By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – Metro's new light rail line to south St. Louis County is set to open Saturday.
But one observer of the transit agency says the cost of the MetroLink extension is much higher than Metro claims.
Metro says the total cost of the new line is $682 million, including a cost overrun of $132 million.
But local government watchdog Tom Sullivan says that overrun is more than $200 million.
He also says payments to Metro's bondholders will push the total cost of the extension past $1.1 billion.
"If you look at the official statement, it gives you all the details of how much the payments are going to be every year," Sullivan said. "So when you add it all together, plus what Metro has put into the project in cash, that's what the total comes to, $1.1 billion."
The public can ride the new line for free this weekend. But Monday, fares go up a quarter.