In the months since Uber and Lyft have set up shop in Miami and sparked a war of fines and impounded cars with the county commission, the battle lines have seemed fairly obvious. Commissioners — backed by a powerful union of cab owners and medallion-holders — oppose changing regulations to…
Miami is a late-night city. Bars are open until 5 a.m. and even later in the Entertainment District. But the public transit system, which gets its deserved criticism in the daytime, shuts down almost completely after midnight. Only the bus is an option. That leaves Miamians traveling to and from…
The nation’s roadway infrastructure is crumbling, but there’s one sunny exception: the state of Florida. The Washington Post reports that Florida’s roads and bridges are in some of the best shape in the nation. That’s in part thanks to favorable weather, but also to a relatively high gasoline tax and…
For nearly two months, UberX and Lyft have been operating their app-based ride-share services around Miami in direct violation of the county’s limo laws. In turn, the county has hit the services with dozens of citations and has even impounded drivers’ cars. All of that carnage could end if county…
The idea of closing Ocean Drive off to traffic and turning it into a pedestrian mall similar to Lincoln Road may have hit a snag once commissioners realized that the parking meters along the street bring in over $1 million in revenue a year. Instead, Miami Beach’s Land Use and…
On April 1,a young man and woman were walking along Miracle Mile near Barnes & Noble when they decided to cross the street. They glanced left. No cars coming. Then they glanced right. Nada. So they slowly crossed the four lanes without a problem. As they began walking along the…
For a road that leads to a sparsely developed island sitting just north of a national park, the Rickenbacker Causeway has all the charm of an anonymous highway. A string of accidents, often deadly, have called attention to the fact drivers often zip through the road like it was I-95…
The Venetian Causeway is Miami’s oldest bay-spanning bridge and the best bet for cyclists and pedestrians looking to get from South Beach to downtown. It’s also been an unbelievable mess lately. Ever since a bus punched a hole in a deteriorating bridge earlier this year, the County has been plotting…
After an ominous news conference from Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa and plenty of online speculation about whether cyclists would begin facing fines and police crackdowns at Critical Mass, Friday’s ride went surprisingly smoothly. During the 13-mile route through the city, bikers rode through red lights in large groups as…
Just two days after Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa called Critical Mass a “critical mess,” the suspected organizer of the monthly bicycle rides is asking that cyclists please be responsible and ride safely. “Riders should act accordingly and try to correct all the criticisms mentioned by the police earlier this…
A day after Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa called the monthly Critical Mass bike ride a “critical mess,” the route for this Friday’s ride has been released. Though it occasionally detours into other neighboring cities where police have had a friendlier approach, such as Miami Beach and Coral Gables, this…
On March 15 a Miami-Dade metrobus, travelling east across the Venetian Causeway near the old Miami Herald building, suddenly got stuck. The weight from the bus had opened a hole in the structure, and engineers later discovered that a portion of the bridge had fallen loose. A month later, in…
Update: At the conference, Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa says he believes Critical Mass has become a “critical mess.” It may be the end of the era for Critical Mass Miami. City of Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa has called a news conference for tomorrow at 10 a.m., saying in…
First Miami-Dade started ticketing Lyft and UberX drivers. Then they started impounding their cars. Apparently that’s not good enough for the local taxi industry. No, they want drivers working for UberX and Lyft put in jail. See also: Miami-Dade County Is Now Impounding Lyft Vehicles…
Miami-Dade already has enough of a problem with “businesses” operating outside of or in the gray area of the law that when a venture capitalist-backed tech firm comes into town and tries to do it, they’re just asking for trouble. The county had earlier started fining app-based ride share Lyft’s…
Sky blue. Sun sets. Miami traffic bad. It hardly seems like news, but somehow it’s comforting to be reminded periodically that traffic in Miami really is among the worst in America and we’re not just imagining it. Turns out those TomTom GPS devices do more than help people get from…
At a municipal meeting last month, one Miami Beach commissioner floated a simple idea in response to growing traffic and congestion concerns: permanently banning cars from Ocean Drive. In a city where Lincoln Road, another pedestrianized street, has become one of its biggest tourist draws, you’d think the idea might…
Four years ago, Christophe Le Canne, a South Miami family man, was riding his blue Cannondale in the bike lane on the Rickenbacker Causeway when he was struck by a Silver Volkswagen and killed as the driver, Carlos Bertonatti, drove away dragging his bike. But without better safety measures in…
The big party starts tonight in South Beach, and local police are determined to keep drunk drivers out. (Makes sense, no?) With Urban Beach Week beginning in earnest this evening, local police will implement a DUI checkpoint on the eastbound MacArthur Causeway beginning at 8. A team of at least…
I hate taking taxis in Miami-Dade, but I depend on them. Without a car, I sometimes need a quick ride to events and to the office, which unfortunately has no convenient bus or trolley stops nearby. But the rights of passengers who use taxi services in the county are rarely…
You might want to just stay in your SUV forever, Miami. Days after a study found that Florida cities dominated the list of America’s deadliest for pedestrians (with the Magic City clocking in fourth place), a new report has been released on the most dangerous locales in the U.S. for…
Last Friday, Chris Underhill’s bike was stolen. He had taken a cousin from out of town to Mary Brickell Village, only to find his chain cut and his Giant Escape true to its name: gone. Underhill underwent the usual stages of stolen bike syndrome: disbelief, anger, and despair. He filled…
