Metrorail is the
heavy rail
Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas:
Rapid transit
A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid accelerati ...
rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
system of
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
and
Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...
in the U.S. state of
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. Metrorail is operated by
Miami-Dade Transit
Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) is the primary public transit authority of Miami, Florida and the greater Miami-Dade County area. It is the largest transit system in Florida and the 15th-largest transit system in the United States. As of , the system ...
(MDT), a departmental agency of Miami-Dade County. Opened in 1984, it is Florida's only rapid transit metro system, and is currently composed of two lines of 23 stations on of
standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
track.
Metrorail serves the urban core of Miami, connecting
Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most co ...
, the
Health District,
Downtown Miami
Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and Park West. It ...
, and
Brickell
Brickell ( ) is a neighborhood in Miami, Florida located directly east of Interstate 95, south of the historic CBD, and north of Coconut Grove. Brickell is known as the financial district in Miami, as well as South Florida.
Brickell was found ...
with the northern developed neighborhoods of
Hialeah
Hialeah ( ; ) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Hialeah is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in the Mi ...
and
Medley to the northwest, and to suburban
The Roads
The Roads is a neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It is a triangular area located south of SW 11th Street, between SW 12th Avenue and SW 15th Road, just west of Brickell.
The Roads is known for its old homes, historic private ...
,
Coconut Grove
Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as The Grove, is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, S ...
,
Coral Gables, and
South Miami
South Miami is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida in the Miami metropolitan area. The population was 11,657 at the 2010 census and as of 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, was 11,911.
South Miami's central business district is directl ...
, ending at urban
Dadeland in
Kendall. Metrorail connects to the
Metromover
Metromover is a free mass transit automated people mover train system operated by Miami-Dade Transit in Miami, Florida, United States. Metromover serves the Downtown Miami, Brickell, Park West and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods. ...
in Downtown, which provides metro service to the entirety of Downtown and
Brickell
Brickell ( ) is a neighborhood in Miami, Florida located directly east of Interstate 95, south of the historic CBD, and north of Coconut Grove. Brickell is known as the financial district in Miami, as well as South Florida.
Brickell was found ...
. Additionally, it connects to South Florida's
commuter rail
Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...
system at
Tri-Rail station, as well as
Metrobus routes at all stations. In , the system had rides, and about per day in .
In 2012, Metrorail opened its 23rd station,
Miami International Airport station, at
Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most co ...
(MIA), beginning service on a newly created 16-station Orange Line between the MIA and stations. The new line has helped increase ridership significantly, adding millions of riders per year
and allowing residents and visitors alike direct access from MIA to
Downtown Miami
Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and Park West. It ...
, as well as greater connectivity between various modes of transit throughout Miami-Dade County. The station provides direct service to
Tri-Rail
Tri-Rail is a commuter rail line linking Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in Florida, United States. The ''Tri'' prefix in the name refers to the three counties served by the railroad: Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. Tri-Rail ...
commuter rail
Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...
,
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and pac ...
intercity bus, and the
Rental Car Center.
History
Construction
![Miami's Metrorail traveling above the traffic](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Miami%27s_Metrorail_traveling_above_the_traffic.jpg)
In 1971, the Miami Urban Area Transportation Study completed by the Dade County
metropolitan planning organization A metropolitan planning organization (MPO) is a federally mandated and federally funded transportation policy-making organization in the United States that is made up of representatives from local government and governmental transportation authorit ...
recommended the construction for a rapid transit system for Greater Miami.
Having experienced a prolonged post-
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
population boom, metropolitan Dade County's permanent population rose by 35% to nearly 1.3 million residents within a decade, among the fastest population growth rates in the United States.
Within a year of the study, county residents approved a $132.5 million ($ million, adjusted for current inflation)
bond
Bond or bonds may refer to:
Common meanings
* Bond (finance), a type of debt security
* Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States
* Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...
dedicated to transit, with additional funding approved by the
Florida Legislature
The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. State of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Cons ...
for transit which, up until that time, operated solely on fare revenue. In 1976, with preliminary engineering completed for the system, the
Federal Transit Administration
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...
(FTA, then, the Urban Mass Transit Administration) committed 80% of the costs for the first stage of rapid transit system, with the county and state incurring the remaining cost. In the end the system cost over a billion dollars.
In April 1979, the
Interstate Commerce Commission
The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...
ratified an agreement between the
Florida East Coast Railway and Dade County to transfer the
right-of-way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
along
US 1
U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making ...
to Miami-Dade Transit, then named the Metro Transit Agency.
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are o ...
for the system the
county commission
A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States; such commissions usually comprise ...
voted to be named "Metrorail" (working name was DART - Dade Area Rapid Transit)
took place at the site of what would become University station in June. Construction began in December 1980 with placing of a
double-tee
A double tee or double-T beam is a load-bearing structure that resembles two T-beams connected to each other side by side. The strong bond of the flange (horizontal section) and the two webs (vertical members, also known as stems) creates a struc ...
guideway
girder
A girder () is a support beam used in construction. It is the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams. Girders often have an I-beam cross section composed of two load-bearing ''flanges'' separated by a stabilizing ' ...
near the
University of Miami
The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...
