Metromover

Metromover is a free mass transit automated people mover train system operated by Miami-Dade Transit in Miami, Florida, United States. Metromover serves the Downtown Miami, Brickell, Park West and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods. Metromover connects directly with Metrorail at Government Center and Brickell stations. It also connects to Metrobus with dedicated bus loops at Government Center and Adrienne Arsht Center station. It originally began service to the Downtown/Inner Loop on April 17, 1986, and was later expanded with the Omni and Brickell Loop extensions on May 26, 1994.

Metromover
A double-unit Metromover train in the Arts & Entertainment District
Overview
Transit typeUrban people mover
Number of lines
Number of stations21
Daily ridership33,000 passengers
(2016 weekday average)
36,400
(February 2016 peak)
[1]
WebsiteMetromover
Operation
Began operationApril 17, 1986 (Inner Loop) May 26, 1994 (Outer Loops)
Operator(s)Miami-Dade Transit (MDT)
Technical
System length4.4 miles (7.1 km)
Track gaugeAutomated guideway transit, electric bus
Average speed9 mph (14 km/h)
Top speed31 mph (50 km/h)
System map

School Board
Adrienne Arsht Center
I-395 (
Dolphin
Expressway
)
Museum Park
Eleventh Street
Park West
Freedom Tower
College North
Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr.
Government Center
College/Bayside
First Street
Bayfront Park
Miami Avenue
Third Street
Knight Center
Riverwalk
Fifth Street
Brickell City Centre
(Eighth Street)
Tenth Street/Promenade
Brickell
Financial District

Omni Loop
Inner Loop
Brickell Loop
All stations are accessible

The Metromover serves primarily as an alternative way to travel within the greater Downtown Miami neighborhoods. The system is composed of three loops and 21 stations. The stations are located approximately two blocks away from each other, and connect near all major buildings and places in the Downtown area. Together with Metrorail, the system has seen steady ridership growth per annum, with an average combined ridership of 105,500 weekday passengers in 2013.

Out of only three downtown people movers in the United States, the other two being the Jacksonville Skyway and the Detroit People Mover, the Metromover is by far the most successful in terms of ridership, the only completed system of the three,[2] and considered to be a catalyst for downtown development.[3]

History

An Adtranz C-100 Metromover train in its original livery

In 1987, the then-one-year-old people mover system set a record in daily ridership of 33,053 on a Saturday, attributed to the new Bayside Marketplace.[4] That same year was when the planning began to extend the system to Brickell and Arts & Entertainment District (then Omni),[5] which would not be completed until 1994. Until November 2002 when the half-penny transit tax was approved, the Metromover had a fare of 25 cents. The fare was lifted because it was realized that the cost of collecting the fare nearly exceeded the revenue generated from the fare, as well as the fact that more Metromover ridership would likely lead to more Metrorail ridership.[6] After becoming free, from 2002 to 2005, along with a large increase in population, rising gas prices and booming downtown development, Metromover ridership nearly doubled from 4.7 million in 2002 to about 9 million in 2005.[7] However, ridership fell with the subsequent economic downturn and high unemployment in the latter half of the decade. By 2012, ridership had once again increased with downtown population, high gas prices and a recovering economy. In early 2011, Metromover saw an increase in ridership during a sharp peak in gas prices, at the same time as there was a decrease in Metrorail and Metrobus ridership as well as a decrease in employment.[8] However, from January 2010 to January 2011, Metrorail saw a 7% increase in ridership, and both Metrorail and Metromover were expected to see additional ridership increases throughout 2011 due to rising fuel prices.[9] When the Omni and Brickell extensions were first planned, it was estimated that ridership on the fared system would reach 43,000 daily by 2000,[3] a number the now free system has yet to reach.

Operations

There are 21 accessible Metromover stations located throughout Downtown Miami and Brickell roughly every two blocks. The Metromover links all of Downtown and Brickell's major office buildings, residential buildings, hotels, and retail centers. Major attractions such as the Stephen P. Clark Government Center, American Airlines Arena, Arsht Performing Arts Center, the Cultural Plaza (Miami Art Museum, Historical Museum of Southern Florida, Miami Main Library), Bayside Marketplace, Mary Brickell Village, Miami-Dade College, Museum Park (which services Perez Art Museum Miami as well as the Frost Science Museum) and the Brickell Financial District can all be reached by the Metromover.

