Transit? Here? C’mon. No Way.

My recent experience with mass transit has been: stopped at the railroad crossing waiting for the Tri-Rail to finish boarding and move on down the line. I mostly curse when I get stuck at the gates. You? Actually once about 25 years ago, I was at Atlantis, an old water park down around Ft. Lauderdale with a friend and my mom told me to take the bus home. No big deal right? Yeah, well….anyway…it’s a long story.

Suffice it to say, I don’t take use mass transit unless I am in:

A. New York.
or
B. Europe.

Because it works there.

I haven’t been to either location above in the past few years, so my car is getting getting its legs stretched. I love my car. It is a Volkswagen Golf Diesel. I like the mileage I get, especially on the highways with no air conditioning, I love the smell of the exhaust, like a Kenworth. I love the big belch of black acrid smoke emitted when I am up shifting (particularly when there’s a Lamborghini convertible behind me (OK I am petty and jealous, I admit it – is that SO wrong?) Mostly, I love the freedom of getting into my car and determining my own destiny(ation). It is the American way. Individualism. I think there are a couple of reasons why transit (at this point I am talking about mass transit) hasn’t caught on here in South Florida. First, we love our freedom. Second, it is not convenient. Third, it is still more expedient to drive ourselves. I recently heard a story of a five hour journey from Plantation or Pembroke Pines to West Palm Beach using mass transit. For these reasons, transit has remained underutilized by the masses.

Item three above is really why I went to the 2009 Transportation Summit in Ft. Lauderdale this past weekend. I know that the region is going to grow A LOT in the next twenty years. Single family homes will be considered luxury property and the majority of new product designed, built and sold will be townhouses and condos. Dense. The location: Eastern stretches of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties and within walking distance of shops and services. Here in South Florida, we are bounded by the Atlantic to the east and the Everglades to the west with a relatively thin strip of developable land. Almost all of this land has been built on over the past 90 or so years and now a good portion of our Shangri La is ripe for redevelopment. Not necessarily gentrification, but redevelopment. This is another post entirely.

Current economic conditions aside, economies are cyclical (i.e. this too shall pass), Florida is poised to take the number four most populous state status from New York by 2030 if not by 2010. In fact in 2000 the total Florida population was 15,982,378 people. In 2030, our population is estimated at 28,685,769 (http://www.census.gov/) that is a net gain of 12,703,391 people! Many of those people will end up here in South Florida. That is housing for all those people, schools for the children and college students, offices for employees, shopping centers etc etc. The important thing to realize here is there is just no room for another I-95 or another Florida’s turnpike. The acquisition of this land would be a nightmare scenario for the government organizations the courts, the property owners etc. PLUS the amount of money it costs to build this kind of infrastructure is absolutely astounding. Michigan DOT puts the cost at $39 million per mile. Add the cost of maintenance on a new roadway like this and well…just forget it. All the extra cars, all the extra costs. With the above considered, a cohesive and interconnected transit infrastructure that is comprehensive and accessible to everyone is a no brainer. OK enough of my hot air. This is the gist of the meeting this weekend. The region has buses and a train….but it was not instituted in a holistic pragmatic manner. Currently, our regional rail runs along a set of tracks that are a good distance west of the CBD’s far enough so that after you get off the train, you have a twenty minute bus ride TO the CBD after the train ride. Most if not all cities have their priorities, counties have theirs and MPO’s and Regionals, their own plus face an battle integrating all the subordinate pieces into one.

In order for any project like a regional transit solution to be successful the user experience must be seamless, efficient and effortless for the rider. A minimal amount of connections and punctuality are tremendously important if South Florida is to embrace a transit solution for our coming masses. This is what is coming!

If you will note, I did not use the words “sustainable” or “green” once in this post. This new system passes entirely on its own merits without any talk of global warming.