1 week Ago By By Mark Schlinkmann St. Louis Post-Dispatch
EAST ST. LOUIS — The first passenger entry gates in MetroLink's 31-year history became operational Monday at the Emerson Park station in East St. Louis.
Shortly before noon, security guards began requiring people to show proof they had bought a ticket or pass before allowing them to go through the gates to enter the boarding platform at the station. Use of the gates will be gradually phased in at all 38 MetroLink stations between now and the end of 2025. It's part of an ongoing $52 million effort to increase security on the light rail system following high-profile crimes in recent years.
"We're trying to tell the region that we take security seriously," said Kevin Scott, general manager of security for the Bi-State Development Agency, which runs Metro Transit. "We firmly believe that viable, safe transit is a significant tool..
.of a region that wants to grow and compete," he said. Gates are expected to become operational later this month at three other Metro East stations — next Monday at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee station in East St.
Louis, Sept. 23 at the station in Washington Park and Sept. 30 at the College station in Belleville.
Then gates at seven stations in St. Louis will go into service by the end of the year — Delmar Loop, Forest Park-DeBaliviere, Central West End, Cortex, Grand, Union Station and Civic Center. Eventually riders will get through the gates at all stations via an automatic fare collection system.
But installation of that system won't begin until next year, so in the meantime guards will monitor for tickets. The ticket gate program reverses Metro's longstanding policy of relying on fare enforcement conducted by roving security personnel on the trains. Riders have been required to produce their time-stamped tickets or passes when asked to do so on the trains.
That's common for most light rail systems in North America. Transit customers interviewed Monday at the Emerson Park station expressed support for the new gates. "I do like it, it makes me feel a lot safer," said LaMonica Henderson, 37, of Edwardsville.
Henderson, who planned to take a train to her bartending job at the Dome at America's Center in downtown St. Louis, said she hasn't been a MetroLink crime victim herself. But she said she sees "wanderers on the train all the time" who sometimes ask her for money.
"It kind of makes you on edge at times," she said. Lewis Collins, 69, of East St. Louis, said after getting off a train that the gates will "stop people from getting on the train for free" and "stop a lot of the crime that's going on.
" Monte Frazier, 28, of Collinsville, said "it's good for safety" but he said he had some concern that lines outside the gates might delay people during busier periods. "It might slow us down a little bit," he said. The $52 million security plan here also includes items such as an upgraded camera system and extensive station fencing.
The bulk of the money is coming from government sources, including local and federal funds and proceeds from bond refinancing. In addition, private donors have kicked in $10.4 million, led by Enterprise Holdings' nearly $5 million contribution.
Bi-State/Metro decided in 2021 to install turnstiles even though they weren't recommended by a consulting firm that studied MetroLink security two years earlier. The company, WSP USA Inc., said there isn't much correlation between fare evasion and serious crime.
WSP recommended other steps, which Bi-State/Metro has mostly adopted, such as the expanded and updated security camera network. Bi-State/Metro officials have said the new gates will make passengers feel more secure and are needed to help build ridership. Scott, the system's security manager, commended WSP's study but said he believes that the gates will in fact lead to a reduction in crime incidents on the trains and platforms.
He also said they will deter incidents that start near the stations from moving onto MetroLink property and playing out "in the vicinity of our customers.".
