Transit Visions

No one talks about the trains in Missouri!

Imagining a better future for my transit-deficient home state.

January 19, 2025

The silver lining of there not being a lot of transit in Missouri is that you can ride almost everything there was possible to ride in about a day.

Now, I am going to explore the potential of these places in a series I will call “Visons After Visiting” where I present my thoughts and observations about a place’s current transit operations and infrastructure, and then share ideas and proposals to take them to the next level.

I want to take ideas and visions about mass transit to the max, to see what we can imagine to transform transportation in the city or region. These ideas will not be based on budget constraints and seem like pipedreams, which is why I want to make clear these are ideas about exploring what is possible if the money and political will were there. It’s about vision.

I have no planning, engineering, or architectural background. This page is to document my educational journey in those fields. If you have an education and/or working experience in these fields, I encourage you to leave comments with critiques, corrections, and thoughtful discussion to help me learn.

Visions After Visiting: Missouri – December 2024

Here’s my initial review and background on the highlights of my Missouri transit travels with short previews of in-depth articles coming soon:

From ‘04 to '24, Amtrak’s Missouri service has barely changed.

When I was a little kid, I used to take Amtrak's service from St. Louis to Kansas City—today called the Missouri River Runner—every holiday season to go visit family. The last time my family did the trip was probably around 2004 or 2005 when Amtrak ran two services—Ann Rutledge and Missouri Mules. The two routes were consolidated into the Missouri River Runner in 2009. However, not much has changed in the last 20 years.

According to what I’ve found, the average runtimes of the Ann Rutledge and Missouri Mules were 5 hours and 50 minutes. In late 2009, Amtrak and Union Pacific completed a 9,000-foot passing loop near California, Missouri to remove a huge bottleneck. This enabled massive improvements in on-time performance (OTP). So even though the scheduled trip was 5:50 before 2009, it was more prone to delays and many trips took over 6 hours before this short project was completed.

The scheduled route in 2024? 5 hours and 40 minutes—and that’s about how long both trips took—with average speeds of around 50-60 mph; top speeds are just over 70 mph.

So even though OTP has improved on the route, the state of Missouri and Amtrak have not prioritized the upgrades and modernization of the service with faster-scheduled runtimes. But I guess if Missouri was serious about passenger rail, we’d have a high speed—or at least “higher” speed—line between St. Louis and Kansas City by now, or at the very bare minimum, conventional intercity services to Columbia and Springfield.

The corridor between Chicago and St. Louis began reaching speeds of up to 110 miles per hour in the summer of 2023. In an article soon, I will explore the adjustments they’ve made and what can be done on the Missouri River Runner route to achieve faster speeds. Plus, I want to take a serious look at what high speed rail would look like between St. Louis and Kansas City based on previous research and commentary on the matter.

St. Louis Union Station is great already. But it can be even better than before.

One of my biggest grievances with the state of U.S. transit is taking this beautiful and still perfectly intact former train station and repurposing it as a tourist destination by adding a bunch of tacky and gimmicky attractions.

But I must admit, they did a wonderful job with its rehabilitation, and despite my qualms with its current function, it is a lovely place for families to visit. Especially under the old trainshed that used to be the train terminal; they turned into a lovely outdoor space with restaurants, a koi pond, a mini golf course, and more.

I’m sure the families that come through there enjoy those things. That’s great, I love that for them. But it’s time for those activities to move somewhere else. I don’t care that train travel slowed down in the last half of the 20th century, we’re trending back in the other direction and it’s time to get real. The current Gateway Transportation Center is not going to cut it if (when) St. Louis becomes a thriving, world-class city again.

At this point, you might be thinking I want to re-purpose Union Station for sentimental reasons. You aren’t completely wrong.

However, there is a lot of land in the surrounding area of Gateway Transportation Center and Union Station that is taken up by surface parking. Could you take all that surface parking between Union Station and Gateway and turn it into a new state-of-the-art transit hub? I can’t resist the urge to start thinking of ways to make this possible.

Here are some early thoughts about why restoring Union Station, or at least better integrating it with Gateway Transportation Center, makes sense:

Ample space for concourses and waiting areas.

Within the old station, there is an abundance of very nice places to sit and hang out (*cough* *cough* wait for trains *cough*).

The station could have two large open spaces for the train station, and each space offers something different:

1. The Grand Hall and the concourse on the way out to the old trainshed are beautiful places to hang out, with a bar and café and room to add more.

2. The nice outdoor space within the old trainshed—with its restaurants and walkable plaza around the koi pond. In fact, it could be expanded to replace some of the surface parking just outside.

