NeighborLink is a flex-service aimed to make public transportation more accessible for residents living in less-populated areas.
With a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s in business administration, Alice Bravo graduated and hit the ground running. She began her professional career at design firm PBS&J (now called Atkins) in 1991 as a bridge designer and highway engineer.
Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s $534 million proposal for rapid-bus routes would indefinitely defer the Metrorail expansion promised voters in 2002 during a referendum for a half-percent transportation tax.
The first phase of the express passenger rail service, costing more than $1 billion, will connect the region’s main Central Business Districts of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, while Phase 2 will connect Orlando.
When Joel Volinski accepted a job as the interim director of Florida’s Broward County Transit Agency in 1983, he had never ridden on a public transit bus. “Here I was, the person who knew less about the subject than anyone, and suddenly I was directing the biggest agency in county government,” he tells me, leaning back in his leather chair. “So you have to have a sense of humor, and you have to be kind of a quick study.”
The privately funded express inter-city passenger rail service will connect Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, with future service to Orlando.
The cutbacks on Metrorail follow an announced plan to eliminate stops on some bus routes and contract out others to save money. Metrorail ridership is down about 6% this year, while bus boardings are down about 10%.
The high cost of heavy commuter rail trains is the reason for the debate.
The bill, which would require high-speed rail companies to install PTC and pay for fencing along section of its tracks where pedestrians could be at risk, was set to be taken up by the state Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee but was “temporarily postponed.”
Hailing it as the first step in developing one of the nation’s first fully integrated smart city ecosystems.