Municipal trolleys reach nearly 11 million annual rides

The municipal trolley services in Miami-Dade County continue to serve the community. The total amount of ridership for fiscal year 2023 was 10,809,633.

From the 10.8 million ridership number, 699,719 came from on-demand routes, said Mariana A. Price, municipal program manager for the Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust (CITT). “That means that still the majority of our ridership, 10,109,914, comes from our fixed-route circulators,” she said. “Fixed route is the most reliable type of service. People know where it goes. People know when it’s coming. The more that municipalities adopt GTFS [General Transit Feed Specification] technology, the more reliable it is.”

Riders are able to track trolleys because of the GTFS technology installed. The technology not only facilitates users’ commute plans, but in addition it allows new residents to get familiar with the form of transportation.

“They [users] can see that there are [trolleys] coming so they’re going to wait for it,” said Ms. Price. “It can be tough when you’re just trying to get to know a trolley system. Let’s say you’re from out of town and you’re trying to get around because you don’t have a car, or you’re new to the city and you’re just getting yourself on your feet with your new job, you don’t have the money to pay for a car, it’s very helpful to have that type of technology to rely on so that you know when it’s coming and where you need to be.”

The Downtown Express in Coral Gables is the newest municipal route, Ms. Price told Miami Today in an email. The route connects Ponce de Leon Boulevard to the University of Miami, Kerdyk Park and other points of interest such as residential buildings. This route operates from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays.

“Just looking at last year’s data, fiscal year 2023 … every quarter – a percentage of the ridership comes from fixed-route circulators and a percentage of the ridership data we collect comes from on demand – steadily throughout last year the on-demand percentage has increased from 6.22 to 6.26 to 6.67 to 6.73” said Ms. Price. “It’s ever so slightly increasing with every increasing quarter, and we are seeing more and more municipalities bringing on-demand services, whether it’s paid by the PTP [People’s Transportation Plan] or not, because not all municipalities use PTP funds to pay for it.”

The trolley service will continue to help meet people’s transportation needs and provide riders with a cost-free option.

“All of the trolley services within the county that the PTP subsidizes, they’re all free,” said Ms. Price. “It didn’t always used to be that way, but for several years now it is free. Anyone can hop onto it, anyone can use it to get around, and we’re working closely with DTPW [county Department of Transportation and Public Works] to make sure that these routes aren’t overlapping with the county’s system … services that they provide.”

“The municipalities help a lot of people who either don’t drive, who can’t drive, in order to get to places that they need to be; their doctors’ appointments, schools, the grocery store, the pharmacy,” she said. “These are vital services that so many residents in Miami-Dade County rely on.”