Miami officials plan huge rail expansion

[Doady]

Miami's bus system gets so few riders, and suffered 10% ridership loss in 2018, there seems little need to upgrade to rail. Even without adding more bus service, the system should have enough capacity to handle such ridership levels. Any rail expansion would just be a waste of money.

[UrbanImpact]

Originally Posted by Doady

Miami's bus system gets so few riders, and suffered 10% ridership loss in 2018, there seems little need to upgrade to rail. Even without adding more bus service, the system should have enough capacity to handle such ridership levels. Any rail expansion would just be a waste of money.

Ridership has declined because of all the funding cuts to the system. Much of the buses run by the hour! A rail corridor through the highly dense eastern side, west to FIU, and the beach is much needed and would be highly used.

[Doady]

Originally Posted by UrbanImpact

Ridership has declined because of all the funding cuts to the system. Much of the buses run by the hour! A rail corridor through the highly dense eastern side, west to FIU, and the beach is much needed and would be highly used.

That's the thing. If they are not willing to provide a decent bus service to grow ridership, then how can more expensive and higher capacity rail be justified? Rail can't exist in isolation. They need to invest in buses to lay the foundation for rail expansion.

To talk about spending money on rail expansion to attract riders while cutting bus service and destroying ridership doesn't make any sense to me.

If the buses run every hour, the logical next step would be to have them every half hour or 20 minutes. Then 10 or 15 minutes. Then 3 or 5 minutes. Then rail. One step at a time.

A rail system fed by hourly bus routes is simply just a waste of money.

[N830MH]

Originally Posted by Doady

A rail system fed by hourly bus routes is simply just a waste of money.

Yes, you are absolutely right! It was so full of those people who rode on Metrobus. Every time if the bus is full all the time.