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Front Page » Opinion » There is a silver bullet for rapid transit, but who will fire it?

There is a silver bullet for rapid transit, but who will fire it?

Written by on October 25, 2022
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There is a silver bullet for rapid transit, but who will fire it?

Nobody will say it, but Miami-Dade’s Smart Program to add six legs of rapid transit closely resembles California’s bullet train, which began 14 years ago and is unlikely to run this century, if ever.

The $33 billion bullet train to link Los Angeles and San Francisco at latest estimates would cost $113 billion if there were funding, which there isn’t.

Politicians added to the route to detour to their constituents and through political horse-trading agreed to start with a line that reaches neither major city, much of it running in a sparsely-populated area that the train was never intended to traverse with stops it was never intended to make.

Miami-Dade’s Smart Program has its roots in a tax voters approved 20 years ago for transit that still is far in the distance. The six legs are so costly that we can’t do them all. But if they were built as now planned, they would never connect, either with each other or with Metrorail and Metromover, which serve the county’s core. The legs are all different modes of transit, none of which is Metrorail or Metromover.

The public laments that a trip to the airport from some areas on the new transit as planned would require five transfers from one transit mode to another to another. It makes the California bullet train sound almost sane.

Twenty years ago, when voters approved new rapid transit, it was widely agreed that the most needed line would serve Miami Beach, link to Port Miami, then Government Center – the hub for Metrorail and Metromover – and then run west to the Hospital District, Miami International Airport, and continue west to Florida International University. The common denominator was lots of passengers – including visitors – and big employers.

There was guaranteed volume and real need.

Unfortunately, that route couldn’t be done first because every commissioner wanted a piece of the pie for his or her area. Arguments were based on everybody being served by equal transit, all of which had to be costly and favored by area residents and finished no later than any other route. Not to serve everyone equally and simultaneously was labeled bias against X – for X, substitute South Dade or North Dade or Northeast Dade or Kendall or Miami Beach or wherever.

The upshot is that the Smart Program is so dumb that it doesn’t even include that most-needed East-West line linked to the North-South Metrorail line that we now have. By being fair to everybody we wound up not yet serving anybody and in grave danger that most will never be served.

Oh, we will indeed get sleek express buses from far south Homestead to come as far north as the southern end of Metrorail, and they will probably succeed – but only because commissioners “betrayed” South Dade residents by not giving them an expensive train that they wanted just because it could never have sufficient riders to make sense, although they are getting train platforms “just in case.” So, ironically, the only bit of political horse-trading that couldn’t be worked out is going to bring something useful to South Dade.

We can’t point a finger at any person or group for a transit trainwreck. Every politician tried to make sure constituents wouldn’t get left behind anyone else. Everyone wants this to succeed and pretends it will.

So they nod when a developer plans to run the Miami Beach line not to the seaport, where there is a legitimate need and large user base, but to the site of the developer’s future casino in the Omni where there are no large employers and no large number of residents wanting to get where the line would go.

It is vital that somebody show leadership and say that the millions we have spent on planning are not likely to get us what we most want and need, which is a functioning, heavily-used mass transit system. A reset is necessary.

Those who could do this, if they have the wisdom and backbone, are our crop of completely new county commissioners. They didn’t get us into this mess, so they bear no blame. And most have clean slates – the horse-trades aren’t theirs to undo. They can be the heroes who after 20 years make something finally work.

But to do that, they must narrow the scope – fund one thing first and get it running before starting the next piece. Plus, take a lesson from California’s mess and serve the most populous areas first, as the county now plans with its bus system, and link it all together without five transfers to get anywhere.

Commissioners, examine California’s non-existent bullet train for a good lesson in lack of leadership – and show your own by agreeing that everyone can’t have everything first and best. It is no crime to set priorities – in fact, it’s vital. Trying everything at once for everyone will never succeed.

4 Responses to There is a silver bullet for rapid transit, but who will fire it?

  1. Sean R

    October 26, 2022 at 9:51 pm

    Here is the solution to Miami Dade transit.

    1- Build 1.5 miles + one station of metrorail every year. Bring the construction in house to build at cost. No more padding and no more waiting. We collect more than enough in sales tax and state/ fed funds to pay for this. All we need is 25 more miles in congested areas.

    2- stop free transit and free trolley overlapping buses. We all pay $5-10 to take an uber or scooter within downtown. Pay to ride is a must.

    3- stop all the free passes- $1 a ride is not asking much. The same people who pay nothing to ride are also the reason we can’t pay for more service.

    4- rebuild at grade rail and use the right of way for hourly commuter trains. There are tracks west from the airport/near FIU, a line to West Miami/Kendal/ Homestead, a line exists in NW Dade now, and add the track back to the S Dade busway. We are a commuter city. Build transit for this market. Just ride Brightline and Metrorail. When do most ride? 6-9 and 4-7.

  2. Gerwyn Flax

    October 26, 2022 at 10:03 pm

    Until a decision is made to combine the various modes into ONE single mode that serves the most densely populated areas of the county, there will be no progress as it applies to rapid transit in Dade county.
    It just might be wise to enlist Brightline to devise a countywide plan. Their efficiency and professional skills are second to none. Let the real experts (not commissioners) resolve the issues.

  3. Rat

    October 27, 2022 at 12:31 pm

    10000% what you said.

    It’s time we get the basics done first.

    1. Massive city wide traffic calming to cut the nations worst pedestrian/bicyclist fatality rate to ZERO. This is 100% on FDOT and the TPO. They are commuting industrialized mass murder at this point with their 45+ mph designs.

    2. Increased sidewalk coverage, more trees for said sidewalks and raised/enhanced crosswalk construction everywhere in the county.

    3. Increased bus funding for frequency and speed. Budapest with a smaller population has 400 more buses and that’s not including their trolley, trams lines etc.

    4. Implementation of a real bike lane network. Not that trash paint on asphalt the TPO and FDOT tries to pass off. I’m talking class 1 separated bike lanes. Ebikes and scooters are a breeze to use in Miami.

    After all 4 LOW COST steps are done then the county can look to bolder projects. But until then theirs always going to be a ‘last mile’ problem. With whatever ‘silver bullet’ they propose.

    Because it’s to damn dangerous to walk/bike/bus/scooter in this city. So of course our public transit will never reach the ridership numbers it needs to.

    Time for a paradigm shift at the commissioners office. Back to basics first !!!

    Cheers

  4. Jay P

    October 28, 2022 at 10:48 am

    I agree with “Rat” 100%.

    Also, redesign the Municipal (so called Trolleys) system to compliment and not overlap county routes. County routes should run limited stops when overlapping a municipal line.

    Give municipal lines route numbers and integrate with the county system.

    More coverage to the suburbs with extensions of county routes and use of private minibus for circulators in the neighborhood.

    Keep private minibuses off the main lines (eg rts 29, 56, 71, 72).

    DO NOT implement the Better Bus Network. There is nothing “better” about it. Just more transfers, longer walks, and less coverage.

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