Transportation

As someone who lives outside the Central West End, I commute to school on my bike almost every day! In St. Louis, biking is a viable transportation option almost year-round (with the exception of about six weeks in the winter). Riding through Forest Park is a convenient, healthy way to wake up on the way to class, and it takes about 15 minutes to ride from one end to the other. You can keep your bike in one of the locked bike cages on the Washington University Medical Campus, and there are mini-service stations if you need tools for minor DIY fixes. WashU even sponsors free bike tune-up events on campus throughout the year. For recreation, check out the Katy Trail, Grant’s Trail, and the Riverfront Trail.

TLDR: Having a car isn’t necessary for your first year, but it can really broaden your access to St. Louis in general. It’s relatively affordable and is 100% worth it to me personally. I would highly recommend it if you’re on the fence.

Having a car for my first year of medical school was a decision that I went back and forth on for several weeks before I put the pedal to the metal. Since then, I haven’t regretted the choice at all! For full transparency, having a car is NOT required for Phase One at WashU Med, but is necessary for later parts of the curriculum. Nonetheless, I wanted to have a car because I thought it would be convenient for running errands, exploring St. Louis, and just generally having more access to things around the city. While having the car definitely tightened other parts of my monthly budget in terms of parking fees, I think it’s been more than worth it for me personally. I use my car every morning to go to a gym that is a 10-minute drive off campus, regularly grab lunch with my brother near the Danforth Campus, and can drive my friends around if we ever want to go to parts of St. Louis outside the Central West End! Despite how often I use my car, gas is also relatively cheap, and I rarely need to fill my tank more than once a month.

Life without a car here in St. Louis is what you make of it, and your experience truly depends on your unique circumstances and needs. So far, I’ve realized that living in the Central West End (CWE) without a car is 100% doable for me, but this is mainly due to its close proximity to the Washington University Medical Campus and other resources such as grocery stores, restaurants, and sites for leisure. I mainly use Uber, Lyft, and electric scooters to get around if my destination is not walkable. The CWE MetroLink stop for the blue/red lines is also an incredibly convenient, cost-effective, and safe option if you are trying to get to the Danforth Campus, the airport, or downtown St. Louis.

Unfortunately, parking is not free because of the number of people working on campus. Students can purchase a permit in the Clayton Garage for $84/month. This garage is about a five-minute power walk from the classrooms. For an additional $40/month, you get unlimited access to 20 Level 2 charging stations in the Clayton Garage. Street parking around the Washington University Medical Campus is available on a first-come, first-served basis for $2/hour. Another option for people living farther from campus is the free Metro Park-Ride program. These are also first-come, first-served and free parking lots that let you park and directly ride the Metro to campus.

There’s a reason that St. Louis is in the MID-west. The city is pretty much in the center of the country, providing great opportunities to explore other cities close by. Although we typically have classes on Friday morning, Friday afternoons are almost always free. Therefore, traveling on Friday afternoons and coming back on Sunday evenings provides a nice weekend in another location of your choice. Many of my classmates and I have gone to the following cities (and this isn’t even an exhaustive list!): Memphis, Tenn.; Nashville, Tenn.; Chicago; and Kansas City, Mo.! Most recently, several friend groups traveled to Nashville to explore the city and all its touristy destinations. Some folks even find time to travel to western Missouri for a nice outdoor hiking or fishing trip.

Ultimately, there are plenty of places that you can get to within five hours, providing a nice change of scenery after a long week of studying. Although driving to the East Coast or West Coast is not very feasible from St. Louis, some of my classmates have also made long weekends flying to visit friends, families, and loved ones! While studying is priority No. 1, don’t let it stop you from taking advantage of St. Louis’s great proximity to a number of cool places. Grab some classmates, find your favorite oldies but goodies, and enjoy the ride!

St. Louis has several transportation options (beyond driving) for travel plans that are farther from the city. St. Louis Lambert International Airport is a less than 30-minute drive, or about a 45-minute ride on the MetroLink, from the Central West End, and Gateway Station, accessible by MetroLink, serves as a hub for Amtrak and multiple bus lines that run throughout the country. Fortunately, there’s a MetroLink station right on the Washington University Medical Campus, which makes travel that much easier!