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The Transit Miami Summer Transit Challenge is still going on, get out and ride some Public Transit people, even if its for fun. I have received some more stories via digital telegram that I will be sharing soon. Plus, be on the look out for some articles by a new contributor to Transit Miami. Here are the latest Transit stories from some excellent blogs:
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Rebecca Carter of GreenerMiami has provided us with her latest installment of her progress with the Transit Miami Summer Transit Challenge. It’s nice to see so many people using public transportation to get to downtown events.
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Rick, spoke recently of his experience driving home daily to Pembroke Pines. I can’t fathom having to make that drive daily; my 10 minute commute seems ridiculous enough for me. And what is up with everyone in Miami-Dade driving with their hazard lights on in the rain? Aren’t we all in the same hazardous conditions? Yeah, I’ll make sure to avoid your car buddy when I plan on having an accident, it’s kind of like those useless “baby on board” signs parents put on their cars…
“Once drivers could no longer see the wreck, they drove as if they had been shot out of a cannon…”
Excellent Metaphor…
I’ll be back later with another article…
It wasn’t a rhetorical question, more of a declaration. You can still grab a Snickers bar if you’d like, I did.
For anyone who is wondering what the heck the FDOT is up to on the Palmetto and Dolphin Expressways, they created a little website to answer many of your questions. Personally, I love the way they shut down all but one lane at night forcing me sit idle while cars merge psychotically upon me, or the way the left lane of the palmetto is usually blocked off with
Bob’s Barricades for no apparent reason. I find
Rick’s blog’s name to be one of my saddest weekly experiences as I sit there gazing at all the other frustrated drivers who, like me, are stuck on the Palmetto.
In any case, the mess they have started now, isn’t slated to be completed until 2012 (I’m assuming this date is flexible in one direction only.) As the dolphin expressway is expanded westward to accommodate the sprawl we have all grown to embrace, the FDOT decided to finally fix the terrible interchange between the Dolphin and Palmetto Expressways Slow moving Parking Lots. Simultaneously, the Palmetto is being widened slightly at some key points both North and South of the Dolphin as well as receiving new noise barrier walls and exits, you know, so that cars can flow quicker onto the already clogged Bird Rd, 8th st, Coral Way, etc. Meanwhile the Dolphin is also being widened as it receives a new toll plaza to pay for the current project. Forget Okeechobee, they are currently in the process of depressing part of its roadway to allow the FEC tracks and Hialeah Expressway to cross without impeding traffic (can’t have those damn trains get in the way of our cars…)
Someone also decided that it would be a bright idea to enhance Krome avenue south of where it meets with Okeechobee. I’m assuming this measure was taken to help accelerate the development of land outside the UDB; precisely what the “very-well” educated members of our county commission desired seeing that they are always looking out for the best interests of the citizens developers.
The above picture is of the new interchange which will one day “seamlessly” whisk you from the Palmetto to the Dolphin or vice versa…Until then, idle away in traffic, I’ll be at the Palmetto, Palmetto Metrorail station that is…
You’ve probably just in stumbled here after reading about the Transit Miami Summer Transit Challenge in Today’s Miami Herald. This is Transit Miami, a weblog I created to openly discuss the urban development and Transit issues facing our beautiful community. I encourage everyone to participate in the discussions by leaving their comments or by e-mailing me their questions (Movemiami@gmail.com.) I believe, through broader communication and awareness, we can begin to address some of the most important issues in our community. I might stray from the main topic every so often to discuss our local politics, sports, and cultural events. In any case, I am glad you came to check out my site.
FYI:
Articles are published daily (weekends optional) and I have created several reoccurring pieces such as: Weekend words of Wisdom (Sounds a heck more prolific than what they really are,) Moronic Mondays (provides a humorous outlook on the not so humorous blunders and deficiencies of our current politicians and government entities,) and Transit Tuesday (eh, pretty self explanatory.)
Take a look around and enjoy some of my previous posts and post some comments if you’d like. If Transit is not your thing, take a look at some of the other Miami Blogs on the left sidebar…
Mariel Garza of the Los Angeles Daily News recently conducted her own personal Transit Challenge, where she depended solely on the Public Transportation in Los Angeles for a Month straight, Impressive. All in all, her experience flat out sucked (from her perspective.) Her daily commute (50 Miles) aboard public buses took around 3.5 hours a day (this is what Sprawl will do to Miami eventually, especially if we keep expanding the UDB to build lame, poor-planned suburban developments.) She neglected to talk about how much money she saved from not having to fill her gas tank, but, harped about the $75/Month bus pass she purchased.
However, to ride the L.A. DOT’s commuter express past a few miles say, to or from the San Fernando Valley you must purchase an extra stamp for $17 a pop. A bus pass for $75 a month hardly seems like a big incentive.
