Metro announced by way of a telephone media conference on Wednesday (Apr. 15) that there is a possibility for emergency funding from the state of Missouri to reverse the slashing of services that the St. Louis transit service had to implement because of a major deficit.
“It’s a 20 million dollar funding solution,” said Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder. “ We want to restore some of the cuts where people are most vulnerable to losing their jobs because they cant afford transportation.”
A budget shortfall of $38 million dollars forced the agency to cut hundreds of jobs and slash thousands of bus stops at the end of March. If Metro is awarded the funding many of the routes and some of the express services will be restored.
“If we are to get this money we well be able to restore significant amount of service that was cut,” said Bob Baer, president and CEO of Metro. “People in the region are starting to get the big picture as to why transit is important. We are facing people who can’t get to work, can’t to school and can’t get call a ride services because we had to raise fairs and people can’t afford it.”
Metro is particularly concerned about the elderly and disabled patrons who rely on Call-A-Ride and will make restoring the prices to an affordable rate at the top of their priority list.
The funding will restore frequency for some of the most populated routes, where riders now have to deal with longer waits and overcrowding – even being passed by because there is simply not enough room to accommodate the patrons.
The funding may come as part of House Bills 19, 20 and 21 that were introduced on Wednesday (Apr. 15). Funding for metro is contained within House Bill Twenty.
The decision could come as soon as two weeks but may take up to a month.
“Very encouraged and are doing everything we can to make this happen,” Baer said. “For the next four weeks we plan to be active and available to help the house and the senate come to this decision.”