Greyhound

MetroLink plus Greyhound gets you downtown for under $10

Greyhound doesn’t come to STL itself; every intercity bus leaves from the downtown Greyhound station at 430 S 15th St, about 14 miles from Terminal 1. Plan on 30–60 minutes total from airport curb to Greyhound boarding if everything lines up. This combo only makes sense if you’re watching costs and already holding (or planning to buy) a Greyhound ticket out of St. Louis.

Step-by-step: STL terminals to downtown Greyhound

• 1) From Terminal 1 or Terminal 2 baggage claim, follow signs for “MetroLink.” At STL the stations sit just east of Terminal 1 and north of Terminal 2, both reachable in about 5 minutes on foot.
• 2) Buy a MetroLink ticket from the platform machine. A one-ride ticket on the Red Line toward “Shiloh-Scott” currently runs a few dollars; tap or validate as instructed on the machine before you board.
• 3) Ride MetroLink from “Lambert Airport Terminal 1” or “Lambert Airport Terminal 2” to “Civic Center” station, about 13–16 stops and roughly 30 minutes in normal conditions.
• 4) Exit at Civic Center and walk to Greyhound. The Greyhound terminal sits roughly two blocks south of the MetroLink station; most people walk it in 5–8 minutes along 14th or 15th Street.
• 5) Check in at the Greyhound counter inside the small station building, which serves multiple daily routes toward cities like Chicago and Memphis. Lines can form 30–45 minutes before departure.

What regulars do

Frequent riders on r/greyhound suggest at least a 60-minute buffer between your scheduled STL landing time and any Greyhound departure if you’re using MetroLink plus walking. Locals on r/stlouis often swap to Uber or Lyft straight from Terminal 1 or 2 to 430 S 15th St after dark, even if it adds $25–$40, just to skip the late-night transfer at Civic Center.

Watch out for

Airport sites sometimes say “buses serve the airport,” but that usually means local MetroBus Route 35 or 49, not Greyhound; the long-distance coaches stay downtown. The downtown Greyhound station gets regular complaints in Google Reviews about being run-down, and several riders say they don’t like walking the two blocks from Civic Center station with luggage after 22:00.

Final tip

If your STL arrival is after 21:00 and the last Greyhound leaves around 23:00, assume the connection fails and price in either an airport overnight or a basic downtown hotel near Civic Center before you commit to this routing.