The LA system seems to be as well planned as the independent, extremely non-interconnected, tri county transit authorities. I wonder if their monthly passes are as difficult as ours to attain, where you have to travel to strip shopping centers to purchase one. All in all, Garza, learned about the problems of Public Transportation in her neighborhood, but provided little insight as to what could be done to improve it or make it efficient enough to improve her commute. Maybe “tricking” out the buses on Pimp My Ride, would entice a few of the more materialistic LA riders. LA’s problem is similar to Miami’s in the sense that it’s extremely difficult to coerce anyone to abandon their vehicular dependency, to a certain extent at least. Inching along independently in thousands of cars along the highways is some how more efficient to everyone than working to seek an alternative.
But the most important thing I learned from my bus experiment is that it is both humbling and humiliating to be dependent on the bus. When you drive, you are in control of your destination and thus, in a way, your destiny. When you ride the bus, you give up control to the bus driver, to the other passengers and to chance itself
My car certainly isn’t taking me to destiny, I’m headed to work. Humiliation should never be a feeling evoked by using public transportation and thus here lies one of our fundamental issues in openly adopting transportation use. I guess it just isn’t “cool” anymore to ride the bus to work, or it must that we are so concerned with how others will perceive us if we did so…
Just a Reminder: Transit Miami’s Summer Transit Challenge is still going on, so send me your latest Transit story…
I would like to officially apologize to all my regulars who came back to work on Wednesday in full force and checked out the site for updates (Yeah, Google Analytics lets me see you too.) Posting has been a little schizophrenic lately due to the Cancun Schedule of beer by the pool at 10 am; but, I promise we will be back to normal by the weekend.
It’s nice to be back in Miami (not really) facing the traffic and construction on my regular route to work in the mornings. So, I decided to choose an alternate route, which much to my dismay also had construction on it. I then realized that my third and fourth alternate routes were also torn apart sending cars haphazardly merging into one mess (Or in my case, through the residential neighborhoods surrounding the area.) Fantastic, whose bright idea was it to tear up 37th avenue, LeJeune Rd, Ponce De Leon Blvd, and 27th avenue simultaneously? This person is up for a Maricon Monday award. The second and fourth projects I listed are so adamantly named projects 15 and 17 on the FDOT site. Four major arterials simultaneously rendered useless by State planners. Complete lack of communication by the DOT within the agency, as well as with Coral Gables city planners which I believe are handling the Ponce streetscape disaster. Do not pass go. Do not get to work on time. Do not collect $200. Literally…
I received an interesting digital telegram today, which, upon reading it required me to trump the piece I was working on for today. I figured I’d share it with you all and offer the anonymous author some better insight to why increased Public Transportation use would be more beneficial to all of us, including his own daily needs. It reads:
I can’t believe you’re still doing this. I’m going to say this just once: using public transportation is a challenge, in and of itself, for a great many of us living in Miami that HAVE NO CHOICE. OK? We have to use public transportation to get to work. And guess what? It’s not a matter of whether it’s bad or good, whether it’s convenient or not, whether it’s going to make us feel like bright shiny citizens, it’s a matter of our day to day lives. Why are you trying to get people to not drive to work and take a bus? They’ll try to take a bus and it will suck and they’ll be really unhappy and they’ll never do it again. It’s not like” trying” a new restaurant or “trying” a really fabulous new merlot. What’s next? You want to “try” eating ramen 3 nights a week? You want to “try” bouncing a rent check? Please. You know what? The bus is already full. We don’t need anyone else getting on. We don’t need you taking up one of the bike racks just so you can blog about it.
The purpose of TransitMiami.com is not to make me or any of my readers “bright shiny citizens” as we gleefully ride around on public transportation like a bunch of kids on carnival rides. I encourage the use of Public transportation, to make Miami a better, more accessible city for all of us. All world-class cities are built upon transportation networks which can suit the needs of all citizens and visitors. Our city is growing at an unprecedented pace and with that growth comes an increased level of traffic congestion. Roads cannot continue to be expanded due to the inefficiency of the process and alternatives such as the buses you rely on to get to work and the upcoming streetcar or metrorail expansions must be sought for all of our use. Logically, people and goods can travel more efficiently and effectively if we traveled together in buses and trains (more efficiently than individual cars, that is.) With greater use, you too will see the benefits of an improved transit system which will receive a greater portion of our public dollars for improvements. Better services for you to make it to work on time, more reliable schedules, and more buses to relieve the current overcrowding you have spoken of.
I know you would like to think that our experiences will “suck” but so far that has not been the case for me, Rebecca Carter, or various other people which have given it a chance this summer. I don’t relate it to trying a new restaurant, its more of a lifestyle change, a necessary change we must all face in order to continue to be a mobile and progressive community.
I’m looking to hear about the experiences of people like you on Miami’s public transportation system in order to help create a better system for all users. If anyone would like to contribute a beneficial story about their own experiences, troubles, or areas which you believe could be improved, feel free to send me an e-mail (movemiami@gmail.com.) Until then, I’ll keep promoting public transportation as the logical solution for the clogged roadways of our community…
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