. The entire original line contained 2,704 girders, constructed at a cost of $55,887,830.
In June 1983, the first segment of Metrorail, 10 stations from Dadeland South to Overtown (now "Historic Overtown/
Lyric Theatre") was completed with the construction of the
Miami River Bridge. Revenue operation commenced on May 20, 1984, with 125,000 taking the free first-day service from
Pinecrest/Dadeland to Overtown.
In 1984
Rockne Krebs
Rockne Krebs (December 24, 1938 – October 10, 2011) was a contemporary American artist and sculptor.
Biography
Early life
Krebs was born on December 24, 1938, in Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1961 an ...
created an urban-scale neon sculpture multicolored light installation called
The Miami Line
''The Miami Line'' is an urban-scale multicolored neon-light installation, designed by Rockne Krebs, in the U.S. city of Miami, Florida, stretching along the Metrorail
METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). I ...
that stretches across the Metrorail bridge over the Miami River. Additional segments between Earlington Heights and Okeechobee opened between December 1984 and May 1985. In March 1989, a temporary station was opened to provide a connection to the newly opened
Tri-Rail
Tri-Rail is a commuter rail line linking Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in Florida, United States. The ''Tri'' prefix in the name refers to the three counties served by the railroad: Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. Tri-Rail ...
commuter rail
Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...
line, with the now permanent station officially opening in June. Preliminary engineering for a rapid transit extension to the
Palmetto Expressway
Palmetto (meaning "little palm") may refer to:
Palms
Several small palms in the Arecaceae (palm tree) family:
*in the genus ''Sabal'':
**Bermuda palmetto, '' Sabal bermudana''
**Birmingham palmetto, ''Sabal'' 'Birmingham'
**Dwarf, or bush palm ...
began in 1996 with
Palmetto station
Palmetto station is a Metrorail rapid transit station in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida (with a Miami address), United States, just near the town of Medley. It is the current northern terminus of the Metrorail system. This station is ...
opening in May 2003. As far as operational costs, revenues expected for 2006 were $17.15 million, while expenses budgeted for 2006 were $41.29 million. These historic figures became the last the Miami Dade Transit Authority ever disclosed, and are the figures still displayed on today's Miami-Dade Transit webpage as of January 2012.
With the area having a generally low
density
Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...
and lacking
transit-oriented development
In urban planning, transit-oriented development (TOD) is a type of urban development that maximizes the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport. It promotes a symbiotic relationship between ...
,
the Metrorail was designed as a
park and ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...
system, with the idea being that suburban residents would drive to the stations, then commute the rest of the way into the city. Nearly all of the stations outside of downtown Miami have parking facilities, except Tri-Rail station. Several have large
parking garage
A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...
s, such as and
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
stations, located at the southern end of the system, which combined have space for over 3,000 cars.
Earlington Heights, located just northwest of Downtown and adjacent to
Interstate 95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...
and the
Airport Expressway, has a large garage that was formerly dedicated to Metrorail riders. However, that is now used by the county due to the station's low ridership,
with only 95 vehicle spaces currently available.
The successful Dadeland garages are at or over capacity, with two of Metrorail's proposed extensions, the West Kendall Corridor and South Link, intended to help alleviate them.
The two northernmost stations, which are located near the
Palmetto Expressway
Palmetto (meaning "little palm") may refer to:
Palms
Several small palms in the Arecaceae (palm tree) family:
*in the genus ''Sabal'':
**Bermuda palmetto, '' Sabal bermudana''
**Birmingham palmetto, ''Sabal'' 'Birmingham'
**Dwarf, or bush palm ...
, Palmetto and Okeechobee, appeal to
Broward County
Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 m ...
commuters with nearly 2,000 combined spaces.
Additionally, the proposed North Corridor to the
Broward/Miami-Dade county line would have included five park and ride facilities totaling 2,650 spaces.
In the late 1990s, the plan was to potentially even continue the Metrorail line into Broward County along 27th Avenue (University Drive), ending at
Broward Boulevard near
Broward Mall
Broward Mall (previously known as Westfield Broward) is a shopping mall in Plantation, Florida.
History
The mall was opened in August 1978, with the name Broward Mall. Original anchors were Burdines, Sears, and Jordan Marsh (the latter made its d ...
in
Plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
.
Ridership growth and transit tax
![Miami's Metrorail](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Miami%27s_Metrorail.jpg)
After the initial segment of the single Green Line opened, Metrorail saw less than 10,000 riders per day. This increased to 15,000 after the rest of the line and stations opened in late 1984 and 1985.
