WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — As South Florida Regional Transportation Authority makes plans for Tri-Rail to operate in Miami central, ridership is higher this year than in 2022.
Tri-Rail has averaged more than 300,000 monthly riders between January and November, an overall 18% increase from the same time in 2022, and on pace to reach 4 million riders by the end of the year, the agency said in a news releaser.
Between September and November, Tri-Rail trains have averaged over 13,000 weekday and 6,500 weekend riders.
“We are happy to see that riders continue to entrust Tri-Rail as a viable means to get them to work, school, the airport, important appointments and wherever life takes them in South Florida,” Miami-Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado, SFRTA Governing Board chairwoman, said. “We thank our passengers for helping bring positive results for the system this year, as we continue to aspire towards providing a safe, clean and consistently reliable service.”
Tri-Rail’s ridership is at 85% from 2019, when it had its highest ridership year with 4,495,039 passengers; and weekend ridership has fully recovered back to 100%.
Twice in November, ridership topped 14,000 weekday passengers (92%) for the first time since 2020.
Ridership decreased in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We continue to see hundreds of bicycles and scooters onboard, plus our luggage racks are constantly full even on weekends” David Dech, SFRTA executive director, said. “Travel season is a 365-day operation in South Florida and we proudly serve passengers with connections to all three major South Florida airports all year round.”
SFRTA said it focused its efforts on increasing airport ridership this past year, updating the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport shuttle service to 15- to 20-minute frequencies and providing an Uber/taxi voucher for Palm Beach International Airport.
On Monday, Tri-Rail will begin operating a modified version of the current schedule. The new schedule keeps Tri-Rail's 50-weekday and 30-weekend train service, with the times slightly adjusted to account for the system's schedule to operate in Miami central.
Later this year, tri-Rail will extend into Downtown Miami at the MiamiCentral Station. The 9.05-mile extension, known as Tri-Rail Downtown Miami Link, will provide passenger service from the South Florida Rail Corridor at Tri-Rail Metrorail Transfer Station to the Florida East Coast railway corridor into downtown Miami.
The hub will provide connections to Brightline, the Miami-Dade County bus system, Metrorail and Metromover.