This week, the US DOT released the FY11 Budget, a $79 Billion package best summarized by three key agency priorities: improving transportation safety, investing for the future, and promoting livable communities (this last point is significant, we’ll come back to it in a minute). $10.8 billion (7.3%) of the budget is dedicated to transit projects [...]
Posts under ‘Metrorail’
How about some bicycle racks on the Metrorail trains?
Miami Dade Transit allows bicycles in the last train car, but there isn’t a safe place on the train to store the bicycles. On Sunday there were 10 bicycles in the last car. It was impossible for people to get in and out of the train because the bicycles were littered throughout the entire car; [...]
Wacken-“Nuts”, Reflections on the First Amendment
Miami-Dade County via their Miami-Dade Transit Department puts out government contracts to improve our public transportation. I work for a construction company that was invited to bid on one of these projects and this is my story. On September 28, 2009, along with a business partner, I visited five Metro-Rail [...]
Stimulus Update
Today on recovery.gov:
President Obama and Transportation Secretary LaHood have announced that $27 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds are headed to states to provide critical repairs to our nation’s crumbling roads and bridges.
Remember this is just for highways – there is an additional amount for mass transit/high speed rail. As Mike pointed [...]
Miami’s Newest Garage Mahal
Miami worships parking. Indeed, we can’t seem to build an urban building without smothering it with suburban parking requirements. Usually this comes in the form of parking as base or parking as appendage. The garage under construction above — an appendage if I have ever seen one — is located at Northwest Third Street, directly [...]
Busy Bees…
The Miami-Dade County Commission Agenda for March 3 is out and it is full of fun items…here are some that I found interesting:
Improvements along Old Cutler based on the Old Cutler Charrette including roundabouts at 87th and 97th avenue, along with pedestrian/bike path upgrades and facilities from Cocoplum Circle to 224 Street.
Commissioner Jordon wants to [...]
Bravo Mayor Alvarez!
I thought it would be nice to start the week off with some hope – there seems to be a lot of it going around. Last week was a roller coaster ride for transit advocates across the country. From Seattle to the Twin Cities, everyone was asking what transit solutions could be expected from the [...]
Miami World Center Passes City Commission
According to this recent press release, the Miami City Commission has approved the Miami World Center, an ambitious nine block, 25-acre redevelopment project slated for the Park West neighborhood, just north of Downtown. The glitzy pictures streaming on the project’s website promise a very sleek, but pedestrian-oriented district that, if nothing else, will transform [...]
The Week in Review…
The Herald continues to report on the downward spiral that our transit plans have taken over the past few months years. We have been silent on the issue here at TM mostly because the whole debacle is just sickening. There isn’t much more to say other than our leaders have really dropped the ball on [...]
Transit Fare Hikes Delayed
Larry Lebowitz, Miami Herald Transportation reporter, wrote last night in breaking news that the Miami-Dade Commissioners delayed their vote for a $0.50 hike in bus and train fares for Miami-Dade Transit. According to Lebowitz, the deferral puts more pressure on the mayor and the transit agency to find solutions to the current cash crunch faced [...]
The PTP Disaster
We apologize for being slow to comment on the recent Herald series about the People’s Transportation Plan disaster. Everyone at Transit Miami has been extremely busy as of late, but we’ll definitely have several pieces in the coming days and weeks discussing many of the elements referenced by Larry Lebowitz’s multi-part series.
Stay tuned!
Image: Miami-Dade.gov
The State of Miami Transit
The County Commission decided to delay its vote Tuesday on the proposed transit hikes. I commend Carlos Jimenez and others for seeing that the issue had to be reconsidered. As Gabe mentioned earlier in the week, the monthly pass really needs to be consistent with the size/reach of our transit system (not higher than NYC). [...]
Tuesday News
CITT will reconsider whether to vote for new Metrorail cars (Miami Today News)
Central Grove to get street-level office space (Miami Today News)
Plans for Metro Zoo theme park nearly complete (Miami Today News)
Anti-Miami 21 Commissioner Regalado announces candidacy for Mayor (Miami Sunpost)
More drama over the Miami mega-plan (Miami Sunpost)
Metrorail controversy over “ghost posts” (Miami Herald)
Cyclist [...]
Metrorail News
Photo by Flickr User ImageMD.
If you haven’t heard the news, head over to the Miami Herald and read about the Citizen’s Independent Transportation Trust (CITT) vote to reject the planned use of sales tax money to purchase new Metrorail cars. At least they are protecting the tax money that’s supposed to go towards new service.
Meanwhile, [...]
Mid-Week Miami News
Image Credit: John Vanbeekum
The obvious headline story today is Miami-Dade County’s decision to purchase 136 new rail cars for metrorail due to MDT’s prior negligence in maintaining the existing fleet (WTG Roosevelt! I’m so proud of that name clearing hearing the County held in your honor.) Larry Lebowitz wrote a phenomenal Herald watchdog report [...]