After running out of money due to
cost overrun
A cost overrun, also known as a cost increase or budget overrun, involves unexpected incurred costs. When these costs are in excess of budgeted amounts due to a value engineering underestimation of the actual cost during budgeting, they are known ...
s, the originally planned to be system consisting of several lines was never completed, and lack of transit-oriented development along the single line led to the system being regarded as a
boondoggle
A boondoggle is a project that is considered a waste of both time and money, yet is often continued due to extraneous policy or political motivations.
Etymology
"Boondoggle" was the name of the newspaper of the Roosevelt Troop of the Boy Sco ...
. President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
commented that, given the low number of riders, it would have been cheaper to buy them all a limousine than the billion dollar cost of building and subsidizing the system.
The federal subsidy was approximately $800 million of the $1.02 billion used to fund the line. Ridership was up to 15,000 after the rest of the line had opened.
Ridership continued to grow in the late 1980s, with an
edge city
''Edge city'' is a term that originated in the United States for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional downtown or central business district, in what had previously been a suburban residential or rur ...
-like area known as
Dadeland in suburban Kendall growing up around the southern terminus of the line at and stations. Consequently, the southern nine stations from Kendall to Downtown Miami have higher ridership than the northern end.
This part of the system also has a higher average speed, having fewer curves and long distances between stations as it follows the congested
South Dixie Highway
Dixie Highway was a United States auto trail first planned in 1914 to connect the Midwest with the South. It was part of a system and was expanded from an earlier Miami to Montreal highway. The final system is better understood as a network of ...
.
During the 1990s, ridership growth was relatively stagnant, however, and Metrorail remained the subject of criticism.
At this time, ridership was up to about 50,000 per day, about a quarter of the original ridership estimate.
Although the original referendum for a one-cent transit sales tax increase had failed in 1999,
a half-cent sales surtax (Charter County Transit System Surtax)
increase was passed by a two-to-one margin by Miami-Dade County voters in November 2002,
with the intention being for the revenue to go fully towards the funding of new transit lines, including the Metrorail Orange Line, new bus routes, and increased service. Metrorail briefly ran a 24-hour hourly service from 12am to 5am and rush hour peak headways were reduced to 6 minutes, but the idea of the transit tax was sold to voters as being able to fund up to of additional Metrorail track by the 2030 long range plan, beginning with a completion of an Orange Line north corridor and east–west line by 2016. As it turned out, Miami-Dade Transit was running a deficit and used some of the tax to close the books, as well as using some to hire new staff, pay rent, and buy furniture for their new headquarters at the
Historic Overtown/Lyric Theatre station
Historic Overtown / Lyric Theatre station is a station on the Metrorail rapid transit system in northwest Downtown, Miami, Florida. The station is located at the intersection of Northwest Sixth Street and First Avenue, just south of the neighbo ...
. By the
late 2000s recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...
, it was realized that only the AirportLink of the Orange Line would be funded, and after service cuts in 2008, Metrorail was running fewer trains than before the tax was passed.
In response to all this, ''
The Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.[exposé
Expose, exposé, or exposed may refer to:
News sources
* Exposé (journalism), a form of investigative journalism
* '' The Exposé'', a British conspiracist website
Film and TV Film
* ''Exposé'' (film), a 1976 thriller film
* ''Exposed'' (1932 ...]
titled "Taken For A Ride, How the transit tax went off track", detailing all of the promises that were not kept as well as what money was misspent and how.
Despite the service cuts, due to the rise in energy prices and ever-increasing congestion, as well as a significant amount of residential development in the downtown area, ridership continued to grow during the 2000s, averaging well over 60,000 weekday riders throughout 2011.
However, this is still short of the 1985 estimate of 75,000 daily riders that were expected by the end of that year.
The transit tax also funded improvements to the adjoining
Metromover
Metromover is a free mass transit automated people mover train system operated by Miami-Dade Transit in Miami, Florida, United States. Metromover serves the Downtown Miami, Brickell, Park West and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods. ...
system, including removal of the 25 cent fare, with the idea that higher ridership on the system would lead to higher Metrorail ridership, as well as the realization that the cost of fare collection exceeded fare revenue.
Orange Line and Airport extension
![Miami Central Metrolink Construction - May 2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Miami_Central_Metrolink_Construction_-_May_2011.jpg)
The original Metrorail line was initially planned to be built to the airport, but due to political pressure and lobbying was instead directed to its current alignment around the airport and to
Hialeah
Hialeah ( ; ) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Hialeah is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in the Mi ...
.
In May 2009, Miami-Dade County broke ground on the AirportLink project, a extension of Metrorail connecting the existing
Earlington Heights station to the
Miami Intermodal Center
Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) is an intermodal rapid transit, commuter rail, intercity rail, local bus, and intercity bus transportation hub in Miami-Dade County, Florida, just outside the Miami city limits near the Grapeland Heights neighb ...
