Citizens’ trust doubts county’s South Dade transit vows
The trust spending more than $100 million on a 20-mile Bus Rapid Transit line in South Dade questioned last week whether the project will ever meet its promises.
The 15-member Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust that oversees use of the half-penny tax for transit said the county transportation department has kept it in the dark about operating plans for the South Dade corridor. The tax is paying more than a third of the cost.
The trust last week was to discuss answers to 28 questions it sent to the transportation department in June. The department, however, said it could not answer anything until September.
The trust then unanimously urged the county and the state, which is funding two-thirds of the new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), to ensure that it “honors the prior commitments … to provide and maintain a true Institute for Transportation and Development Policy ‘Gold Standard BRT’ project.”
County transportation chief Eulois Cleckley pledged the department “would be able to track towards that gold standard,” but trust members questioned whether just applying for gold certification – the highest level of transit held by only one city in the nation – was sufficient.
“Speaking for myself,” said veteran trust member Paul Schwiep, “I think the concern that we’re having is the department has just concluded that it’s never going to happen, so why bother to try and strain to make it an A if all we’re going to achieve is a grade of C here.”
“I can tell you that’s definitely not the intent,” Mr. Cleckley responded. “Our department’s vision is to be the world’s best provider of transportation options.”
Chairman Oscar Braynon said the trust has been asking for months about how the new system, in the works for 10 years, will operate. Before Mr. Cleckley arrived, he questioned whether the department had been hiding the answers until it would reveal later that the plan was being watered down, as well as whether the mayor and commissioners really know what is happening.
After Mr. Cleckley spoke, Mr. Braynon asked him about that.
“Has the department on any previous occasion either before the BCC (county commission) or with other partners on this project, have you all presented an operational plan?” he asked.
“I know in my tenure here I don’t believe we’ve presented a full comprehensive plan in the manner we’re planning to do the next time we get in front of you,” Mr. Cleckley responded.
Among the 28 facts about the service that is to begin in less than a year that Mr. Cleckley said the department could not provide adequately last week were the operating concept, whether either the Federal Transportation Administration or the Florida Department of Transportation has approved of that concept, how gate crossings will work along the route, whether municipal trolleys that now use the South Dade Transitway will be able to use it once the BRT project begins, and the bus run times and average speeds planned for the route originally and how they will change.
The formal questions also asked whether details of the new Dadeland South Intermodal Station to serve both BRT and Metrorail will be completed by December as promised, and whether the corridor completion date of March 5, 2024, remains on track.
While he answered none of the questions, Mr. Cleckley when pressed said that he supports the resolution the trust passed and plans to answer the questions in the fall.
Loco
August 1, 2023 at 11:57 pm
From crazy Joe Carollo to the lunatics in Hialeah, there’s no accountability and sense of civic responsibility in Dade county.
Richard R-P
August 3, 2023 at 12:11 pm
Why bring Hialeah into this?
Adri
August 2, 2023 at 10:21 am
Hindsight is always twenty twenty. I strongly doubt that the service would lead to a dramatic increase in transit ridership in South Dade, however, the facility improvements are going to make the trip much more comfortable. People forget that South Dade is a huge region, from Homestead to Dadeland South is twenty miles, even with a train making stops the trip would still be an hour.
I think that the best chance for making something faster would be to upgrade the old underutilized freight rail tracks and run tri-rail trains. With the distance and the lack of consistent density, it would allow trains to reach higher speeds because there would be fewer stations. It would also connect people to the greatest job cluster in the region around the airport. Just an opinion, but I think it makes more sense.
Olis Buchanan
August 3, 2023 at 1:38 am
I think the mayor is responsible for this failure. As cheif county administrator she should have kept better tabs on the project. She brags about her leadership on transit, I have yet to see it.
EJS
August 3, 2023 at 7:23 pm
I love our Mayor Cava but I have to agree that she really has underperformed in clarifying a good working transit plan to put into place. It just seems like there are just too many obstacles in the way, and if they truly are obstacles blocking her from leading the charge on improving our mediocre transit, she needs to call those obstacles out. Her silence on these issues only adds to the frustration.
Jose L Peres
August 5, 2023 at 10:07 am
I do too love and admire Mayor Cava. But she is getting bad advice on this project and on the so-called Better Bus Network.
Diego Rivadeneira
September 4, 2023 at 1:53 pm
I would like to know why there are so manny buses on the Fl Turnpike driving north and south empty at almost all hours of the day? Why can’t there be an express service when the run north and south on the turnpike. In other words be more efficient. Please write me back at drivad8241@gmail.com with an explanation.
I want to understand this before I give my opinion.
What is the completion date of the busway?