The 70 Grand bus route running from Broadway to Loughborough Commons services an average of 5,000 riders each weekday. However, the route boasting the highest ridership in the city is also frequently plagued by reliability issues, according to the grassroots transit advocacy group St. Louis Transit Riders.
In an effort to draw attention to Grand’s bus inconsistencies, Transit Riders launched an online petition to compel transit authorities to address punctuality problems on the route. Addressed to Bi-State Development CEO Taulby Roach, the petition demands changes such as dedicated bus lanes, transit priority signals, and bus boarding islands.
Noah Goldman is a co-lead of the St. Louis Transit Riders group, which is an offshoot of the St. Louis Urbanists advocacy organization. He sees Grand’s buses being on time just around 70 percent of the time as of April 2026 as an urgent issue. “We hear from riders who say that nearly every single workday the bus isn’t showing up, or is showing up late, or gets canceled, especially in the afternoon and evening,” he tells SLM. In St. Louis, where bus service is not as frequent as in denser cities, a cancellation means waiting 30 minutes or more for the next bus…