(MIC), located adjacent to
Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most co ...
's rental car center. The AirportLink was considered a vital component of the People's Transportation Plan (PTP), which Miami-Dade voters approved in 2002. The bulk of the funding for the $506 million project came from the plan's half-penny tax, with the
Florida Department of Transportation
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the powers of t ...
(FDOT) contributing $101.3 million. Construction commenced in May 2009, and service on the new Orange Line began on July 28, 2012, with the project completed on time and under budget.
At the MIC, the Orange Line connects to
Tri-Rail
Tri-Rail is a commuter rail line linking Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in Florida, United States. The ''Tri'' prefix in the name refers to the three counties served by the railroad: Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. Tri-Rail ...
,
Greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...
intercity buses, and the
MIA Mover
The MIA Mover is an automated people mover (APM) system which opened at the Miami International Airport (MIA) in metropolitan Miami, Florida, United States on September 9, 2011. The MIA Mover is designed to quickly transport landside passengers b ...
, the airport's people mover.
Transit-oriented development
In addition to private development, several
joint-development affordable housing projects have recently been constructed along the Metrorail line with the intent of increasing ridership through transit-oriented development. These projects include apartments, Transit Village,
and The Beacon, which is located near Historic Overtown/Lyric Theater station in
Downtown Miami
Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and Park West. It ...
. The headquarters of Miami-Dade Transit, also located next to Historic Overtown/Lyric Theater station, is known as the Overtown Transit Village. Brownsville Transit Village, opening in March 2012, was visited by the administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
(EPA),
Lisa P. Jackson
Lisa Perez Jackson (born February 8, 1962) is an American chemical engineer who served as the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 2009 to 2013. She was the first African American to hold that position.
B ...
, on January 5, 2012, to tour the 490-unit development, which will save an estimated five million gallons of water and $50,000 annually in utility bills due to environmentally sustainable plumbing fixtures.
Nonetheless, by 2016, Brownsville and Santa Clara were still the lowest ridership stations, the only ones to regularly post ridership numbers below 1,000 daily.
In general, stations to the north of
Civic Center
A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...
see much lower ridership, on average one-third of stations from Civic Center south. They are mostly in industrial areas with low
population density
Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
and little development, as well as stagnant or declining populations, such as
Gladeview and
Brownsville. Additionally, stations to the north of
Earlington Heights are only served by one line, giving them much longer
headway
Headway is the distance or duration between vehicles in a transit system measured in space or time. The ''minimum headway'' is the shortest such distance or time achievable by a system without a reduction in the speed of vehicles. The precise defi ...
s.
Trackage
![Miami Metrorail Dadeland 20181010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Miami_Metrorail_Dadeland_20181010.jpg)
Metrorail runs from the northwest in
Medley through
Hialeah
Hialeah ( ; ) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Hialeah is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in the Mi ...
, into the city of Miami, the downtown area, through
Coral Gables and
South Miami
South Miami is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida in the Miami metropolitan area. The population was 11,657 at the 2010 census and as of 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, was 11,911.
South Miami's central business district is directl ...
, and ending in southwest Miami-Dade at Dadeland Mall. There are 23
accessible
Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...
Metrorail stations, one about every . Metrorail connects to the
Metromover
Metromover is a free mass transit automated people mover train system operated by Miami-Dade Transit in Miami, Florida, United States. Metromover serves the Downtown Miami, Brickell, Park West and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods. ...
system at and stations and to
South Florida
South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...
's
Tri-Rail
Tri-Rail is a commuter rail line linking Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in Florida, United States. The ''Tri'' prefix in the name refers to the three counties served by the railroad: Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. Tri-Rail ...
suburban
commuter rail
Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...
system at the
Tri-Rail station (see below).
Since completion of the Airport Link in 2012, Metrorail increased its service frequency to peak headways of three and a half
to five
minutes on the shared portion of the line from Dadeland South to Earlington Heights.
Along with the Metrorail system, the tracks are mostly elevated. The three sections that are not are under I-95 between Vizcaya and Brickell stations, under I-95 just east of Culmer station, and the northern end of the line from just east of the
Palmetto Expressway
Palmetto (meaning "little palm") may refer to:
Palms
Several small palms in the Arecaceae (palm tree) family:
*in the genus ''Sabal'':
**Bermuda palmetto, '' Sabal bermudana''
**Birmingham palmetto, ''Sabal'' 'Birmingham'
**Dwarf, or bush palm ...
heading west into the Palmetto station and tail track. In each of these cases, the tracks ride on the ground level for a brief amount of time. The platform at each Metrorail station is long enough to accommodate six-car-long trains; the Dadeland North, Earlington Heights, and Government Center station platforms are long enough to accommodate eight-car-long trains. In-service trains are usually either four or six cars long; in the evening it is not uncommon for Miami-Dade Transit to link two out-of-service trains together before returning them to Lehman Yard. Trains are stored at the Lehman Yard just west of Okeechobee station.