To make the building more functional, it will likely require renovations to improve the pedestrian flow between the old main building and the outdoor trainshed.

While this is a much more complex architectural project than I am making it seem and there are factors of train station design I am not considering, I know enough to say that Gateway Station will not cut it long-term. It could be repurposed as a southeast entrance/exit for the new station, but it does not have the space to accommodate more passengers if (and when) rail services in St. Louis increase to be the main station. Good thing there’s a large building to serve that exact purpose close by.

Lodging within walking distance.

There are 539 hotel rooms currently part of the St. Louis Union Station Hotel, which is optimal for intercity travelers. While the hotel is within walking distance of the current Gateway Station, it’s not the closest or easiest walk.

The area layout is optimal for continuing through-running.

The current layout of the surface parking areas relative to the existing tracks that run adjacent makes the area optimal for building a through-running station (see Image 6). It would sense to continue to through-run trains—as the Lincoln Service Missouri River Runner currently does at Gateway Station—and not build a terminal like it used to be (see Image 7).

If there is ever enough growth in the region to create demand and political will for regional rail, through-running would allow for one-seat rides—or at least easy transfers—from the suburbs and surrounding counties out west to Madison and St. Clair counties in Illinois.

Why I like the St. Louis MetroLink more than the NYC Subway.

Hear me out.

The St. Louis MetroLink is obviously not as great a network as the NYC Subway. That cannot be disputed. What I’m saying is that it was more about the experience.

Maybe it’s because it was something different, but I really like light metro rail over conventional heavy rail metro trains like the Subway or London Underground, and much prefer St. Louis’s mostly above-ground station experience.

I loved how quaint the system is. The stations are not overly built out, are easy to get in and out of, and aren’t tens or hundreds of feet below ground; most of the time you are above ground. I loved walking across tracks to get to platforms at some stations, it felt so laid-back compared to heavy metros, if that makes sense.

The vehicles were very spacious and it was a nice, smooth ride. The rolling stock MetroLink uses are Siemens SD-400 and SD-460 light rail vehicles (LRVs). The cars are single-articulated and 90 feet long with capacity for 72 seated passengers and 106 standing passengers, which is 178 passengers total. Each train has two cars—a total capacity of 356 passengers. It was not like some huge, loud heavy train barreling into the station—not that I don’t love that about NYC—but it was nice to experience these cute light rail vehicles too.

If St. Louis's population were to explode, with lots of development near its stations and the demand for transit would increase, an easy adjustment would be to increase frequencies. Each line runs on 20-minute headways, with trains coming every 10 minutes in the central corridor—where the Red and Blue lines are interlined—from Forest Park-DeBaliviere to Fairview Heights.

A note about western station locations.

For those of you unfamiliar with the system, I want to highlight sub-optimal station locations and surrounding development on the portions west of downtown on the final five stations on the west end of the Blue Line (see Image 10). Once the Blue Line passes through Clayton station going west, it turns south and runs parallel to Interstate 170 and Hanley Road for about five miles for the line’s final five stations.

This is where density starts to fall off, and the line enters suburban areas where many residents don’t take transit. The stations are plopped next to strip malls and shopping centers and surrounded by acres of surface parking—Sunnen has four car dealerships right next to it. Most of the surrounding areas around these stations are not what I would call “walkable” with some housing nearby, but not much. Four of the five stations on this final stretch of the line offer free park-ride.

On one of the days I rode MetroLink, I parked for free and got on the MetroLink at Richmond Heights. Like other stations on this portion of the line, there’s a decent amount of housing close by, but the area overall is not very walkable. Richmond Heights is only accessible from one side (see Image 11).

In an upcoming article, I will do a full in-depth study of the MetroLink system. I will cover the planning and development behind the current system that took place in the 1980s and 1990s. I will also explore ways to improve it, possible expansion routes, and more.

Other Commentary

I will not be writing articles expanding on the next two sections, just wanted to provide commentary.

The KC Streetcar has great potential.

The KC Streetcar is a two-mile street-running light rail that runs through the heart of downtown Kansas City on Main Street. I took it several times during the one day I explored the city, and I would’ve taken it more if it was a more frequent service. It comes about every 10-12 minutes.

It was annoying some stations didn’t have countdown clocks, so there were times I didn’t know whether it was better to just walk or wait for it. An able-bodied person is better off walking rather than waiting if they know it’s not coming for a while. Also, from what I can remember—I wasn’t really tracking—dwell times could be shorter; operations were moving at a midwestern pace.

Still, it’s a great service and every time I rode, the vehicle was pretty packed.

