The Village of Palmetto Bay is planning to ease the cost of public transportation for Miami Dade College students by adding a free iBus route to Kendall Campus.
A metrobus ride to Kendall Campus costs $2.25 per ride.
“Students and parents come up to me and say they want a service because they either don’t have cars or it’s too expensive to drive to and from school everyday,” the Village of Palmetto Bay’s Mayor Eugene Flinn said.
The Village of Palmetto Bay is neighbored by Cutler Bay, Pinecrest and unincorporated Miami-Dade County.
The iBus service was first implemented in 2006 and currently has two routes, A and B, which covers the North and South portion of the municipality.
The new route, which will also stop at Florida international University’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus, will be paid by the half-cent sales tax by Palmetto Bay residents.
“This bus service will give students better access to education and will lift transportation barriers,” Flinn said.
But this plan isn’t without its barriers.
Currently, the Village of Palmetto Bay has municipal boundaries for their public transportation service. Their buses can’t go more than two miles out of the district, and they have yet to plan out the definite route and schedule of the service.
“We have a lot of dots to connect,” Flinn said.
The mayor is working with the District 8 County Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust, the Palmetto Bay Public Service Department and, most importantly, the schools.
“We have to get the cooperation of everybody involved,” Flinn said.
Kendall Campus President Beverly Moore-Garcia is a fan.
“This [will be] affordable, convenient transportation that will serve as a wonderful service for our students,” Moore-Garcia said.
The service will run directly from Palmetto Bay to Kendall Campus, and, according to Flinn, will have one ride in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the late afternoon.
“We’re thinking of having these three schedule times to accommodate students that go to school part-time and full-time,” Flinn said.
There are currently two systems of public transportation that students can take to go to Kendall Campus.
The Metrorail is used by many students, but only has a drop off at the Dadeland Station, the stop closest to Kendall Campus. From there, students must take the Miami-Dade public bus service that drops off at the bus stop at Kendall Campus facing 103rd St.
The second system is for students to take the Miami-Dade public buses through multiple connection lines to be dropped off at Kendall Campus. Bus passes cost approximately $120 a month (half off for MDC Students) but only a limited amount of the discounted passes are available.
“This was one of those things that conversations with residents and desires from students and what they need brought up this system,” Flinn said.
The Village hopes to have the system implemented by Fall 2018.
