The Midwest’s other subway

St Louis was once the fourth largest city in the nation. Today, it’s the fourth largest city in the midwest and also home to the second biggest subway system in the Midwest - behind only Chicago of course. And it wasn’t built when or how you’d expect. It’s an interesting story - of a successful push to build real, high quality transit-a light metro system-in an era when most transit expansion wasn’t as high quality. So what does the future hold for the gateway to the west?

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Another North American city with a light-rail system that acts like a subway is Newark, NJ. The Newark Light Rail has two different sections, with one being the Newark City Subway that has four stations (Penn, Military Park, Washington St, Warren St/NJIT) underground and if you only travel between those downtown stations, it's cheaper than the regular light-rail fare. The line then continues up towards Grove Street in Bloomfield (which was extended from Branch Brook Park in 2002), hugging Branch Brook Park which has the largest cherry blossom collection in the US. The City Subway line opened in 1935 along the old Morris Canal right-of-way, from Broad Street (now known as Military Park) to Heller Parkway (now replaced by the nearby Branch Brook Park station). From 1954 to 2001, this line used PCCs bought from Minneapolis/St Paul. The Grove St extension is on the former Erie Orange Branch. The other section of the system connects Newark Penn to Newark Broad Street Station with NJPAC (a performing arts center) along the way. Unlike the City Subway, this section is pretty much street-running. It branches off the older City Subway using the existing junction that had led to the former Public Service terminal. The former Public Service terminal was a three-level streetcar station that served as the terminus for streetcar lines from as far as Trenton. This was demolished in 1981 and became PSE&G headquarters. The Broad St extension opened in 2006 and was originally meant as the first phase of the Newark-Elizabeth Rail Link, but the rest of it wasn't built. The artwork at the new stations has a common theme, "Riding with Sarah and Wayne." It is a tribute to Newark-born jazz greats Sarah Vaughan and Wayne Shorter, and includes the lyrics to Vaughan's signature song Send in the Clowns

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Very cool!

[@qolspony]

Buffalo rings a bell. But it subway isn't downtown like most cities.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Yeah as you mentioned, much of MetroLink is a reused rail right of way! The Eads Bridge was once briefly used by Amtrak trains between 1971 and 1974 (stopped on the year of Eads Bridge's centennial). So when they were constructing the underground stations downtown, the tunnel was already there, using the St Louis Freight Tunnel. On the Red Line, trains use the former Wabash/Norfolk & Western Railroad's Union Depot line that once brought passenger trains from Ferguson to Union Station. When the Red Line makes a stop at the Delmar Loop station, it is located just below the original Wabash Railroad's Delmar Station building! On the Blue Line, it follows a former Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA)/Rock Island railroad right of way. When they were constructing Forsyth and University City-Big Bend stations, they faced opposition because that section was gonna be street-running, so they opted to build them underground! So thanks to NIMBYs, they ironically made the Blue Line a better and quicker service through no street-running! Another example of a North American light-rail system that mostly uses old rail right of way is the HBLR in NJ! The Bayonne and West Side Ave portions were once part of the CNJ, and the portion between Hoboken and Tonnelle Ave used to be the New Jersey Junction Railroad (part of NY Central), which was bought by NJT when it was under Conrail's River Line. When 8th Street station opened in 2011, its headhouse was built in the style of the original CNJ depot.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Very cool. Thank you for sharing!

[@qolspony]

I'm thinking of Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

[@briansieve]

The N/S line is all neighborhoods which is incredible

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

It would make a massive difference. Let’s hope it can get funded and built reasonably quickly.

[@geisaune793]

I grew up in the StL area. I don’t live there anymore but I have fond memories from childhood of getting on the MetroLink at the UMSL stop and riding downtown to see Cardinals’ games during the summer with my family. To me, riding the MetroLink was just as fun as the game itself! And now that I’m older I realize it definitely beats paying for parking downtown. I would love to see it expanded and I know there’s lots of other unused/abandoned rail in the metro area. Also the streetcar map shown earlier in the video is impressive. It’s like you can’t walk from one street to the next without crossing a different streetcar line. That would be heaven

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Totally agree! It’s crazy to think that in ~1910 basically every city in the Midwest had better transit than it has today.

[@qolspony]

I agree. There metro rail is a real gift. The only other Midwest city I can think of is Cleveland. But St. Louis has a lot of muscle around it system, because of mileage. This is even compare to Dallas, which is a much bigger city that has street running light rail. But should have gotten a Cleveland like system. And Cleveland should have gotten a St. Louis typed system. St. Louis got the advantage of better weather.

