North/Middle Beach Transit Study General Planning Consultant (GPC) Services Work Order #GPC IV-26 Miami-Dade County, Florida Prepared for: MIAMI-DADE County Metropolitan Planning Organization Prepared by: August 2013 Contents List of Appendices ........................................................................................................................................ iii 1. Introduction and Project Purpose ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Description of Corridor ................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Overview of Existing Transit Service ............................................................................................. 3 1.3 Description of Proposed Service and Market ............................................................................... 8 2. Existing Conditions .............................................................................................................................. 11 2.1 Existing Street System ................................................................................................................. 11 2.2 Existing Land Use ........................................................................................................................ 13 2.3 Principal Traffic Issues ................................................................................................................. 15 2.4 Existing Transit Stops and Shelters ............................................................................................. 18 3. Survey of Transit Market ..................................................................................................................... 20 3.1 Survey Response ......................................................................................................................... 23 3.2 Reasons for Not Using Transit ..................................................................................................... 28 4. Proposed Route Structure .................................................................................................................. 29 4.1 Common Route Segment (Red/Green Route) ............................................................................ 29 4.2 Green Route ................................................................................................................................ 29 4.3 Red Route .................................................................................................................................... 30 4.4 Stop Locations ............................................................................................................................. 30 4.5 Vehicle Type ................................................................................................................................ 30 5. Proposed Service Plan ......................................................................................................................... 33 6. System Costs ....................................................................................................................................... 34 6.1 Doral Trolley ................................................................................................................................ 34 6.2 Hialeah Transit ............................................................................................................................ 34 6.3 City of Miami ............................................................................................................................... 35 6.4 Cost Estimate of Miami Beach Service ........................................................................................ 35 7. Recommendations .............................................................................................................................. 39 7.1 Cost Estimate .............................................................................................................................. 39 7.2 Alternative Financial Plans .......................................................................................................... 40 7.2.1 Miami-Dade Transit as System Operator ............................................................................ 41 7.2.2 Miami Beach as System Operator ....................................................................................... 41 i 7.2.3 Turnkey Operator as System Operator ............................................................................... 42 7.3 Issues Requiring Further Study ................................................................................................... 42 List of Tables Table 1-1 - Existing Weekday Service Frequency in the Study Corridor ....................................................... 3 Table 1-2 - Existing Weekday Service by Corridor Segment ......................................................................... 5 Table 1-3 - Existing Saturday Transit Service by Corridor Segment .............................................................. 6 Table 1-4 - Existing Sunday Transit Service ................................................................................................... 6 Table 3-1 - Survey Locations ....................................................................................................................... 22 Table 3-2 - Survey Response by Location.................................................................................................... 23 Table 3-3 - Residence of Respondents ........................................................................................................ 24 Table 3-4 - Zip Code of Residence of Respondents..................................................................................... 