Let’s Get Back to the Basics at JTA

[jaxlongtimer]

MetroLink LRT still operates in St. Louis. Also, you can re-hire workers or contract out. Neither the Skyway or NAVI are officially dead.

You can rehire workers if you can find ones that know what they are doing and are willing to take the job.  Not so easily guaranteed under present circumstances.  Look at all the layoffs done during COVID and the shortage of qualified workers since in many companies and industries that wish they could get them to come back.  People move on when laid off and in today's labor market there is a serious shortage of trades people (e.g. qualified mechanics, etc.).

Here is what I was referring to re: St. Louis MetroLink. Apologies if I thought it related to the incumbent system.  It does appear that, going forward, they are switching gears to BRT from light rail.

Previous light rail plan scrapped
The original plan was pitched as a light rail system, was scrapped by Mayor Spencer and others because of costs.

"This was much more of an attractive project relative to competing for those federal dollars," Scott said.

Pivoting to the bus rapid transit system, which is already in cities like Minneapolis and Indianapolis, may cost less than putting in a light rail system, but funding remains a question.

East West Gateway, St. Louis' regional planning organization, could soon approve the plan, a crucial step toward federal funding. But questions remain if a half-cent sales tax approved by city voters in 2017 to fund Metrolink expansion can be used for bus rapid transit.


"Could that be used if we pivot this project from light rail to BRT, that is an ongoing discussion that we're still working through with the city and how that would have to be vetted either with the board of alderman or the overall voters and what that process would look like," Scott said.

https://www.firstalert4.com/2026/06/18/st-louis-bus-rapid-transit-plan-moves-forward-with-funding-questions/

[thelakelander]

MetroLink LRT still operates in St. Louis. Also, you can re-hire workers or contract out. Neither the Skyway or NAVI are officially dead.

You can rehire workers if you can find ones that know what they are doing and are willing to take the job.  Not so easily guaranteed under present circumstances.  Look at all the layoffs done during COVID and the shortage of qualified workers since in many companies and industries that wish they could get them to come back.  People move on when laid off and in today's labor market there is a serious shortage of trades people (e.g. qualified mechanics, etc.).

JTA doesn't need to operate or manage. Heck, given their track record, it may make more sense to have a contract with an operator. The same sentiment would apply to other forms of transit, like streetcar, LRT, and commuter rail.

This is the type of stuff you figure through realistic alternatives analysis and study.

[jaxlongtimer]

^ Not to belabor the point, but I will  .

Whether JTA hires or it's outsourced, my point is it's about the supply of the talent, not who they work for.  If the talent isn't there, no one can supply the labor.  I guess it's possible to retrieve the talent if JTA, being more desperate having eliminated the incumbents, pays a lot more money than they were spending. But that would just make the Skyway even more financially questionable.  We shall see in due course how it plays out.