Louie the Triton takes a ride on MetroLink Thursday afternoon to help kick off Citizens for Modern Transit’s three-day College Transit Challenge. The initiative is designed to highlight the benefits of public transportation and encourage ridership at St. Louis area universities. (Photos by Derik Holtmann)
There were a few bewildered faces looking on Thursday as Louie the Triton stepped from the Grand Station platform onto an eastbound MetroLink train.
The University of Missouri–St. Louis mascot was joined by his counterparts The Billiken from Saint Louis University, Archie the Fox from St. Louis Community College, Kashmir the Snow Leopard from Southwestern Illinois College and Forest the Bear from Washington University in St. Louis – making for a strange scene for riders making their late afternoon commute.
The mascots were on hand for the kickoff event for the latest installment of the College Transit Challenge, the friendly competition organized by Citizens for Modern Transit, meant to highlight the benefits of public transportation and encourage ridership at area universities. Attendees helped launch the fifth challenge by riding from from Grand Station to Laclede’s Landing for reception in the ArtFusion Gallery on First Street.
“Public transit, as we all know, connects people to jobs, education, healthcare, entertainment and opportunities throughout the region,” said Travis Wood, the senior director of Citizens for Modern Transit, who led the planning for this year’s challenge. “Thanks to Metro’s U-Pass program, students and campus communities have an affordable and convenient way to get away. A little school pride and friendly competition can go a long way to getting people on board, and that’s the idea behind the College Transit Challenge.”
As part of the challenge, students as well as faculty and staff members and alumni from each institution have been tasked with trying to ride either MetroLink or MetroBus as often as they can during the three-day competition, which began Thursday and runs through Saturday.
Kaine Koehler, UMSL Student Government Association president, speaks during the transit challenge kickoff event at Grand Station. Koehler was joined by university mascots (from left to right) Forest the Bear from Washington University in St. Louis, Louie the Triton, The Billiken from Saint Louis University, Kashmir the Snow Leopard from Southwestern Illinois College and Archie the Fox from St. Louis Community College.
Participants earn points for their schools by submit information about each trip via text to challenge organizers. There are bonus points for completing multiple “scavenger hunt missions,” including riding MetroLink and MetroBus in the same day; riding in both Missouri and Illinois; reaching the end of one of the MetroLink lines; riding to the campuses of at least three, if not all five, participating institutions; displaying school spirit on the train; and riding on all three days of the challenge.
The hope is that the competition can lead more people to make using transit as a part of their routines.
“All of these universities and these students are making a commitment to a sustainable and growing region,” said Taulby Roach, the president and CEO of Bi-State Development Agency, which operates Metro Transit. “Transit is one of those components of a vibrant region that is moving forward, and whenever we are doing those things and having fun on transit and taking it to school, to work, we are having a sustainable way of building our community, our community of the future.
“That’s what we’re trying to do at Metro Transit and Bi-State Development – trying to think of our region not just today, but where it is in 10 years.”
At UMSL, enrolled students are eligible to purchase a pass that provides unlimited MetroLink and MetroBus access for only $25 per semester as part of the Metro U-Pass Program. Metro passes are also available for faculty and staff for $65 per semester.
Student Government Association President Kaine Koehler, who represented UMSL as a speaker at Thursday’s kickoff event, is a regular user of the system, riding MetroLink almost weekly, and he knows how beneficial it is to have two stops on campus.
“It’s a great way for UMSL students to get into the St. Louis community because UMSL does emphasize community,” said Koehler, who is majoring in political science. “The Office of Student Involvement has done programming using the Metro, and various other organizations too. It’s just a great way to get out and be a part of the community.”
He said it’s a popular way for fellow students to spend some downtime visiting the Delmar Loop or Forest Park or even getting to the grocery store or a doctor’s visit.
“I know quite a few students on our campus that do not have reliable transportation,” Koehler said, “and it does open a whole world to them because it’s no longer, ‘Oh I have to get a ride from someone,’ or ‘I have to pay this absurd amount for an Uber.’ We can just hop on the Metro.”