There are extra tracks and a new test track, known as the Lehman Center Test Track, built at the Lehman Yard.
Rolling stock
Current fleet
Metrorail currently uses 136 heavy-rail cars built by the
Hitachi Rail Italy
Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail of Japan. After the ...
, the first of which started running in December 2017. They were constructed in a custom rail-car building facility in Medley, Florida. The cars are semi-permanently attached in
married pair
A twin unit or twinset is a set of two railroad cars or locomotives which are permanently coupled and treated as if they were a single unit. A twinset of cars or coaches can also be called a twin car. In US passenger railroad parlance, twin u ...
s, and joined up to form 4-car trains, which is the normal train length, although 6-car trains are also possible. Included amenities are free Wi-Fi, interior bicycle racks, improved announcement systems, digital signs and high-efficiency air conditioning units.
Former fleet
![Brickell metro station platform 2017-07](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Brickell_metro_station_platform_2017-07.jpg)
Metrorail formerly used 136 heavy-rail cars (known as the
Universal Transit Vehicle) built by the
Budd Company
The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense products ...
under the name "Transit America";
they are identical to those used on the
Baltimore Metro SubwayLink
The Metro SubwayLink is a rapid transit line serving the greater area of Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, and is operated by the Maryland Transit Administration. The segment in Downtown Baltimore is underground, and most of the line o ...
(save for the modifications made to Baltimore's cars during their refurbishment between 2002 and 2005), as the two systems were built at the same time, and the two agencies were able to save money by sharing a single order. The Baltimore-Miami order was among the last orders Budd filled before shuttering its railcar manufacturing business; a fleet of
similar vehicles was manufactured by
Società Italiana Ernesto Breda
Società Italiana Ernesto Breda (), more usually referred to simply as Breda, was an Italian mechanical manufacturing company founded by Ernesto Breda in Milan in 1886.
History
The firm was founded by Ernesto Breda in Milan in 1886. It original ...
for the
Red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
and
Purple
Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, pu ...
lines of the
Los Angeles Metro Rail between 1988 and 2000.
These cars were manufactured in Budd's Red Lion plant in
Northeast Philadelphia
Northeast Philadelphia, nicknamed Northeast Philly, the Northeast and the Great Northeast, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the 2000 census, Northeast Philadelphia has a population of between 300,000 and 450,000, depending ...
in 1983. The cars are long, wide and have a top design speed of over . Each car can hold up to 166 passengers (76 seated, 90 standing),
and draw power from an electric .
Replacement
![Miami-Dade Transit Metrorail car presentation 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Miami-Dade_Transit_Metrorail_car_presentation_2016.jpeg)
The Miami-Dade County Government was working with the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust (CITT) to receive money from the half-penny sur-tax approved by voters in 2002 in order to purchase new Metrorail cars. MDT later planned to refurbish the existing Metrorail cars with the money instead of replacing them as promised.
However, it was found that the fleet had never been maintained properly, and in 2008, a
cost-benefit analysis found that, based on the current fleet's condition, a refurbishment would cost just as much as it would to buy new cars, if not more so.
There were discussions with
Washington, D.C.'s Metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
system about combining car orders with their
6000-series cars to achieve lower costs through
economies of scale
In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables ...
, but the talks failed to work anything out.
The following year, Miami-Dade issued an
RFP for new cars to replace their existing fleet, at a cost no greater than $2.419 million per car. Proposals from three railcar manufacturers were reviewed, with only two of which meeting the price requirements, these being from Italy-based
AnsaldoBreda
Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail of Japan. After the ...
and
Elmira Heights, New York
Elmira Heights is a village in Chemung County, New York, United States. The population was 4,097 at the 2010 census. The village is primarily within the town of Horseheads, but part of the village is in the town of Elmira. The village is a north ...
-based CAF USA, an American branch of the Spain-based
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (Grupo CAF, literally "Construction and Other Railway Services") is a Spanish publicly listed company which manufactures railway vehicles and equipment and buses through its Solaris Bus & Coach subsidia ...
. CAF's bid was slightly higher than that of AnsaldoBreda, and thus Miami-Dade was prepared to award the contract to the former. However, the contract was stalled when CAF filed a
lawsuit
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
against the transit authority, claiming that their selection of AnsladoBreda was due to the fact that the builder was willing to open a local factory in Miami-Dade County to assemble the vehicles. This violation could render the deal
ineligible for federal funding.
After reevaluating the bids from the builders, without taking local geographic preference into account, Miami-Dade reaffirmed its selection of AnsaldoBreda, and in November 2012, approved a $313 million purchase of 136 new Metrorail cars from the company. Miami-Dade issued the notice to proceed the following month, with the cars expected to be delivered over the course of several years until 2017.
