As gas prices shoot up, Miami makes it tougher to ride a bus

By Weekly Archive On May 28, 2008

As
gas prices shoot up, Miami makes it tougher to ride a bus

By
Alvaro F. Fernandez
alfernandez@the-beach.net

These
days I don’t leave home much. Unless I can get to where I’m going
on bike or by foot, it’s hard to push me out my front door. Regular
gas, which I use in my 1997 Nissan Maxima, is now at $4 a gallon. It
takes more than $60 dollars to fill up my tank. And though my car is
not a guzzler, I still feel the effects of the astronomical gas
prices on my pocket book.

Miami
has a public transportation system: buses and an above the ground
metro-rail system whose performances, at best, are bad. Getting from
A to C in Miami is an adventure — if you travel by bus. Routes are
constantly being changed and don’t appear to run with any semblance
of a coordinated plan. Add to that the fact they don’t usually run
on time.

As
for our Metro-Rail, I know a man who calls it the “Lone Ranger.”
It stretches south to north from South Miami to Hialeah. Upon close
inspection, it takes you nowhere, except if you’re visiting
downtown Miami and have a car to drop you off to take the train.

So
with gas almost surely nearing $5 a gallon soon, what are we to do?

In
2002, residents of Miami-Dade County voted to tax themselves one-half
cent more in sales tax in order to improve our public transportation
system. At the time we had already voted down a previous plan of
one-cent proposed by Mayor Alex Penelas; it seemed a charade of
riches where nobody really knew where the money would end. The 2002
referendum was more to the point: new and more buses running more
often and at shorter time intervals between stops. The money was also
to be paired with federal funds to expand our rail system to create
one that extended to hard to reach places in the county, while also
entering communities most in need of public transportation.

So
far, so good, right? Fast forward to today. Bus routes have been cut
back. Time between buses has gotten longer for riders, instead of
shorter. And there are new buses, but not as many as were promised.
As for Metro-Rail, the Lone Ranger still rumbles nowhere.

Since
2003, though, residents of Miami-Dade County have paid more in sales
tax for every dollar they spend. I often find myself scratching my
bald head and asking: “Where has all that extra sales tax money
gone?”

The
Miami Herald recently reported that part of the extra half cent would
be used to buy and/or repair trains for the Lone Ranger. Also to pay
off old debts. Money had not been budgeted for repairs and
maintenance for MetroRail. And some of the debts to be paid had
nothing to do with public transportation. These transactions are
illegal.
But our politicians, and administrators working under them, will find
a way to legalize them. It’s Miami… we’re famous for looking
the other way.

And
impunity breeds greater risks and juicier scams. It turns out the
county’s transportation system is short on money. They may have to
cut back on public transportation and the metro-rail extensions
promised.

So
while we’re sure we can finance a half-billion dollar baseball
stadium and spend 2.5 billion to build a tunnel to benefit cruise
ship owners and property owners around an area where the county has
already invested one-half billion dollars for a white elephant
performing arts center, our leaders have decided to increase the
price of public transportation for those who take the bus to work
every day — and can afford to pay more, the least!

A
bus ride will soon cost $2 instead of $1.50. And a ride on the Lone
Ranger will also be raised… “To cover rising costs.” Let’s
ask the poor to pay for the rich, they seem to be saying.

At
a time when gasoline prices are going through the roof the county
should be looking to make riding buses and other forms of public
transportation more accessible. In Miami, we can’t: Our politicians
and administrators have created a money machine that’s spinning out
of control as it spits money in the direction of people who need it
the least.

We
keep reelecting many of the crooks who feed this centrifuge of
corruption. But in the end, I guess, it’s our fault. As the
president once tried to say: Screw me once, shame on you. But screw
me twice, shame on me.