While hanging around Metro bus and MetroLink stops this morning, I heard two themes repeated again and again.

People who continue taking public transportation in our area will do so with more stress. Those who can drive to work instead probably will.

Metro’s service reductions made it difficult today for many workers to arrive at jobs on time, despite the fact that many said they left home 30 minutes to an hour earlier than they used to. Many bus riders connect two or three times before getting to their destination. They spent more time today waiting for less frequent buses. When buses are late, as was the case throughout the day, riders miss connections and spend more time waiting for the next bus.

Lilcia Rayford, who does housekeeping work at a nursing home, must be at work by 8:30 a.m. Before Metro cuts, she’d leave her St. Louis home at 7 a.m., take her daughter to day care, catch two buses and arrive at work on time. Today she left at 6 a.m. “I’ll have to start earlier,” she said, waiting for her last connection at the Central West End transfer center. It was 8:20. “I’m going to be late.”

Rayford’s niece no longer has transportation to her charter school, so she skipped classes today. The two of them don’t have any other transportation option, Rayford said.

That’s not the case with everyone. Several bus and MetroLink riders said they prefer transit to driving due to costs and convenience. But now there’s less convenience. It wasn’t difficult today to find riders who said they’re saving up for a set of wheels.  

“I’m going to get a car,” said Rodney Shepherd, a high school student who lives in St. Louis and works at Old Navy in Chesterfield. The stress and inconvenience of public transportation, he said, is what’s pushing him to do it.