To add Beach transit, the perfect is the enemy of the good

In a letter to the editor, Miami Beach’s city manager notes that Metromover in Downtown Miami “is enjoying increasing ridership and public acceptance” and hopes opponents of Miami Beach transit plans learn “that the system must be efficient, economical, and – most importantly – go where people want to go.”

Unfortunately, they didn’t learn. 

That letter didn’t follow last week’s city hall rejection of the plan to bring Metromover to Miami Beach. It was written by City Manager Rob Parkins in 1988 when residents opposed an earlier version. Opponents won, and for well over a third of a century we’ve seen multiple such plans fall to negativism.

Meanwhile, millions of Miami Beach drives have been needlessly slow and environmentally wasteful. City traffic has clogged. Parking has been a nightmare. Residents have been impeded as much as visitors and the tens of thousands who commute to the city to work.

At the same time, funds to build transit have slipped away.

Complaints by the mayor, commissioners, and residents last week about the Metromover extension to Miami Beach are broad.

They say the environmental impact of a Metromover guideway crossing Biscayne Bay on the MacArthur Causeway is a problem. They say a route on the Julia Tuttle Causeway is better. They complain that county zoning control near mass transit would add density.

Worst of all, they say, the Metromover system built in 1986 is outdated technology and Miami Beach deserves something better. 

And underlying it all, some fret about who would ride. Some say it would be the homeless and criminals coming for good pickings on Miami Beach. That complaint is a clone of despicable ancient Miami Beach efforts to bar the unwanted, of hotel signs saying “no dogs, no Blacks, no Jews” and the curfew on Blacks after sunset.

But other than prejudice in new garb, complaints about the Metromover are grounded in truths.

The Metromover is indeed out of date. It’s too slow, cars are too small to handle the demand, it can’t run as often as peak times require. It’s built to stop every two blocks, not run miles across the bay nonstop at good speed.

Nor is the planned route ideal. It would only go as far as Fifth Street, where it enters Miami Beach from Downtown Miami. It should run the length of the Beach. Instead, passengers would have to change at Fifth Street for buses up Washington Avenue to the convention center, with no new ways to reach the city’s big hotel, the Fontainebleau, or Mt. Sinai Hospital. The critics are right.

They are also spot on that county zoning control around Fifth Street could alter that area’s feel. Look at the towers lining US 1 south of Downtown Miami where that zoning is in effect. It is at minimum problematic.

Unfortunately, the perfect is the enemy of the good. Metromover’s technology and the route and the zoning aren’t perfect, but having Metromover is better than nothing. Since 1988 Miami Beach has sought transit perfection and is still waiting.

Opponents say they don’t oppose mass transit. They just want a pack of new studies. In government time, that’s five years or more of added delay – again.

Build Metromover now. We can later seek perfection, but meanwhile have some mass transit where it’s vitally needed, and at least it will link with Downtown Miami’s transit. If we start over studying something better and getting government permissions at every level, someone a decade from now will be writing this same column about transit inaction on Miami Beach.

There is a compelling reason to act now, and I mean today: the federal government has money and is funding transit liberally. That is not often true, and it might not be if economic winds shift or funds are diverted to, say, defense, or a new US administration elected in November is less focused on transit.

Money is there now and we are in line for it. Take it and get Metromover moving.

To see the need, drive to Miami Beach. Rush hour there doesn’t end in the evening, it just gets heavier. Try driving that route to work.

As I said, Metromover is no complete fix. But once guideways exist, newer technology will find ways around the inadequate size, speed and frequency of trains.

Additions could also serve more of Miami Beach. If we get Metromover across the bay, the city and county can seek extensions along the city’s spine. An end of the line at Fifth Street won’t be engraved in stone.

Zoning control, I agree, is a serious issue, but it has nothing to do with a Metromover link. A county vote can change zoning rules anytime. Don’t fail to add vital transit because you detest zoning regulations.

As to who rides, while Metromover is now free in Brickell and Downtown, the county will certainly charge to cross the bay. It should charge in Miami too. When Rob Parkins said Metromover was enjoying increased ridership, the system still had fares. It can again.

Even before those fixes, Metromover to the Beach ought to get going. Local approval isn’t required for that, though it would be best for all if Miami Beach finally got aboard a mass transit plan that will only benefit the city. 

Take a half a loaf and try to get the full loaf over time – don’t wait until it gets stale or Washington nibbles away the whole thing.