The expansion plans to the south down to the University of Missouri-Kansas City are exciting. Scheduled to open sometime early in 2025, the extension will more than double the size of the route and seems like it’s on track; 100% of the track has been laid and 93% of construction is complete, as of December 2024. There is also a short, one-stop extension to the northern end of the route expected to be completed in 2026.

It’s nice that it was free, and is definitely the right move to get people to ride it, as there is no basis to charge anyone with such abysmal frequencies. But I wonder once the extension is complete—meaning longer rides will take place—and if they were to increase frequencies to 6-8 minutes or better, if it would be worth charging a $1-$1.50 fare?

An amazing small city with wasted potential, but with some hope on the horizon.

After my Missouri travels, I made my way down to St. Augustine, Florida, which has so much potential it hurts for small-scale urbanism it hurts. It’s a historic city, with beautiful old buildings and a walkable city center, but it is a classic car-dependent hellspace, especially during the holiday season.

Traffic gets so bad from November to early January, my mom ensures she is home by early afternoon on weekends during the holidays because the bridges get so backed up. She said it can take up to an hour or more to drive through the center of town and over whichever bridge she is taking. This is what happens when you optimize cities for cars!!!

However, there is an exciting development I discovered during my post-visit research when I was looking into the viability of regional rail between Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Turns out a commuter system from downtown Jacksonville, with one line going to St. Augustine, is in the planning stages!

It’s funny that my mom and I were talking about something exactly like this and how nice it would be. My mom’s two-hour round-trip drive to pick me up from the airport gets cut to about 10-15 minutes depending on where the station would be.

Plus, this puts train service into the city center of St. Augustine, where the closest train service is about a 40-minute drive southwest in Palatka, where Amtrak’s Floridian and Silver Meteor routes each come through once a day (in both directions).

Other updates on this page.

Here’s what else I’ve got coming:

A Midwest Focus?

It’s not that I don’t want to write about trains in the transit-rich East Coast cities, but I want to focus on building momentum in cities that don’t get enough attention.

There are so many midsize major cities in the Midwest that were once thriving metro areas. Like every city in the country in the last half of the 20th century, it gutted neighborhoods and transit systems for cars and highways.

However, these cities still have the pieces and layout to become amazing, livable places again with great transit systems. What’s more, there is so much potential for high speed rail corridors and lines to make for a more interconnected region. I want to explore the possibilities and add another voice to the conversation.

Looking for collaborators.

I’m looking for people to work with from all sorts of backgrounds…

…from creative communications skillsets—such as graphic design, video production, copywriting, and 3D photorealistic rendering—to spread our message and create engaging, thoughtful transit content…

…to urban planning and civil engineering for sound technical analyses and proposals that are based on real expertise.

If you’re interested, email me!

My writings about transit and more effective advocacy.

If You Don't Like What Is Being Said, Change the Conversation

A concept to infuse transit advocacy with more positivity, possibility, and vision.

December 19, 2024

As someone who was once pursuing a career in creative advertising as a copywriter, I, of course, was a frequent Mad Men watcher. This article is inspired by one of the show's signature lines:

“If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.”

I believe this idea can be applied to the pro-transit movement today, and can add possibly and positivity around transit advocacy. I believe it could be a breath of fresh air for the movement and change the vibe and attitude of discussion around these issues.

What it means to “change the conversation”

Ironically, for this publication, the first instance this line is used is to sway public opinion about destroying transit infrastructure.

One of the best parts about Mad Men’s writing is the way it works the biggest events of New York City, and the world at large, into the story. In one episode, it is about the historic and controversial story of destroying the iconic New York Penn Station to build Madison Square Garden.

In one scene, the protagonist, Don Draper, meets with a business leader who is trying to build Madison Square Garden to try to sell his ad agency’s vision to help reshape the image around the MSG project. The businessman and his company are dealing with an onslaught of negative PR, as their plan requires demolishing the architectural marvel that was Penn Station. Draper states the businessman and the MSG company need to stop acknowledging and trying to push back at the opposition, saying their concern over public opinion shows a “guilty conscience.”

Instead, Draper suggests they need to take control of the narrative and sell MSG as “something new” and “the beginning of a new city on a hill.”

Watch most of the scene here (I’m so mad there is no clip of the full scene, it’s a great scene, sorry). If you have streaming access to Mad Men, I highly suggest watching the whole episode, it’s very good (Season 3, Episode 2).

I’ve had enough of transit skeptics and pessimists controlling the narrative about “taking away freedoms.” Let’s talk more about how a world-class multi-modal system is real freedom.

Transit advocacy, and urbanism advocacy at large, in my opinion, tend to get caught up in the squabbling, and understandably so. Getting into nasty political warfare and staging protests are necessary.

