St. Louis' Metro Transit announced that MetroLink service will look different starting on Oct. 2, as the agency launches a pilot program to put single-car trains into daily service instead of the two-car trains that MetroLink typically operates.

Metro Transit Pilot Period

During this pilot period, single-car trains will operate seven days a week throughout the 46-mile MetroLink system in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County in Missouri, and St. Clair County in Illinois.

Metro Transit added that it will evaluate the flexibility and resource usage of single-car train service and see how it may be applied to improve transit service for customers. 

“The pandemic has changed our region in a number of ways, including how people travel and how they use transit,” said Charles Stewart, COO of Metro Transit. “We’ll be testing single-car service this fall to see if more flexibility on MetroLink makes better use of our workforce resources and provides opportunities to try out new innovative options that may better serve the changing travel patterns of our MetroLink riders.”

Operating single-car MetroLink trains provides some advantages, including:

• One MetroLink train car is more efficient for security to patrol

• Wear and tear on the machinery is reduced in half

• Service can be provided more efficiently at current ridership levels