Letter to editor opposing Metrolink expansion
I am writing again on one of my favorite topics, the foolishness of Metro Link expansion. I am afraid that while other local controversies such as the airport privatization and Better Together occupy our time, the Metro Link expansion will sneak through. Let us review the problems with this expansion:
First, it is paying huge sums of money for a transportation system that is obsolete. People no longer work as much in centralized fixed locations. Many more people work at home. Others travel from site to site as part of their jobs. Metro Link was made for a time when most office workers were employed downtown.
Second,, the trains almost never get you door to door. Often you need to drive to the station or connect with buses. This is inefficient and adds greatly to travel time.
Third, the Metro Link is very costly to operate. It would be far cheaper to subsidize rides for people on Uber or Lyft.
Fourth, Metro Link has proven unsafe. More people are reluctant to ride it due to safety concerns.
Fifth, it will not be possible to use trains from the old system on the new one. This is highly inefficient.
Proponents of light rail expansion point to economic development as a reason. This is a false and misleading argument. All of the economic development located anywhere near a Metro Link station would have occurred anyway. Cortex is not dependent on Metrolink. We need to stop using questionable inflated economic development claims to support a transportation system that is obsolete.
In a poll conducted some months ago, a huge majority of St. Louis Business Journal readers were opposed to Metro Link expansion. These people need to share their views with elected officials, the Metro Board, and other decision makers.
The Loop Trolley is a debacle. Metro Link expansion will dwarf that as a horrible decision.
