South Florida mass transit

[Aessotariq]

Tri-rail has proposed a new TOD, a mixed use transit village for its Boynton Beach station, with 300-400 homes, 300,000 sf. retail and office space, and a daycare center.

Tri-Rail's Boca Raton station is being redeveloped to include 50,000 sf. office and 20,000 sf. retail, with possible tenants including coffee shops, newstands, dry cleaner, a bank, etc.

West Palm Beach's station may see as many as 2000 residential units, a hotel, and ofifces.

SFRTA (operator of Tri-Rail) plans more TODs along the corridor, which should prove to be a convenient place to live, work, or shop, especially after the double-tracking is complete.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/con...irail_0823.html

This looks promising... Hopefully we'll see many more of these farther south. Miami seems ahead of the curve, with Kendall, the Overtown Transit Village, and the Gables Station....

[Urban_Legend]

^That's awesome! The Boca station will be really cool when all of its surrounding components open. They're using that as the model for future stations. I know the City of West Palm Beach is working with Tri-Rail to not only develop the station property, but to build a "transit village" on the blocks to the east of it.

I'm just concerned about Tri-Rail's failing reputation. It seems that every day on the radio, the traffic guy alerts us to yet another Tri-Rail delay. It's awful, and they'd better get their act together, lest they lose ridership.

[Aessotariq]

Delays aren't good for building loyalty, I agree. Obviously something needs to be done about the dispatching of trains until this double-tracking is finished. Already CSX has been sending out freight trains in the middle of rush hour... that's got to stop. You've got two sets of Tri-Rail trains, one trying to go north, the other trying to go south, and then you add a huge freight train going north, all on the same track... Oh, the insanity.

[Aessotariq]

A few weeks ago Miami-Dade Transit started rolling out its new buses, which have adopted a new livery with a new color scheme. The previous color scheme was magenta and cyan. NABI is the manufacturer.

Miami-Dade County is undergoing a major rebranding effort and part of that includes having each department adopt a consistent identity and logo.

[Urban_Legend]

Those colors look so much cooler. That magenta and cyan just wasn't good....

[Toucano]

they look sweet...

[Aessotariq]

The Coral Gables "Trolley" has proved so popular that expansion in service is in the works. Right now these trolley buses run along two routes: a north-south through the city's CBD along Ponce de Leon Blvd and and east-west along Miracle Mile. The Ponce de Leon route connects with the Douglas Road Metrorail station. Plans include purchasing more buses, expanding routes south to the University of Miami, and north to areas north of downtown.

http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/050922/story4.shtml

[Urban_Legend]

^That's good news. It seems more user-friendly to transfer to a Gables Trolley from the Metrorail, instead of some numbered bus route.

[Aessotariq]

the best thing it has going for it is that's is free and a county bus is $1.50... the equivalent route to take is the 40/Bird Road.

[Florida]

you say "Free" and Im on it.

[Aessotariq]

With gas prices the way the are, the need to accelerate MDT's plans for service expansion and improvements has become that much more important. New routes may be up as soon as next week, as opposed to the original planned debut of November and April. Metrorail service is also being expanded. During peak times, trains will run every six minutes. MDT is also looking for extra parking lots to lease for park-and-riders..

Some of the highlights:

• New limited-stop routes along Northwest Seventh Avenue between the Golden Glades and downtown Miami, and along Miami Gardens Drive from Northwest 87th Avenue to Aventura Mall or the Florida International University Biscayne Campus.

• Add more buses during rush hour along Interstate 95 express routes running between the Golden Glades and the north edge of Miami International Airport and to downtown Miami.

The goal is to reduce overcrowded buses and serve workers in those employment centers.

• Add more rush-hour buses on the Busway Flyer route, between Florida City and Dadeland South, to reduce overcrowding.

