Vision vs. Pragmatism: The St. Louis Long-Range Transit Plan

Visionary transit system plans, especially those designed to help secure transit funding, often include a large system of capital projects to be completed over a fairly short period of time. Conversely, plans that are truly reflective of a region’s needs and can actually guide transit agency investment decisions need to be realistic and fiscally honest; a position sometimes seen as too modest to gain sufficient public support to pass a transit tax increase. This is especially true in a slow-growth region such as St. Louis. Moving Transit Forward, the St. Louis region’s long-range plan, was designed to emphasize pragmatism and still be compelling enough to win voter support for a 2010 transit sales tax referendum in suburban St. Louis County. The approach to creating Moving Transit Forward emphasized collaborating extensively with the to identify strategies that could effectively help fulfill the transportation and economic development needs of the St. Louis region, while remaining fiscally honest about the region’s ability to support transit investments. The resulting plan outlines a 30-year vision for transit investment to be implemented incrementally across four phases beginning immediately upon receipt of funding, including restoring service eliminated in 2009, creating a passenger amenity program, expanding the region’s light rail system, introducing Bus Rapid Transit, and possibly commuter rail. This plan was a central to regional conversations about transit funding, and on April 6, 2010 voters in St. Louis County passed a ½-cent transit sales tax referenda with 63 percent of the vote.