Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
346519139_4af4e316de_m.jpgPhoto by klabusta via Flickr.

Like so many systems around the country, St. Louis's Metro is facing a devastating budget crisis. And yet St. Louis Urban Workshop, one of the newer members of the Streetsblog Network, is adding its voice to a highly counterintuitive chorus of people who are calling not for fare increases to help fund the systems -- but for eliminating the farebox altogether. Some have suggested that free mass transit be seen as a stimulus measure. Even MarketWatch, part of the Wall Street Journal's digital network, has run an editorial in favor of making mass transit free, saying, "This is not as far-fetched as it looks."

So how would St. Louis replace the 20 percent of revenues the system gets from fares? here's what St. Louis Urban Workshop suggests:

The region could charge employers (businesses, government offices, universities, co-ops, etc.) $1 per employee every day that he or she travels to the workplace. This works out to a one-time "wage increase" of 12.5¢ per hour. That's not very much. If regional employers would commit to mass transit in the mode of Washington University and fully subsidize employee travel we would be there.

The region could also implement a 1% sales tax to fund mass transit. We couldredistribute spending on roads. We could also end the wasteful use of TIF for retail development, a practice that distorts commercial development and produces zero net gain for the St. Louis MSA (report here).We should also ensure that the system is useful and require retail developments to make accommodations for mass transit (bus turnaround/stop, walking connections to Metrolink, etc.) or pay a fee to build accommodations elsewhere.

Free-transit plans have come up before in New York and other places. Is there any real prospect of their implementation? 

Elsewhere around the network, the National Journal opens a thread on what role public-private partnerships might play in the future of the American transportation system; Twin Cities Streets for People reports on a drop in crime near a new greenway in Minneapolis; and Trains for America digs into the reasons for an improvement in Amtrak's on-time performance.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Friday’s Headlines Dodge Death

Thankfully, traffic deaths have started to fall. But cars and drivers are still killing too many people. Why?

April 25, 2025

Breaking: US DOT is Coming For America’s ‘DEI’ Dollars, Threatening ‘Sanctuary’ Cities With Pulled Funds

Advocates are raising the alarm about yet another vague and disturbingly broad letter from Sean Duffy — and the fierce battle that's likely to follow it.

April 24, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: Just Action Under the Color of Law

Leah Rothstein on the book she wrote with her father Richard about the fight against housing segregation in America.

April 24, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines, Big and Small

Smaller cities should try congestion pricing, too. Plus, the latest in the tiff between Sean Duffy and Kathy Hochul.

April 24, 2025
See all posts