[@guydreamr]

So, the smart decisions of the public transit past have redounded to St Louis's benefit in the glorious present. Excellent.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

I hope other cities are paying attention!

[@AustinSersen]

St. Louis is definitely an underrated city. I visited most recently about a decade ago (and drove through on my move up to Canada almost 7 years ago), and it has a lot going for it...minus the endless sprawl, but what American city doesn't deal with that? I especially love Lion's Choice. IYKYK

[@Truman5555]

Once you have Lion's Choice, Arby's is never be acceptable again!

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Yeah, endless sprawl is as American as apple pie. Hopefully we can fix that over the next ~50 years.

[@christopherfederici2776]

Woah! This is the first I've heard of this system. It sounds awesome!

[@jimspies2775]

I know you said the racial component isn't really part of your channel, but you can not tell the story of STL transportation without it. Urban renewal and highway construction are absolutely intertwined with STL's racial history. If you haven't read it, "The Broken Heart of America" by Walter Johnson is a great book detailing that history. Great video!! Just rode the Red Line yesterday and the Blue Line today. One interesting tidbit, a lot of the current bus lines have the same numbers as the corresponding legacy streetcar lines. The 70. 95, 90, 94, 40 are all for sure same as the streetcars.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Thank you for this. I’d love to do a future video on racism in sharing transit and that sounds like a great resource to better inform myself. And very cool about the bus lines using the same numbers as the old streetcars.

[@Daniel-pc2ov]

The reason they made those highways through the ghetto was because they needed to get white workers who moved into suburbs because of crime into the city to work actual jobs. makes sense

[@spencer4732]

I had never known that many of the bus routes matched historic streetcar lines, but it makes sense as many of the areas of investment match transit corridors. The 70 is probably one of the few times service was improved by conversion to a bus route from a streetcar line since the 70 has articulated busses and services the Metrolink station on Grand.

[@patrickrichmond9896]

@@spencer4732 Indeed. Also from Summit and Lockwood all the way to Berry, there is the 56. The 56 used to be the Manchester Kirkwood streetcar line. When it comes to south St. Louis County, I do know that there are some people that will even lie about different races. There are some people who may be black but are nice and are choosing to go to work rather than hang around with a stupid gang.

[@jeffwebb2966]

St. Louis is a great city and I love living here. I bought a 1896 historic house and have been fixing it up. We have problems for sure, but things are improving a lot in my opinion.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

So happy to hear that. We live in an 1917 house here in Columbus - which we love. They just don’t make neighborhoods like they used to (because of zoning).

[@spencer4732]

Very nice video, St Louis and the Metrolink deserve more appreciation! I love taking the Metrolink every time I visit St Louis. I frequently take the Missouri River Runner from Kansas City to St Louis, which has a connection to the Metrolink with the Gateway Multimodal Station. The Texas Eagle and Lincoln Express both also stop at the station, making the Metrolink even more beneficial to regional travelers and tourists. St Louis is an excellent city to visit by train and entirely car free, with the Metrolink and Metro busses having consistent service and many multimodal connections.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

That’s great to hear! I need to do a Kansas City video soon.

[@somethingsomething7712]

​​@@HeartlandUrbanist I live next to one of the old interurban ROWs that ran from KC to St. Joseph, makes me sad how much the transport options here have degraded. I actually have a map of some of the old interurbans that ran north from KC if you would find that interesting.

[@TheKeksadler]

I've been planning a trip from KC to St Louis via River Runner to do just that sometime this or next year. Any advice or suggestions for things along the Metrolink (hotel, attractions, food)?

[@spencer4732]

@@somethingsomething7712 yes! I recently visited the state historical society of missouri's collection in KC to read available material regarding interurban lines of the metro. The one line I'm having difficulty finding additional info about is Strang's line to Overland Park, but I'd love to learn more about any of the other lines, especially if you have a detailed / high-res map

[@spencer4732]

@@TheKeksadler a favorite of mine is to ride the Metro to Grand Blvd and then ride the 70 bus to Tower Grove for the park and restaurants, and if you're lucky you'll get to ride one of the few articulated busses in the St Louis metro fleet. The Missouri History Museum is immediately by Forest Park station with the art museum and zoo in walking distance too!

