You might soon be taking special Metrorail or Metrobus trips to and from major events really late into the night – but don’t expect the added hours to cost today’s $2.25 a trip.
To get cars off the roads for major events as well as capture demand that Uber and Lyft now dominate, county officials are enroute to special transit schedules with dynamic pricing that soars for big-name events.
“People would pay $50, $60 for a set fare if it had certain times” when notable events clog traffic and shoot demand up, Commissioner Raquel Regalado told the Transportation Committee last week before they agreed to study high-demand, high-price service.
“It’s really about capturing the weekend special event space that is being dominated by private providers, and we could do it with a contract and we could provide people with a service and gain riders with a service that’s a little bit different,” Ms. Regalado said.
Her resolution to study a max demand market passed unanimously, with Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to unveil findings in 60 days. That request won’t surprise the mayor.
“As part of World Cup, we are working already with the Department [of Transportation and Public Works] to try some of these ideas, because the fear of traffic is such that we are going to test our muscles on that and get some good knowledge out of it,” said Jimmy Morales, county chief operating officer.
Ms. Regalado’s targets for specialized transit go far beyond the World Cup matches next year to include Art Basel, the Ultra Music Festival, Rolling Loud, Calle Ocho Festival, the Miami Open Tennis Tournament, Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, Jazz in the Gardens, Miami Carnival, the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, the Miami International Boat Show, New Year’s Eve at Bayfront Park, the Orange Bowl, and future Inter Miami CF matches.
For Art Basel, she suggested a Metrorail ride to a bus to Miami Beach “as opposed to a $400 Uber from Coconut Grove to Miami Beach, which actually happened during Art Basel.”
Mega-events are mostly late on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, “resulting in elevated evening and late-night transit demand, increased traffic congestion and service strain, as many of these events coincide with reduced weekend transit schedules, creating a mismatch between rider demand and service availability,” Ms. Regalado’s resolution says.
Those are the times fares would be jacked up and trips added. Adding that high-priced event service could lead to federal and state mobility grants, pilot partnerships and having transit cover a higher percentage its costs via the farebox, the resolution says. Fares now cover only about 11% of the cost of county transit.
The mayor would study demand during recent major events, how much more revenue the high-priced event service could generate, technological issues in having fares change at different times, the need to dovetail with event organizers, and what transit is already added for special events.
Another consideration is what would happen to county residents who now use transit at regular prices and whether they could be exempt from the up-charges.
“It is good to explore unique pricing models,” said Commissioner Marleine Bastien. “My only concern is about how we can protect our residents” from paying those charges.
The easy way, said Commissioner Eileen Higgins, is to not up-charge riders using passes. “Most of our everyday riders have a weekly pass or a monthly pass.”
The post County studies readying offering $50-$60 transit rides to big events appeared first on Miami Today.
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