Gridlock on the roads. Cancelled concerts. Missed meetings and doctor’s appointments. Surging prices on rideshare apps. An entire region grinding to a halt.
This is a reality that South Florida faces as Tri-Rail, the commuter rail system that connects Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, braces for a devastating cut in state funding. Local leaders and residents don’t have to guess what comes next; they have seen the consequences play out elsewhere in the country.
In May, a simple computer issue stranded thousands of commuters when San Francisco’s BART service went into a complete shutdown. The same month, a strike by train engineers in New Jersey Transit’s huge commuter rail system left 100,000 daily riders looking for other means to cross the Hudson River into New York City. In both cases, major metropolitan regions came to a standstill.
South Floridians who rely on public transportation are not alone in facing the threat of severe service cuts next year. Transit agencies in Dallas, Philadelphia and Portland are also drawing up plans that will slash routes, shorten others and offer less-frequent service amid budget deficits. Unless state and local leaders act swiftly to protect Tri-Rail, commuters across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties can expect the same disruptive consequences in the tri-county region.
Officials in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties currently need to plug a $30 million deficit caused by the state government slashing its contribution. If that deficit leads to Tri-Rail service cuts, residents across South Florida will feel the pain — even those who don’t regularly take the train.
When riders who usually take commuter rail are forced to find alternative modes of transportation, highways gridlock and rideshare prices skyrocket. Tri-Rail’s ridership is equal to an entire lane of traffic in either direction on I-95 — and the region simply can’t afford to put those riders back onto the highway. In the worst case scenario, South Florida could face a “doom spiral” — when budget and service cuts cause riders to choose alternatives, like cramming into car traffic, which then leads to further service cuts.
The impact isn’t just felt in county-level spreadsheets and press releases, but by real people. Residents rely on commuter rail and other public transit options to get to and from home and work, doctor’s appointments, the airport, school and concerts or sporting events. They take the brunt of reduced hours, less frequent service, and shortened routes.
While the state’s recent decision to strip funding is a challenge, it’s not the only cause of the problem facing the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA), which operates Tri-Rail.
The funding mechanisms for Tri-Rail haven’t been negotiated since 1989, when the railroad began as a temporary service while construction crews worked on I-95. That temporary service proved so successful that the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) made it permanent, but funding has been frozen at the same level for more than 35 years with no adjustments for inflation. Now, Florida wants the three local counties in Tri-Rail’s service area to pay the entire cost of the service, just as federal relief money dating to the COVID-19 pandemic is exhausted.
Tri-Rail is leading the nation in ridership recovery since the pandemic and expects to break its record by serving over 4.5 million passengers in 2025. In Miami-Dade County, a developer is building a $3 billion mixed-use district with thousands of affordable housing units around a new Tri-Rail station. Another transit-oriented development is rising near the Boca Raton station. Tri-Rail serves one of the most diverse riderships with students, airport travelers, health care workers, shift and office workers and countless others all depending on its reliable on-time service to keep their lives and livelihoods on track.
Those recent transit disruptions in San Francisco and New Jersey were one-off events, but the impact was striking. If lawmakers in Florida fail to take action in support of commuter rail, those delays and inconveniences will become daily occurrences. County leaders — and state legislators in Tallahassee — need to budget for a real, long-term solution before SFRTA runs out of funds in 2026. Tri-Rail means too much to its riders and the region’s economy to let it rust away.