24 Table 3-5 - Employment of Respondents .................................................................................................... 24 Table 3-6 - Age of Survey Respondents ...................................................................................................... 25 Table 3-7 - Use of Transit by Respondents ................................................................................................. 26 Table 3-8 - Type of Trip Destination............................................................................................................ 27 Table 3-9 - Reasons for Not Using Transit ................................................................................................... 28 Table 3-10 - Explanation of Other Reasons for Not Using Transit .............................................................. 28 Table 6-1 - Doral Trolley Route Characteristics .......................................................................................... 34 Table 6-2 - Hialeah Transit Service Characteristics ..................................................................................... 35 Table 6-3 - Average Operating Speeds on Proposed Route ........................................................................ 36 Table 6-4 - Vehicle Service Requirements and Annual Vehicle-Hours of Service ....................................... 37 Table 6-5 - Cost Estimate of Miami Beach Service (Capital Costs) ............................................................. 37 Table 6-6 - Cost Estimate of Miami Beach Service (Annual Operating and Maintenance Costs) ............... 38 Table 7-1 - Capital Costs for Revised Service Plan ...................................................................................... 40 Table 7-2 - Operating & Maintenance Costs for Revised Service Plan ....................................................... 40 List of Figures Figure 1-1 - Project Study Area ..................................................................................................................... 2 Figure 1-2- Land Use in the Study Corridor ................................................................................................... 4 Figure 1-3 - Schematic of Existing Transit Service......................................................................................... 6 Figure 1-4 - Existing Bus Service .................................................................................................................... 7 Figure 1-5 - Proposed Bus Service ................................................................................................................. 9 Figure 2-1 - Traffic Signals in the Study Corridor ........................................................................................ 12 Figure 2-2 - Existing Bus Stops in the Study Corridor .................................................................................. 14 Figure 2-3 - Traffic Issues in the Project Corridor ....................................................................................... 17 Figure 3-1 - Survey Locations ...................................................................................................................... 21 Figure 3-2 - Willingness to Wait for Bus (in minutes) ................................................................................. 26 Figure 3-3 - Willingness to Walk to Bus (in minutes) .................................................................................. 27 Figure 4-1 - Proposed Route Structure ....................................................................................................... 31 ii Figure 4-2 - Proposed Stop Locations ......................................................................................................... 32 Figure 7-1 - Proposed Deco Bus Route and Stops....................................................................................... 45 List of Appendices Appendix A - Route Maps ..................................................................................................................... A-1 Appendix B - Survey Instrument ........................................................................................................... B-1 Appendix C - Peer System Unit Costs .................................................................................................... C-1 iii 1. Introduction and Project Purpose The City of Miami Beach conducted this study to identify a transit service that would be customized to the unique needs of the A1A – Collins Avenue/Indian Creek Drive corridor along the eastern side of the city. While A1A is currently served by a dozen Miami-Dade Transit routes, the service best serves trips between Miami Beach and destinations elsewhere in Miami-Dade County. Only two routes traverse the length of the corridor between 71st Street and South Beach; other routes cover portions of that length and then connect with the rest of the county across Biscayne Bay. Traveling by bus within the city along the A1A corridor is therefore more complicated and less convenient than would otherwise be expected. Existing service stops at numerous, closely-spaced bus stops. The increased convenience of a shorter walk to and from the bus stops may be offset by the longer travel times for passengers once on the bus. The configuration of service on Miami Beach may not facilitate the direct links within the City and therefore generally will not offer the “one-seat ride” that would be desirable for travelers in the corridor. The proposed service would be uniquely configured to serve the high rise condominiums, apartment buildings, and hotels for which transit travel is a voluntary alternative to travel by private automobile. Generally, auto ownership and household income in the corridor is high suggesting considerable discretion in mode choice for residents and visitors. In addition, the service would carry residents and visitors to non-work destinations: restaurants, entertainment venues, and shopping rather than to places of employment. While the service could also carry workers to jobs, the existing MDT service suffices and this proposed service could offer additional options for work trips. 