By the time the custom rail-car building facility in Medley was completed in early 2016, AnsaldoBreda had been purchased by
Hitachi Rail
() is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo ...
and the full rollout was pushed back to 2019, beginning gradually from 2017.
The first trainset entered service in early December 2017. The delivery of the cars fell behind schedule once again due to flooding at the Hitachi Rail factory in
West Plains, Missouri
West Plains is a city in, and the county seat of Howell County, Missouri, United States. The population was 12,184 at the 2020 census.
History
The history of West Plains can be traced back to 1832, when settler Josiah Howell (after whom Howell ...
, and in February 2018 it was announced that the final replacement cars would not arrive before 2020. The shortage of replacement cars resulted in some Metrorail runs being operated as two-car trains.
Fares and services
![Government Center rush hour](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Government_Center_rush_hour.png)
As of October 1, 2013, the current standard fare on Metrorail is $2.25 and reduced fare is $1.10. A standard
monthly pass costs $112.50 and $56.25 for reduced fare. The monthly Easy Cards are sold at over 50 sales outlets. Reduced fares are available only to
Medicare recipients, people with
disabilities, and Miami-Dade students in grades 1 through 12. Children below tall ride free when accompanied by a fare-paying rider, with a limit of 3.
Ticket vending machines
A ticket machine, also known as a ticket vending machine (TVM), is a vending machine that produces paper or electronic tickets, or recharges a stored-value card or smart card or the user's mobile wallet, typically on a smartphone. For instance, ...
(TVMs) that sell Easy Cards and Easy Tickets are found in all rail stations. All Miami-Dade senior citizens aged 65 years and older and with
Social Security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
benefits, and veterans residing in Miami-Dade and earning less than $22,000 annually ride free with the reduced fare monthly Easy Card.
All of the stations except the five in the downtown area and Tri-Rail station have dedicated parking available. Parking costs $4.50 per day or $11.50 for a monthly pass.
On July 16, 2008, Miami-Dade Transit announced that it would be replacing all fare collection methods with the
Easy Card
The Easy Card (stylized as EASY Card) system is a series of linked contactless smartcard systems used by Miami-Dade Transit and South Florida Regional Transportation Authority in the South Florida area. The Easy Card allows for electronic payme ...
system by late 2009. The system replaces the old cash and token-based system with one that automatically deducts fares at Metrorail
fare gate
In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A sys ...
s from a reloadable card.
The final station to start fare gate installation was Government Center on August 2, 2009. Since the system launch on October 1, 2009, all passengers using Metrorail must use either an Easy Card or Easy Ticket to enter stations.
For almost the full first year of use, the Easy Card
ticket vending machine
A ticket machine, also known as a ticket vending machine (TVM), is a vending machine that produces paper or electronic tickets, or recharges a stored-value card or smart card or the user's mobile wallet, typically on a smartphone. For instanc ...
s allowed anyone to purchase thousands of dollars worth of Easy Cards by credit card without entering a PIN or billing zip code, which led to credit card thieves putting high dollar values on Easy Cards and selling them at a discounted rate for cash. Miami-Dade Transit initially mitigated this issue by limiting credit card transactions to three per day and a value limit of $112, and later by requiring zip code verification for all cards.
From 2009 to 2011, free
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
was added to Metrorail and
Metromover
Metromover is a free mass transit automated people mover train system operated by Miami-Dade Transit in Miami, Florida, United States. Metromover serves the Downtown Miami, Brickell, Park West and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods. ...
cars and stations, as well as certain Metrobus routes.
Starting July 28, 2012, Metrorail increased service along shared Green and Orange Line stations from Dadeland South to Earlington Heights. Along this stretch of shared track, trains arrive every 5 minutes during peak hours, every 7 minutes during mid-day hours, and every 15 minutes late nights and on weekends. At stations with only one service, trains arrive every 10 minutes during weekday rush hours, every 15 minutes at midday, and every 15–30 minutes after 6 p.m. until midnight with weekend service running every 30 minutes. Metrorail runs from 5 a.m. until midnight seven days a week.
For a brief period from 2003 to April 2004 there was 24-hour service supported by the transit tax; between midnight and 5 a.m. trains arrived every 60 minutes.
A
limited-stop
In public transit, particularly bus, tram, or train transportation, a limited-stop (or sometimes referred to as semi-fast) service is a trip pattern that stops less frequently than a local service. Many limited-stop or semi-fast services are a co ...
bus route, Route 500 Midnight Owl, operates hourly between 12:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. trip between Dadeland South and Government Center Metrorail stations. This bus service replaces the 24-hour Metrorail service cancelled due to a lack of ridership.
Construction on the first segment of the Orange Line, Metrorail's AirportLink
began in May 2009; service to
Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most co ...
began in the summer of 2012.