It’s hard when the real issues of safety and climate change are at stake.

It’s hard to reason with NIMBYs (Not In My BackYard) and car-brained people who refuse to acknowledge the issues urbanist activism tries to solve and do whatever it takes to not open their minds to something new.

Discussions about how transit funding in the U.S. has been cut to the bone for decades, how that has disproportionately affected low-income and minority groups, and how we’re facing a climate crisis are all important things we need to keep talking about.

My point with this article is that there also needs to be more voices that offer positivity, possibility, and vision. What are transit’s biggest benefits and selling points? How do world-class transit systems affect the daily quality of life for every single person? We need more of this sentiment. I’m not saying there aren’t activists out there who don’t promote a vision for better transit and cities. There are plenty that do and they are terrific at it. But we need more of it.

Let’s take control of transit conversations

This is where I hope to come in. I believe my previous communications experience prepared me to help change the narrative around transit activism.

I want to promote what a world with fully funded, reliable, inter-connected, and modern transit systems can look like at the local, regional, and national levels. I want to infuse positivity, possibility, and vision into pro-transit messaging in North America.

Let’s shout it from the rooftops. Let’s shout it from the sidewalks next to gridlocked city traffic. Let’s shout it from the bridges that stand over bumper-to-bumper highway traffic.

Who’s on board?

Transit Advocacy Needs More Positivity and Possibility

December 9, 2024

While I am a newly converted urbanist and have developed a distaste for suburbs in my enlightenment, I understand the appeal to many people to live that lifestyle. I grew up in it, and consider myself lucky I did. It was quiet, clean, “safe,” and I lived in a nice house. It was a bubble, and before I branched out and spent time in other cities, I had never thought about life without a car.

Despite the issues of car dependency, people who grew up with it don’t know any other way of life and have been conditioned not to notice the negative externalities. Many car drivers, no matter what, will never be convinced to take a train or bus and that’s okay. We are several generations into the great suburban experiment, and car dependency and single-family housing are woven into the fabric of so many people. There’s not much you can do to change their minds.

However, I think there are enough open-minded people out there who can be convinced to see the upside of transit which, at the very least, can help move the needle and slowly grow the pro-transit movement.

In this article and on this platform in general, I will not talk about the unsustainability or class segregation of suburbs. I will not bring more fiery rhetoric to “the war on cars” by championing pedestrianizing streets and installing bike lanes. I am most interested in trains and buses (mostly trains because they rule) and the efficient mass movement of people.

However, I will frequently bring up the mindset of suburban car drivers who live close to large metro areas, as well as those who live in cities and insist on owning cars or taking taxis or rideshares everywhere in city centers. When I bring up car usage, it will be about how they don’t belong in downtown metro areas, not when driving around suburban or rural areas.

My Experiences with Car-Centric People

Car-centric people do not care about congestion and pedestrian safety. They do not care about clean air and public health.

Yes, we need to keep conversations going about the quality of life, health and safety, and climate crises regarding car culture. And yes, we need to talk about how better investment in transit is better for all city residents—essential for those of lower socio-economic backgrounds. However, for people to even consider transit, we need to talk more about how it benefits them.

If someone is used to the convenience of their car or taking rideshares, why would they change? Why would they care about what’s best for everyone else or the whole community (which is a well-funded transit system and car-free city streets)?

What’s in it for them? Nothing. In fact, they would be sacrificing the convenience of their automobile, which is all they’ve ever known and what their environment has been built for.

Many car drivers / or frequent rideshare riders do not even think about or have awareness about what’s best for city residents or our planet. Lecturing them about how little they care hasn’t got us very far. In. fact, they find it insulting and it just makes everyone mad at each other, and we are already divided enough as it is in this country.

We have nothing to lose and everything to gain if we stop vilifying them and take a more harmonious and positive approach.

An Argument for Positivity and Possibility

It’s not an earth-shattering new strategy, but we are more likely to appeal to people if we speak to them with more positivity, optimism, and vision. Let’s give them a reason and show how transit is better for them. Lots of pro-transit platforms already do this; for example, Amtrak and Brightline do a great job on their social media. However, from my point of view, we need to ramp it up.

Here are some arguments that are commonly used by advocates and ones I use on my friends and family. I want to make one thing clear: this will not work most of the time nor will it change anyone’s mind right away. It usually takes a major life event for people to change their daily habits, such as travel. However, promoting these ideas is better than saying nothing at all, and can at least move the needle a little for some people:

• Enhanced comfort – Especially on commuter and intercity trains, possibly on metro trains and buses that aren’t full

• Better relaxation – Some people find driving relaxing, but I bet most people not having to focus on the road is preferable. Further, one can also read, take a cat nap, look out the window, and listen to their music.

