Narrative:

For many years stl has held on to ground metering frequency even though their traffic level is negligible. We are required to contact metering when we are ready for initial taxi. Very often ground metering will issue taxi instructions as they are also manning ground control; i.e. Combined up. This means you have aircraft taxiing in the same space on different frequencies. This leads to confusion and potentially dangerous situations as one aircraft does not know what another aircraft said they are doing. For example on our taxi out yesterday we were cleared first and a company aircraft on ground control frequency was then cleared to taxi. They did not hear our clearance first; so they were surprised to see us taxiing in front of them. Of course ground also failed to tell company to follow us; but the point is when aircraft on the same pavement taxi around on different frequencies it creates an unnecessary rise in the level of risk.close metering frequency; it isn't necessary. It is almost always manned by the same person manning ground control. If they won't do that; then stop allowing aircraft to taxi on multiple frequencies. It is lazy controlling. Taxi is done on ground control; not metering.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain stated that the Metering frequency at STL has out lived is usefulness and caused confusion when used to issue taxi instructions; with a ground control frequency also in use.

Narrative: For many years STL has held on to Ground Metering frequency even though their traffic level is negligible. We are required to contact Metering when we are ready for initial taxi. Very often Ground Metering will issue taxi instructions as they are also manning Ground Control; i.e. combined up. This means you have aircraft taxiing in the same space on different frequencies. This leads to confusion and potentially dangerous situations as one aircraft does not know what another aircraft said they are doing. For example on our taxi out yesterday we were cleared first and a Company aircraft on Ground Control frequency was then cleared to taxi. They did not hear our clearance first; so they were surprised to see us taxiing in front of them. Of course Ground also failed to tell Company to follow us; but the point is when aircraft on the same pavement taxi around on different frequencies it creates an unnecessary rise in the level of risk.Close Metering frequency; it isn't necessary. It is almost always manned by the same person manning Ground Control. If they won't do that; then stop allowing aircraft to taxi on multiple frequencies. It is lazy controlling. Taxi is done on Ground Control; not Metering.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.