ST. LOUIS – Metro is still recovering after a cyberattack shut down parts of the transit system on Monday.
According to Metro, the breach has been contained, and they were safely able to run their transit services on Monday. However, some of those folks who use the paratransit system Call-A-Ride were unable to get where they needed to go.
“That’s terrible,” Tammy Porter said. “A lot of people really depend on Call-A-Ride—people less fortunate—and that’s a shame that this is happening to them.”
Progress is being made Tuesday to resolve the computer network affecting Bi-State Development, Metro Transit, St. Louis Downtown Airport, ticketing at the Gateway Arch and the Riverboats at the Gateway Arch, and the St. Louis Regional Freightway.
A Metro spokesperson said their IT teams froze their computer system to protect it from further damage and to protect customer information.
No customer information was compromised in the attack, according to Metro.
The breach did not have an impact on MetroLink operations or public safety cameras. They are on separate computer networks.
Since phone lines and the internet were down for Metro, customers were not able to call in and make a reservation for, say, a trip to the grocery store and return trip to the point of origin.
Metro provides an estimated 800 to 1,000 trips a day via their Call-A-Ride service. Bus and MetroLink services were uninterrupted during Monday’s cyberattack. However, the Call-A-Ride service was only able to provide life-critical appointments for dialysis treatments.
By 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, customers were able to make trip reservations for later this week.
Metro credits their quick-moving IT team and expects normal service for their Call-A-Ride customers on Wednesday.
