A NEW DAWN FOR THE METROLINK

FILE PHOTO / The Current

Metrolink has served the greater St. Louis area since it first opened back in 1993. Students have arguably played an integral role in the Metrolink’s history, contributing a large amount to its overall rider-ship.
“Metrolink has realized that a good percentage of the riders during the day are students at Washington University and UMSL,” Tyler Hicks, sophomore, sociology, said. “Plus there is a large number of foreign students who have no vehicle. Also, college kids are broke and it’s the cheapest way to travel.”
According to moremetrolink.com, the average public transit commuter saves $2,000 per year versus driving. Also, students can save even more money through student discounts that Metro offers. A student ID will get many college students a discount through Metro, and some colleges such as Southwestern Illinois University, Washington University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis have even better deals where the college pays for the passes and gives them to students at a cheaper price.
Metrolink recently began a new advertising campaign targeting students.
“The basic concept of the commercial is to show what life would be like without Metro,” Director Bob Miano from Technisonic Studios, the studio hired to film the commercials, said. “It shows shots of students, local businessmen, sports fans, disabled people and the elderly being forced to hitchhike because there is no Metro.”
The commercial was shot on Friday, January 29, and will be released in the next few months. It will show people standing on the side of the road hitchhiking and receiving no sympathy from passersby. Some of the locations that have been shot for the commercial include the area around Union Station and parts of Clayton, although it has not been decided which area would be used in the commercial.
“The commercials will help to generate the younger crowd to come ride Metrolink,” Carlos Hagene, 28-year-old actor in the commercial and Vatterott College Computer Technology major, said. Hagene is no stranger to Metrolink commercials having acted in one previous commercial for them, along with a few of the other students.
The new advertising campaign comes in the wake of a failed transit proposition for St. Louis County. The proposed half-cent sales tax increase in the county would have cost the average county family an extra $4 per month. This proposition failed by a slim margin and resulted in Metrobus routes being cut back, fares increasing and Missouri state legislature stepping in to grant a one-year $12 million appropriation to restore some of the bus routes.
On April 6, the proposition will resurface to give county voters another chance to vote and either secure or seal the fate of transit in St. Louis County. Metro hopes its commercial might send some college student votes its way.