• Multi-task/travel – Knocking out emails or other work while you commute? Sounds great to me. You can also play games on your phone, watch a show, watch or read the news, etc. The time is yours.

• Having the option to eat – What if you could eat while you commute? Obviously, this is a thing on intercity trains, but there’s nothing stopping you from eating on metro or commuter trains and buses.*

• Less stressful – No airport security, no having to leave to go to work early to fill up your low tank, and no more dealing with the stress and expenses of parking!

• Traveling with others more enjoyably – Would it be nice if you could ride into the city with your friends on a Friday night sitting in a group like this rather than bunching into a car? Also, if you are drinking, there’s no need to argue over who is the designated driver or pay for an expensive rideshare home!

• Spontaneous interactions with strangers – Mass transit is a public space, you could have a light, pleasant interaction with a stranger that makes your day. Who knows? They could be your next best friend or romantic partner. (Yes, I know the unwritten rules of the NYC subway are no eye contact or approaching anyone, but I have had spontaneous interactions before and I’ve seen others do it too. NYers are quite friendly, just focused on where they are going most of the time.)

*IDEA: Dining isn’t such a big thing on commuter trains. However, adding dining cars to commuter trains—such as MNR/LIRR, Metra, etc.—would be totally awesome. It would be such a nice convenience for many people and a huge selling point. I think I have to write an article about this.

I believe instead of telling people they shouldn’t take their cars, we should make attempts to sell them on the benefits of transit. I believe—and I plan to research this more—there are enough people out there who just have not known any other way of life. If they were exposed to something new and saw the benefits, without messaging about how the train is the more moral or sustainable method to get around the city, it could make them consider change.

Even though the presidential and congressional results of the recent election leave federal funding of transit with an uncertain future, 85% of the transit initiatives on the ballot passed, leaving me optimistic about how Americans feel about transit and that there is an appetite for alternatives.

What Mass Transit in America Needs

I am not stating things are perfect with the way transit is now. For these selling points to work at all, a lot needs to change:

• The leadership of these systems needs to change so they can modernize and offer more reliable service. I do not blame people for choosing to take their car or ride a taxi late at night or on weekends if their city has really bad off-peak service.

• Our metro areas have been bulldozed for car infrastructure. It’s hard to imagine life without your personal automobile because our cities have been designed that way, and it doesn’t help that county residents have blocked transit extensions into suburbs and even the most transit-rich city in the country has transit deserts. Many cities expanded to cover more ground and be more reliable. (Yes, I know that will require a total reimagining of metro areas and a ton of political will that doesn’t exist (yet).)

• Agencies need to do a much better job of passenger experience, including enforcement against disruptive or dangerous customers. Even without massive upgrades to transit systems, this alone would make more people more likely to take transit.

Mass transit in America for decades has had a minimalist mindset, it’s what led to the issues I just mentioned. Service should be frequent, the environment should feel safe and clean, and it should be comfortable (and even enjoyable) to ride on. New projects and services should have less red tape and world-class creative planning.

In addition to these standard upgrades, we need vision. We need to go beyond the bare minimum and imagine the capabilities of fully funded and well-managed transit systems. Many transit experts have and continue to share many great visions for the future, I want to add to it and help sell people on it.

Let’s go beyond just getting around. What kind of amenities can be offered? What scenic routes can we take? Let’s get creative and not just make it a reliable way to get around, let’s make it amazing. Imagination can help people see what is possible, and for some, break the stigmas of the past.

My Role

want to amplify the voices of technical experts, like those at Effective Transit Alliance. They have about 300 members, but few are deeply involved. I want to engage members who aren’t very involved but are interested in better transit. I want to find ways to activate their voices.

This is what inspired me to start this project.

I want to be a promotional agency to give transit a refreshed voice, make it a mainstream issue, and maybe make it “cool.” I also want to engage people who are angered by transit, to make it easy for them to get involved in their busy lives. Even if they are not that interested, shouldn’t they still be involved in something that affects their daily lives?

I want to help activate coalitions all around the country. I am from St. Louis, Missouri, once a great city as many in the U.S. were. I want to help support advocates in St. Louis and other cities to build world-class transit systems trying to once again become lively, thriving metro areas.

I want to connect experts who’ve studied complex transit issues to those who are affected by them. But at the same time, I want to help everyone, including non-transit riders, see a vision for transit in the United States—at the local, regional, and national levels.

This is Transit Visions, the voice of positivity and possibility about the future of U.S. transportation.