• Dispatch Kendall KAT buses from the Dadeland North Metrorail station as trains arrive rather than on a time-specific schedule, fanning out to the Kendall, Killian and Sunset Drive corridors.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/12758561.htm

[Aessotariq]

It's now official. MDT has officially taken over the former Miami Beach Electrowave shuttle bus routes. An extremely successful service, it only cost a quarter to ride, however, the city-owned electric buses purchased in the mid 90s are no longer in production and were becoming more and more difficult and expensive to service. A new county circulator route, the South Beach Local, replaces the old service, and the new buses will sport a unique design. Best of all, it will still only cost a quarter to ride.

Interestingly enough, the alignment very closely follows the circulator route of the proposed Baylink streetcar. Never hurts to start early, especially since it may be several years before we may see this come to fruition.

[Urban_Legend]

^Those buses look so cool! That's so SoBe.... lol

[KendallKid]

Here are the statisitcs for the increased ridership in miami-dade this is amazing. Its up a million in a month.

"Miami (FL) Miami-Dade Transit Department: The system

[Urban_Legend]

Great news! We'll see exponential growth in transit ridership when all this planned rail routes get built!

More stations = more passengers

[Aessotariq]

Great news... I had the fortune of attending a meeting for the Metrorail North Corridor expansion. The meetings were to discuss station designs, certain engineering aspects, and to get other public input and suggestions. Things are proceeding as scheduled, and final design and plans are expected to be submitted to the federal government in February 2006 for approval and disbursement. The North Corridor is scheduled to be completed by 2012.

That's all for now -- I'll try to have some more details posted later on.

[Topher1]

^ I'm sure this is already thoroughly discussed on here, but is the North Corridor expansion considered as the line that extends straight north to Dolphin Stadium?

If this is the line (which I think it is) any thought as to why this line is getting priority over a more populated US-1 north alignment?

[Aessotariq]

Yes, this would be the one.

The simplest answer is this is a most delicate of political compromises. For about 25 years, time and time again, this area has been one of the most supportive of rail expansion, and they were promised that the bonds they supported and the increased taxes they voted for in years past would bring a Metrorail line to their community. It is entirely plausible that North Dade residents would have voted down the half-penny sales tax for transit expansion if this North Corridor had not been included in the first phase of construction. And of course, without the half-penny sales tax, we'd be dead in the water, with no local funding source and therefore no federal or state matching funds.

Also, a substantial amount of right-of-way was already secured for this project. This particular line also provides a regional link into Broward County, as it terminates at County Line Rd and NW 27th Ave/University Dr.

If there were more money available, I'm sure the NE corridor would also get built too right now. In the near future, there is a slim prospect for the Northeast getting Tri-Rail service along the FEC railroad corridor that runs parallel to Biscayne Blvd. The details have to be worked out between SFRTA and FEC.

[Aessotariq]

Metrorail North Corridor

The Metrorail North Corridor will branch off the existing Metrorail Line at the MLK Jr. station and head toward the Broward County line.

Each station will include park-and-ride facilities, which are extremely popular, as evidenced by the 100% occupancy rates at some of the stations and increasing occupancy at others.

Stops will include 82nd St (Northside Shopping Center, included in a charrette for possible TOD). This stop will be placed in the median of NW 27th Ave. The station is to have a design that celebrates African American culture and heritage.

119th Street will stop at Miami-Dade College North Campus. It will veer slightly west to stop closer to the campus.

Ali Baba (Ave) Station will sport a Moorish architectural theme. Located fairly close to the Tri-Rail Opa-locka station. The platform will be to the right of 27th Ave

163rd Street station is located south of the Palmetto Expressway. Platform to the left of 27th.

183rd Street station is part of of a future TOD. A present-day strip mall is expected to become a mixed-use development and "town center" environment for Miami Gardens. Station platforms will be west of 27th Ave on present site of a few fast-food restaurants (McDonald's and Taco Bell).

199th Street station will stop at Dolphins Stadium and will feature a sports theme station.

Finally, 215th Street (County Line) station will be the terminus and will be designed to handle connections to Broward County. BCT's most recent proposal includes adding a BRT route along the corridor. A pedestrian bridge will connect the station with Calder Race Course.

