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Front Page » Top Stories » Commissioners put Miami-Dade transit on hot seat

Commissioners put Miami-Dade transit on hot seat

Written by on November 21, 2017
  • www.miamitodayepaper.com
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Commissioners put Miami-Dade transit on hot seat

With declining transit revenues and not enough money to subsidize all services, Miami-Dade’s Department of Transportation and Public Works had to cut services to balance its budget earlier this year. While voting on a pre-approved bus service adjustment on Tuesday, county commissioners said they would be evaluating transit to push for more creative solutions.

Earlier this year, the commission fought with the administration about transit cuts during budget hearings. The budget department identified about $3 million in overhead savings within the transit department and suggested using People’s Transportation Plan money intended for transit expansion projects to cover operating costs. The commission compromised and approved the $4.4 million in savings for the bus route adjustments to balance the transit department’s budget.

“We are here for the public hearing process for what the board already adopted,” Budget Director Jennifer Moon said Tuesday. “A budget was adopted and you approved eliminating these routes because it is going to have the least impact. We’re just trying to impact the fewest number of people.”

Commissioners took the opportunity to discuss transit more broadly, calling Transportation Director Alice Bravo to explain the cuts.

“We keep telling people to get out of their cars, and then we chop off routes that don’t have sufficient riders,” said Commissioner Sally Heyman. Ms. Heyman said one route deleted leaves a portion of Miami Beach without a transit option south of 41st Street. “I can’t support this unless I have a commitment from Ms. Bravo that something will be looked at, because we can’t leave them totally isolated.”

“We will work with Miami Beach to find an option to provide a lifeline service there,” Ms. Bravo assured Ms. Heyman.

Commissioner Barbara Jordan said she was concerned that the county isn’t being sensitive to the needs of the riders, using a medical metaphor for the county’s transit system.

“The patient is dying on the table and we’re cutting service lines,” Ms. Jordan said. “We’re fighting against ourselves.”

Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava took the opportunity to voice concerns about a transit desert in District 8. “There are 11,000 people without access to transit. We have to go to where the people are,” she said. “We’ve only been looking at ways to cut the budget, not ways to invest. I’m not going to be supporting the plan at this time.”

By making the service adjustments, the transit department would save $4.4 million, Ms. Bravo said.

When Commissioner Dennis Moss asked what would happen if the route changes weren’t approved, Ms. Bravo said the department would have to reduce service in other ways to make up for the deficit.

“We’re already targeting the areas where we have the smallest amount of riders,” Ms. Bravo said. “We have limited resources and people are using other means of transportation. If not these routes, we will have to make frequency changes on heavier routes. If we stretch ourselves too thin, then we will be impacting the people who use our services the most.”

Ms. Moon chimed in, saying if the commission didn’t approve the cuts, the department would have to find $4.4 million in its budget by making deeper cuts to services.

“We will be forced to make reductions in headway across all routes and reduce frequency,” Ms. Moon said. “Federal law means we can do this without going before the board.”

“We are not proposing that this is beneficial to the county in any way; it is just what must be done to balance our budget,” she said.

Ms. Jordan said she will be putting in a formal request to have the Department of Transportation and Public Works audited. “I am not supporting this item and I will request a report to audit the details of transit with a list of specifics,” she said.

Commissioner Jean Monestime added to Ms. Jordan’s request. “My office will work with the county attorney’s office to do an independent study of mass transit in this county,” he said.

Before voting, commissioners pushed to have more creative transit solutions developed so they wouldn’t have to vote on making additional route cuts.

“We’re going to be in this quagmire until the department comes up with a creative way to make do with what it has,” Commissioner Esteban Bovo Jr. said. “We need to be bold with transportation, but until then we will need to adjust routes.”

Mr. Bovo said the county will suffer until transportation is revamped.

“Transportation is the key to affordable housing, workforce housing and economic stability. We aren’t going to lure Amazon to South Florida” with our current transit system, Mr. Bovo said. “We don’t have the ability to let an extra 50,000 people move in our community. We’re putting more cars on the roads and our buses are in the same traffic patterns as the cars.”

Mr. Moss agreed, saying, “I don’t understand where we will end up if we keep cutting services every year.”

Commissioner Bruno Barreiro suggested a fully subsidized transit system.

“We are going to keep finding ourselves in this position, so we have to start thinking outside of the box,” Mr. Barreiro said. “Maybe we need to change it to a no-fare system until people begin utilizing and gaining more trust in us. We need to retool our current system. Our riders deserve it and our region deserves it.”

Commissioner Joe Martinez agreed that the county needs a new system, but said commissioners should be realistic about funding options when revenues are insufficient.

“When we have this bold discussion, let’s also have an honest one” Mr. Martinez said. “It means telling people that we need to raise their taxes because there are no revenues coming in. They may choose to raise them themselves or choose to get rid of what they had already taxed themselves.”

