Metromover-like transit targeted in five systems countywide
Transportation planners are looking to add automated people mover lines like downtown’s Metromover system in as many as five Miami-Dade County locations.
The Transportation Planning Organization today (4/20) is to vote on a contract to pinpoint the top five places to add automated people movers to “provide a safe, convenient and effective connection to major transit corridors and hubs within Miami-Dade County.”
On the table is the plan of Transportation Planning Organization Board Chair Esteban Bovo Jr., Hialeah’s mayor, to hire a consultant for $120,000 for a one-year assessment of adding the technology in key locations.
Since Metromover opened in 1986 it has served only downtown and Brickell. Even the last leg along the eastern edge of Brickell starting at 14th Street was never built. But now a Metromover extension is being planned for the Beach Corridor of the Smart Program for adding rapid transit, stretching from Government Center across the MacArthur Causeway to Fifth Street in Miami Beach.
Piggybacking on that expansion, Mr. Bovo is looking to extend the use of automated people mover lines into other pieces of the transit expansion program.
The work order in the resolution up for a vote specifies that the consultant must look at the best practices for such technology around the globe and “focus should be on those… systems that have been newly constructed, expanded, or upgraded in the last 10 years, with the intent of understanding how other municipalities have incorporated new strategies or technologies.”
The consultant will also be asked to pinpoint potential funding sources for automated people movers and the next steps to take, including an action plan outline.
In the study, the consultant must target potential right-of-way requirements for each recommended area for a people mover, including “the potential of obtaining easements on properties owned by governmental entities or utility or railroad companies.”
For each of the five areas, the consultant must determine the specific area or range of service of a people mover, whether to seek a people mover or some similar technology, how the connection to other transit would affect ridership systemwide, the projected ridership, and “the minimum ridership required to warrant this type of investment.”
DC
April 19, 2023 at 12:28 pm
What happened to the MM extension up N Miami Ave with a stop in Wynwood? I thought that was a given.
K Cuddeback
April 19, 2023 at 3:25 pm
What is a “location?” Where is being considered?
Is a location a single stop, such that this is about adding 5 station to the 20 that currently exist? The North Miami Ave extension by itself was about 5 stations.
Or is this about 5 new neighborhood routes? The Master Plan from 2014 identified things like
– Arts & Entertainment / North Miami Ave
– Brickell Bay Drive
– Overtown
– Little Havana
George Childs
April 20, 2023 at 9:12 pm
Other than the Wanwood /arts area and a jog from Douglas Station to downtown Coconut Grove…. But wait. Nothing’s gonna happen. Soon salt water will overflow on the surface and invade the underground aquifer.
Elliot
April 21, 2023 at 2:37 pm
Beyond Downtown Miami, I find the Metro Mover concept to be wholly inadequate and too expensive to be implemented in surrounding Miami neighborhoods. They are best served with a simple trolley.
MiamiCityMan
April 22, 2023 at 12:25 pm
Just build it already! Especially up Alton on the beach.
Alex Adams
April 24, 2023 at 3:08 pm
Stop changing technologies. There is savings in #s for buying fleet vehicles, parts, service, maintenance, etc. I can see MetroMover connecting urban hubs. 1. Complete the Brickell Loop and extend down Brickell Av residential area to feed into downtown. 2. Health District around Jackson/UM Health/VA/courts 3. Kendall Loop would connect the mall to the 2 Kendall rail stations, Kings Point, downtown Kendall. 4. Port of Miami to downtown 5. Hialeah station to downtown Hialeah. 6. Aventura Mall area to Aventura Brightline station. 7. Beach extension to the Convention Center 8. Airport transit hub to area hotels, soccer stadium, future city hall 9. Coconut Grove to MetroRail station.
Jamie De Gale
April 29, 2023 at 7:06 am
Need Metrorail to Doral, Homestead(with a monorail to Key West), Fairgrounds, and the beaches… Little Havana would be nice with a loop interconnection to the downtown area.