Transit options to improve for Columbia residents

The plans would make travel easier for low-income people.

By Cecilia Evans and Ryan Schmitz

Published March 3, 2009

Improvements in transportation at local and state levels could make it easier for travelers with low-income or limited accessibility to get further from home in less time.

At its meeting Monday, the City Council heard public comment from Alyce Turner, a member of the Boone County Energy and Environment Commission.

Turner discussed the Mid-Missouri Transit Pilot Project, and asked the council to grant $120,000 to the Boone County Community Partnership from Missouri's portion of the federal economic stimulus package.

The nonprofit group said there is a lack of countywide public transportation, and their plan offers the potential to connect Columbia with Jefferson City, Boonville and surrounding rural areas.

"Two-thirds of this project already is funded by federal money," Turner said. "We need the other third to create this regional transportation in Boone County. We couldn't find $100,000 last year due to the tough economic times, but now we may be able to find it through the economic stimulus."

Turner emphasized the positive social and economic consequences that would come from the council's approval of the project. She noted how it would help university students in Columbia looking to travel to Columbia Regional Airport and the Amtrak station in Jefferson City.

"This is a very important concept for students who want to work in Jefferson City, but don't have cars," Turner said. "We would be connecting all of our transportation routes in Boone County. This project is federally funded and ready to start up in 60 days, and would allow rural residents easy access to urban areas."

If students decide to use the Amtrak in Jefferson City, they would experience better service than in previous years.

Missouri's Amtrak passenger trains reported a 96 percent on time rate for January, much improved since the October rate of 62 percent, but major progress won't begin until April.

"A lot of people were surprised, myself included," said Rodney Massman, administrator of railroads for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari credited this development to Union Pacific's improved dispatching of the freight trains that share the rails with Amtrak.

Contrary to national trends, ridership for the Missouri Amtrak route connecting St. Louis and Kansas City has declined. Ridership reached a high of 208,000 passengers in 2001, but had decreased to 144,000 by 2007 due to late trains. MoDOT reported 71 percent of trains were within 30 minutes of their scheduled arrival times in 2007, but some were delayed up to four hours.

Union Pacific, who shares rails with Amtrak, also plans to improve. Last month, it began a $6 million maintenance project, repairing worn tracks around curves. Passengers on the two day-trains will be transferred to a bus for part of their trips during the work time. Morning and evening trains will not be affected. The project is due to be finished by April 8.

Another advancement for Missouri's public transportation is the St. Louis Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center. The new hub station serves as a convergence point for travelers on MetroLink, Metro Bus, Greyhound and Amtrak. Amtrak offers round trips from St. Louis to Chicago and Kansas City, as well as Arkansas and Texas.