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!

STRIKE CITYWIDE JULY 1ST!

Metro is raising Metrolink fares and transit pass prices on July 1st.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/traffic/along-for-the-ride/208cc625-9915-521c-be77-2323ae485680.html

Strike citywide, don't ride the bus or train on July 1st!

We need national media attention.  The public is not a cash cow for a transit agency that spends $5 million dollars on "contributions to outside entities" (CEO John Nations grooming is political career, once his $250,000 a year "sentence" at Metro is over.)

Public transit should not be about "business development."  It should be about serving the public.

Keep the phone campaign going! Call everytime you ride!  Demand they not raise fares, and demand accountability!

Print and share the Jam The Phone Lines leaflet:
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/jam-phone-lines-leaflet-for-use-and-to.html

Keep checking back!  I've been "occupied" with other matters, but will be back in blogging action next week!

OCCUPY METRO!!!!!!!!!!

ON JULY 1ST- STRIKE CITYWIDE! DON'T RIDE!!!!

MORE ON THE METRO LAWSUIT AGAINST THE ORIGINAL SHREWSBURY CONTRACTORS

The more I look into the Shrewsbury Metrolink extension, the more I want to see EVERY SINGLE Metro financial transaction.

I didn't live here then, but there is SUCH an obvious link between this fiasco and the Metro financial crisis in 2009 that resulted in 24 bus lines being shut down and a 30% reduction in services.

Look at this audit: http://auditor.mo.gov/press/2008-58.pdf
(This is the report, I think, that Salci tried to block McCaskill from conducting.)

Please, public transit rider, read this article.  It is VERY revealing about how Metro does it's dirty business.

https://enr.construction.com/news/transportation/archives/060124.asp

Here's a few more:

http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/article_4ba7ba62-9d73-5509-be3a-fa0be34ab4e7.html?mode=jqm

http://www.dowdbennett.com/tag/trial-practice/page/2/

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2008/12/another_larry_salci_trainwreck_metro_metrolink_colorado_railcar_st_louis.php

We are "clowns" as the former Metro CEO says, for letting guys like him run our transit agency:
http://www.stlamerican.com/business/local_business/article_b1f3a6ef-3183-5bb6-bfe1-bafb3c13586a.html?mode=jqm

http://www.stlouiscnr.com/features/article/kwames_tony_thompson_when_being_right_is_not_enough/

http://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/St-Louis-MetroLink-Takes-Shape-Despite-Delays/5874/

If further investigation leads me to conclude that all the scandal directed at Dooley's office comes from Salci I will rescind my accusations:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/ex-metro-chief-cites-st-louis-county-pressure-on-parking/article_22de1ea0-3ccd-5013-abc1-15b8b818a568.html

OH WOW, and this one on Salci-- just WOW, what an a**hole!:
http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2005-08-03/news/metro-messy/

From the article:
In August 2004, in a move transit officials call unprecedented, he fired and sued the Cross County Collaborative, a group of four firms charged with designing the 8.2-mile MetroLink extension that will connect Forest Park and Shrewsbury by way of Clayton. The CCC countersued Metro three months later.
Then, earlier this year, Salci raised eyebrows by recommending that Metro refuse an audit requested by state auditor Claire McCaskill. Salci said it would jeopardize the agency's lawsuit. Salci lost the skirmish, and Missouri auditors are expected this week to begin a year-long financial audit to determine why cost overruns on the $550 million MetroLink project might total $126 million. The completion date for the new line was scheduled for May but has been pushed back to the fall of 2006.

Should have known he worked for Gephardt before Metro!
No more of these fancy businessmen and politcians as Metro CEOs!

Don't use this man's consulting services, EVER! http://www.salciconsult.com/Contact.aspx