Car Free & Frustrated
July 21, 2014

As Rudy Tamarchio, 28, peers from the window of his 11th-floor Brickell apartment at the high-rises and construction cranes poking up from the horizon, he says there’s one things missing from his view: a decent public transportation system.

Though Tamarchio’s commute to work consists of a couple of blocks’ walk to the MetroMover station and then just one stop on the train, when he ventures beyond his Brickell neighborhood, he says he has trouble navigating Miami’s sprawling transportation system.

“It boggles my mind that they expect this to be world-class city but there’s no modern public transit,” Tamarchio said.

His concerns are shared by other young professionals who say the taxi system can be unreliable and expensive, the bus system is confusing and inconvenient, MetroRail stops running at midnight and Miami lacks sufficient walkable and bikeable routes …

There are grassroots efforts to improve walking and biking in Miami.  Meg Daly, 53 from Coral Gables, is the founder of Friends of the GreenLink (now The Underline), a project attempting to transform the space beneath MetroRail south of downtown into a cyclist- and walker-friendly passageway.

Daly said she often receives calls from young professionals who want to a part of the GreenLink project.

“That’s the future,” Daly said.

Read the full article here