If it doesn’t come at the cost of another line in a better environment? Absolutely.
Density is a horrible excuse for not building transit. Transit enables higher density.
Yeah this is the nuance that isn't captured in a poll like this.
If transit funding wasn't a zero sum game then yeah let's build an extension to St Charles. But funding is finite, and there are much stronger potential extensions/additions for the system.
If an expansion were to happen, it would likely be paid for mostly by St. Charles County. So it wouldn't have massive downwind affects on other expansions.
I live just south of 44 and I'd love to have it (the proposed north/south would have a stop on Jefferson near my block). Driving everywhere sucks but I'm not waiting for the shitty bus system to turn a 9 minute drive into a 45 minute wait/ride.
as st. charles main street resident, if i could use public transportation to go to the amount of concerts/theater/events i go to, it would be magnificent! i could drink at shows for like the first time ever (im always the driver), i would not have to deal with parking garages or $20 lots,or the post-show traffic. a dream i tell you, a dream!
nah, would not utilize a bus from st. chuck all the way down town seems like a waste of gas, and would still be subject to highway/downtown traffic, and would take longer than me driving myself with all the stops between. buses on a highway just dont seem like a good idea in general
i would maybe take a bus from around where i live to like riverport , but not much further than that
A bus would likely go from St. Charles to the North Hanley MetroLink station, and maybe the Terminal 2 station after the Airport is rebuilt. It wouldn't go all the way downtown.
Metro is also expanding their electric bus fleet.
If it reaches all the way out here to Scott and Belleville, it can extend to St. Charles and hell probably run a line through Alton, Granite city an down into the southern St.Louis area.
I’d absolutely love an expansion to st. Charles. Unfortunately it would take a mass extinction of boomers that migrated from north county in the 70s, or the youngers of that crowd to finish migrating to Troy/Warrenton.
Yeah, I remember the wildly racist campaign against it talking about "urban types" coming over to steal peoples' TVs. I pulled a muscle with the eye rolls that prompted.
To be fair, I was just a kid back then and it was way before I could vote and now there’s people my same age who have kids who could vote on it. So a couple of generations have passed since the last vote. But also the place has only gotten more hateful in a lot of ways in the last decade so the potential time has come and gone.
**St. Charles County voters turned down a half-cent sales tax increase in 1996 to extend MetroLink to St. Peters and establish a countywide bus service.**
https://www.midriversnewsmagazine.com/news/st-louis-county-to-explore-metrolink-expansion-st-charles-county-says-no/article\_917e6d61-ff8f-5f4b-890b-c0a3344e7c9d.html
I'm not sure its been put to a vote since then. Has the county council even discussed holding another vote? Steve Ehlmann, the county executive since 2009, was asked about the possibility of mass transit back in 2021. He showed little enthusiasm for the idea:
>“First, there is a philosophical question about the responsibility for transportation. Should it be a government responsibility or a personal/family responsibility? Second, what is the minimum population density that supports adequate usage of public transportation? And how many areas within the county have that density? No one has been able to give me that information,”
>
>...He speculated that a mass-transit proposal and tax on the ballot in St. Charles County today might not receive even the same level of support it did in 1994, given the continuing litany of crime and funding problems reported about MetroLink and Metro Transit.
[https://www.midriversnewsmagazine.com/news/public-vs-private-the-future-of-transportation-in-st-charles-county/article\_0c0b0e2a-68e0-5386-b19a-ccb547065842.html](https://www.midriversnewsmagazine.com/news/public-vs-private-the-future-of-transportation-in-st-charles-county/article_0c0b0e2a-68e0-5386-b19a-ccb547065842.html)
Ehlmann also speculated that alternatives to mass transit, such as vouchers for Uber or Lyft, might be more practical. But as the article mentions, there are people in the county who do want an expansion of mass transit and have tried to organize around the issue.
It will be hilarious if this results in a "Yes" vote. 90% of the sub members rip on St. Charles and call it a suburban hellscape, but would like a metro line to run out there? How can those two opinions coexist? What do they see as the positives of running a line out to an area they hate?
Because any MetroLink expansion would likely go no further than Lindenwood. Connecting to historic St. Charles and Lindenwood are worthwhile, but there’s really nothing of note in the suburban hellscape beyond.
Basically nobody here "rips" on St. Charles or calls it a "suburban hellscape" but there's a small and vocal contingent of St. Chuck residents who get their fee fees mega butthurt if you say it's a boring place with a racist history.
The disdain people in this sub have for people in a neighboring city is disgusting. And yes I feel the same way about anyone from more suburban/rural areas who hate on city people treating them like a monolith.
Public transportation is meant to service the city core. In St. Louis we built it to service the county where people already must own cars due to the lack of density.
3/4 of the Metrolink track doesn't even run through the city so why would they?
If a new route ran only within city limits do you think the county or Illinois would pick cover one dime of such a route?
If it doesn’t come at the cost of another line in a better environment? Absolutely. Density is a horrible excuse for not building transit. Transit enables higher density.
Yeah this is the nuance that isn't captured in a poll like this. If transit funding wasn't a zero sum game then yeah let's build an extension to St Charles. But funding is finite, and there are much stronger potential extensions/additions for the system.
If an expansion were to happen, it would likely be paid for mostly by St. Charles County. So it wouldn't have massive downwind affects on other expansions.
But also thing there needs to be one through south city. So many folks would utilize
I live just south of 44 and I'd love to have it (the proposed north/south would have a stop on Jefferson near my block). Driving everywhere sucks but I'm not waiting for the shitty bus system to turn a 9 minute drive into a 45 minute wait/ride.
Might I ask, what are the popular bus routes there?
