GO Connect on-demand transit to double service area

Miami-Dade commissioners last week voted to renew a turnkey contract to operate the county’s on-demand GO Connect transit service for 18 more months and double the former coverage area, with no discussion of the cost-per-rider issue that had arisen at an earlier meeting.

Commissioners had in June asked Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to prepare a cost analysis report “detailing the ridership, cost per rider, and trip distance information for the on-demand transit services provided during the initial term” of a contact that started in October 2020, ordering that the report be placed on the agenda before their vote.

The report they received said ridership has grown about 75% over the past year but provided the requested breakdowns for only May 2023: 11,250 total monthly rides averaging 500 per weekday, 2.8 miles per trip on an average trip of 13.5 minutes, an average pickup time of 19.7 minutes and a net cost per ride of $19.92.

The contract was amended before the vote at the request of Commissioner Eileen Higgins, requiring the operators of GO Connect to dispatch passengers through other companies such as Uber or Lyft or taxicabs up to a limit of $15 per ride in their service area. The GO Connect operators, River North Transit LLC of New York, are to receive their full contact amount of $17,433,575 for 18 months regardless of whether they or the other services carry the riders.

GO Connect passengers pay $2.25 per ride everywhere but in Cutler Bay, where ridership is free. The mayor’s report says that Cutler Bay “is the most successful zone in the GO Connect program, carrying over 50% of the total” system ridership, with a cost to the county in that zone averaging $12 per passenger. The cost per rider in less-used zones is higher but unspecified in the report.

The only other request at last week’s meeting was from Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez, who said that five communities in his district west of Sweetwater should be considered for inclusion in the expanded GO Connect contract. The new contract zones are yet to be specified.

The mayor’s report says GO Connect under the new contract “will introduced enhanced services in parts of the county where transit gaps or low transit frequency are anticipated after the implementation of” the Better Bus Network, a reworking of county bus routes aimed at getting more bang for the transit buck.

The report lists as an example addition of a new GO Connect Westchester service when the county lops off the present bus route 82 that serves that area. The transit department is also proposing a GO Connect zone to help improve access to the South Dade Bus Rapid Transit, which is due to begin operation next year.

The administration’s plan was to extend GO Connect for three more years, but the county’s Transportation, Mobility and Planning Committee voted in June to cut the contract to 18 months.

The mayor’s report says the Department of Transportation and Public Works is looking at the best ways on-demand transit in this nation now operates as it prepares to solicit a competitive long-term contract to replace the new agreement with River North Transit, which is being issued after a negotiation without competitive bidding.

Being explored for the next contract, the mayor’s memo says, are “dedicated vehicles” operated by multiple providers and non-dedicated vehicles operated by companies like Lyft and Uber.

While the GO Connect program was originated as a first-mile last-mile connector to county transit, the mayor’s report says it has transitioned “to include essential and short trips within service zones to more effectively meet community needs.”