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Tri-Rail in Serious Jeopardy | Transit Miami

  2. TheRealEdwin
    • Transit Miami
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In case you haven’t heard, Tri-Rail is in big trouble.

Larry Lebowitz wrote a piece a couple days ago (sorry for the tardiness in reporting) outlining the impending doom for the Tri-County commuter rail line:

Tri-Rail may be facing no weekend service and a 60 percent cut in weekday trains in the fall after the state Legislature failed Friday to pass a major commuter rail bill that jeopardizes funding for the South Florida train.

Tri-Rail has been battling for years to get the Legislature to approve a dedicated funding source so it doesn’t have to seek money annually from Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties.

Without dedicated funding, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA), which operates Tri-Rail, is preparing for massive service cuts starting in October.

Tri-Rail executive director Joseph Giulietti said the agency would have to kill its entire Saturday, Sunday, and holiday service — about 15 trains a day — and reduce weekday commuter service from 50 trains down to 20.

SFRTA had been hoping two years ago that the Legislature would pass a measure that would allow Tri-Rail counties to hold a referendum on initiating a $2 a day fee on most rental cars that would provide a dedicated funding source to Tri-Rail. The result? Transit-hater Jeb Bush vetoed the bill. This year, two more bills pushing the $2 rental car fee passed the House, but died in the Senate without a vote a few days ago.

So this is how it will likely go down now: Palm Beach County will cut its share of funding down to the legal limit of $4.23 million. Of course, Miami-Dade and Broward will follow suit, resulting in an $18 million dollar loss for Tri-Rail.

This is almost unfathomable considering the following:

* Tri-Rail is one of the fastest growing transit systems in America
* A $440 million doubling-tracking project was completed less than two years ago
* Ridership is up 28% from this time last year, largely stemming from service increase
* Tri-Rail provides the only regional north-south transit service between Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties

Can it get much worse for transit in South Florida? We finally have a successful transit system that serves a critical role in the regional transportation network, it’s seeing rapid growth every year, and that’s not even good enough? Shameful, embarrassing, moronic — these words that immediately come to mind don’t even do justice here.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/519255...
http://www.cfrail.com/newsevents.asp?type=news&id=4...
http://www.mcall.com/topic/sfl-0430trirail,0,6237169.st...
TheRealEdwin

2 responses // Tri-Rail in Serious Jeopardy | Transit Miami

  • I live in Florida and this place needs some attention. The people running things down here are the biggest crooks in the country. From what I understand they are cutting funds to build more roads that will got to the sprawl of the horrible FPL power plant right in the middle of the everglades. The environmental damage that is going on down here is shameful. The rock mining from this power plant is a concern. They also want to dynamite the Port Everglades to make it bigger for more trade and the dynamite is going to kill more coral reef. There are activists working nonstop to try and stop the horrors but we need natiowide help.

    http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_ne...
    http://citizensagainstrunwayexpansion.blogspot.com/2007...
    http://www.environmentflorida.org/newsroom/clean-air-ne...
    http://www.cleanwateraction.org/fl/archives.html
    leeafton
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