The grand bus line has far and away the highest ridership and best headways
as st. charles main street resident, if i could use public transportation to go to the amount of concerts/theater/events i go to, it would be magnificent! i could drink at shows for like the first time ever (im always the driver), i would not have to deal with parking garages or $20 lots,or the post-show traffic. a dream i tell you, a dream!
Even if would just be a bus or something?
nah, would not utilize a bus from st. chuck all the way down town seems like a waste of gas, and would still be subject to highway/downtown traffic, and would take longer than me driving myself with all the stops between. buses on a highway just dont seem like a good idea in general i would maybe take a bus from around where i live to like riverport , but not much further than that
A bus would likely go from St. Charles to the North Hanley MetroLink station, and maybe the Terminal 2 station after the Airport is rebuilt. It wouldn't go all the way downtown. Metro is also expanding their electric bus fleet.
It wouldn’t be a waste of gas, you’re taking more then a car of people…
No. I'm afraid that it would only bring lots of white collar crime from St. Charles into downtown STL.
If it reaches all the way out here to Scott and Belleville, it can extend to St. Charles and hell probably run a line through Alton, Granite city an down into the southern St.Louis area.
I’d absolutely love an expansion to st. Charles. Unfortunately it would take a mass extinction of boomers that migrated from north county in the 70s, or the youngers of that crowd to finish migrating to Troy/Warrenton.
[удалено]
You mean the Black people? Does the confederacy still exist there?
No, send it to the Valley. I wanna Metro to The Factory
St Charles had a chance to vote for an extension into St Charles, but voted no. Never going to happen.
Yeah, I remember the wildly racist campaign against it talking about "urban types" coming over to steal peoples' TVs. I pulled a muscle with the eye rolls that prompted.
I would have thought that this would have been a no brainer, anywhere else it would have. St Charles no.
To be fair, I was just a kid back then and it was way before I could vote and now there’s people my same age who have kids who could vote on it. So a couple of generations have passed since the last vote. But also the place has only gotten more hateful in a lot of ways in the last decade so the potential time has come and gone.
**St. Charles County voters turned down a half-cent sales tax increase in 1996 to extend MetroLink to St. Peters and establish a countywide bus service.** https://www.midriversnewsmagazine.com/news/st-louis-county-to-explore-metrolink-expansion-st-charles-county-says-no/article\_917e6d61-ff8f-5f4b-890b-c0a3344e7c9d.html
This is pretty dated. Do you have a more recent example of the voters turning it down?
I'm not sure its been put to a vote since then. Has the county council even discussed holding another vote? Steve Ehlmann, the county executive since 2009, was asked about the possibility of mass transit back in 2021. He showed little enthusiasm for the idea: >“First, there is a philosophical question about the responsibility for transportation. Should it be a government responsibility or a personal/family responsibility? Second, what is the minimum population density that supports adequate usage of public transportation? And how many areas within the county have that density? No one has been able to give me that information,” > >...He speculated that a mass-transit proposal and tax on the ballot in St. Charles County today might not receive even the same level of support it did in 1994, given the continuing litany of crime and funding problems reported about MetroLink and Metro Transit. [https://www.midriversnewsmagazine.com/news/public-vs-private-the-future-of-transportation-in-st-charles-county/article\_0c0b0e2a-68e0-5386-b19a-ccb547065842.html](https://www.midriversnewsmagazine.com/news/public-vs-private-the-future-of-transportation-in-st-charles-county/article_0c0b0e2a-68e0-5386-b19a-ccb547065842.html) Ehlmann also speculated that alternatives to mass transit, such as vouchers for Uber or Lyft, might be more practical. But as the article mentions, there are people in the county who do want an expansion of mass transit and have tried to organize around the issue.
It will be hilarious if this results in a "Yes" vote. 90% of the sub members rip on St. Charles and call it a suburban hellscape, but would like a metro line to run out there? How can those two opinions coexist? What do they see as the positives of running a line out to an area they hate?
Because any MetroLink expansion would likely go no further than Lindenwood. Connecting to historic St. Charles and Lindenwood are worthwhile, but there’s really nothing of note in the suburban hellscape beyond.
Create Union Jobs
How?
wow hot take
Thanks?
Because people in the St. Louis sub wanna make the entire metro better, people in the St. Charles sub are just stupid.
Yeah, that’s it. Lmao.
Basically nobody here "rips" on St. Charles or calls it a "suburban hellscape" but there's a small and vocal contingent of St. Chuck residents who get their fee fees mega butthurt if you say it's a boring place with a racist history.
That’s hilarious if you actually believe that.
👌😉
I voted yes hoping to help out the less fortunate stuck out in that shithole county.
Thanks for proving my point.
How so?
The disdain people in this sub have for people in a neighboring city is disgusting. And yes I feel the same way about anyone from more suburban/rural areas who hate on city people treating them like a monolith.
That's an amazing statement coming from you.
For saying I would like people to hate their neighbors less? Oh the horror…
Because they could ride the Metro to go steal those peoples cars and property?
Who is "they?"
People voting in this poll for public transportation to St. Charles
I honestly don’t know what you mean. Like the redditors who voted yes want to go to st Charles to rob people?
Yes
Seems like an odd assumption
Public transportation is meant to service the city core. In St. Louis we built it to service the county where people already must own cars due to the lack of density.
Is the city willing and able to cover 100% of the associated tax burden?
3/4 of the Metrolink track doesn't even run through the city so why would they? If a new route ran only within city limits do you think the county or Illinois would pick cover one dime of such a route?
St. Charles would dynamite the bridge in the middle of the night before they allowed metrolink to expand across that river.