It would also take decades.
This will be happening next year.
Build all the transit you want. You need something for the next 30 years while you're doing that.
trirail frequency increases can be done overnight
a greenway network can also be built quickly and cheaply
metrorail extension would cost more but still less than it costs to build and maintain roads
but they are too busy spending billions building even more car infra which will only make traffic and congestion even worse
Have you ever looked at the local budget of a US transit authority?
They typically lose $2+ per passenger trip, and get bailed out by the federal government.
Mass transit is not going to save Miami any money for decades until ridership approaches Hong Kong levels.
Unless you count passing on expenses to the Federal government as savings, and even then, it's still decades out.
And every car off the toad makes driving more pleasant for everyone who stays.
roads cost more than transit - a LOT more, and motorists aren't paying anywhere near the cost of road construction and maintenance, they're (quite literally) free-riding subsidized trips on the taxpayer
traffic also destroys productivity, public health, life expectancy etc etc so costs money in many more ways than motorists not paying for them
So are public transit riders. And to a worse degree. What's your point?
We should magically spawn mass transit systems overnight and force everyone to ride them?
By the way, I'm a fan of mass transit, and live somewhere in the US - specifically - where that's a viable option.
It just isn't a viable option in ~80% of the US, and even if those areas start doing everything right to be mass transit viable (no indication of that), it still takes decades.
Rome wasn't built in a day.
that this is wildly incorrect. roads cost more than transit. a lot more. and road users are wildly more subsidized than transit users.
> We should magically spawn mass transit systems overnight
yes
> and force everyone to ride them?
you won't have to when the choice is between sitting hours in traffic vs a fraction of the time on efficient transit and greenways. people are not stupid.
> It just isn't a viable option in ~80% of the US
this is Miami, not middle of nowhere Iowa
> Rome wasn't built in a day
so it's correct of Miami to continue to "invest" in even more roads to nowhere, like yet another new highway bridge across the bay? that will take decades to complete and cost billions, and cause MORE traffic?
like no lol just build the effing transit and greenways and traffic will go down and the government and people alike will save billions instead (and their time, and lives)
Increasing the frequency can't necessarily be done overnight, unless they actually have the spare rolling stock just sitting around along with all the workers needed to operate and maintain the increased usage and the spare budget to cover the increased operations costs. Otherwise, they need to find the money to procure the rolling stock, actually place the order, wait for the rolling stock to be built/delivered, hire the people to operate and maintain it, etc.
in the realm of infrastructure investment, all of that is overnight
vs eg the yet another additional bridge to nowhere they're currently building that is taking decades and costing billions
but tell you and every other frothing at the mouth motorist what, enjoy sitting in traffic
You're being quite rude here about this for no reason and projecting an identity on me that's not warranted. I'm generally pro public transit, but I'm also a realist and not suggesting it takes practically zero time to procure additional rolling stock and hire a lot more people. A lot of people think having a higher level of service is just run the trains/busses more, but chances are they're already running all the stuff they currently have the capacity to own and operate. It's not like most transit orgs have double the current capacity just sitting idle and nobody thought to run them.
It took them three years after finding the funding and getting all the approvals and signing the contracts to add rolling stock last time. So probably more like four or five years at least to add some additional trains. And that was replacing existing trains, not expanding the fleet, so its not like they had to considerably expand their existing workforce. I imagine most people would consider four or five years not "overnight".
The bus service near me is usually every 20 minutes. That's terrible. I'd absolutely love it to cut that in half. It also means it would cost significantly more to operate. Getting everyone to agree to pay that (a massive task at the start), getting all the proposals put together, soliciting bids, signing the contracts, getting the new busses, hiring the new drivers, and actually increasing the service isn't something that is going to happen in 2025. Probably also not 2026.
the current state of things is, roads get all the money and transit and bike infra get scraps and are poorly run (so are FDOT road projects too btw)
no one disputes that?
what is being advocated is increasing trirail frequency, implementing an actual network of segregated greenways and expanding metrorail
you're saying "oh we can't do that"
but like, yes, we can? I promise you, if you send out construction crews to apply green paint and put down curbs for greenways, there's no natural law of the universe that would make the paint not come out
and once it's in place, there's nothing preventing millions of Miami residents from using them the same way they're being used in NYC, Montreal, Barcelona etc etc instead of having to get in the car for literally every single trip and errand
likewise if you procure trains there's no magic wall that prevents them from crossing into the state of Florida etc etc
these things are trivially achievable, but misinformed policymakers and voters alike think adding more roads is somehow not costing any money (it costs way more) and will fix traffic (it won't)
No, the disconnect here is you're being quite rude here about this and projecting an identity on me that's not warranted. And now you're even putting words in my mouth.
> you're saying "oh we can't do that"
I never once made the claim. I just argued it wouldn't be "overnight".
None of my statements were about greenways or even about expanding the Metrorail. Just that adding additional capacity can and often does take a while to be approved, acquired, and put into service. Stating it can be done overnight is ignoring reality just as much as someone arguing the paint somehow wouldn't come out to paint a greenway.
I'm for them adding more trains and expanding the existing lines. I'm for the bus service outside my house being a lot better than it currently is. I'm also looking at the fact the cities around me are talking about slashing the funding instead of increasing it and seeing the people around me cheering for such an idea. Me thinking it can be improved overnight is a delusional thought given the realities of today. Thinking Tri-Rail can just snap their fingers and magically get approvals and sign contracts and get trains delivered overnight is also delusional.
Even if we somehow changed people's minds "overnight" to want to increase train service, it'll still take a few years to actually do all the process for acquiring and implementing the additional capacity. Governments almost always move slowly. Even when talking car infrastructure, something which generally is popular, it takes forever to put together the budget proposals, get the funding approved, get the bids together, purchase the materials, and actually get to work. They're still working on doing projects related to a road bond package in my city passed several years ago, and that's once again ignoring all the planning that went into it just to get the proposal together and get it passed.
None of this happens "overnight". Even just getting everything together to officially change the traffic patterns and put the paint down will take many months at the fastest. And that's assuming it's a popular decision.
Ironically enough, the county approved and passed a tax back in 2000 to expand the MetroMover. Not a single inch of rail has been built since. Wonder where all the tax revenue went?