Some of the other things they discussed were the appearance of the piers, the spacing of the columns, and other engineering and design details. Quite informative. I left my notes at work, so I'll add more info tomorrow.

The full brochure can be found here: http://www.miamidade.gov/transit/library/p...TNws10_6_05.pdf

[Urban_Legend]

Thanks for the info! I'm glad they're putting alot of thought into these stations, and making them aesthetically pleasing.

[Brickell]

You all are going to love this one.

Automated Transit route planner for Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

This is what we've been waiting for.

http://go.miamidade.gov

click trip planner (require IE). There's still some quirks to it, but it looks good so far.

For instance:

To get from Barry University Palm Beach campus to MDC-Homestead requires:

2+ hours, $8.50, 4 transfers and a walk of .87 miles. Nobody would probably do that, but it is possible and now we can find it out thanks to this wonderful site.

If you want to know the route, it's:

• Depart: MILITARY TRL @ GARDENS PROF CTR 7:26a

  On route: ROUTE 3 SOUTHBOUND TO DELRAY SQUARE ONLY

  Arrive: BLUE HERON BLVD @ MILITARY TRL 7:34a

  Transfer to: BLUE HERON BLVD @ PALM LAKES ESTA 7:52a

  On route: Route 2 Southbound to Town Center Mall

  Arrive: BANYAN BLVD @ TAMARIND AVE 8:22a

  Transfer to: WEST PALM BEACH STATION 8:47a

  On route: TriRail Southbound

  Arrive: METRORAIL TRANSFER STATION 10:25a

  Transfer to: TRI-RAIL STATION RAIL SOUTHBOUND 10:35a

  On route: DADELAND SOUTH

  Arrive: DADELAND SOUTH STAT.RAIL SOUTHBOUND 11:14a

  Transfer to: DADELAND SOUTH STA@9150 DADELAND BD 11:27a

  On route: 38 - BUSWAY MAX FLORIDA CITY

  Arrive: E MOWRY DR@N FLAGLER AV 12:28p

[95-Souf]

Now that's a ride....

[Aessotariq]

This is a great tool. I've been playing around with this thing, and it's fun... I wonder when the novelty is going to wear off..

I have a lot more respect for the folks who design the bus routes, because within Dade, it seems that you can get just about anywhere in no more than 3 routes. After a while, you realize the vitality of certain "spines" and express routes and how they really connect the entire county. I have been trying to "stump" the program and try to find routes and it seems that the most routes or transfers.

Here's my long distance trip (easier than Brickell's example), again probably one that nobody would do, but it's possible. It's from Riviera Beach in the northern end of Palm Beach County to the Florida Keys Prime Outlet in South Dade. With this route you realize the importance of Tri-Rail in connecting the three transit systems, as well as Metrorail and the Busway for long distance routes.

Just over 2 hrs, 3 transfers, 0.55 walk, and $7.25 bus and train fare.

• Depart: BLUE HERON BLVD @ OLD DIXIE HWY 8:56a

  On route: ROUTE 33 SOUTHBOUND TO PALM BEACH MALL

  Arrive: 45TH ST @ POINCIANA PLAZA 9:08a

  Transfer to: MANGONIA PARK STATION 9:40a

  On route: TriRail Southbound

  Arrive: METRORAIL TRANSFER STATION 11:25a

  Transfer to: TRI-RAIL STATION RAIL SOUTHBOUND 11:35a

  On route: DADELAND SOUTH

  Arrive: DADELAND SOUTH STAT.RAIL SOUTHBOUND 12:14p

  Transfer to: DADELAND SOUTH STA@9150 DADELAND BD 12:27p

  On route: 38 - BUSWAY MAX FLORIDA CITY

  Arrive: E PALM DR@KROME AV 1:39p

[Urban_Legend]

Ooh, neat!

[guille88]

This morning there was an article on the Miami Herald about the possibility of fare cuts for students of Miami-Dade College.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12920878.htm