University of Missouri–St. Louis Chief of Staff Adella Jones (center) had the honor of cutting the ribbon to officially mark the installation of a new bus bench along Natural Bridge Road near the entrance to the UMSL campus at University Avenue on Wednesday morning.
The new bench, branded with “Enjoy the Ride,” was the 12th installed across the St. Louis region through Citizens for Modern Transit’s placemaking program, “The Story of a Bench.”
“A basic amenity like a bench can make a significant difference, including showing transit riders we support them,” CMT CEO Kim Cella said during remarks on Wednesday morning. “It helps to increase ridership, improve the rider experience and remove the stigma, which is so critical in this community.”
The bench features a QR code and web address linking to a survey where bench users and transit riders can share their stories. The hope is that by doing so, they can spark further investment in transit across the region.
Jones, a member of CMT’s Board of Directors, was joined at Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting by Cella and Board Chair Ellie Glenn Harmon as well as St. Louis County Council Chair Rita Heard Days and Metro Transit Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ronald Forrest.
“This newest addition to the UMSL transit package is just very exciting to us,” Jones said. “It is in UMSL red, and we’re real, real happy about that, and our customers and our staff and our students that use the system, it is a real comfort for them. It is a welcoming feature of transit on our campus, so we’re really excited to be part of this.”
There are an additional six benches in the works to be installed in Missouri and Illinois.
This photograph was taken by Steve Walentik, UMSL’s director of public relations/content, and is the latest to be featured in Eye on UMSL. View more UMSL photos by visiting the UMSL Flickr and Instagram accounts.
