(Photo provided by village staff.)
Palmetto Bay launched a pilot program on June 11 using its IBus vehicles to shuttle residents between a Park and Ride lot on the property of the Holy Rosary-St. Richard Catholic Church, SW 77th Avenue and 152nd Street, and the Dadeland South Metrorail Station.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony took place before the first ride of the day at 6:30 a.m. with two of the riders, Craig Grossenbacher and Tad Templeton, given the honor of cutting the ribbon with a giant pair of scissors. Parks and Recreation director Fanny Carmona and village manager Ed Silva were present for the sendoff. Mayor Eugene Flinn, Councilmember Karyn Cunningham and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Daniella Levine-Cava also were there for the first ride.
The service is free and is designed to reduce traffic and increase transit ridership. Perhaps more importantly, it saves its riders time.
Grossenbacher, praised the program.
“I’m really glad this is running,” Grossenbacher said on the return trip. “It took me just 15 minutes to get from Palmetto Bay to the Metrorail this morning. I’ve lived in Palmetto Bay for 20 years and work Downtown. I used to drive to the Metrorail Station from home and it was taking longer and longer to get there; so this is great.”
The two IBus shuttles operate in the mornings from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. and in the afternoons from 4 to 6:30 p.m., running about every 15 minutes, going along SW 77th Avenue to 144 Street, then using the Miami-Dade County Transitway (Busway) for the rest of the distance to Dadeland South Metrorail Station, then back again.
The IBus shuttles are clean and comfortable with seatbelt equipped seats. Each shuttle holds 20 passengers and has a wheelchair lift.
The pilot program is expected to last for six months and, if successful, likely will be continued.