Running clockwise, the Downtown (Inner) Loop serves all Downtown stations except Third Street station. The Outer Loop (Brickell and Omni Loops) runs counterclockwise and share tracks around the downtown area, serving all stations except for Miami Avenue Station. The Brickell loop runs a line into the Brickell area to the south of downtown, while the Omni Loop contains a line with stations in the Arts & Entertainment District neighborhood north of Downtown. This unusual pattern, a circular central loop where the trains running counterclockwise are those running from and back to destinations outside the loop, whereas trains in the opposite clockwise direction are only running a tight inner circular route, is also followed by the New York JFK Airport AirTrain system. The inner loop generally runs tandem two car trains while the outer loops only run with single cars. Each car can carry over 90 passengers.

The Metromover car maintenance base, unusual for a maintenance yard, is a building located downtown, at SW 1st Ave and SW 1st St, which lies between Government Center and 3rd St stations on the outer counterclockwise loop, at the point where the two loops split to run in adjacent parallel streets.

All loops run from 5 am to just after midnight, from Sunday to Thursday. On Friday and Saturday nights, service is extended until 2 am.[10] This schedule is adjusted during events. Trains on the Inner Loop run in tandem and arrive every 90 seconds during rush hours and every three minutes otherwise. Outer Loop trains arrive every 5 to 6 minutes; every 2.5 to 3 minutes where the track is shared.[6]

The cost of building the system was about $153.3 million. The operating budget for the Inner and Outer (Brickell and Omni) loops in FY 2007 was $8,888,794. Ridership total for FY 2007 was 8.7 million.[11] Not including capital costs, this gives an approximate cost of $1.02 per ride. Metromover does not charge for rides; however, a $2.25/1.1 fee is charged if transferring to Metrorail or Metrobus.

Stations

A map of the system very similar to the official map.
Schematic of 2018 rapid transit and passenger rail service in the Miami metropolitan area.

The Metromover currently operates 21 stations, all within the Miami city limits.

Station Lines Connections Opened
Government Center                Metrorail: Green Line, Orange Line
Metrobus: 2, 7, 7A, 9, 11, 51, 77, 93, 95, 119 (S), 120, 207, 208, 246, 277, 500, 836 Express
Miami Trolley: Coral Way
Broward County Transit: 95, 595
Virgin Trains USA (at Virgin MiamiCentral)
May 20, 1984
Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr.                Metrobus: 7, 7A, 836 Express April 17, 1986
Historic Overtown/ Lyric Theatre                Metrobus: 7, 7A, 95, 211, 595, 836 Express April 17, 1986
College North                Metrobus: 7, 7A, 9, 120 April 17, 1986
College/Bayside                Metrobus: 9, 93, 119 (S), 120 April 17, 1986
First Street                None April 17, 1986
Bayfront Park                Metrobus: 3, 93, 119 (S), 120 April 17, 1986
Knight Center                Metrobus: 119 (S), 120, 836 Express April 17, 1986
Third Street           None April 17, 1986
Miami Avenue      Metrobus: 7, 7A, 9, 11, 77, 93, 119 (S), 120,

836 Express

April 17, 1986
School Board      Metrobus: 9, 10 May 26, 1994
Adrienne Arsht Center      Metrobus: 3, 10, 16, 32, 93, 101 (A), 113 (M), 119 (S), 120 May 26, 1994
Museum Park      Metrobus: 3, 93, 95, 119 (S), 120 May 26, 1994
Eleventh Street      Metrobus: 9, 119 (S) May 26, 1994
Park West      Metrobus: 9, 119 (S), 120 May 26, 1994
Freedom Tower      Metrobus: 7, 9, 119 (S), 120 May 26, 1994
Riverwalk      None May 26, 1994
Fifth Street      None May 26, 1994
Brickell City Centre      Metrobus: 95

