What are your thoughts on Miami's NEW Mayor & SMART Transit plan ?? (Miami Beach: real estate, home)

[Popfizz]

I was casually perusing the Miami Herald and noticed alot of talk about the SMART transit plan to extend rails and what not. Also this mayor is much younger and home grown.... any thoughts ????

[kmarc]

Originally Posted by Popfizz

I was casually perusing the Miami Herald and noticed alot of talk about the SMART transit plan to extend rails and what not. Also this mayor is much younger and home grown.... any thoughts ????

I remember his father well. Did a great job during the latter part of Miami's peak. I hope his son does as good a job and restores Miami to what it was during his father's day. Godspeed, junior.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by Popfizz

I was casually perusing the Miami Herald and noticed alot of talk about the SMART transit plan to extend rails and what not. Also this mayor is much younger and home grown.... any thoughts ????

My impression is that it is not really very smart and already a dead letter.

Throughout the US, including Miami, there is still not enough technological progress and policy consensus on how to merge digital technology and infrastructure on a large scale, i.e. throughout the US, including Miami.

Until then, our best bet is dumb and cheap shuttle buses using existing infrastructure, as Commissioner Suarez rightly suggests.

No need to spend billions and trillions repeating 1950s technology whose useful life will be a couple of decades at most, when, if we can get the technology and regulatory policy right, we can invest in new technology, at possibly lower cost, whose useful life could be 50-100 years.

In the past few days, there has been in Washington DC a national symposium on this very topic, and a few articles have come out about it. Look it up.

Good Luck!

[tallrick]

You know there will be money spent and nothing to show for it. They really just need to stop all new development in the city until the transit issue can be solved. Then again the real estate bubble is just about over till the next go round. Miami has no industry that warrants its increase of density.

[normaldude]

The main thing I'd like to see is a rail connection between Downtown/Brickell and the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Those areas should be linked together.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by normaldude

The main thing I'd like to see is a rail connection between Downtown/Brickell and the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Those areas should be linked together.

An old proverb: tra il dire e il fare c'è di mezzo il mare.

Roughly translated, there is a sea of difference between saying and doing. (Well, in this case, an intercoastal waterway.)

In other words, there is a lack of both political will and confidence in current technology.

But, as tallrick mentions, that doesn't stop local politicians from spending multi-millions in fees paid to their cronies' consultant firms to "study" the possibilities, and maybe, maybe, actually implementing a sop of a boondoggle every once in a while.

Again, my impression is that nothing much will be done in terms of infrastructure in the US, including Miami, until there is a commercially viable epoch-making technological breakthrough, combining digital technology, broadly defined (e.g. smart roads), and transport technology (e.g. battery-operated driverless cars and trucks, maglev, drones).

Hopefully in the next 10-20 years and no one will crash through a falling bridge in the meantime.

Good Luck!

[JacobMAX]

Originally Posted by tallrick

You know there will be money spent and nothing to show for it. They really just need to stop all new development in the city until the transit issue can be solved. Then again the real estate bubble is just about over till the next go round. Miami has no industry that warrants its increase of density.

The transit issue is indeed the biggest one. The mayors of South Dade municipalities have been rallying for the Metrorail (to replace the old Busway). So far the County mayor wants to implement a BRT system instead of it, according to the Cutler Bay mayor, but the backing for the Metrorail here has been strong this time, unlike in the past, so it is a real possibility, albeit just a possibility. And there's traffic. It's a huge mess. Not to mention corruption, mainly at County level.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by JacobMAX

The mayors of South Dade municipalities have been rallying for the Metrorail (to replace the old Busway). So far the County mayor wants to implement a BRT system instead of it, according to the Cutler Bay mayor, but the backing for the Metrorail here has been strong this time, unlike in the past, so it is a real possibility, albeit just a possibility.

Except that backing is not strong.

As mentioned, if there is any consensus at all in the US, including Miami, it's that we should wait for commercially viable technological breakthroughs that could provide flexible, cost-effective service for the next 50-100 years instead of attempting to rehash 50-100 year old technology that may have a useful life on only 20 years, with the former possibly costing more than the latter in terms of initial cash and land expense, not to mention ongoing operating costs which would have to be subsidized at some level.

As mentioned, County Commissioner Suarez is also in favor of expanding BRT, namely shuttle buses, along Kendall Drive for example, as an intermediate solution, cost-effective and no out-of-pocket pay at point of service which experience shows, so they say, encourages people to actually use it.

Municipalities like Coral Gables, Pinecrest and Miami Beach, I believe, already have them, perhaps it could be expanded county wide; the marginal cost is a relative pittance and it provides some relief.

[JacobMAX]

Originally Posted by bale002

Except that backing is not strong.

As mentioned, if there is any consensus at all in the US, including Miami, it's that we should wait for commercially viable technological breakthroughs that could provide flexible, cost-effective service for the next 50-100 years instead of attempting to rehash 50-100 year old technology that may have a useful life on only 20 years, with the former possibly costing more than the latter in terms of initial cash and land expense, not to mention ongoing operating costs which would have to be subsidized at some level.

As mentioned, County Commissioner Suarez is also in favor of expanding BRT, namely shuttle buses, along Kendall Drive for example, as an intermediate solution, cost-effective and no out-of-pocket pay at point of service which experience shows, so they say, encourages people to actually use it.

Municipalities like Coral Gables, Pinecrest and Miami Beach, I believe, already have them, perhaps it could be expanded county wide; the marginal cost is a relative pittance and it provides some relief.

The BRT is a reasonable option, I've been in cities tthat have them implemented in large scale. It's a big improvement compared to the old Busway and its decaying stops for example.

Over here I did see some significant backing, hundreds showed up for a meeting in Cutler Bay regarding the SMART Plan and how it could impact South Dade, as traffic has gone downhill in the last few years. However like I said, it's just a possibility. I personally don't believe the Metrorail will be expanded, it's possible but unlikely. I hope they go through with other improvements however, the County transit system is just a dreadful mess.

Not to mention there's a notorious amount of corruption in the County government, so local mayors and residents won't have much of an impact unfortunately.

[projectmaximus]

Miami-Dade now plans Personal Rapid Transit for Beach link - Miami Today