Resident’s crusade for MetroLink pay phone pays off

Brentwood resident Barry Williams’ campaign, since 2010, for a pay phone to be installed at the Brentwood I-64 Metro station finally paid off. The city announced the new phone recently.

According to Williams, the Brentwood station was the only one out of 37 without a pay phone.

MetroLink director of communications, Patti Beck, said in an email to 40 South News the station construction didn’t include a phone, but one was installed on customer requests.

Williams sent an email to then Maplewood-Brentwood Patch editor, Doug Miner in 2012, that Metro vice president and chief information officer, Debbie Erickson said Metro president, John Nations favors having a public phone at each Metro train station.

Williams said Metro’s tight budget, and the widespread use of cell phones were obstacles.

“I have argued to Metro that public station phones are justified because not all train riders own wireless phones, and even those who do sometimes cannot use them, when their phone is lost, stolen, disabled, out of minutes or electricity, etc.,” Williams said in the email.

Williams also noted in the June, 2012, email, that “last month’s elimination of the public pay phone from Schnuck’s Market 104 marked the end of an era in Brentwood. For the first time in its history — since its incorporation in 1919 — Brentwood has no public telephone. One pay phone, owned by Joltran Communications, remains in service within the City, but it is located inside the Metro bus maintenance garage at 3000 S. Brentwood Blvd. and is available only to the facility’s employees.  It is not available to the public.”

Williams said he nearly gave up hope about a year ago, but Erickson told him a cost estimate for the telephone installation was being prepared.