Loan Keeps Loop Trolley Afloat Until Jan. 1, While Bi-State Considers Running It
Date Posted: November 8, 2019
Posted In: News,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The financially wobbly Loop Trolley will keep running at least through the end of year on reduced hours following a $90,000 loan from the sales tax district that helped fund the line’s construction.
Meanwhile, the Bi-State Development Agency — which operates MetroLink and Metro buses — said it’s been asked to “evaluate operating options at avoiding default” of the trolley.
That includes the possible Bi-State/Metro takeover of the line, Bi-State CEO Taulby Roach confirmed in a text message.
Those were the latest developments Wednesday in the saga of the $51-million streetcar line, which links the western end of the Delmar Loop commercial area in University City and the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park.
The nonprofit trolley company’s president, John Meyer, had said Oct. 12 that the line faced insolvency if it was unable to come up with $200,000 by this month and another $500,000 to operate into next year.
St. Louis County officials so far have refused to provide any more money, but St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson has said she was trying to come up with a solution.
Officials with the trolley company and the tax district — the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District — didn’t explain Wednesday why the $90,000 loaned this week wasn’t available when Meyer made his statement in October.