Well, the Miami-Dade County Commission did it again – they continued the mentality that rising fuel costs should amount to higher transit fares. As much as I would like to agree that transit fares were well below the point they should have been, I cannot justify anyone spending $100 for a monthly metropass.
Let us compare similar monthly passes across America:
Atlanta $52.50
Boston $59
Chicago $75
Dallas $50 or $80
LA $62 - $98
New York $81
Seattle $54-$108
Portland $76
Are we oblivious to what happens elsewhere around this country? Most cities have a zonal system of affixing prices to their tickets, charging more for longer distance trips. These long distance routes, service suburbia, places where transit really should not be servicing unless the area population density is well above 8 people/acre.
There is also the logical answer to the funding dilemma; charge drivers. Congestion pricing and parking pricing encourages greater transit ridership while reducing congestion (see London.) Those whose travel habits cost the greatest societal burden (drivers) pay the most for their services.
I could go on for hours on this subject (I assure you, I will) but the underlying message here is that we are continuing the flawed mentality regarding our automobile habits and transit funding.
Excellent. So for the last 20 years MDT has squandered money and mismanaged its system by not keeping it in a state of good repair. Now they are passing the costs off to low-income residents, who will have to disproportionately fund Metrorail maintenance. These are significant fare hikes - 33%. Other funding sources, as Gabe mentions, should be pursued to help pay for bring Metrorail into a state of good repair because a fare hike of this nature stinks.
This almost makes me wanna buy a one way ticket out of Miami.
Wow, just when you think city officials in Miami couldnt get any dumber… Ryan is right - its absurd that the costs are being passed off to low-income residents. Its almost like the city is telling them that they dont want them to survive here. I too have thought like Kidbass many times as well. However, Ive invested far too much time in this goddamn city to let them win. Im sticking it out and hoping that someday Miami gets on the right track.
I agree with the post entirely. I have a question, too. Having lived in Boston, I learned that the MBTA has an enormous debt load and that fares don’t even cover the interest on that debt. (Yet the MBTA owns lots of property for future expansion, which it could sell.) Does anyone know if there’s a similar debt structure here and, one better, how much of the funding comes via federal, state, local and fare money?
$100 a month is a sure increase over New York´s current $81. The Miami Dade city officials are truly embarassing. How can you expect the low income population to pay for the transit mess you have created? I plan to send letters and harass a few officials myself. This is absurd!
this is a real problem. go ahead and raise the one-time fares, but NOT the monthly pass. People who take the train to a heat game won’t mind paying a little extra, but if you take the train to and from work every day it is ridiculous to pay so much.
maaty brought up a nice comparason with Boston. Notice its not the “BTA” its the “MBTA” or Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority..i.e. a STATE funded organization. Miami-Dade which sits in a state that might as well not even have a government since it does so little is trying to run its trains on its own using just the fares from the riders. I doubt any transit system in the US pays for itself with just the fares of the riders (of course no US City’s road system would pay for itself with just tolls either but no one expects them to). Gas taxes to the transit department anyone?
I just looked up where the “T” in Boston gets its funding from, 20% of all Massachusetts sales tax dollars get put into the MBTA’s operating budget. That is a state with a commitment to mass transit. Of course we have a Governor who simply points out that Floridians “love their cars”.
Do we love our cars or do we not have any other options?
I, for one, am a Floridian who hates the living constraints of owning a vehicle for personal mobility…
i take the metro- and tri-rail every day to broward from south miami. so not only is miami-dade raising transit prices, they are also CUTTING trains and bus routes??? how do they justify this? what happened to the SAVE MY TRAIN! campaign? did it do any good? i’m fed up with this place!
Congestion pricing is off-limits. You can’t go around punishing drivers before the public transit system is mature and effective enough to replace cars.
Miami is a sunbelt city built in the era of cars. Comparing it to NY, Boston, etc. is apple to oranges.
HOT Lanes = Congestion Pricing, which as you might know are currently being installed on I-95.
In case you missed it, Atlanta, Dallas, and L.A., three other highly autocentric sunbelt cities, were also included on the list…
Congestion pricing, hmmm …. Good points, Armando, and I wonder where even to draw the theoretical congestion-pricing radius — downtown, Brickell and vicinity? How about the entirety of U.S. 1 or, hell, the county itself. : ) Is the density of Miami simply too low for it to be workable?
Can anyone Guess where the densest area of Miami-Dade County is?
maaaty - I think the only CP that will work here for a while is variable pricing along our major highways.
My guess on the densest area of Miami-Dade is that it’s South Beach. If not there… then I don’t want to guess. Congestion pricing won’t work here because of the homogeneity of travel within the county - we don’t have a central core that fills up with commuters on a daily basis.
As far as the price increases on the monthly passes, there is no way our transit agency should even consider charging more than places like Chicago, NYC, or Boston. If those places can run their transit systems on their $81 or less farecards, we should be able to also. We have nowhere near the infrastructure to support…
My guess on the densest area is Hialeah…or Little Havana.
This enrages me…$100 is ludicrous! Miami’s shoddy system isn’t worth $100 dollars a month, probably not even half of that. And to think I was going to move back to Miami. I’m a car-less person and I intend to keep it that way.