Judy Staroscik: If the County Metro Referendum fails in November, will Metro have to cut service, and if so, when would the cuts take place?

Todd Plesko: Judy: Metro's budget is projected to be $227 million in the budget year beginning July 1, 2009. Appoximately $48 - to $50 million of these expenses are paid by the transit patrons through fares. St. Clair County Transit, with funding from the State of Illinois, pays for 100% of all of Metro's expanses within the State of Illinois. Missouri service is supported by funds provided by the City of St.Louis and St. Louis County. Just over $1 million is provided by the State of Missouri. The revenues provided by St. Louis County and St. Louis City will not offset the deficit next year. In 1997 St.Louis County and St. Louis City attempted to pass a referendum to fund the unfunded portion of the Metrobus, Call a Ride and Metrolink services. This referendum failed in St. Louis County. Since that time Metro has funded its budget by diverting federal capital funds, fare increases, service cuts, and increases in funding from the County's 1/2 Transportation fund. Metro also obtained special funding to support the startup of the new Shrewsbury alignment and to mitigate the cost impact of the I-64 Closure in 2006 through 2009. Unfortunately, these funds were temporary. Should our Missouri funding partners be unable to provide new funding equal to the projected deficit, Metro will cut service on Metrobus, Metrolink and Call a Ride in the Spring of 2009. The projected level of cut will eventually eliminate approximately 33 % of Missouri transit service.

ErikA: Why don't you use a barrier system or turnstiles on Metrolink to make sure everyone is paying the fare? Los Angeles and Vancouver are both proof of payment systems that are switching to barriers because of perceived fare evasion?

Todd Plesko: ErikA: Great question. It's one that is raised by many customers. First, nearly all of the modern light rail systems use a proof of payment or "honor system" rather than subway-like turnstyles. Proof of payment systems require that Metro check that patrons have a valid ticket either while boarding at a station or by a roving fare enforcement officer on the train. If done effectively, this proof of payment system insures that most patrons will pay a fare. Those patrons who do not run the risk of a ticket and court appearance that could cost $80 or more. In Minneapolis the fine is over $100.

Barrier systems require that patrons use a ticket or token to enter a station. Without a fare, the gate will not open. However, even in barrier systems, passengers check but jumping the barriers when there is no one to watch the barriers. Consequently most barriers systems require similar security staffing at stations to insure that gate jumpers don't climb over the barrier. Barrier systems also have a cost to maintain the barriers. Finally there is a significant capital cost to constructing barriers entrances and exits for each station. In LA the cost will be $41 million and there will be over a $ million annual cost to repairing the barriers. If the cost of the fares collected exceeds the cost of installing and repairing barriers, then it probably makes sense to have a barrier system. Most modern light rail systems have found that the cost of a barrier system exceeds the revenue gains. Metro periodically does a special fare check to measure evasion and has found that the percentage is quite low. We believe that the cost of adding barriers and maintaining them will exceed the new revenue gained.

ErikA: As a full time bicycle commuter, I often am afraid my bus's bike rack will be full when it pulls up. What options are there for additional bicycle loading on Metro buses in the front or rear of the bus?

Todd Plesko: EriKA: I am also daily a bike-to bus- to rail commuter. One of my biggest fears is that I will have the third bike seeking to use one of the two bike locations on the front of the Missouri and Madison County Transit buses. (Metro's buses in St. Clair County do not have bike racks.) While its never happened yet to me, the only option I have if both bike locations are full on a bus is to wait for the next bus. My bus route operates every 10 minutes in the peak hours, so its not a long wait. However, if the route operates only twice an hour or less, your going to have to start pedaling.

J.Edwin: Why should I, who does not use Metro services at all, support more taxes for something I don't use?

Todd Plesko: J. Edwin: While there are lots of benefits, here are a few. Public transit takes cars off the roads. In many cases, its not necessary have transit take a huge percentage off the road to result in good traffic flow. We believe that Metro has been a significant portion of the reason that we have not yet had grid lock due to the closure of I-64. Over 1,000 person per hour are boarding or disembarking from Metrobuses and trains at the Central West End Station in the rush hour(Barnes Hospital and Wash U Medical). Can you image the traffic on Kingshighway and Forest Park if these thousands were all driving a car?

Here's another reason. Do you ever go to the Cardinal games or to a hospital or have a loved one at a nursing home? Do you go out to eat or to shop at one of the huge shopping malls or discount stores. If you do, chances are that you were waited on, cared for or cleaned up after by someone going to and from their job by transit? Many of these people don't have easy access to an automobile or may even have a disability preventing them from driving. To properly staff today's service industry as an employer, you need access to the largest pool of employees. Metro help today's businesses access the largest workers. Without transit, many of these businesses would struggle to provide the services you are used to.

Suppose you are a business owner and never use transit. Transit helps local citizens save money to spend going to the movies, going out to eat, paying rent. In fact, with the soaring price of gasoline and diesel, its on the few things most residents can do to save money. These extra dollars, saved by transit, help keep our local economic moving. Employees using transit are estimated to have an annual payroll of $2 billion in Missouri alone. By helping employees save money and stay employed, it benefits everyone in St.Louis.

