Miami by Rail: Riding the City from Above
Recently we decided to experiment with the mass rail transit systems that can take you all the way down the southeastern Florida Gulf Coast from Palm Beach County into Miami as far south as Hialeah. It was an interesting ride, and overall we're pleased the city invested when it did in past decades in constructing the type of light rail transit that can get people away from behind the wheel in these gas exorbitant and economically stressful present times. We should add on a side note here that downtown Miami street traffic often has the word "gridlock" applied to it, and this can also add to your personal along with the economic pressures of the times. Our travel experiment took us on a weekend (when some transit schedules are admittedly less frequent) from Broward County south into downtown Miami, using the Tri-Rail (www.tri-rail.com) for this first leg of our journey. Okay, so what's Tri-Rail? That's the inter-county rail system that runs the length of the coastal counties from Miami-Dade County to points north in Palm Beach County. So for instance, you can commute down the eastern coastline from West Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale (each has its own stations stops) and change at major interconnecting stations like Tri-Rail Station, where you can then catch Miami's own Metrorail System (http://www.miamidade.gov/transit), a 21-mile (33 km) light rail system running from Hialeah at its north end to Dadeland at its southernmost, with stops about every mile in between. Metrorail is very handy for getting you as far afield around greater Miami into communities like Coconut Grove, Coral Gables or Vizcaya. If you want to reach other points in downtown Miami, however, you might consider changing once again -- as we did -- to a short ride on the Metromover. This is the elevated and automated two-car monorail you may observe weaving its way high above the city on huge plinths 24 hours a day. With outer and inner loop routes, and aside from occasional spectacular views of the city horizon along the way, it also makes useful stops near some downtown hubs that can get you to your destination without the hassles of Miami street traffic and parking. Bring work, reading, or your iPod with you along with any refreshment or snacks since vending machines seemed either hard to find or entirely absent when we were running from one connection to another.
A few random tips about using any of these rail systems:
Tri-Rail - make sure you're standing on the correct track platform if you're headed south. Because Tri-Rail shares some of its tracks with Amtrak, occasionally a southbound Tri train will be on the opposite track than the last time you took it. Bring cash to pay your ticket just in case the ticket vending machine won't accept your plastic. We've found this to be the case more than once, or that the machine is taking way too many minutes to read a card when a train is just about to arrive. If you're planning a day round-trip, you'll be able to use your Tri-Rail ticket right through from Tri-Rail into Metrorail (Metromover is free). Also remember to check Tri-Rail's schedules carefully - they tend to shut down early on weekends.
Metrorail - keep your Tri-Rail roundtrip ticket handy to continue through on Metrorail routes. If you're not familiar with Metro's stops, seat yourself close enough to one of the overhead route maps.