[@geisaune793]

The channel CityNerd has remarked more than once that St. Louis punches above its weight in many urbanism related aspects. I think the reason is related to what you mentioned about StL City and StL County separating, although all in all, I do think that separation was a bad choice. For 70-75 years, before the suburbanization of post-WW2, the population kept growing while the land area was unable to expand. The peak was a little over 800k in the early 50s. As a result, St. Louis became really dense for a while. Unfortunately, the city has depopulated substantially since then. I think I read once that the only two cities that have lost a greater percentage of their population are Detroit, MI and Youngstown, OH. I don’t know about Youngstown, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the two cities with the highest depopulation numbers also have some of the most per capita crime in the country. It’s embarrassing what we’ve allowed to happen to our cities because of car culture. It’s hard to believe that for decades, StL was consistently one of the top 5 largest cities in the country.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Detroit feels poised for a major rebound, especially with climate refugees over the next 30 years or so. But I’m not sure about St. Louis. I suspect it’s less climate resilient. I’m hoping a general trend towards reurbanization helps.

[@TheRuralUrbanist]

This system has the beginnings of what Karlsruhe in Germany has. Light metro is super effective and I use the system in Karlsruhe quite often. It mixes the best parts of street car, metro, interurban, and Intercity rail. In 2019, most of the major lines through the city were shifted into a new T tunnel through the core and to the railway station. It improved the system immeasurably. You should checkout the system if you get the time!

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

I just googled it - and wow. That’s impressive transit for a small city (and one I’d never heard of before today). Cities literally six times that size in the us have no rail service at all, no overnight service at all, and far less comprehensive systems even during the day.

[@TheRuralUrbanist]

@@HeartlandUrbanist yeah, it's a super interesting system and rather unique in Germany. It's probably the perfect solution for cities between 100k and 500k population. It also runs so far in so many directions, that the same line in Karlsruhe may end up as a tram line in a totally different city (like Heilbronn). And yeah, I'm from around Boston so I get it 😅.

[@logicmyth]

MATT: Regional STALWART 🎩

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

💪💪💪

[@Whoo711]

Speaking of decline... funny enough, apparently St. Louis even *used to have its own Chinatown*, too ...until that was demolished ...for a fucking baseball stadium, of all things (in 1969, I think) *sigh*😮‍💨🙄

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Ugh. Not great. I share City Nerds view that Baseball stadiums are the least bad sporting venue from an Urbanist perspective, but yeah. That’s terrible.

[@dougweaver6835]

It was one of the worst areas downtown, after the riverfront which was removed for the Arch. There was little lost.

[@jimspies2775]

Correct. A little earlier than that, the construction (destruction) started around 1960-62, opened in 1966.

[@TheNobleFive]

​@@dougweaver6835 They should have built the neighborhood up instead.

[@WILL_E_1]

​@@HeartlandUrbanist the new cardinals Busch stadium is a great urbanist ballpark. "Ballpark village" on the other hand has struggled to impress or make good on original promises.

[@horny99845]

Thanks!

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Thank you! So glad you liked the video.

[@jamallhayden2512]

Thank You!

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@gaborgredely1848]

​@@HeartlandUrbanist St Louis?? Unoka tesóm a felségével esküvő után 1968 el szöktek nyugatra. Akkor nálunk így mondták. Gyerekként St Louis volt az első amerikai város neve amit megtanultam. Mert nem messze telepedtek le. Az első képeslap is onnan származott. Az ív volt rajta a folyó partján. Csak titokban lehetett róla beszélni a családban. Úgy tudom, hogy ott épült az első acél vasút híd . Köszönöm a feltöltést. A gyerekkori emlékek törnek felszínre. Azóta több mint 50év telt el. De most is boldogan emlékszem rá. ❤❤❤❤ Thanks.

[@alewis4449]

This is so well written and delivered! I really appreciate the disclaimer section you made. Subscribed!

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Thank you! Glad to have you here.

[@NW255]

SAINT LOUIS HAS A SUBWAY??!

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Right?!

[@Hodaggium]

I've ridden this on several of my trips to Saint Louis, and I'm excited to see what this additional service on Jefferson Street will do for the community.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Here’s hoping the funding comes through and they’re able to get it done on a reasonable timeline.

[@BsBsBock]

Why is the USA so obsessed with trams

[@Oqweisha]

Some cities dont have the density for full metro and america is too lazy to build high density metro like CTA, Bart, MTA or WMATA that's why most transit projects in cities are light metro or light rail and for some cities light rail or light metro is just the best route

[@lars7935]

Light rail (same regulation as trams) are much easier to build in the US for some very stupid reasons. But on the flipside it is possible in the US to build light rail with much larger trains than in other countries.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

As with everything, I think it’s partially the regulatory environment and cost structure that constrains cities choices. And in some ways I think it’s just what’s in vogue. Maybe those two factors reinforce each other.

[@jamalgibson8139]

Trams are a good thing; they're basically higher capacity busses, but they need to be reinforced with heavy rail in terms of true metro and regional rail. In the USA we build so much of it because our population is just uninformed about what the various transit systems are, so it's easy for politicians to convince us that light rail will actually do something, rather than building what we need.

[@danielkelly2210]

They're a compromise between building subways (cost-prohibitive in the US, usually... e.g. NYC's Second Avenue line costs *10 times* the developed world average per km of line) and just having a bus system or busway. Light rail is definitely overused in the US, and used where inappropriate (the best example is in LA, a city of 4 million, where the backbone of the transit system is being built out with light rail).

[@patrickrichmond9896]

What I did notice that Metro is working on increasing safety by installing a host of things for the stations. I saw an artist rendering of one of the turnstiles that looks similar to what is seen at the exits at the St. Louis Zoo. There is a very sad thing about when some people hear about MetroLink wanting to extend to their town. They think it's funny to come up with a lie or two about a black person when they know there are some people coming from University City that work in a hospital or who may be working in a restaurant. MetroLink is also served by Metro Call-a-Ride which is a service for those who are in wheelchairs. I am sure you would never see a person in a wheelchair find their way into a home to steal a large TV. Metro wouldn't even let anyone on board with a large item like a large screen TV.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

The lie that transit passengers will come into your community to steal is baffling and yet pervasive. Even in big cities like DC where the DC Metro was blocked from Georgetown for that reason.

[@chibivesicle9612]

I moved to St. Louis in summer 2022 and I was naive thinking I could take transit to work. I'd visited the city previously, in the 90s and in 2009 taking transit while I attended a conference. Unfortunately, the Metro does not run as far west as it should into the county. Of course, this is where my job is located, in an inner ring post WWII city. The irony is not lost on me as I watch the 91 bus run what I think would be an excellent light rail route instead of a congested road that becomes a stroad. Several of my coworkers do live in the city and commute out to our location, but you have to have a car to do it due to the horrible freeways that cut all over the area. 70, 64, 44, 55 along with 170 and 270 are beyond excessive and frequently not faster than taking regular streets if you check traffic. It kills me how many parts of St. Louis city and the county have entire chucks just eaten by massive interstate infrastructure. However, don't get me wrong; St. Louis is a great place with so many things that I'm still glad I moved here! I just wish car-centric design weren't required for a lot of the better paying jobs or ones that offer economic mobility - if you can drive there.

[@rorypaul153]

The reason MetroLink doesn’t go out to west county is because they don’t vote for it.

[@Truman5555]

@@rorypaul153 And Racism! They're afraid that "Urban Thugs" will come out all the way to Chesterfield so they can steal their stuff.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Seems like something that good organizing could possibly address! We as urbanists need to own our power and get busy making our cities better.

[@jspihlman]

St. Louis could really benefit from a commuter train that goes out to at least Warrenton since the west side of the metro area sprawls so far west along the I-70 corridor.

[@chibivesicle9612]

@@rorypaul153 [sighs]. I asked my local coworkers if west county wasn't for it b/c the riff-raff from the city could cheaply get to their area. The indicated it went something like that.

[@himbourbanist]

Man St. Louis is an awesome city and Metrolink is surprising in just how damn good it is. I'm pretty excited for the North-South link to open up, my girlfriend and I are planning to go and visit when it does

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

I haven’t been in years. I’m planning to visit when the Red Line expansion opens to do a video on it.

[@ozarkharshnoisescene]

i live in STL and have never seen the suburbs of a metro area have so much resentment for the actual city. Many of these haters want the city to fail and to recieve no investment, purely because non-white people live here. For anyone wanting to visit the city, i would recommend staying away from most suburbs except for maybe ucity or Maplewood. The people in these suburbs bring down the entire metro area and make the metro area feel like a provincial, racist backwater. The city is a small sanctuary away from these people so i stay within its boarders whenever possible.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Thank you for sharing this! I’ve heard similar things before. So sad and disappointing.

[@Brandon-zs7ko]

Honestly growing up in the suburbs, you are brought up to believe stepping within the city borders is equivalent to stepping into a warzone. You start to learn you've been lied to when you visit the "warzone" to watch a baseball game, view the arch, or eat at some of the places in North SL. Despite living in STL's outer metro area for most of my childhood, I only got to go to the city maybe 4 times? It's because my parents' parents thought this, so my parents thought this, and they tried to get me to think it. You are taught the city is hell before you even know how to critically think. I'm glad my siblings and I could wake up from this. We won't pass this toxic mindset forward.

[@zeroone8800]

The disadvantage of having a urban core only city is that it has a small tax base. The advantage is it has a voter population that cares about the urban core.

[@WILL_E_1]

​@@zeroone8800well said. Honestly, the latter is more important right now. St Louis City can chart ITS OWN DESTINY, and drag the county and burbs with it if need be. That said, I think the division is overexxagerated. The burbs deep down love the city. They just have some fears holding them back. At least I think that's it.

[@SeaBassTian]

Okay you have successfully escalated my desire to visit St Louis!

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

I haven’t been in like 15 years. I really want to go back!

[@ozarkharshnoisescene]

I totally recommend visiting Cherokee Street, Tower Grove Park, South Grand, and The Grove.

[@WILL_E_1]

I recommend the central west end, the riverfront, midtown, forest park, university city, the loop, and Clayton if you have time

[@WILL_E_1]

Also soulard, Lafayette square, Compton heights etc

[@amiranore1707]

Hey there from Cleveland Ohio have you ever done a video on Cleveland’s mass rapid system

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Yeah! I released this video pretty recently and also made one on the HealthLine specifically about a year ago: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2mke4WsgrZ6d7csi=nujalGtA4T1vwMr4

[@justintownsend4555]

awesome vid, just found your channel full of other great stuff! ever thought about doing a video on buffalo?

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

It’s on my list! I visited Buffalo a few years ago and certainly felt at home culturally so I think it’s close enough to midwestern to include.

[@strudelninja]

I'll believe 10 minute headways when I see it. I haven't seen MetroLink trains run that often since the early 2000s. One HUGE issue is that there's just not that much employment in the downtown business district any more. The green line will connect to the new federal complex in north city, but I don't know how much extending into the county will help - in my experience, the majority of people that travel in from the county have switched from using the park and ride stations for concerts/games and now just use the more-abundant parking available downtown, since so many offices have closed. The majority of people I know both in and outside the city proper would rather spend 20 bucks to park every few months than take a chance on a train, and maybe a bus, that randomly gets canceled, or has no heater on the platform that functions, or has no bench at a bus stop, or has panhandlers, or only shows up every 20 minutes.

[@logicmyth]

Wow, deep cut

[@DinoCon]

I always figured the midwest would be ideal for mass transit and urbanism by virtue of the fact that so much of it is simply flat.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

I think being flat actually further incentivizes sprawl. I think more challenging geographies tend to lead to density and better transit. When you have limited land, the incredible inefficiency of car dominated infrastructure just isn’t tenable.

[@jaylewis5035]

The most recent expansion of Light Rail in Pittsburgh, called the North Shore Connector, made both the political leaders and the public so angry that the governor came to Pittsburgh to condemn the project and about 50% of the system's ridership simply abandoned even the previously-existing system. Needless to say all future plans for Light Rail in Pittsburgh have vanished.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Holy cow, I’ve got to look into that story. I know light rail has gotten some blowback in the twin cities too.

[@danielkelly2210]

What exactly made them so angry? Did the expansion cause their ridership to decline?

[@jaylewis5035]

@@danielkelly2210 They were angry because more than $500 million was spent to run Light Rail to a casino and a football stadium instead of to colleges, universities and hospitals.

[@TheDEM1995]

50%??? I don't see how that's practically or sensibly possible, unless it rendered the rest of the system incredibly substantially worse.

[@TheDEM1995]

The APTA (YT won't let me share the link, unless the last two attempts that have disappeared are going to show up after all) has it dropping a few percent per year post-2008 and then growing by 14% the year it finished in 2012

[@ryanmaneo]

great video but is that population statistic accurate? Last time I checked it was below 280k.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

I use the 2020 census as a rule - but it is true that the latest estimates are a bit lower.

[@zeroone8800]

The US Census Bureau has a tendency to overestimate population decline. Do not trust the estimates, only the censuses.

[@CABOOSEBOB]

“Its location near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers made it a hub” Cairo Illinois: am I a joke to you?

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Haha, I’m sure there’s so good reason why Cairo never grew much - but I don’t know it.

[@jonathanstensberg]

The Chain of Rocks just north of downtown made St Louis the navigable head of the entire Mississippi-Missouri-Illinois-etc River system during much of the year. This forced raw and manufactured goods to trade hands in St Louis (notably, on the flood-resistant bluff-side of the river), whether they came from a mile away or a thousand miles away. St Louis was therefore an integral center of commerce for the heart of the continent. In contrast, Cairo has a small agricultural catchment. While Cairo thrived as a stopping point when boats and barges needed to refuel, advances in technology made it easy to bypass. Thus Cairo has been reduced again to a small, flood-prone agricultural port.

[@guydreamr]

@@HeartlandUrbanist The network effect, perhaps.

[@andrewweitzman4006]

Amusingly, I know about St Louis mainly from a webcomic and now an animated series (the pilot is on KZbin) called Lackadaisy. Which can only be described as Boardwalk Empire with anthropomorphic cats. The creator takes great pains for historical accuracy.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Haha, amazing.

[@sglenny001]

Reminds me of the Tyne and Wear metro aswell as Manchester Metrolink

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

I’ve heard English transit outside of London is fairly underdeveloped. Is that your experience?

[@sglenny001]

@@HeartlandUrbanist sadly yes but we should celebrate the bits we do have I would recommend visiting Newcastle upon Tyne I feel like you will like it There's the city of Leeds which was "motorway city of the 70s

[@robk7266]

Cleveland?

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Yeah, you could argue that. But with only two non-consecutive stations underground I don’t think it really qualifies.

[@robk7266]

@@HeartlandUrbanist well, I associate the "subway" with rapid transit

[@keithsnider1958]

Interesting fact. Escape from New York was filmed in St. Louis. Because the city had a lot of blighted buildings.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Ugh. Poor St. Louis. Hopefully projects like the north-south light rail help revitalize the city.

[@mmrw]

St Louis’ light rail isn’t bad but calling it a subway is a pretty exorbitant stretch. It does not act like a metro system, it acts like a decent light rail system

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

With fully dedicated right of way, higher top speeds, and level boarding at all stations, I think categorizing it as light metro makes sense. And when I say subway, I literally mean underground tunnels linking underground stations.

[@mmrw]

@@HeartlandUrbanist yes fine, light metro. That’s still not a subway/metro in name or function. The title further makes no sense considering Cleveland’s red line is undoubtedly a real subway

[@devinmathews7809]

Subway is a little deceiving. Its usually heavy rail.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Fair, though I’m not sure what else to call it when it’s underground rail transit with level boarding, etc.

[@albertcarello619]

Don't forget Minneapolis and Saint Paul MINNESOTA have drastically gone into decline!!!!

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Umm, I’m not sure what you mean. The twin cities are growing and prosperous. And some of the most healthy urban environments in the country. The transit system is growing, housing is comparably affordable, etc. Not sure how you’re defining decline.

[@BellaBellaElla]

My brother on Christ, you GOTTA stop calling the CTA a subway system!! Jajaja. it isa metro system, called 'the 'L' ' or just 'the train'.. on two lines trains go underground for some of their route, but Chicago int a subway system. :)

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

😂 Y’all, when you go underground, get on a train, go a few stops, get off, go back above ground, and then go eat some deep dish, you’ve just experienced a subway. We can hate on NY while acknowledging that part of the “L” is a subway (and part of the “Subway” is elevated).

[@BellaBellaElla]

@@HeartlandUrbanist @HeartlandUrbanist but you just proved MY point with your comment. That's what's frustrating/funny to me. You STILL call the NYC the subway, even though you acknowledge that it is also elevated. You should do the same for Chicago. I say this not from hatred of NYC, it's an awesome place. I say this for love if the Midwest and specifically Chicago. :) the NYC subway isn't an L system, even though it has elevated trains, and chi and a subway system even though we have subways sometimes. (also we mostly only eat deep dish on special occasions, typically we do tavern style, but I digress 😆)

[@gj1234567899999]

I live in at Louis. Hardly anyone takes public transportation and actively thwart efforts to expand it. The reason is simple: crime. There are many well publicized attacks on busses and trains. Street violence is out of control in the city. People fled the violence to the suburbs. They want to keep it safe and view public transportation as allowing the violence of the cities to spill into the relatively safe suburbs. People just don’t see themselves ever taking public transportation in St. Louis. If crime is taken in control, acceptance, ridership, and construction demand for public transportation would increase.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

You’re describing very well the white flight that occurred in St. Louis. Two things: crime is falling in St. Louis (shootings were down 24% last year), and transit doesn’t in any way bring violence or crime. That’s a myth based in racism. It’s honestly a ludicrous concept. Buses that get stuck in traffic don’t make good get away vehicles 😂. Racist folks see Black people on buses and trains and get scared - but that’s dumb and racist and should be ignored. Sure, reducing crime is a good thing, good for everyone (as long as enforcement doesn’t fall disproportionately in a way that is unjust which has also been a problem in St. Louis). But racist white flight folks are probably never going to support something that they perceive as pro-Black. I’m not sure how to get out of that puzzle because transit is already good for everyone but racism blinds people.

[@scottsinger7110]

I rode metrolink and metro busses for years and never had any trouble. I lived in Dutchtown and used to walk to Ranken from N. Grand and again never had any trouble. I wasn't looking for trouble so I didn't find it. There is crime but not nearly as much as people say. I think it does boil down to being uncomfortable with different classes of people and racism.

[@BRCH1987]

6.7 million rides seems to deflate your point that "hardly anyone takes public transit"...sure. You can feel that way if you never actively see it for yourself, because you are always in a car. Well, I'm here to tell you...yes. A large percentage of locals DO use public transportation. I being one of them. Regularly. Get outside your bubble and try it more often. Really though..it's not that bad. You just read too many scary headlines. My two cents.

[@gj1234567899999]

@@BRCH1987 not at all. Do the math. 6.7 million rides? You are saying 6.7 individual one time trips? That’s nothing. 20,000 people taking public transportation most days gets you that 6.7 million rides. 20,000 people out of a metro population of 2.8 million is nothing. It proves that metro is very very niche. I been to many countries and take their public transportation fine. Reason is because places like Japan have clean and safe public transportation unlike US which has dangerous and dirty public transportation.

[@scottsinger7110]

@gj1234567899999 The United States did that purposefully to enrich the shareholders of car companies like GM and Ford. America is a business, remember. They do not listen to their constituents' complaints and could give a shit about wage inequality. Do you know how ridiculously expensive it is just to own a car and keep up with the gas, insurance, maintenance, and payments? It's easily 1000 for a cheap beater. I'm all for public transit. I rode it daily for years without any problems.

[@ianreatherford6124]

I'm a trump suipporter and a transit advocate- yes we exist

[@aoilpe]

The Music is not needed and disturbing…

[@kirillboyko9208]

What is this public transport content doing on the channel about racial, social and “labor” grievances?! 😂 unsubscribe.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

I’m perfectly happy to lose the “views” of anyone who denies racism’s corrosive and ongoing impact in shaping our cities. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

[@troyparks-jb9zb]

Almost had me watch the whole video until you said "like these racists" who were literally trying to stop people from trespassing onto their property. How would you like it if someone found where you lived and attempted to trespass, I sure hope you don't have a gun to see how it plays out.

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

I don’t want your view. Defending and rationalizing racism isn’t welcome here.

[@BRCH1987]

mm...sorry no. That's not the real narrative. No one trespassed on their property. Activists crashed the gate, (which itself is a construct of intentionally biased private-place design, rooted in St Louis classism and racism), of their neighborhood..which happened to be directly *next to their property. But no, the McCloskeys don't in fact own that gate. So, factually, you're wrong. And yes, they are racists. And they're proud of it. Get a grip.

[@troyparks-jb9zb]

@BRCH1987 Nice to know a gated house is a sign of racism, that would be a new one.

[@SirKenchalot]

You can spot bad historians when they say "I know this is nothing to do with the video but I feel I have to mention it." No you don't. Also, it appears from your analysis the city started going down hill after all the racism ended, so be careful getting into these subjects as such an amateur.

[@ozarkharshnoisescene]

found the racist

[@HeartlandUrbanist]

Not what I said, it is related to the video, and the racism is FAR from over.

[@SirKenchalot]

@@HeartlandUrbanist Yes I agree, there is way too much anti-white racism coming from the White House, all levels of government, the media, academia and activists. When will they learn?