Chief
06-16-2008, 05:48 AM
http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/transit/part2.html
Miami-Dade County's transit agency has added millions of miles of new bus service since 2002 -- including some politically motivated 'dogs.'
BY LARRY LEBOWITZ
llebowitz@miamiherald.com
Key promises of Miami-Dade County's grand plan to transform its mass-transit system have come up as empty as the Route 82 Metrobus.
The story of the 82 -- a route that Miami-Dade Transit added in late 2005 to curry favor with a county commissioner -- illustrates one of the many ways that the People's Transportation Plan of 2002 has been hampered by politics.
Ridership on the 82, a Westchester route specially requested by Commissioner Javier Souto, is so poor that some months it has cost taxpayers $30 per rider.
Hailing each of them a taxi would have been cheaper.
It's not the only route motivated more by politics than need.
Transit added 25 new routes and made dozens of enhancements on 80 other routes after voters approved the 0.5 percent sales tax in November 2002. Ridership has risen 30 percent, or 63,000 new passengers a day.
But only 15 of the 25 new routes were had been promised in the campaign for the tax. Transit agency chiefs introduced 10 others that weren't in the plan -- including several specifically requested by commissioners.
"Most of those routes were dogs -- absolute dogs," said former transit-service planner Suzie LaPlant, who retired in December 2006 after 30 years with the county. "There was no planning, no research, no advance marketing. We just did it because some commissioner wanted it."
So why did the agency add new routes for commissioners when it hadn't finished delivering all the routes it had promised to voters?
"We did what we were told," veteran Transit scheduling chief David Fialkoff said in a recent interview.
Former Transit director Roosevelt Bradley, who presided over the historic bus expansion, defended the agency's decision to ignore some of the routes promised in 2002.
"We introduced a lot of good service -- and I don't think that story's being told," he said last week. "We had some good routes."
Nonetheless, the routes requested by commissioners consistently ranked among the agency's poorest performers, draining sales-tax revenue and Transit personnel from other pressing needs.
Some of the commission-influenced routes were discontinued in the last two years.
More "dogs," including Route 82, are being retired on June 15, the same week that commissioners will be discussing a fare increase and maybe another half-cent sales tax to rescue the transit agency from its latest financial crisis.
Costly ride
Commissioner Souto isn't happy about the fate of the 82.
"When you expand, you don't kill what was there," Souto said during a recent commission meeting, where he berated Transit Director Harpal Kapoor, stretching a rubber band to emphasize his point.
"They're killing bus routes!" said Souto, who voted against the sales tax in 2002. "That's not what the people voted for! If you expand, you don't kill what you have. You expand."
The 82 started as a tiny weekday route connecting Tropical Park and the West Miami-Dade regional library in Souto's district.
It was costly. The agency was spending $1,080 a day to serve as few as 35 passengers. That $30-a-ride cost is about 13 times the average cost of a Miami-Dade bus ride.
When the agency tried to kill the 82 last year, Souto's office intervened with former director Bradley.
Veteran planner Robert Pearsall said the agency doubled the route's length west to Florida International University in the hope of attracting more riders, and reduced the number of buses on it to minimize costs. It didn't help.
**SCHNIPP**
Dade County has a remarkably similar County Commissioner structure to Washington's, so please read the rest of this to get a feel for how Politics crept into this Transit nightmare...
Miami-Dade County's transit agency has added millions of miles of new bus service since 2002 -- including some politically motivated 'dogs.'
BY LARRY LEBOWITZ
llebowitz@miamiherald.com
Key promises of Miami-Dade County's grand plan to transform its mass-transit system have come up as empty as the Route 82 Metrobus.
The story of the 82 -- a route that Miami-Dade Transit added in late 2005 to curry favor with a county commissioner -- illustrates one of the many ways that the People's Transportation Plan of 2002 has been hampered by politics.
Ridership on the 82, a Westchester route specially requested by Commissioner Javier Souto, is so poor that some months it has cost taxpayers $30 per rider.
Hailing each of them a taxi would have been cheaper.
It's not the only route motivated more by politics than need.
Transit added 25 new routes and made dozens of enhancements on 80 other routes after voters approved the 0.5 percent sales tax in November 2002. Ridership has risen 30 percent, or 63,000 new passengers a day.
But only 15 of the 25 new routes were had been promised in the campaign for the tax. Transit agency chiefs introduced 10 others that weren't in the plan -- including several specifically requested by commissioners.
"Most of those routes were dogs -- absolute dogs," said former transit-service planner Suzie LaPlant, who retired in December 2006 after 30 years with the county. "There was no planning, no research, no advance marketing. We just did it because some commissioner wanted it."
So why did the agency add new routes for commissioners when it hadn't finished delivering all the routes it had promised to voters?
"We did what we were told," veteran Transit scheduling chief David Fialkoff said in a recent interview.
Former Transit director Roosevelt Bradley, who presided over the historic bus expansion, defended the agency's decision to ignore some of the routes promised in 2002.
"We introduced a lot of good service -- and I don't think that story's being told," he said last week. "We had some good routes."
Nonetheless, the routes requested by commissioners consistently ranked among the agency's poorest performers, draining sales-tax revenue and Transit personnel from other pressing needs.
Some of the commission-influenced routes were discontinued in the last two years.
More "dogs," including Route 82, are being retired on June 15, the same week that commissioners will be discussing a fare increase and maybe another half-cent sales tax to rescue the transit agency from its latest financial crisis.
Costly ride
Commissioner Souto isn't happy about the fate of the 82.
"When you expand, you don't kill what was there," Souto said during a recent commission meeting, where he berated Transit Director Harpal Kapoor, stretching a rubber band to emphasize his point.
"They're killing bus routes!" said Souto, who voted against the sales tax in 2002. "That's not what the people voted for! If you expand, you don't kill what you have. You expand."
The 82 started as a tiny weekday route connecting Tropical Park and the West Miami-Dade regional library in Souto's district.
It was costly. The agency was spending $1,080 a day to serve as few as 35 passengers. That $30-a-ride cost is about 13 times the average cost of a Miami-Dade bus ride.
When the agency tried to kill the 82 last year, Souto's office intervened with former director Bradley.
Veteran planner Robert Pearsall said the agency doubled the route's length west to Florida International University in the hope of attracting more riders, and reduced the number of buses on it to minimize costs. It didn't help.
**SCHNIPP**
Dade County has a remarkably similar County Commissioner structure to Washington's, so please read the rest of this to get a feel for how Politics crept into this Transit nightmare...