In 2016, the Transportation Planning Organization (who?) unanimously approved the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) Plan – meant to identify the development of six rapid transit corridors to directly support the mobility of Miami-Dade County’s future population and employment growth.
An $8 billion dollar plan packed with consultants, renderings, and of course studies – with many trying to answer the same questions from decades ago.
For those keeping a close eye, the SMART Plan should look eerily familiar, as similar plans date back to 1987.
While presented as a transformative and innovative solution – Miami-Dade County had already unveiled an almost identical plan in 2002, formally known as the People's Transportation Plan (PTP).
All six of the currently envisioned SMART Plan corridors were included in the rail expansion promised to voters back in 2002.
The SMART Plan has essentially repackaged - and rebranded - six rapid transit projects into yet another transit boondoggle.
Without an independent transportation authority, Miami-Dade County's decisions happen in a tangle of entities and politics that have consistently led to broken promises.
The SMART Plan fares no better – with responsibility over the six corridors split between two entities – Miami-Dade County's Transportation and Public Works department (DTPW) and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT).
Each entity is responsible for studying 3 corridors and recommending a locally preferred alternative, or LPA, with each corridor being studied and planned by a separate consultant.
The most worrisome aspect of the SMART Plan is the repetition of an unrealistic, improbable, and multi-decade transit plan.
Miami-Dade County's history of financing transit projects is troubling – the largest example being the passage and implementation of the People’s Transportation Plan (PTP) half-penny surtax in 2002.
Deemed a necessary relief to fund transit projects across the County, the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust has known for at least 14 years that the surtax alone is not enough to fund all PTP projects. So did every County Commissioner seated by December 2019, when former Deputy Mayor Jennifer Moon released a memo that detailed the promises and unrealistic goals of the Plan. (Read the memo)
The County could not deliver on the promises made in 2002. 19 years later, politicians continue to perpetuate false promises of an unrealistic plan based in politics, not data, under a new name and branding – siphoning millions of dollars on studies and consultants to answer the same questions from decades before.
Poor long-term planning, the mismanagement of funds and politicization of transit decision-making has left the majority of Miami-Dade County residents with inadequate transit options and grave uncertainty regarding our collective transit future.
The SMART Plan does not prioritize the construction of any one corridor over another – nor take into account land-use and the ridership recipe that allows for public transit to succeed.
Without prioritizing high-ridership corridors, data-driven decisions on transit modes, and the implementation of rapid solutions like dedicated bus lanes – Miami-Dade County will continue to be plagued by the challenges that have prevented previous plans from coming to fruition.
The current handling of the SMART Plan is not providing residents any hope for short-term transit expansion – and is on track to be yet another plan that leaves behind a record of promises versus actual deliverables.
Since 2018, the Transportation Planning Organization has siphoned millions of dollars into a random array of SMART Plan demonstration projects that have:
These projects have been defined by the TPO as "crucial to the short term success of the SMART Plan." So crucial, that they didn't bother to release a Program Evaluation Criteria and Monitoring plan for more than 2 years after the first demo project began, with no plan to define or monitor their success.
BERT (Bus Express Rapid Transit) Services are glorified express routes with a disingenuous name. In most cases, they run rush hour trips and make little to no stops – serving a very small number of people at the expense of delivering frequent service for transit riders countywide.
With our transit system in crisis – now more than ever we need our transit department to put our dollars to work with transit service that is as useful as possible to the most number of people. With the collapse of 9-5 commuting brought on by the pandemic, pushing for BERTs over permanent frequent, all-day, evening, and weekend service in our county is money ill spent.
The future of our County's transportation cannot rest on the SMART Plan as it stands today.
Taxpayers deserve a smarter plan that is feasible, transparent, and responsive.
Miami-Dade County needs to: