ST. LOUIS (KMOX) -- Riding a bus can be complicated. Metro hopes that by smoothing out timetables -- more buses, more often -- the agency can make it simpler to hop on.
There's urgency to stem a 20 percent decline in ridership.
These changes are part of a plan called Metro Reimagined.
The once-a-decade shake-up to the bus system comes September 30th.
Right now the wait for a bus could be 40 or 60 minutes. The new idea is to send buses along the busiest routes every 15 or 30 minutes, so the headways are more like MetroLink. For instance, you'd be able to just know the bus is coming at :09 and :39.
"We know that consumers are more likely to choose transit if they don't have to wait very long," Director Jessica Mefford-Miller told us. "It's the number one thing our customers asked for."
KMOX News asked Mefford-Miller if employers off the beaten path might help foot the bill for certain routes in the future. She said an announcement on that could come in 2020.
"We've been working with employers and doing things like surveys, so we understand things like precise shift times and we can design service that meets their needs," she said. "Think about it like, boutique routes."
Since everybody's commute is different, the best way to get answers is to call Metro customer service at (314) 231-2345 or text (314) 207-9786.
You can also download the 'Transit' app to run scenarios.