The loop off SW 137th Avenue that has served Kendale Lakes with neighborhood bus service has been dropped from Metrobus Route 88.
Early word of the cutback due to continuing “low ridership” was heard by 75 West Kendall residents during a special presentation on Nov. 12 regarding Miami-Dade transportation planning, a continuation of a pre-charrette study of the Kendall Corridor.
Diminished ridership was evidenced by monthly averages showing 2,225 daily passengers (74.8 percent) using the 88 Route from Dadeland North Station to SW 132nd Avenue and only 134 (4.5 percent) taking the “loop.” West from SW 132nd Avenue, the average count was 625 (20.7 percent) of daily ridership. The “loop” between SW 72nd and SW 84th streets. was connected by SW 142nd and 137th Avenue.
“The benefit of cutting back the route will be shorter times of up to 20 minutes on the Kendall Drive route,” said Monica Cejas, PE, a senior professional engineer who, with Jerry Bryan, chief of Transit Planning and Scheduling, described short- and long-term Kendall transit improvements.
Highlights:
Negotiations have been completed with Florida Power & Light Company to open a new Park ‘n’ Ride lot at the southeast corner of Kendall Drive and SW 127th Avenue. A ground-level macadam surfaced lot has been planned to accommodate 180 vehicles.
Local limited-stop transit service along Coral Way between downtown Miami and SW 147th Avenue is due to start in 2014 between SW 153rd Avenue and Ponce de Leon Boulevard, a re-structuring to dovetail with limited-stop service from Coral Gables to the City of Miami trolley route.
In 2017, the western portion of the Coral Way route is scheduled to be re-aligned at a future terminal, planned at SW Eighth Street and SW 147th Avenue, providing 30- minute headways during peak commuting hours with six new buses.
With the advent of the 288 Kendall Cruiser for 12-minute peak-hour headways, new “robust” bus stations will be built with queue jump lanes, transit signal priority and real time “Next Bus” arrival information via electronic signage, scheduled for completion in 2022.
Enhanced limited-stop bus service is planned on SW 137th Avenue from the proposed SW Eighth Street and 147th Avenue terminal to SW 304th Street and S. Dixie Highway (US 1), allowing improved access by bus service to large shopping centers including Kendale Lakes, Miller Square and London Square. Nine new buses are scheduled to begin service in 2020.
For expanded services, MDC Transit is currently searching for available vacant land sites or properties for lease agreements to provide new Park ‘n’ Ride lots along the Kendall Drive Corridor, as well as the new bus stations, Cejas noted.
The transit improvements were presented in the second of three Kendall Corridor precharrette meetings with a second to be announced in December, prior to a weeklong work session with resident tentatively dated in January 2014. The study covers a milewide corridor of Kendall Drive east of SW 137th Avenue to Krome (SW 177th) Avenue.