9 Responses to Commissioners put Miami-Dade transit on hot seat

  1. DC Copeland

    November 22, 2017 at 8:13 am

    Here’s an idea or two: 1) Raise taxes to pay for Metrorail expansion– with a proviso that the money can’t be used for any other reason than building and maintaining Metrorail. We’re talking adding on another nickle maybe to the still existing agreement
    between the county and the people which the county failed to honor. 2) Freeze the hiring of bus drivers. That will drive down the costs of employment and pension. 3) Contract with independent home-grown small business jitney companies. Let them take on the costs of running the business of transporting people from one place to another. To succeed they will have to keep customers happy. Unlike MDT bus drivers who have a union to protect them from criticism and firings.

  2. Fernando C

    November 22, 2017 at 9:49 am

    How about saving money by reviewing the service contracts. Whoever owns the contract for the transit escalators is making money hand over fist. The escalators are in constant state of repair–causing delays and inconvenience which further tarnishes transit in the eyes of the commuters. It is rare to go around town to the hundreds of escalators in buildings and malls and see them out of action as often as the transit ones are. The maintenance contracts must be worth millions….fix that and you find part of your money needed…BUT don’t eviscerate the PTP further. We voted to be the highest taxed county in the state to get better transit not to substitute the actual budget with the PTP funds

  3. Robert Deresz

    November 24, 2017 at 1:36 pm

    I believe in recent years, each bus rider pays a $2.25 fee and an additional $6.00 or more is subsidized by our taxes to ride a bus in Miami-Dade county.

  4. Roy Jr.

    November 24, 2017 at 4:16 pm

    In order to be a world first class greater metropolitan area as Miami Dade County is trying to be, then it needs a world first class mass transit system which includes maintaining lesser used routes and at least one stop connected to the main mass transit infrastructure to every city and important area of the county.

  5. D

    November 24, 2017 at 7:23 pm

    Miami is a place that puts everything before it own residents. The County is responsible for running and maintaining a transit service. MDT was the second largest transit agency in tbe southeast and the largest in Florida. I agree with privatizing the circular routes but add more major routes in residential areas that need them and the ridership would increase. Cutting and shortening these routes is not the solution. The best solution would be to dismantle this current county government, from the Mayor down to the Transit Director.

  6. Viktor

    November 27, 2017 at 7:35 pm

    Why not have a dedicated millage for the county transportation and transit department? It is that important.

    We have seen no actions long enough from our county commissioners. We should also elect a separate board to manage the direction of transportation and transit. If counties elect mosquito abatement/control boards, it seems our transit woes warrant such attention.

    The Commissioners just point fingers, but none are working in Washington DC and Tallahassee to achieve results. None are working with new blood and national experts. If we keep using the same people and contracting the same people, we will continue to get the same lackluster efforts.

    We do not need to waste time and money on studies.

    We need accountability. Honestly, we should probably sue the county for mismanagement of public funds raised through a self-imposed tax by voters’ referendum.

    The federal Supreme Court had to force the county to invest over $13B into water and sewer. It only happened because they were legally mandated by a federal court order.

    Taking local politics out of the equation and seeking a judicial review and intervention might be the only way to achieve what’s best for everyone.

  7. Aubrey Davis

    January 28, 2018 at 9:42 am

    @ D.C Copeland,please explain to me how does outsourcing transit work to private contractors helps the financial situation at MDT ? I read some of the comments people make about bus drivers and their union with very little knowledge about what’s going on inside the transit department as a whole.We hear all of this talk about losing revenue,but no one has mentioned the fact that most of the equipment that deals with revenue fareboxes and TOM machine are faulty and don’t work more then half of the time. So there’s no real accurate reports on gains and losses, just speculating. You have 30-60 buses at every bus garage that doesn’t go out on the street everyday because mechanics don’t have the parts to fix them. This problem opens the door for bus routes not to go out on any given day, thus putting the public at an inconvenience. Now tell me what does that have to do with bus drivers and a union ? Instead of looking at the affects and passing judgement, try investigating the causes first that way you can provide an unbiased remark like you always seem to do when the transit conversation comes up. P.s go look into how many nurse are towed by Kauffs on a daily bases.then find out why MDT is using Kauffs when this work can be done in house which would lead to saving the county time and money. Teeth and Gums

  8. DC Copeland

    January 30, 2018 at 1:33 pm

    Aubrey, thanks for asking. First off, it’s been shown that privately ran companies are for the most part profit motivated. If MDT is given over to one or more privately ran companies to run, the odds are that service will rise because private ownership cannot abide anything that keeps people from purchasing a ride. That includes rude drivers, not enough repair parts on hand, or schedules that aren’t kept. In the privately ran business world, employees responsible for bad service get fired. Job security is based on performance, not on membership in a union. The motivation in that world is to sustain and grow the business as opposed to funding pensions and focusing on job security.

  9. Aubrey Davis

    January 30, 2018 at 5:41 pm

    We’ll D.C you seem to be hell bent on blaming “UNIONIZED ” employees for MDT’S short comings and poor service, But what you fail to realize is that if you turn MDT over to a private company, there will be no more federal funding and the public wouldn’t have a say in what’s going on with the routes etc. Again, your judging the effects of something and not its causes,the problem is you have is greedy politicians mismanaging taxes payers money,and If you privatize MDT then the tax payers wouldn’t have a say in NOTHING. So instead of blaming us bus drivers try channeling some of your anger towards the people who’s really responsible for this poor service,YOUR LOCAL POLITICIANS

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