FYI Miami: September 18, 2025

TRANSIT SCHEDULING WHIZ: New transit-scheduling software would save Miami-Dade County 5% of annual bus operations costs, cutting $14.8 million a year, and kick in by next March if a contract with a Montreal provider is approved in October, the county’s Appropriations Committee was told last week. Software from GIRO Inc. would save the county $866,330 a year on annual costs compared with the 16-year-old deal with a different provider that expires June 30 next year, the committee was told before recommending the contract to the entire county commission for final action. The current scheduling software is outdated, “cumbersome, counter-intuitive and time-consuming,” said a memo from Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. The system would link in fixed-route buses, on-demand transit, Metrorail and Metromover. 

AIRPORT RECERTIFICATIONS: Miami-Dade’s Airport Committee last week recommended by a 4-0 vote spending $57 million to use three firms to study and upgrade the structural conditions of 76 of the 110 airport buildings, which include the Miami International Airport terminal and its concourses and any other airport buildings that will soon hit the 30-year recertification threshold. There was no discussion. The firms are top-ranked San Francisco firm T.Y. Lin International; Miami-based DDA Engineers PA, which ranked second for the professional service agreements; and Miami-based E Plus Engineering and Construction LLC, which ranked third. 

TRUE NORTH FUNDS: County commissioners cleared the way for the Arizona Industrial Development Authority to issue bonds to benefit charter schools, including three campuses of the True North Classical Academy in Miami-Dade. The academy would use $13 million in receipts to refund bonds issued by the Miami-Dade County Industrial Development Authority in 2020. The new bonds would benefit True North Classical Academy Sunset at 9393 Sunset Drive; True North Classical Academy at Gateway at 6500 SW 97th Ave., and True North Classical Academy at Dadeland at 7900 SW 86th St.

FLYING FAMILIES: The county’s Aviation Committee last week voted 4-0 to direct Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to work with the federal government to offer families dedicated screening lanes and discounted PreCheck fees. The Department of Homeland Security is rolling out a “Families on the Fly” program to do that in a test at airports in Charleston, Jacksonville, Rhode Island, San Juan and Tampa, and plans to add more. The resolution asks the mayor to seek to add Miami to the group and report on progress within 90 days. 

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