politicians?

Just so that it is easy for your white collar workers to park and ride the Metrolink and bring their bicycles? Wow.

I mean that is JUST what St. Louis needs right now-- ANOTHER METRO STATION in between Grand and CWE.  You know, if the parts of the city that relied on public transit the most had a train, and there were bathrooms, and programs for low income to get discount passes, and "feasibility studies" weren't based on 80 participants, a big bioscience center, and greedy businessmen, but instead on transit riders needs-- yeah, great go forth with your little plan!

But there are lots of other very obvious CEREBRAL INNOVATIONS this city needs, and I guess you geniuses won't be the ones to provide them!

Hey Metro executives, I forgot to charge my phone last night, or you would have heard from me A LOT today, but I am gonna call you EXTRA tomorrow!  We have a lot to talk about.

Like how you say you don't have the $9 million, and you are going to the Federal Transit Authority.  You don't deserve one dime of federal money (income taxes), state money (property and income taxes), or city money (sales taxes).   You don't deserve our fares!

Tomorrow I am calling the FTA, too.   I bet they know just what I can do to stop you.

DEAR METRO: SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU

Dear Metro (in particular, Chief of Planning and System Development):

1) What funds are going into developing sanitation facilities (toilets) at Metro bus transfer centers and Metrolink stations?  What consideration is being given to this most basic of human needs?

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/metro-bus-and-train-stations-need-more.html

2) You say that one million people ride public transit every year.  How do you count the number of individual people that ride?  I can see where it would be easy to count your 55 million boardings, but how are you counting individuals?  Do you do surveys? Do you know what neighborhoods use your services the most? What are your busiest buses?  What are your busiest transfer centers?  What are your least-used bus and train lines?

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-much-does-metro-know-about-its-most.html

3) You say that you are connecting people with jobs, yet your own maps (actually the East West Gateway Council of Governments' maps) of areas with the lowest ownership of cars are underserved, as are many of the areas with the most jobs.  The connectivity between the areas is also badly served in all but a few places (Central West End, Downtown).  Shouldn't that be your highest priority? What are you doing to change that?

4) When will more Metrolink service be available in north Saint Louis, and south city areas such as South Grand and Dutchtown?  Can you provide the public and OPTINSTL with maps of existing tracks, development plans, and feasibility studies?  If so, how do we access them?

5) You allow universities and employers to subsidize transit passes for employees, seemingly at their discretion.  You also sell "semester passes" to college students. Do you have any plans in development to offer passes at a discount to low-income people on welfare, and the unemployed?  Have you reached out to these agencies to look for ways to provide low cost passes to the disadvantaged-- which would seem to be your largest rider base?

6)  Can you point me to the official story of how the proposed St. Charles Metrolink was rejected? What lessons did Metro learn from this? Also, why was a train put into Shrewsbury when north Saint Louis has the greatest need?  Can you offer any assistance to the public and OPTINSTL on how to make sure future trains are not blocked?

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-apalling-racist-fiasco-of-2005-and.html

7) Many of your bus stops are badly placed and many are not marked with the identifying information for the bus lines that stop there. None of them have schedules, routes, or fares posted.  There seems to be a lack of coordination and planning with the cities (who decide where the bus stops can be placed) on trash cans, lighting, sidewalk repair and so forth.  Especially in low-income areas where families with young children ride the bus, this seems like it should be an obvious priority.  What plans are in place to create better bus stops?

In particular, to post route, schedule and fares?  I have suggested two sheets of acrylic, three sided (the top would be sealed to prevent moisture from precipitation) with holes at the top and bottom, to be bolted to the metal poles that the bus stops signs are mounted on.  I was told it was too expensive.  Can you direct me to the feasibility study that was done that determined this cost was too high?

EDIT: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/what-should-be-metros-new-bus-stop-plan.html

8) Are there any plans to extend the Customer service information?  It is nice that you started the phone and email alerts, but many low-income people do not have data service on their phones.  When people need to reach Metro the most, it is usually late at night and on weekends.

9) You are raising fares by 5%, but offer no explanation of how the three fare options all will equal the same amount of money -- 2.5 million dollars per year.  Can you direct me to the studies that were done, and how each of the three options totals up?

10) You also own Downtown St. Louis Airport, and the Arch and Riverboat Trams.  How much of the revenues generated from those entities are used for public transportation?  Have you investigated selling these entities to private companies?  If so, have you done any discovery of what impact this would have on the public transit system?  Would sale of these entities provided you with needed funds to improve existing services?

11) Can you explain why there is not more outreach work done-- such as rider surveys, and having Metro officials available on buses and Metrolink to make feedback more convenient to the riders?  To come to your hearings, those of us that don't have the money to buy bus passes have to pay to come, in addition to having our day disrupted.  And you would reach a much greater portion of customers by coming to them.

EDIT: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/todays-hearing-on-fare-increase-at.html

12) Why doesn't Metro require employees that are not drivers or train operators to ride public transportation from the closest park and ride location from their homes, at least once a week?

13) In 2009, a year after the economic collapse in the U.S., and after four years- by your own statistics-- of increasing ridership, you had to severely cut services.  Do more riders equal more revenue?  And how so?  Can you direct me to the mathematical algorithms and statistical models (excuse me if my terminology is wrong) that you use to determine how many riders and at what fare structure you need to increase services?

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/why-were-so-many-bus-lines-shut-down-in.html

14) Your website says that for every $1 a community invests in public transit, it receives $4 in federal money via Metro/Bi-State.  Can you explain to me exactly how that works?  Where does the $1 come from, and who gets paid the $4 in return? Also, is this true equally, for all communities?  And if so, does that mean that lower-income areas are lower served, because they have fewer dollars to contribute?

14) The Loop Trolley Transportation District was just awarded $25 million from an Urban Circulator Grant.  The reasons for the Public Transit riders to oppose the proposed Trolley are numerous.  What partnerships are Metro building with local communities to put Urban Circulators in areas that really need them?  How much exploration has been done on Urban Circulators?

 http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-is-about-getting.html

EDIT: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-sucking-up-more.html

That is all for now.  If you can respond to these questions by email, please do.  If I need to come to Metro and pick up the hard copy print outs, please let me know.  If there is another agency or person I need to address, please let me know who they are.

Thank you.

EDIT: This was emailed to the Chief of Planning and System Development.