In August 21st, 2019, Miami-Dade Transit launched contactless payments acceptance on the Metrorail which enabled transit riders to use their smartphone devices (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay), as well as smart watches (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Fitbit Pay) to tap and go at all stations. Fare gates were updated instead of replaced to save money. Currently Miami-Dade Transit doesn't allow Express Transit Mode on iOS. The company behind the fare systems is Cubic Transportation Systems, a partner with MDT since the beginning of the Easy Card/Ticket implementation.
MetroPath / The Underline
Beneath the Metrorail guideway from Brickell to Dadeland South, along the former Florida East Coast Railway right-of-way, there is a nearly contiguous bicycle and pedestrian trail known as the MetroPath (M-Path) which was built in 1984 along with the metro system. It is popular among cyclists, some of whom use it to commute to and from downtown, as well as runners.
In 2014, plans were made to revamp the MetroPath as a
linear park
A linear park is a type of park that is significantly longer than it is wide. These linear parks are strips of public land running along canals, rivers, streams, defensive walls, electrical lines, or highways and shorelines. Examples of linear p ...
, taking after the popular
High Line
The High Line is a elevated park, elevated linear park, greenway (landscape), greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the West Side (Manhattan), west side of Manhattan in New York City. The High Line's ...
in New York City, by a group known as "Friends of the GreenLink.
The
University of Miami
The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...
assisted in the procurement of the idea.
Into 2015, the proposal gained momentum and rebranded itself as
riends of"The Underline". The full park will be completed in phases and will be fully complete in 2025.
Stations
![Miami Airport Metrorail station](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Miami_Airport_Metrorail_station.jpg)
Metrorail currently operates 23 stations, and combined with the Metromover in Downtown Miami and Brickell, the entire Metro system operates 43 stations. Metrorail stations are located at about a mile (one and a half kilometer) apart along the line, and Metromover stations are located at approximately every two blocks in the greater Downtown area.
Current stations
Travel times provided are approximate for travel to and from
Government Center in
Downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
.
Proposed expansions
![MDT Metrorail Extensions](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/MDT_Metrorail_Extensions.png)
From the beginning, the Metrorail was designed and envisioned to have more lines than the current two line system; however, the federally subsidized cost of the original line ended up over budget at $1.02 billion,
after which ridership was much lower than expected. The proposed lines included:
*The Biscayne/Northeast Corridor following
U.S. Route 1
U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...
(
Biscayne Boulevard
U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) in Florida runs along the state's east coast from Key West to its crossing of the St. Marys River (Florida/Georgia), St. Marys River into Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia north of Boulogne, Florida, Boulogne and south of ...
) from Government Center up to the
Broward/Miami-Dade county line in
Aventura.
*The North Corridor up NW 27 Avenue to the county line.
*The East–West Corridor from Government Center west to the
Florida International University
Florida International University (FIU) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest uni ...
main campus in
University Park, as well as east from Government Center to the
Port of Miami
The Port of Miami, styled as "PortMiami" but formally the Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami, is a major seaport located in Biscayne Bay at the mouth of the Miami River in Miami, Florida. It is the largest passenger port in the world, and one of the ...
.
*The BayLink from Historic Overtown/Lyric Theater station to
South Beach
South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard.
This area was the fi ...
,
Miami Beach
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...
.
*The South Link, a extension of the Green Line from Dadeland South to
Florida City
Florida City is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is the southernmost municipality in the South Florida metropolitan area. Florida City is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area. As of the 2020 census, it ...
.
*The Douglas Road extension from
Douglas Road station to the
Miami Intermodal Center
Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) is an intermodal rapid transit, commuter rail, intercity rail, local bus, and intercity bus transportation hub in Miami-Dade County, Florida, just outside the Miami city limits near the Grapeland Heights neighb ...
.
*The (West) Kendall Corridor down
Kendall Drive
Kendall Drive, also known as Southwest 88th Street and historically North Kendall Drive, runs for in an east–west orientation across mid-southern Miami-Dade County, Florida. The majority of Kendall Drive, between State Road 997 at The Hammo ...
from Dadeland North station west to
West Kendall and north to the FIU main campus.
It was not until the half-penny transit tax was passed in 2002 that any serious expansion plans were again considered, with the North Corridor and East–West lines, both dubbed the "Orange Line," assuming the highest priority, while the possibility of of additional rail if all the extensions were built by 2030, was touted. However, after budget deficits, other uses of the tax revenue, and a downgrade of the North Corridor's funding priority to medium-low by the federal government, after 10 years only the 2.4 mile AirportLink and Orange Line remained promised and realized.
The credibility of Miami-Dade Transit and the County as a whole, including the validity of their ridership estimates and revenue forecasts, has been a significant impediment to their qualifications for funding under the
Federal Transit Administration
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...
's (FTA) approval.
In 2011, Miami-Dade Transit underwent a serious federal investigation and takeover by the FTA in which it was forced to open its books over suspicions of money mismanagement.
