Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Guest Blogger: Misguided idea at the county: MetroMover Fare … by Juan Cuba

Commissioner Jordan is sponsoring an ordinance to permit a fare on the Mover, and if approved we are probably looking at a 50 cent charge. In her Herald op-ed this Saturday, Commissioner Jordan framed this issue as one of fairness and income inequality. She starts by posing this question: why are Miami-Dade County taxpayers providing free Metromover service to the well-heeled business people, professionals, condo dwellers and tourists who make up most of the riders on the downtown rail system?

Commissioner Jordan should probably take a ride on the MetroMover and ask riders where they work and where they live. I spent my afternoon yesterday doing just that. The people I met riding the Mover were from all walks of life and lived all over the county: construction workers, valet drivers, accountants, seniors, students, security guards, residents from Downtown and Brickell and Overtown and Little Havana and Miami Gardens and even Miramar.

The real issue here is not fairness, it's keeping your promise to the voters and math.

Keeping the MetroMover fare-free is one of the few promises from the 2002 People's Transportation Plan that our County Commission has kept thus far. How can they expect voters to believe them if they do not keep their word? They should stand by their promise!

Moreover, the math simply doesn't add up. According to the County's own analysis, we won't see any revenue for 5-10 years. That's because they have to spend anywhere from $2.4 to $9 million installing a fare-collection system and another $450,000 annually to maintain it. Meanwhile, revenue generated from 50 cent fares is expected to bring $600,000 a year. You do the math.

At a time when we're growing rapidly and traffic is getting worse, we should be making transit easier, more convenient, and more reliable. And we need to fight for more transit funding, but the Mover is not the answer. Thankfully, a few of our Commissioners get it. Commissioner Bovo wrote a Herald op-ed yesterday suggesting we examine ways to direct MDX to invest in transit and look toward the tourist tax (aka bed tax) as possible sources of revenue.

Currently MDX is only focused on building more highways toward the UDB and increasing our tolls to finance their construction. Meanwhile, the tourist tax can only go to fund convention centers and stadiums, which was the argument the Dolphins used to push for their $375 million sweetheart deal before Tallahassee derailed it. Now, changing the tourist tax is an issue of inequality that deserves Commissioner Jordan's attention.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jordan is so hypocritical. She was the main sponsor of the Dolphins bill. Where was her outrage on inequality then?

Anonymous said...

I agree. The County needs to keep its promise and encourage transit. Why don't they start charging a little to seniors who now ride free? Why don't they direct CRA and DDA funds to pay for metro over instead of giving tax breaks to wealthy developers?

Anonymous said...

The new fee on MetroMover can help offset legal settlements that are won by wrongfully terminated employees who prove that their departments administrators are inept.

Anonymous said...

One should also be highly dubious of the projected revenue as that will be based on the system actually functioning regularly. Do a quick search on twitter for @IRideMDT and count the number of "sorry the metromover is busted today" messages...

HectorinMiami said...

Can someone explain to be why so many people are talking about a fee charge on MetroMover that was Dead-On-Arrival the movement it was talked about in the county commission?

That is, the county commission quickly tabled the discussion of a fee charge when they learned it would cost more money to collect the fee than in expected revenue.

Shaun said...

I think the Metromover should stay free. And they can do it by outsourcing the jobs currently held by overpaid, lazy, and incompetent county employees.