1.1 Description of Corridor The study corridor extends from 71st Street in North Beach to 17th Street in South Beach. It traverses A1A, both Collins Avenue and Indian Creek Drive where these two roads form a one-way pair. The study corridor includes the east-west roads of 71st Street, 41st Street, and 17th Street as follows:  71st Street/Normandy Drive, a one-way pair of streets, from Rue Notre Dame to Indian Creek Drive (for eastbound/southbound travel) and Collins Avenue (for northbound/westbound travel).  41st Street/40th Street from Chase Avenue to Pine Tree Drive, and 41st Street across Indian Creek to Indian Creek Drive (for eastbound/northbound travel) and Collins Avenue (for westbound/southbound travel).  17th Street from Collins Avenue to Alton Road. Figure 1-1 on the following page shows the study area. 1 Figure 1-1 - Project Study Area 2 The corridor encompasses some of the highest density residential and several significant commercial areas within the city. As shown in Figure 1-2- Land Use in the Study Corridor, the land use along the length of A1A is comprised of high density residential property with a scattering of medium density residential and municipal uses. This area includes several large hotels including the Fontainebleau, Eden Roc, and others, which for land use purposes are included as high density residential. 71st, 41st, and 17th Streets area filled with commercial uses. 71st and 41st Streets contain mostly restaurants and smaller retail establishments while 17th Street is more varied and includes the Convention Center District and City Hall. Just south of 17th Street is Lincoln Road Mall, a pedestrian street containing primarily retail establishments and restaurants. The substantial concentration of residential, including hotel land paired with the commercial districts on the major east-west streets within the corridor would suggest a natural synergy that could be connected with a local circulator bus service. 1.2 Overview of Existing Transit Service The A1A corridor is currently served by eleven MDT bus routes. One of the Mid-North Beach Connections operates just west of A1A, along Pine Tree Drive/LaGorce Drive and Alton Road. Weekday headways vary along A1A but are less than 10 minutes along all segments. The South Beach Local, a twelfth route, runs along 17th Street and touches A1A between 23rd and 21st Streets. Table 1-1 - Existing Weekday Service Frequency in the Study Corridor AM Midday PM AM Midday PM Weekday Route Headway Headway Headway Buses/Hour Buses/Hour Buses/Hour (minutes) (minutes) (minutes) 62* 32 n/a 36 2 n/a 2 79 24 n/a 22 3 n/a 3 115 45 45 50 1 1 1 117 45 45 53 1 1 1 120 13 12 13 5 5 5 123 22 13 15 3 5 4 150 30 30 30 2 2 2 A* 24 45 36 3 1 2 C 20 20 21 3 3 3 H 24 24 26 3 3 2 J 20 29 25 3 2 2 L 6 7 6 10 9 10 M 43 57 51 1 1 1 S 12 12 12 5 5 5 *- Limited service and route coverage. Not included in Table 1-2. 3 Figure 1-2- Land Use in the Study Corridor 4 Table 1-2 - Existing Weekday Service by Corridor Segment AM Midday PM AM Midday PM Weekday Route Headway Headway Headway Buses/Hour Buses/Hour Buses/Hour (minutes) (minutes) (minutes) 71st Street 5 7 5 13 9 13 A1A (71st to 63rd) 4 4 4 15 15 14 A1A (63rd to 41st) 3 3 3 20 19 20 A1A (41st to 17th) 2 2 2 29 30 30 Figure 1-3 to the right summarizes the existing service, which offers a bus every two to seven minutes, between nine and thirty buses per hour. Admittedly, many of these buses cover only a portion of the study corridor and would not be of use to those attempting to travel from one end of the corridor to the other. In addition, the complexity of the route structure suggests that some study would be required to effectively navigate the system. Service on Saturdays and Sundays is noticeably reduced but still offers a bus every three to six minutes over the entire corridor, with the exception of 71st Street. Miami Beach is currently served with two circulator routes, that is, routes that follow a loop on a regular basis and at reasonably short intervals. The South Beach Local generally travels on a route from Dade Boulevard and Washington Avenue to South Pointe Drive and then north on Alton Road to Dade Boulevard, returning to Washington via Dade Boulevard, Meridian Avenue, and 17th Street. The bus circulates around the Sunset Harbor area and passes through Belle Isle. It also circulates around Collins Park traveling to Collins Avenue along 21st and 23rd Streets. The route is organized in two parts, a clockwise and counter-clockwise direction, both operating on 13 to 20 minute headways. (See route map in Appendix A). The Mid-North Beach Connection generally travels along Sheridan Avenue/Pine Tree Drive, Collins Avenue, Abbot/Harding Avenues, and Alton Road. The route is also organized with a clockwise and counter-clockwise run every 45 minutes. (See Route map in Appendix A). 5 Figure 1-3 - Schematic of Existing Transit Service Table 1-3 - Existing Saturday Transit Service by Corridor Segment AM Midday PM AM Midday PM Segment Headway Headway Headway Buses/Hour Buses/Hour Buses/Hour 71st Street 15 15 15 4 4 4 A1A (71st to 63rd) 5 5 5 12 12 12 A1A (63rd to 41st) 5 5 5 12 12 12 A1A (41st to 17th) 3 3 3 21 23 22 Table 1-4 - Existing Sunday Transit Service AM Midday PM AM Midday PM Segment Headway Headway Headway Buses/Hour Buses/Hour Buses/Hour 71st Street 15 15 15 4 4 4 A1A (71st to 63rd) 6 6 6 10 10 10 A1A (63rd to 41st) 6 6 6 10 10 10 A1A (41st to 17th) 4 3 3 15 20 19 6