Clayton or Richmond Heights in 35–45 minutes? That’s MetroLink Blue.
From STL Terminal 1 or 2, you start on the Red Line at the airport stations, pay about $2–3 for a one-way ticket, then move to the Blue Line at a junction like Forest Park–DeBaliviere. The Blue Line itself never comes into the airport, which is what trips up first-timers staring at the system map in the ticket hall.
Trains run roughly every 12–20 minutes, with tighter headways in weekday peaks and the longest waits late evenings and on Sundays. From STL to Forest Park–DeBaliviere runs about 25–30 minutes, and Forest Park–DeBaliviere to Clayton or Richmond Heights adds another 10–15 depending on time of day and intermediate stops like Skinker or Brentwood I-64.
At Forest Park–DeBaliviere, the transfer is usually a simple cross-platform move: step off the airport Red Line train, walk a few meters across the island platform, and line up for the next Blue. Locals on r/stlouis say the wait here can swing from 5 minutes at rush hour to 10–20 minutes late at night or on weekends, so this is where the timing can either feel slick or painfully slow.
The Blue Line is the move if your end point is Clayton, Richmond Heights, Brentwood, the Galleria, or Shrewsbury-Lansdowne I-44. One regular summed it up: from the airport you ride Red first, then grab Blue for spots west of Forest Park that the Red Line skips. That single transfer replaces a 20–30 minute car ride across I-64 at busy times.
Watch out for the branding: station maps and car diagrams show both a red and blue stripe, but every train that pulls into STL is Red Line only. Visitors sometimes stand on the airport platform waiting for a Blue Line train that will never show, then lose 15–20 minutes before asking a guard or another rider what’s going on.
Regulars check real-time arrivals in the Transit or Metro On The Go app before committing to a Blue transfer. If the app shows a 15–20 minute Blue gap at Forest Park–DeBaliviere, many just stay on Red to Delmar Loop or Central West End and call Uber or Lyft from there, shaving 10–15 minutes versus standing on the Blue platform.
Bottom line tip: as soon as you reach the airport platform outside Terminal 1 or 2, buy your $2–3 ticket, pull up live times for Forest Park–DeBaliviere, and decide in advance whether you’re actually riding Blue or bailing to rideshare downline.