The Agency threatened to cease its funding used to cover operational costs, which would have meant significant cuts in service; however, they took the funding under their strict control to prevent this from happening.
The South Link expansion, which was intended to replace the
South Miami-Dade Busway, a
bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
that opened in segments on February 3, 1997 and in April 2005,
had plans for a widened right of way, elevated crossings at major intersections, as well as the possibility of building one additional Metrorail station at SW 104 Street to alleviate traffic and parking in Dadeland.
In 2009, the Metropolitan Planning Organization proposed that the busway be opened to regular vehicle traffic by adding a
SunPass toll system with the profits going towards busway improvements.
The proposal did not pass. The South Link, now known as the South-Dade Transitway Corridor, is currently an under construction gold standard
bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
line with an expected start of revenue service in March 2024.
On November 16, 2022, Miami-Dade County announced that they would accelerate construction on the North Corridor along NW 27th Avenue from
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza station to
Hard Rock Stadium
Hard Rock Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Miami Gardens, Florida. The stadium is the home field for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL) and the Miami Hurricanes, the University of Miami's NCAA Division I coll ...
at NW 199th Street in
Miami Gardens, Florida
Miami Gardens is a city in north-central Miami-Dade County, Florida. It is located north of Downtown Miami with city boundaries that stretch from I-95 and Northeast 2nd Avenue to its east to Northwest 47th and Northwest 57th Avenues to its w ...
, with a goal of starting construction in 2024 with aid from federal funds. The extension will be built in two phase: Phase I would see the extension built up to Hard Rock Stadium with just one station, while Phase II would see more stations built on the elevated line as well as transit-oriented developments built alongside it.
Ridership
Sortable chart detailing monthly weekday ridership averages by calendar year;
right hand chart giving annual averages may use "fiscal year" without disclosure, where the FY begins in October and has 75% of its time in the next year with only 25% in the starting year. Note the large jump in ridership starting September 2012 after the Orange Line extension to MIA opened, the largest project that came to fruition after the passing of the half-penny tax in 2002. Service frequency below Earlington Heights was doubled as a result, hence the ridership jumped by nearly 10,000, at least four times the ridership of the single new station at the Miami Intermodal Center (< 2,000). Year averages are
rounded to the nearest 500, and the highest month is also given in bold. A trend of lower ridership during the summer can be seen, when the traffic and population of the county (and state) is generally lower. The low December ridership anomaly may be explained by the long
Christmas and holiday season
The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late November ...
. By 2016, ridership started to decrease, especially by summer, where July saw the lowest ridership since the Orange Line opened in 2012. This lag follows
Metrobus, which began to decline in 2014, amid an aging fleet and falling oil and gas prices, and posted the lowest ridership numbers in over a decade during June and July 2016. For October 2016, even
Metromover
Metromover is a free mass transit automated people mover train system operated by Miami-Dade Transit in Miami, Florida, United States. Metromover serves the Downtown Miami, Brickell, Park West and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods. ...
recorded low ridership, though the low numbers for this specific month were blamed on one day of closure for
Hurricane Matthew
Hurricane Matthew was an extremely powerful Atlantic hurricane which caused catastrophic damage and a humanitarian crisis in Haiti, as well as widespread devastation in the southeastern United States. The deadliest Atlantic hurricane sinc ...
.
2017 saw a continuation in the ridership decline across all three systems; ridership in September 2017 was impacted by
Hurricane Irma
Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread destruction across its path in September 2017. Irma was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Maria two ...
despite the exclusion of days without service from the average.
* Record high
Ridership records
See also
*
Transportation in South Florida
The Greater Miami area, composed of the three counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach, also known collectively as South Florida, is home to a wide variety of public and private transportation systems. These include heavy rail mass tra ...
*
List of metro systems
This list of metro systems includes electrified rapid transit train systems worldwide. In some parts of the world, metro systems are referred to as subways, U-Bahn or undergrounds. , 205 cities in 61 countries have a metro system.
The London ...
*
List of United States rapid transit systems by ridership
The following is a list of all heavy rail rapid transit systems in the United States. It does not include statistics for bus or light rail systems (see: List of United States light rail systems by ridership for the latter). All ridership figures ...
*
List of North American rapid transit systems by ridership
This is a list of North American rapid transit systems by ridership. These heavy rail or rapid transit systems are also known as ''metro'' or ''subway'' systems. This list of systems in North America does not include light rail, even when they are ...
*
List of Florida railroads
This is a list of railroads operating in the U.S. state of Florida.
Current railroads Common freight carriers
* Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway (AGR)
* AN Railway (AN)
* Bay Line Railroad (BAYL)
* CSX Transportation (CSXT)
* First Coast Railroad ...
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*
{{USSubway
Rapid transit in Florida
1984 establishments in Florida
Railway lines opened in 1984
Transportation in South Florida
750 V DC railway electrification
Railway lines opened in 2012