St.Louis has spent over $1.8 billion on transit infrastructure including Metrolink in the past 15 years. However, nearly $7 billion in additional investments have been constructed adjacent to Metrolink Stations in the same time period and that number is growing. I have read about nearly $1 billion in new investments planned adjacent to new Metrolink stations in the past six months. These investments will increase property values, add jobs, and save energy in the future for St.Louis.

One more economic benefit to consider. St. Louis has over 300 special events and conventions per year in our downtown area. Our unique Metrolink connecting Lambert Airport to downtown, to Illinois and to Clayton help the region compete in the cutthroat national competition for conventions. Metro helped bring the Final Four. Metrolink helps make it easy for visitors to stay in hotels throughout the region to attend Cardinal, Rams, Blues or the conventions using the Jones Dome. These events bring in millions of dollars to the St.Louis region supporting all of our businesses and governments. Without a transit system like Metro operates today, we would not get all that business.

County Res.: I know these are trying times, but how is Metro to serve the riding public if the service schedules are changed, like what, every 3 months? I see alot of empty buses except in the morning and evenings. How can Metro provide good service for my tax dollar if the buses aren't going where the riders are? What is Metro doing to encourage ridership from those who don't NEED to ride the the bus or train? I know that a clean, comfortable ride, with maybe a place for me to plug in my laptop would help. I ride an express from time to time, why is it that they do not have adhere to the same schedule as a regular bus? I have missed my bus several times as my stop is on the way in. Other days I have had to wait for it. I have talked to several drivers that drive regular routes, and they tell me they have to be on time, never early, and have to report why they are more then 5 minutes behind schedule. I have been seeing a display near the driver on some buses. If it is to help the drivers stay on time, why do the drivers complain to me that it is wrong sometimes? How does it help them? Most of them that I have talked to don't seem understand it very well. If you look at traffic, I-44, Highway 40, and I-55 are terrible. When do you think that places like Chesterfield valley, St. Charles, and Arnold will see MetroLink, or at least better bus service so more riders can depend on getting to work "ON TIME". I know I would ride it everyday if I could "DEPEND" on it.

Todd Plesko: Thanks County Resident. You have asked excellent questions which I will try to answer. Metro does not have to change schedules every 90 days, but Metro's labor agreement permits bus operators to select their driving assignment every 90 days based upon seniority. Thus if Metro needs to modify a schedule, the ideal time is when one of these driver changes takes place. We change schedules based upon customer feedback, driver feedback, highway closures, and to resolve problems with on time performance. For example, on August 25, 2008, Metro will issue new timetables for 10 bus routes. We will not change over 70 bus routes or Metrolink. The August changes going into effect are primarily to address overloads on some express buses, I-64 road closures, and problems with too much or too little running time.

Metro does not intend to operate any trips that don't carry people. In fact we evaluate every route based upon boardings. County passengers often point out that buses arriving in the county have very few passengers near the end of the line. There are also trips during midday or in the evening that have fewer passengers in the county. But when you monitor the ridership over the entire length of the trip, there quite a few passegers. Let me give an example. The 57 Manchester runs from downtown St. Louis to Wildwood. A typical trip may have 30 to 40 boardings during the off peak hours. However, since people are getting on and off over the 25 miles of the route, the maximum persons on board may not exceed 10 passengers. When we find routes that carry very few passengers, we will eliminate the service and reallocate to other areas needing service.

Express service drivers are required to hold to their scheduled times inbound toward downtown before they get on the highway in the morning, but they are permitted to arrive downtown early. Afternoon express drivers may not depart a downtown time early, but are permitted to arrive early at the ultimite destination if traffic permits. Local bus route drivers are not permitted to depart early for any timepoint. The buses that you noticed with the special devices showing the schedule versus the actual time are extremely accurate once we properly map the route. However, if the route is detoured off its regular route between timepoints, the device may read incorrectly. This is a pretty rare situation. Over the next three years 100 % Metrobuses will have these global positioning devices and the mobile data terminal that you noted. The devices will call out stops automatically, count passengers at the bus stop level and permit Metro to "play back" the vehicles route and times to follow upon a customer issue. The devices will allow drivers to give and receive text messages rather than using the voice mode of the radio. Customers will be able to receive projected arrival time at a bus stop based upon the buses actual location rather than just the schedule. We think its the wave of the future which will improve service quality and driver communication.

Metro would like to make some substantial improvements to express service in South County, West County, in the I-44 Corridor and in North County in the next year. Our goal is to offer express service that operates as frequently as Metrolink. We also need to invest in improved park ride facilities and the highway expresses need to operate faster to attract the patron who is currently driving an automobile. To accomplish this, we will need new funding.

St.Louis County will offer a proposal to County voters this fall which would, if approved by voters, allow construction of a new Metrolink line terminating at I-270 near Westport and Maryland Heights. This same proposal would permit substantial bus improvements in the highway corridors where Metrolink has not yet been approved. If approved by voters, the revenue provided would permit significant expansion of very high quality public transit in St. Louis County. If voters are not convinced the referendum is a good decision, the Metro system will be reduced to match the revenue that is currently available. The reduction will eliminate over 1/3 of all Missouri Metrolink, Call a Ride, and Metrobus service.