Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT) hosted a virtual “Talking Transit” event Tuesday in connection with a study to determine the feasibility of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in lieu of the St. Louis MetroLink Green Line
Participants reviewed design, development, funding, implementation, and challenges of BRT systems in Minneapolis and Kansas City and shared updates on the scope, funding, and next steps of the BRT project in the city of St. Louis.
Panelists included Brian Funk, COO and deputy general manager, Metro Transit, Minneapolis-St. Paul; Bobby Hosack, associate vice president, Project Manager, HNTB; Tyler Means, chief mobility & strategy officer, Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA), and Jim Wild, East-West Gateway Council of Governments executive director.
Citizens for Modern Transit’s CEO Kimberly Cella served as moderator.
Presentations on BRT in Minneapolis and Kansas City showed they offer fewer stops, quicker boarding and expediated service. BRT systems are also adaptable, present fewer risks, can be tailored to suit community needs with enhanced amenities and can be a catalyst for additional investment with the permanency of the line.
Construction costs range from $20 million to $60 million per mile for BRT, whereas light rail projects typically require $250 million to $600 million per mile. BRT projects do face certain challenges, such as consistently maintaining signal priority, ensuring adequate staffing and upkeep of high-quality stations, and securing as well as servicing the necessary fleet of buses for new routes.
Area representatives said progress is being made to build on the work invested in the St. Louis MetroLink Green Line through an alternatives analysis now underway that aims to enable the City of St. Louis to do more with less.
“We are looking beyond the initial 5.2-mile MetroLink corridor,” HNTB’s Hosack
“It is serving as our starting point. We are building on extensive work already completed and making changes. This includes potentially extending it further to the north and to the south and adding a connection to downtown. It will provide enhanced connections that will do more. We are potentially looking at a 10-mile line. We are jumping off, not going back to the drawing board.”
According to Metro, the St. Louis community will see public engagement as project leaders seek a preferred alternative to be a community-driven plan. From there, the project will advance into the design phase and the FTA’s funding pipeline. It will move quickly.
Wild cautioned that securing federal funding may be challenging as the nation enters a new phase of Federal Funding Law reauthorization.
“The Northside-Southside corridor has been on CMT’s radar since the original line of MetroLink was opened,” stated Cella.
“This is a corridor ripe for transit investment that will help move the needle on further investment. If light rail is not a possibility in this corridor, then we would like to see if BRT is an option, while at the same time ensuring the 2017 economic tax can be used for matching funds.”
To view the “Talking Transit” event in its entirety or learn how CMT is working to further transit access in the St. Louis region, visit www.CMT-STL.org.