Metro STL is a simple, useful app, but it isn’t ambitious enough. At a very basic level, it has what you’d expect in a MetroLink app.

A new MetroLink application for the iPhone is available for free for a short time. Washington University lecturer Todd Sproull developed this app, which provides MetroLink timetables and station information. The app offers the ability to select the station the trains depart from and direction of the destination in order to find departure and arrival times.

Metro will gradually phase in expanded transit service following St. Louis County voters’ approval on Tuesday of a sales tax increase for Metro, top Metro officials said late last week. Chief Operating Officer Ray Friem said service will be restored in phases over the next 12 months. The first changes will come June 28 after a series of public hearings in the coming weeks.

I want you to support public transit. Not because it’s good for the environment. Not because it helps with economic development and jobs growth. Not because it provides accessibility to people who may not have other options for mobility. Those are all really good reasons to support public transit, but I want you to support it because it is fun.

Chancellor Mark Wrighton on Monday called on community members to turn out for the April St. Louis County election to vote in favor of a sales tax for funding Metro, as Washington University continued efforts to mobilize the community around the measure.

With the April elections just around the corner, the fate of St. Louis Metro is once again at the mercy of another proposal after the failure of last year’s Proposition M. And this time around, the coalition of transit supporters is more determined than ever as it prepares its campaign.

The St. Louis County government said on Monday that a transit sales tax measure similar to Proposition M could appear on the county ballot this April, as a coalition of transit advocates ramps up its campaign efforts.

Couples arrive decked out in tuxedos, dresses and fanciful regalia. Some eagerly start campaigning for king or queen. Camera flashes go off left and right. The stage is set for what seems like a typical prom. And then a Metro train rushes by.

This week, Metro bus service, which had been cut back earlier this year, was restored to parts of St. Louis. About 55 percent of the bus service Metro cut in March was reinstated.

Metro’s service cutbacks may have gone into effect, but that’s not stopping a number of Washington University students and administrators from continuing to advocate funding for the transit agency.