Miami Trolley: Brickell Key & Mercy Hospital

May 26, 1994
Tenth Street Promenade      Metrobus: 95, 595

Miami Trolley: Brickell Key & Mercy Hospital

May 26, 1994
Brickell      Metrorail: Green Line, Orange Line

Metrobus: 8, 8A, 24, 102 (B), 207, 208, 500
Miami Trolley: Biscayne, Brickell, Coral Way

May 20, 1984
Financial District      Metrobus: 102 (B) May 26, 1994

Rolling stock

Bombardier Innovia APM 100 interior

Metromover mainly uses 29 Bombardier Innovia APM 100 vehicles, the first 12 of which were delivered during the summer and fall of 2008.[12] These newer vehicles replaced the first 12 Adtranz C-100 cars which were built by Westinghouse Electric in 1984, and include a more aerodynamic design, as well as an onboard CCTV system.[13] Deliveries of an additional 17 cars from Bombardier Transportation began in July 2010, and as of early 2014 have largely replaced the second order of 17 Adtranz C-100 vehicles, built by Adtranz predecessor AEG-Westinghouse in 1992.

Ridership

Sortable chart detailing monthly weekday ridership averages by Calendar Year; right hand chart giving annual averages may use "fiscal year" without disclosure, where the FY begins in October and has 75% of its time in the next year with only 25% in the starting year. Note the large jump in ridership in 2002 when the fare was removed after the passing of the half-penny tax. Yearly averages are rounded to the nearest 500, and the highest month is also in bold. After years of growth, Metromover ridership began falling in 2017, following years of sharp declines in Metrobus and Metrorail ridership.

# Month 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
1 January 27,900 29,700 28,000 31,800 32,200 32,800 34,400 32,600 28,700
2 February 25,600 30,700 31,000 32,700 34,700 33,200 35,300 32,900 30,100
3 March 25,600 30,500 32,400 32,500 35,300 35,000 36,400 34,100 31,100
4 April 26,300 30,700 29,700 30,400 31,100 32,400 34,700 31,700
5 May 26,800 29,200 28,900 28,900 30,300 29,700 32,200 29,300
6 June 25,800 29,600 29,500 32,500 30,200 30,100 31,300 28,100
7 July 25,500 29,400 29,000 29,100 30,400 30,600 32,100 29,800
8 August 26,800 29,000 27,200 28,700 31,100 31,100 30,600 28,900
9 September 28,100 30,100 29,900 31,400 31,800 32,000 32,000 24,700
10 October 30,000 31,100 31,100 33,000 33,900 35,000 31,500[14] 29,300
11 November 30,000 30,100 32,200 33,900 32,900 35,200 34,100 30,000
12 December 27,700 27,200 29,600 31,400 32,300 33,200 32,000 29,200
13 Year Average 27,000 30,000 30,000 31,000 32,000 32,500 33,000
Average Weekday Passengers
(Metromover loops only)
Fiscal YearRidership
199512,700
199612,000-0.6%
199713,500+12.5%
199813,269-1.7%
199913,880+4.6%
200014,383+3.6%
200116,849+17.1%
200216,4440.0%
200325,521+55.2%
200428,192+10.5%
200528,473+1.0%
200627,042-5.0%
200728,058+3.8%
200826,682-4.9%
200925,883-3.0%
201027,175+5.0%
201129,775+9.6%
201231,000+4.1%
201332,800+5.8%

Average weekday passengers

This table includes Metrorail ridership as the two systems were built together and are mutually reliant on the thousands of daily transfers at Government Center and Brickell stations.

YearAnnual passengers
(with Green & Orange lines)[15]
Average weekday passengers
(with Green & Orange lines)[16]
199518,614,00063,100
199618,092,40060,100
199718,098,90060,800
199817,363,80058,140
199917,839,10060,654
200018,280,10061,639
200118,629,80063,514
200219,103,80063,508
200321,297,40076,769
200424,673,90083,486
200525,538,50088,173
200625,777,60085,400
200726,510,80087,767
200827,799,60090,392
200925,778,20085,875
201025,559,40087,075
201127,515,10092,334
201228,498,500104,000
201330,531,100*105,500*

