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Community Corner

High Gas Prices Push Travelers To Public Transit

Metro Transit St. Louis caps eight months of growth with a 10.5 percent systemwide increase in ridership for March 2011.

The steep climb in gas prices during the last three months has more St. Louis-area residents opting for alternative methods for traveling to work and around the region, Metro Transit officials are reporting. 

In March, the latest month for which data is available, ridership across the entire system shot up 10.5 percent compared to the same period in 2010. Metro Transit Director of Communications Dianne Williams said the agency's bus, trains and vans were boarded 3.8 million times in that month.

"Every month has been up since July 2010 but this has been the greatest increase," Williams said. 

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The increases come after the public transit agency recovered from a 2009 budget cut that saw its services reduced by one-third. At the time, Williams said, it was the largest percentage cut any transportation agency in the country had taken.

The loss of Metro Transit's express bus routes directly impacted Mehlville resident Betty Deimel, who relied on the service to travel from her South County home to her downtown office. Although she has a car, Deimel said she wants to avoid the costs of city parking and high gas prices.

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Deimel switched to carpooling and in 2010, St. Louis voters passed a sales tax increase to restore the beleaguered transit system. Despite the express routes coming back online, Deimel initially stayed with her carpool.

She wasn't alone. Despite the months of growth, Williams said Metro Transit still hasn't matched the ridership it had prior to the service cuts.

"Those who used transit to go to work had to make other choices," Williams said. "It takes a while to get those people back and to get new ones."

However, with gas prices cresting past $4 per gallon in some parts of St. Louis, according to StLouisGasPrices.com, the incentive to use mass transit is growing.

"The costs (of carpooling) were similar to what a bus pass was," Deimel said. "Then, when gas prices started edging up we lost a couple of riders. It got to where it was costing more than a bus pass would."

Two weeks ago, Deimel resumed using Metro Transit to travel to work and said she has personally noticed an increase in the number of people on her bus.

"Just in the two weeks I have been there, there have been more people," she said.

A month pass for Metro Transit typically runs $68, but Deimel is able to acquire hers for $50 through her employer. With some downtown lots charging up to $10 per day for parking, Deimel said she expects to save a significant amount. Plus, she just likes riding the bus.

"I am more relaxed and I feel less stressed. The commute is a little bit longer, but it's a trade off," she said.

According to AAA Missouri Spokesman Mike Right, gas prices may have already peaked for the summer with the price for a barrel of oil declining significantly in recent weeks, settling around $100 per barrel.

"The price is falling. I think it can probably go down 25, 35 cents in a period of weeks," Right said. "Hopefully, we have seen a peak, but who knows. We are so vulnerable to all sorts of factors that can impact that."

Right added that the painful fill-ups are causing people to look for ways to maximize their gas mileage and minimizing their gas use. For Williams and her colleagues at Metro Transit, it's a chance to become and stay part of that equation.

"It's an opportunity to show people what we can do," she said.

 In the long-term, Williams said the agency hopes to expand its bus and rail service, but, for now, she said Metro Transit is working to improve its service and tailor its efforts to new job centers and new job growth.

For more information about using public transportation in St. Louis, call Metro Transit at (314) 231-2345 or visit the agency's website, which includes a trip planner.

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