Description
Miami-Dade County
Transit operates the Metromover, a 4.4-mile automated peoplemover
system that serves downtown Miami with a loop route (1.9 miles, opened
1986) and branches (opened 1994) north to the Omni shopping center and
south to the financial district. Small driverless rubber-tired cars run
on an elevated concrete guideway, using the same technology (from Adtranz,
formerly Westinghouse) as in several airport people-mover systems. The
cars run at intervals as short as 90 seconds. Stations are very small.
All routes connect with Metrorail at the
Government Center station. The Brickell branch also connects with
Metrorail at the Brickell station.
In November 2002, Miami-Dade voters approved a half-cent sales tax to
provide funding for public-transportation improvements. As one of the
first improvements, the 25-cent Metromover fare was eliminated, making the
system free of charge.
The Metromover is one of five automated urban peoplemover systems
that have been built in the United States since the 1970s. The others are in
Detroit, Michigan;
Irving, Texas; Jacksonville, Florida; and Morgantown, West Virginia.
Pictures
[picture] A
car leaves the Brickell station, in a view from the platform of the
adjacent Metrorail station. (December 1998)
[picture] A
car travels above SW 11th St. between the Tenth Street and Brickell
stations, in a view from the platform of the Brickell Metrorail station
with the towers of the Financial District in the background. (December
1998)
[picture] The
Brickell Branch ends almost literally in midair at the Financial Center
station, on Brickell Avenue. (December 2000)
[picture]
The Brickell branch crosses the Miami river on a high bridge. At the
north end of the bridge is the Riverwalk station, with a massive
elevator/stairway structure. (December 1998)
[picture] The
Knight Center station has a curious layout: the eastbound track runs
along the outside of the Knight Center, while the westbound track runs
through the building. The station is inside the building, and
accesses the eastbound track through a cutaway opening in the side of the
building. (December 1998)
[picture]
Passengers board a Metromover car on the lower level of the Government
Center station. (December 1998)
[picture] This
view looks straight down the joint Metromover and Metrorail elevated
structure from underneath, a block south of Government Center. (December
2000)
[picture] Passengers
prepare to board a car at the Bayfront Park station. (June 1993; scanned
March 2006)
[picture] A
northbound Metromover car approaches the Omni station, in a view from the
stairway at that station. In the background is Miami Bay and the Venetian
Causeway. (November 1995; scanned March 2006)
Other Sites
This page was last updated on 23 May 2005, and verified on 2 December
2007.