This is what happened when I went a month car-free in Miami
Greater Miami residents frequently lament traffic congestion as their top complaint; many spend frustrating hours each week commuting from home to work and back, time that could be better spent with family and friends or on productive work. Some problems you cannot solve problems without fully immersing yourselves in the problems themselves. I am also convinced that if traffic congestion poses such a challenge to quality of life and economic productivity, then we must resolve to make all other forms of transportation better. With these two concepts in mind, during the month of April I challenged myself to undertake a month car-free in Miami, getting around town relying not on my car but by walking, bicycling, and using mass transit: Metrobus, Metrorail, Metromover, and city trolleys. The results might surprise you. They certainly surprised me, and they enlightened me on what kinds of changes need to be made if we are in fact to get people out of their cars.
Full Speed Ahead: What Works Well
My own story: I’m a native Miamian, got my driver’s license and my first car when I turned 16, and I never turned back. But I also spent considerable amounts of time in Washington, DC, and Philadelphia, relying exclusively on my own two feet and their robust transit systems to get around those historic towns. I live in Miami’s Coral Way corridor, near Metrorail, Metrobus, and the Coral Way trolley route. In Miami, I occasionally use transit, primarily trolleys, to get me to my destination.
I was surprised at how well some things actually work. The trolleys that have been springing up in different local cities over the past decade are popular, understandably so. Many of the trolleys run frequently (every 20 minutes, in some cases), are clean, and offer Wifi. Several of the routes include connections at Metrorail stations, allowing many passengers to travel extensively north and south throughout the county without needing to drive. Bonus points: Coral Way (Miami) and Coral Gables trolleys overlap their routes for a few blocks, allowing riders to transfer across municipal boundaries, the sort of intergovernmental coordination we need to see more of when it comes to a multi-jurisdictional challenge like transportation.
Likewise, the Metromover trains do a commendable job of connecting key downtown Miami destinations and freeing up our crowded downtown arterial roads and bridges. The small trains appeared to serve not only officer workers but also our growing downtown population of young professionals, Miami-Dade College students, and retirees.
Similarly, Metrorail — though widely recognized as better serving north-south travel than east-west travel, due to high land acquisition and construction costs that have deterred new lines from being constructed — proved fairly reliable. I occasionally encountered broken elevators and other nuisances; Miami-Dade’s new Transit Watch cellphone app allows passengers to photograph and immediately report, via text, suspicious activities (such as abandoned bags) or obnoxious ones (such as the broken elevators or graffiti or unruly behavior).
Two recent innovations merit credit: the Metrorail takes passengers into and out of Miami International Airport, via the Miami Intermodal Center, easing airport-related travel; the new Metrorail Downtown Express, which operates at set times during morning and evening rush hour, delivered me from the Dadeland South Metrorail Station (in East Kendall) into Brickell in less than 13 minutes, a full one hour (roundtrip) faster than drivers making the same trek; plus, thanks to the wi-fi onboard, I could work the entire time.
Uber and Lyft — recently allowed by our County Commission — help to address the “first mile/last mile” transportation challenge; that is, many potential passengers avoid using transit because getting to or from a transit stop poses a challenge. The adoption of ride-sharing services — including the more affordable Uber Pool option that allows riders to split a ride and, thus, the cost of the fare, with another passenger — bodes well for city and county transit also.
Proceed with Caution: What Needs Tweaking
The county’s Metrobus system — which I had used only a handful of times in my life — works much better than I recalled. Many residents — myself included until last month — sometimes view buses as an inferior, less reliable form of transportation. I found the various Metrobuses to be much cleaner than I’d assumed, reasonably priced ($2.25 per ride), and the free Wifi made the longer-than-driving travel times more tolerable by allowing me to work the entire time. Another plus: buses have bike racks at the front, allowing riders to transfer off of or onto their bikes at no additional cost.
That said, some immediate — and largely inexpensive — fixes can help increase ease and efficiency of bus travel.
- In order to save guests times identifying the nearest transit stop to a meeting, both public and private entities should consider adding a mention about “the nearest transit stop” to their invitations.
- The buses I used sometimes didn’t contain maps of the routes the bus was taking, and signage didn’t indicate the location of the next stops. Some buses travel with few passengers; such limited demand begs the question of whether routes need to be reconsidered and readjusted on a more regular basis.
- In addition to the somewhat cumbersome transit debit card machines located at Metrorail stations, Metrobus and Metrorail passengers should be able to add funds to their accounts online, reducing lines to pay for the cards.
- But perhaps the most important quick fix involves the integration of city and county transit data; the county and some of our larger local cities have created their own phone apps that allow potential riders to map what’s announced as their fastest routes from getting from Point A to Point B. In reality, the fastest route often involves a combination of city and county transit, but because the apps don’t share information, potential passengers are sent on longer trips than necessary. Intergovernmental coordination — of data, in this case — can greatly improve the travel experience, likely resulting in more riders.
Many of these recommendations are standard items on transit systems in other major cities and can be implemented locally fairly easily.
Bring to an Immediate Stop: What We Need to Reconsider Altogether
Surprising to me, in many cases the most challenging part about using transit on a daily basis was… getting to a transit stop.
Florida has among the highest pedestrian fatality rates in the nation, and with reason: sidewalk networks — especially in otherwise walkable, urban core neighborhoods — must be completed so that residents need not risk getting hit by cars. Overly long blocks may need mid-block crosswalks, while other blocks would benefit from markings indicating appropriate places to cross the street at intersections. Waiting for transit can be its own ordeal — in most of our local cities, the standard for a transit stop involves a pole; no bench or shelter, simply a pole.
In addition, it’s estimated that Miami-Dade’s urbanized community has around 14% tree canopy coverage, far short of the 30–40-% standard target for a healthy metro area. A bold and conscious effort must be made to plant shade trees (and not the ubiquitous but shade-impaired palm trees) wherever appropriate, making the walk to a transit stop not just safe but also pleasant.
Conclusion
Going-Car-Free-in-Miami wasn’t just eye-opening and consciousness-raising; it was also skin-toasting and patience-testing. It wasn’t about Find Flaws but about Facing Facts. Those likeliest to suffer from underperforming transit and mobility conditions are our most vulnerable citizens: seniors living on fixed incomes, hardworking families of modest means, recent college grads prices out of our local cities and contemplating taking their talents elsewhere. We have a duty and an obligation to spend a day walking in their shoes.
To the typical non-transit user, I would now say: plan ahead (by checking out the transit apps, applying sunscreen, and carrying an umbrella), and give transit a second look; it’s better and faster than you might think. To our local government officials, I would say: make the changes I mention, and you should expect to see ridership increase and road congestion decrease, two things we can all celebrate.
Ralph Rosado is a candidate for Miami City Commission, District 4; President of Rosado & Associates, an urban planning & economic development consulting firm; and an instructor in graduate and professional programs at FIU and UM.
Ernie Hsiung assisted with copyediting and the production of this document.
