Fixing Transit - A Little Help From Our Friends

Caption: Metro St. Louis has been forced to suspend much of their service due to lack of funding.

Transportation for America recently sent out a call-to-action urging support for emergency service preservation grants that will help keep public transportation systems running during the hard economic times. The call-to-action website features St. Louis's very own Metro, which has been forced to make major service cuts after Proposition M failed to get more than 50% of the vote this past November.

If you live in the St. Louis region, you probably don't have to go very far before you spot a sign, like the one above, announcing that the bus stop you are standing at is no longer a bus stop--now it's just a bench with a bad view, placed awkwardly close to the street. Bummer. BIG bummer if you depend on public transportation to get to work, to pick up your kids, and to go to the store. The timing couldn't be worse. The people most vulnerable to the economic downturn, the working class and the working poor, are now even more vulnerable in St. Louis and cities throughout the country where public transportation systems have shrunk.

You can help by visiting the Transportation for America website to send a letter to your elected officials in support of emergency service preservation grants. In hard economic times, we must fiercely preserve our public transit systems, for they are an important foundation of our economy.