This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 29, 2009 - A last ditch effort to maintain some bus service to key employment centers in West County after Metro shrinks its services by 44 percent Monday has resulted in a new route that will serve Chesterfield and Town and Country.
The new Clayton-Chesterfield No. 98 bus route came about through a public-private partnership between Chesterfield and Metro using a federal grant. The new route will cover much, but not all, of the area served by Bus 258, the West County Express. Chesterfield initiated the effort and will raise the $173,600 local portion of the cost.
As of Friday, the Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce, St. Luke’s Hospital, the Doubletree Hotel and Delmar Gardens contributed $25,000 toward the $173,600, said Libbey Malberg, Chesterfield assistant city administrator for community service and economic development. It is also asking Town and Country and other businesses, though Wal-Mart had already declined.
After Metro announced massive cuts late last year, Chesterfield and other West County communities worried that, when Metro eliminated buses west of I-270 as planned, service industry workers who work in the area's hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants and stores would not be able to get to work from their homes in the city of St. Louis and inner ring suburbs. West County officials asked the transit agency how much they would have to chip in to keep bus service to its key employers.
These leaders rejected a $2 million package, and Metro came up with an amended route that would have cost $300,000. Chesterfield Mayor John Nations led an unsuccessful effort to get other West County communities and businesses to raise that amount.
The new bus line was announced Friday, after Metro and Chesterfield officials, in what Malberg called a “whirlwind,” modified the proposed route even further on Thursday. “I said, ‘Well, if we can’t get these other communities to participate, what would just a route to Chesterfield be like?' ” she said. “It was an 11th-hour change.”
Asked where the balance of the $173,600 would come from, Malberg replied, “We haven’t crossed that bridge yet.” She said Chesterfield is “still talking” to businesses about chipping in on the project.
If companies and Town and Country don’t step up to the plate, Chesterfield will cover the rest of the bill, Malberg said. Maintaining bus service to area businesses to get workers to their jobs is crucial to the city’s economy, she said. “We couldn’t not do it.”
“If necessary, the money can be squeezed from the budgets of the city’s various departments,” she added. “Maybe I don’t have as much (for) economic development advertising. “Somebody else cuts something out of their budget — maybe that’s how it works. The funds are there. We’ll make it happen.”
Because the money won’t be due until early summer, Chesterfield has time to raise it. Asked if she thought Town and Country officials will be receptive to the idea in this tight economy, Malberg said, “I don’t know. We’ll see.”
Metro spokeswoman Dianne Williams said the reduction to $173,000 from $300,000 was because “a branch that spurred off into Wildwood” was eliminated.
“They’re not getting all of what Metro proposed,” she said.
The 98 bus will originate from the Clayton Metro bus center traveling west to the Ballas Metro bus center, with stops at such key employment centers as St. Luke’s Hospital, the nursing care facilities along North and South Outer 40 Roads, Chesterfield Mall including the MetroBus Park-Ride lot, Spirit of St. Louis Airport and Chesterfield Commons.
The bus will not travel on Olive Boulevard for service to a number of nursing homes there, Malberg said. The schedule has it traveling on Chesterfield Parkway, crossing Olive farther west than most of the nursing homes.
Metro will pay its portion -- more than $1 million -- from a federal grant in the Jobs Access Reverse Commute program. Metro received JARC funds to respond to traffic problems caused by construction on I-64.
The plan also restores some Call-a-Ride service because federal law requires transit agencies to offer alternative service for people with disabilities within three-quarters of a mile of where transit buses and light rail travel, Williams said.
The new route begins on Monday. Buses will run every half-hour during rush hour and every hour during midday and evenings.
“This does not replace the service that is being discontinued on Monday,” Ray Friem, Metro’s chief operating officer of transit services, said. “It’s a scaled down alternative to what had been offered to one of the fastest growing corridors in our region. But it does provide a vital link between the rest of the Metro system and the largest concentration of employment centers that the new smaller system would not have been able to reach.“
“I have been very impressed with the responsiveness of the businesses in my community who say that public transportation is a priority and is important for our workers,” Nations told Metro’s Board. “I have had employers tell me over the years that we would have even more job growth in Chesterfield if we could find even better ways to get people to the jobs in Chesterfield.”
In the news release issued late Friday, Metro President and CEO Robert Baer thanked Mayor Nations for his leadership in organizing this effort.
Metro is also asking the state of Missouri for emergency funds to cover the transit service deficit for one year, Baer said. If that happens, it could allow Metro to restore more lines by mid summer.
Kathie Sutin is a freelance journalist.