Soon you’ll see these brightly colored buses driving throughout the St. Louis region. Dubbed the “Downtown Trolley,” these buses will focus solely on making the  Downtown St. Louis region more accessible to visitors, employees and residents.. The partnership between Metro Transit, The Downtown St. Louis Community Improvement District and the CVC will expand and update the route of the former MetroBus #99 Downtown Circulator.

Kitty Ratcliffe, President CVC

“We are pleased to introduce this new trolley service, which will not only benefit downtown residents and workers, but also the millions of visitors St. Louis welcomes annually,” said Kitty Ratcliffe, president of the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission (CVC). “Just in time for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, this new service will enable tourists to experience more of the world-class attractions, sports venues, culture, retail and dining that St. Louis offers.”

The new route will loop through Downtown from the Civic Center MetroLink Station, traveling on 14th Street, Spruce Street, Market Street, 4th Street, Broadway, and Washington Avenue to the City Museum before returning on 14th Street to the Civic Center.

The new trolleys will be accessible without much of a wait time. The service will operate from 5:30 a.m. to midnight Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to midnight on Saturday. Service will reach each stop every 10 minutes from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, and every 20 minutes the rest of the time.

The Downtown Trolley prices are $2 for adults and $1 for children, seniors, and those with disabilities. Metro passes and transfers will be accepted.

For a complete lists of time and hours of operations please call 314-231-2345 or visit metrostlouis.org.

The Partnership for Downtown St. Louis is sponsoring four movies in the Old Post Office Plaza at 801 Locust Street.

The movies will start at dusk and picnicking is being encouraged. All movies are free.

June 4th — The Blues Brothers

June 11 — The Game of Their Lives

June 18 — Moonstruck

June 25 — The Bird Cage

For more information on events Downtown please click (here).

For even more photos from this past Saturday click (here).

It was spring of 2005 when Bike St. Louis unveiled 20 miles of continuous on-street bicycle route.  Since that time, the Great Rivers Greenway District has helped opened 57 additional miles routes through St. Louis County and St. Louis City. With the expansion, the Bike St. Louis system now totals 77 miles of dedicated bike lanes and shared traffic lanes. Map of routes is available (here).

It all started according to the Bike St. Louis website:

The idea came from then Alderman Lewis Reed and Congressman Russ Carnahan, long-time friends and cyclists who felt it was time to create a way to connect the parks in the City for cyclists and to provide safe commuter route options.

St. Louis has come a long way since 2005 and continues to move forward with more bike lanes and cyclist friendly routes.  As evidence of the increase in awareness of the role that cyclists play in St. Louis, South Grand is considering additional improvements for cyclists and there are plans to open city streets for foot and bike traffic.

There has also been a lot more organization by cyclists in the community.  Organizations such has the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation help coordinate bike related activities and work on projects such as the Bike Parking Demonstration Project which will install at least 100 new bike racks around St. Louis city and county.  Organizations and groups such as the Banana Bike Brigade, BWORKS, St. Louis Cycling Club, and Trailnet all have benefited our community immensely.

Additionally, events such as the Annual Moonlight Ramble bring  cyclists from all around the community Downtown.  Also the Tour of Missouri and Gateway Cup have introduced the St. Louis community to some of the best of bike races in the Midwest and even the United States.

With the continued growth to bike trails in St. Louis businesses have met the demand by offering bike rentals including: Big Shark Bicycle Company, Gateway Arch Riverfront Bike Rentals, Maplewood Bicycle, Momentum Cycles – St. Charles, Touring Cyclist, and World’s Fair Bike Rental – Forest Park.  There are even pedicab services with St. Louis Rickshaw and St. Louis 3Wheel Taxi.

As you can see from all the organizations, events and businesses in St. Louis, cyclists continue to become a essential part of the social fabric and culture of our community.  People have continued to learn to appreciate the serenity of a bike ride and health benefits of regular cycling.  With additional of dedicated bike lanes and bike friendly streets, St. Louis will continue to make the progress that we have seen since 2005 when the community came together to create Bike St. Louis.

Today marked the ribbon cutting and opening ceremonies of Downtown’s newest business, the Culinaria – A Schnucks Market. On the 70th Anniversary of the first Schnucks being opened, this store is a unique example of an urban grocery store and is further proof that Downtown is moving forward.

It was crowded this morning as people looked at the murals on the wall and the fresh fruit in the aisles. As you can see from the pictures below, this store is unlike any other Schnucks store you may have been in and is designed for the urban employee or resident. The Culinaria is located on the corner of 9th and Olive.