Bus, Metrorail riders will pay more in Miami-Dade. Free Metromover rides may end

Metrorail and bus fares will increase by 50 cents next year after Miami-Dade commissioners voted Tuesday to charge more in order to prevent service cuts. The commission also instructed Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to present a plan to end free rides on the Metromover rail line that runs through Miami.

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The 9-to-4 vote brings the first increase in transit fares in 13 years, with bus and train rides set to rise from $2.25 to $2.75 on Jan. 1. Metromover will remain free unless commissioners vote to adopt a plan to impose fares on the automated rail system.

The Jan. 1 fare increase will undo a significant portion of the bus-service cuts included in the 2027 budget that commissioners approved last month — including restoration of late-night bus service and reversing the elimination of multiple bus routes.

“This is a lifeline,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said after the vote, which included slightly longer waits for Metrorail trains between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The adjustment will add between 30 seconds and a minute to current arrival times for the trains.

Riders who spoke before the vote fell on both sides of the issue. Some urged commissioners to keep fares flat. Others said they would prefer fares not go up but said it was more important to avoid service cuts.

Briyanna Joseph said many late-night riders can’t afford to commute without public transit. “When that service ends, there is no affordable way for them to get home,” she said. Israel Alvarez, a high school student who takes a bus into downtown Miami each day, said an extra 50 cents each way adds up. “We should be careful about making essential services less affordable for people who rely on it the most,” he said.

Fares pay for less than 15% of the cost of Miami-Dade’s transit system, which relies mostly on property taxes and sales taxes to operate. State cuts in local sales tax revenues cut into transit funding this year, as did the broader gap between rising county payroll costs and slowing growth in the property taxes needed to cover those expenses.

Miami-Dade is using one-time transit reserves to temporarily plug revenue gaps in the 2027 budget, so the higher fares won’t generate the kind of dollars needed to fix the agency’s budget woes in later years.

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Before commissioners agreed to the higher fare, the Levine Cava administration had planned a wave of service cuts in the spring, including the ending of bus rides after 10 p.m. and eliminating 11 bus routes altogether. The estimated $9 million to be generated by the 50-cent increase on fares and the Metrorail tweak will retain service after 10 p.m. for seven of the 25 routes targeted for cuts, and preserve six of the 11 routes that had been slated for elimination.

The eliminated cuts involve services used by about 4,200 riders a week. The remaining cuts involve services used by about 3,000 riders a week.

Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez said he opposed the fare hikes because the Levine Cava administration hadn’t dug into county finances to find savings elsewhere. “Bus riders … should not be the first line of defense against problems the County hasn’t fixed,” Gonzalez said in a statement.

Joining Gonzalez in voting against the higher fares were Chair Anthony Rodriguez and Commissioners Vicki Lopez and Natalie Milian Orbis.

The fare increase, which was sponsored by Commissioner Oliver Gilbert, briefly looked unlikely to pass on Tuesday after multiple commissioners questioned why bus and Metrorail riders should pay more while Miami-Dade keeps the Metromover system fare free as those transit vehicles wind their way through the luxe high-rises of Miami’s Brickell and downtown neighborhoods. “Let’s increase the price by 50 cents for those that ride the bus, while those in a higher tax bracket get to ride the Metromover for free,” Commissioner Kionne McGhee said.

Commissioner Raquel Regalado won support for a compromise measure that imposed the higher transit fares while instructing Levine Cava to bring back the legislation needed to charge for Metromover rides at a price that would cover both the costs of installing fare-collection equipment and additional revenue equal to $1 per ride. “Metromover is costing us a small fortune,” Regalado said.

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This story was originally published October 6, 2026 at 2:47 PM.