FYI Miami: January 8, 2026

TRI-RAIL RIDER RECORD: Tri-Rail, which serves three counties, set an annual record in 2025 at 4.5 million rides, operator South Florida Regional Transportation Authority announced Tuesday. The prior high was 4.4 million in 2019, just before covid. Operators are scrambling to keep the line going after the state last year redefined what it considers the statutory minimum funding for Tri-Rail, cutting it from $42.1 million to $15 million a year. As of now, operators have said, the lifeline ends in July 2027. In October the system killed a pilot program of vouchers for users riding Uber, Lyft and taxis on the last mile to and from Tri-Rail. A complex Tri-Rail fare system was also targeted, with aims of a flat $5 fare.

BUS RIDERS TRANSFER: The new Metro Express Bus Rapid Transit service between Dadeland and Florida City hasn’t yet enticed many motorists to leave their cars along the 20-mile route and switch to the bus. “We have not seen an increase in ridership, but what we have seen is a difference in ridership,” Maria Perdomo, assistant director of the county’s transportation operations, told the Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust in December. The change is that 2,500 of the riders who were taking local bus route 602 each day are “now taking the express route instead,” she said. More than 5,300 riders now use the Metro Express each day, part of 9,300 weekly riders who use the local and express buses combined along the new $368 million TransitWay. Metro Express began operating Oct. 27.

FLAGLER STREET RAIL: A Florida Department of Transportation study that began in February 2025 for an elevated fixed guideway transportation system for east-west commuting along the Flagler Street corridor has 10 alternatives that are being whittled down to three, with a final recommendation due this year, the department’s Nilia Cartaya told the Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust in December.  After two surveys of potential users and public meetings this fall and then early in 2027, the state is to present results. No at-grade transit is being viewed, only elevated routes for what could be a Metrorail or Metromover system or something else, Ms. Cartaya said. An earlier plan for bus rapid transit on a 13.5-mile corridor along SR 836 between downtown Miami and a Tamiami terminal was put on hold a year ago by the county’s Transportation Planning Organization as its board sought elevated transit. 

GAS PRICE UP A BIT: Average gas prices in Miami rose 6.4 cents per gallon in the past week to $2.82, according to GasBuddy. Prices are 14.9 cents lower than a month ago and 26.1 cents lower than a year ago. The national average price fell 1.2 cents in the week to $2.74.

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