Miami-Dade County Moves Towards an Interoperability Agreement with Tri-Rail, Broward County Transit, and Palm Tran
Traveling around South Florida will soon be a seamless ride. Miami-Dade County’s Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) — along with Broward County Transit, Palm Beach Transit, and the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) — are collaborating to bring residents and visitors an accessible transit fare system that’s interoperable.
Currently, all four transportation hubs operate their own unique form of fare collection. Upcoming infrastructure developments will allow for the EASY Card and EASY Pay mobile app — as well as other alternative payment methods — to be used across all four regional transportation options. Riders can load cash value onto their transit cards and ride anywhere. That means transferring between Miami-Dade Transit to Broward County Transit, or from Palm Tran to Tri-Rail, all with the use of one easy-to-use system.
“We are focused on making Miami-Dade a car-optional community,” said Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez. “But we also want to work with our partners to make it a car-optional region. Our goal is for our commuters to have a seamless transportation experience.”
Each transit agency will maintain control and manage their own respective fare policies and assure interoperability of the payment system. “Our residents and visitors should not have to worry about who manages which system and how to pay or transfer from one to the other,” said Alice N. Bravo, P.E., director of DTPW. “By joining forces and using technology, we are pushing forward a customer-focused approach to regional transportation. We want to make it simpler for people to use our transit systems and this open payment solution will help us accomplish that.”
DTPW, SFRTA, Broward County Transit, and Palm Tran are working together towards this regional fare collection with the intention of passengers having the option of seamless travel in the near future.
“We have been successfully collaborating with Miami-Dade Transit for more than five years to provide regional transportation for our customers,” said Jack Stephens, SFRTA executive director. “We now welcome Broward County Transit and Palm Tran to our team to further enhance that partnership for the benefit of the people of south Florida as we look to the future.”
“Broward County Transit fully embraces this leap forward in the regional collaboration of fare technology”, said Chris Walton, Broward County transportation director. “A single app will soon allow all of our transit users to travel conveniently and seamlessly throughout the entire South Florida region.”
Palm Tran's executive director Clinton B. Forbes said, "In Palm Beach County we are continuing to work toward a fare collection system that would offer customers effective and seamless connections with our regional transportation partners. It is our goal that the mutual customers we have are able to travel using our systems without concern for geographical and municipal boundaries."