*Record high

Incidents

  • On September 10, 2008, a man was trying to reach his hat that was blown off his head by a gust of wind. While doing so he was struck by a Metromover car.[17]
  • On July 21, 2010, two northbound cars collided.[18]
  • On February 5, 2014, a man was struck and killed at the Riverwalk Station. Witnesses reported that the man jumped in front of the approaching Metromover car.[19][20]

Expansion

Port of Miami: In May 2011, a study was proposed to analyze the idea of extending the Metromover to the PortMiami. This, with Metrorail and the new MIA Mover would create a direct rail transit link from the airport to the seaport. However, the study, which would take at least a year and cost about $120,000, was only a proposal to be voted on and the idea has not been reported on since 2014.[21]

South Beach: There have been multiple proposals for a Metromover service to southern Miami Beach. One was as part of the proposed Resorts World Miami megaproject in Miami's Arts & Entertainment District neighborhood, announced in mid-2011, a Metromover expansion from Downtown Miami to South Beach was being pushed as recompense for building a casino. The line could potentially run from the Arts & Entertainment District across the Venetian Causeway to 17th Street in South Beach ending at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The line could have three stations in South Beach along 17th Street- Alton Road, Meridian Avenue and Washington Avenue. This would connect Miami Beach to rail mass transit for the first time, and provide a direct rail connection into one of the Miami area's most visited neighborhoods. The line would also allow for future expansions later across South Beach.[22] More recently, proposals for a separate, most likely at-grade, light-rail system known as BayLink have been revived.[23][24]

SMART Plan: The SMART plan unveiled in 2016 includes a light rail or Metromover expansion to South Beach via MacArthur Causeway, and a north extension to the Midtown area, also serving the Wynwood and Edgewater neighborhoods.

See also

References

  1. "Ridership Technical Report" (PDF). Miami-Dade County. July 2016. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  2. Jaffe, Eric (December 8, 2011). "Whatever Happened to the Downtown People Mover?". The Atlantic Media Company. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  3. "Miami Metromover – The First Automated Downtown Peoplemover in the U.S." University of Washington. June 29, 2008. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  4. Jean Thompson (April 15, 1987). "Bayside Boosts Metromover Ridership". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  5. Tom Lassiter (November 4, 1987). "Metromover Extension Ok'd". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  6. Gena Holle. "Two of a Kind: Miami's Metrorail & Metromover" (PDF). Archived from the original on November 7, 2018. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
  7. Claudio Mendonça (December 22, 2005). "Metromover ridership doubles in three years". Miami Today. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  8. Ashley D. Torres (February 10, 2011). "Bus and rail use dropped in Miami-Dade County as jobs fell off". Miami Today. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  9. Fabiola Santiago (April 18, 2011). "As gas costs climb, ridership on Metrorail is rising". Miami Herald. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
  10. "Metromover". Miami-Dade County. November 17, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  11. "Metromover Facts". Archived from the original on December 15, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
  12. Blake, Scott (March 19, 2014). "Transit tax path still debated". Miami Today News. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  13. Miami Metromover (Bombardier Transportation) Archived November 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  14. "Ridership Technical Report (October 2016)" (PDF). Miami-Dade County. January 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  15. "Ridership Report Archives". Apta.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
  16. "Ridership Technical Reports". Miami-Dade County. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  17. "Man killed trying to get hat off tracks". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. September 11, 2008. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  18. "Inquiry launches into Metromover crash". SunSentinel. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  19. "Person Killed By Metromover In Downtown Miami". CBSMiami. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  20. "Man killed after fatal Metromover accident". 7 News WSVN. Archived from the original on December 30, 2015. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  21. Alfonso Chardy (May 15, 2011). "Metromover extension to Port of Miami proposed". Miami Herald. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  22. "Beach Taxpayer's Association features forum on casino plan | Belle Isle Blog". Belleisleblog.wordpress.com. October 4, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
  23. Garvin, Glenn (July 8, 2014). "Rail link between Miami, Miami Beach likely to be private-public affair". Miami Herald. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  24. Blake, Scott (June 4, 2014). "Public-private transit projects planned". Miami Today. Retrieved August 29, 2014.

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