Politics & Government
Cost of Express Bus Service from Chesterfield to City: $35 Million
The price tag could be higher, the Post-Dispatch reports.
As Patch reported on Friday, a coalition of St. Louis-area planning and transportation agencies is considering a plan to build two express bus lines from downtown St. Louis into parts of St. Louis County.
Choices for those lines include two routes into north county, a route to the Chesterfield Mall and another route to Westport Plaza in Maryland Heights.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on the story on Tuesday and turned up some information we weren't able to get for our story last week: The price tag for each line that's eventually built will be $35 million to $40 million.
That price would include such improvements as new buses, with branding separate from existing Metro buses; the ability to give buses signal priority on city streets; dedicated bus stations; and park-and-ride lots at some stations.
The routes under consideration start and end at the Civic Center Station in downtown St. Louis and would go:
- To and from the Chesterfield Mall along Highway 40.
- To and from Westport Plaza along Page Avenue.
- To and from the North County Transfer Center along Natural Bridge, Lucas and Hunt, and West Florissant.
- To and from the North County Transfer Center along I-70, Riverview and Halls Ferry Road.
Officials have said the routes, which would be paid with federal grant money, would benefit businesses in the communities that depend on low-paid workers who typically commute in for jobs in health care, retail and other service businesses.
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