© 2024 University of Missouri - KBIA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Bi-State Receives Federal Grant 'Critical' To Metro Transit

The St. Louis County Council approved partial funding for Bi-State Development Tuesday but still has concerns over transit safety.
File Photo | St. Louis Public Radio
The St. Louis County Council approved partial funding for Bi-State Development Tuesday but still has concerns over transit safety.

The coronavirus pandemic is hammering ridership levels and the bottom line of Metro Transit. 

The organization that operates Metro says ridership is down 50% over last year. Bi-State Development adds that sales tax revenues that support the system are expected to be down 20% over the next fiscal year, which begins in July.

“The CARES funding is absolutely critical to the stabilization of transit and therefore the stabilization of the St. Louis economy,” said Bi-State President and CEO Taulby Roach.

The money will support the safe operation of the system during the pandemic.

Taulby Roach started as CEO and president of Bi-State Development about two months ago.
Credit Evie Hemphill | St. Louis Public Radio
Taulby Roach started as CEO and president of Bi-State Development in January 2019.

Metro Transit plans to improve cleaning on buses, trains, and other vehicles and purchase more personal protective equipment for workers.

The money comes as Metro continues to focus on rider safety during the outbreak.

“Whether that’s additional disinfectants. Whether it’s indeed doing the poly-carbonate shields, or asking the public, for instance as we are now, to wear masks on our system,” said Roach.

Metro is not alone in the age of COVID-19.

The pandemic is causing public transit systems throughout the country to adapt.

A commuter rail system in the Chicago area is reporting a 97% ridership drop.

New York City subways have been closing nightly so trains can be disinfected. It’s considered the first overnight subway shutdown since the service started in the early 1900s. The city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is dealing with a deficit that could reach $8.5 billion.

Systems that are about the same size as Metro are also trying to find ways to keep many services operating. 

“We’re sharing information between different transit agencies about what is effective and what is not effective,” Roach said.

Metro has been among the first of those systems to implement measures to cope with the pandemic, according to Roach.

“One of the things that we did almost before anybody in the country is we started temperature screening of all our employees — 100% of them — including headquarters.”

Bi-State Development wants to finish fiscal year 2021 with a balanced budget, even with the drop in local sales taxes.

It’s too soon to determine if that will translate into service reductions or job cuts.Follow Wayne on Twitter: @WayneRadio

Send questions and comments about this story to: feedback@stlpublicradio.org

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Wayne Pratt is a veteran journalist who has made stops at radio stations, wire services and websites throughout North America. He comes to St. Louis Public Radio from Indianapolis, where he was assistant managing editor at Inside Indiana Business. Wayne also launched a local news operation at NPR member station WBAA in West Lafayette, Indiana, and spent time as a correspondent for a network of more than 800 stations. His career has included positions in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Toronto, Ontario and Phoenix, Arizona. Wayne grew up near Ottawa, Ontario and moved to the United States in the mid-90s on a dare. Soon after, he met his wife and has been in the U.S. ever since.