Reliability Matters: “Woes on the Miami-Dade Metromover”
It’s 9 a.m., and my meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. I have plenty of time considering my meeting location is only a few Metromover stops away, and I live next to a station. Nonetheless, I’m caught in a predicament… drive, risk being caught in traffic, and arrive late or ride the Metromover and potentially arrive late as well?
Seems like a “lose-lose” scenario, I decide to ride the “mover” and regret it in the end.
When I arrived on the Metromover platform, I hear the dreaded message on the speaker “the departure of your train is being delayed, thank you for riding Miami-Dade Metromover”
After 10 minutes of anxiously waiting, I jump on the Brickell loop, thinking that “I'll make it on time” however, within minutes of my commute I read another dreaded message: “Omni Loop”. Yikes, the operator has changed my train and I’m now on the Omni loop, this loop is traveling on the opposite side of my intended destination.
I push the help button and hear a muffled sound and distorted robot voice. (sighs) “I should have driven”
What was supposed to be a short 10-minute ride, turned into a 35-minute commute with a lot of stress involved. Does this sound familiar to you?
This is just one of the countless negative experiences when it comes to riding the Miami-Dade Metromover. It’s easy to identify that Miami-Dade County Transportation needs to address the unreliability of the Metromover and update its systems to help make ridership easy and seamless. While progress seems to be a tall order at times, and the County is continuously working on our public transportation system, below you will find some pointers which riders can control to ease the pain.
Did you know that Miami-Dade has an app that gives you updates on the Metromover? No? Me neither, I recently found out. It’s called Go Miami Dade Transit and on this app, you can find the estimated arrival time of buses, trains, and mover cars approaching your stop/station. You can also store your favorite stops and stations as favorites. While this takes space on your phone, it is an avenue of relief from Miami-Dade Transit.
For those avid social media users, when you experience issues on your commute you can tweet or Instagram @GoMiamiDade and @TransitMIA to shed light on the issues you are experiencing. While this may not solve your immediate problem, you will be given an outlet to share your frustrations and bring awareness to your issue. If we all voice our concerns, we can make a collective difference; tagging your County Commissioner is suggested.
Sending text alerts has become an increasingly popular way to reach the masses with critical information. A text message can deliver reliable information to those who choose to subscribe to its platform. Sharing relevant and on-demand information with riders will help the riders decide what’s their best mode of transportation.
Share Metromover delays on Twitter and Instagram. By communicating with the masses through your social channels you will clearly and effectively spread the message.
Send a weekly mass email that shares plans, delays, and upcoming changes to the Metromover system.
Conclusively, a reliable and efficient public transit service is not only one of the markers of a real City, bringing value to our everyday urban living experience. On the other side, slow, unreliable and inconsistent service will discourage passengers, jeopardize local benefits and leave our visitors with a very bad impression. It is time that our Metromover system be reliable, our City deserves it.
Have you experienced Metromover woes? Tell us more in the comments section below. What solutions would you propose to our Commissioners and our Mayor?