Shortcut sought to get free Golden Passport transit rides

A measure passed in the county commission last week asked Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to create and enact a plan to let seniors show required identification to board county transit free instead of having to apply for and get a Golden Passport EASY Card.

Only a limited number of locations now allow seniors and others on Social Security to sign up for a Golden Passport EASY card.

But just flashing a driver’s license or other identification to a bus driver to get aboard might cause problems for the county, Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez told the meeting.

“Are we going to be able to keep track of this?” Mr. Bermudez asked. “I say this because ridership is important to get federal funds…. I like the concept, but how do we keep track of this? I don’t want to lose the ability to track ridership numbers.”

The county’s Chairman’s Policy Council earlier had concerns with using driver’s license identification and forcing bus drivers to verify them for boarding, said county Chief Operations Officer Jimmy Morales.

“It slows the route down and operationally. Maybe it doesn’t work,” Mr. Morales said, “but maybe there could be a way that maybe we could do it where operationally it won’t have a negative impact. But clearly, we have to track ridership. When we come back with whatever that alternative approach is, that would be one of the factors that we are addressing. Licenses are problematic on a lot of different fronts.”

Free passage for seniors is engraved in county legislation, as is free or reduced fare for other groups of riders, but to get the free Golden Passport card those eligible must now go county hall at the Stephen P. Clark Center downtown, a 311 service center, or certain community centers.

That’s an unnecessary burden, said Commissioner Kevin Cabrera, who produced the legislation to seek to allow those same riders 65 or older to board free simply by flashing a Florida driver’s license or a state-issued ID card.

Mr. Cabrera asked during the policy council meeting that as the mayor examines the issue, she look to seek partnerships “with a lot of our local cities so we can offer this service in every city hall” as another alternative.

Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who chairs the commission’s transportation committee, asked at last week’s meeting that the mayor’s report on the issue include an analysis that she had asked for two years ago of renewing the Golden Passport cards on line. She also suggested an easy step: as residents turn 65, the county should simply mail to each of them a Golden Passport without any application at all.