If approved, the project would be carried out under an initial six-year contract with Illinois-based Genfare, a 40-year-old company that supplies transit equipment to dozens of agencies in the U.S. and Canada.
The Miami-Dade Transportation, Mobility and Planning Committee advanced the deal at its June 12 meeting in a unanimous vote. Members include county commissioners Eileen Higgins (District 5), Danielle Cohen Higgins (District 8), Juan Carlos Bermudez (District 12), Sen. René García (District 13), and Raquel Regalado (District 7).
A memo signed by Miami-Dade Chief Operations Officer Jimmy Morales says the multimillion-dollar upgrades are essential to ensure public transportation runs smoothly in years to come.
"Due to the age of the system, the equipment is experiencing frequent failures and requires repair, thus taking station lanes or buses out of operation, directly impacting service delivery to patrons. Additionally, failures that occur during active bus routes may require operators to wave passengers through without payment, resulting in impacts to revenue collection," the memo states.
For the project to be approved, the contract must receive a favorable vote from the Miami-Dade County Commission, and funding has to be greenlit by the Citizens' Independent Transportation Trust (CITT), a body that oversees the county's half-penny surtax for transit projects. (CITT says the item was deferred at its June 26 meeting.)
The deal would roll out in three phases, starting at the South Dade Transit Way.
The first phase includes fare collection equipment, gates, ticket vending machines, fareboxes, and a monitoring system, according to the 56-page memo. In the second phase, Genfare would upgrade some 900 fareboxes on Miami-Dade's fleet of Metrobuses. In the third phase, 270 fare gates and 120 ticket vending machines at Metrorail stations would be replaced.
Genfare beat out three other candidates for the contract. The company negotiated with Miami-Dade and the Department of Transportation and Public Works over a series of 20 meetings between January and April 2024.
Though he supported advancing the contract, Commissioner Bermudez urged the Department of Transportation and Public Works to have more frequent meetings with commissioners in advance of recommending large-scale contracts.
"It would be a wise thing, when you have $72 million being spent, to let us know why, how, and when," Bermudez said at the June 12 meeting.
The $72 million deal would supply new fare collection equipment, gates, ticket vending machines, fareboxes, and a monitoring system to Miami-Dade public transportation.
Photo by Theo Karantsalis
"A competitive solicitation is expected to be advertised this year for replacement of the software system," says the memo, which was issued by Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's office.
Commissioner Regalado said the project is part of Miami-Dade's long-term vision to create cross-county transit passes that would let bus, train, and shuttle riders hop about Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. Currently, riders who venture over the county border face challenges with different payment systems, according to Regalado.
"The fact that this would be a tri-county payment, one EASY card, all three counties, where you can hop on and hop off a train, a metro rail, a bus, a trolley, really will change the entire dynamic of transportation," Regalado said at the June 12 meeting.
"All the counties are really looking forward to this," Regalado said. "We want to connect."
CITT approval could pump $51.2 million in "People's Transportation Plan" funding toward the equipment upgrades. The remaining $21.5 million is slated to come from the county's Department of Transportation and Public Works budget.
