No more car rental shuttles at Port of Miami????

[signman]

Anyone know anything about this? Someone posted on another thread saying that due to congestion at the piers, auto rental shuttles have been banned from the port. Now you would need to take a cab to the rental facilities at near MIA.

[Bequia]

Howard, As you've heard, plans are in the works to build a tunnel from Port of Miami to Watson Island to ease traffic congestion in downtown Miami. The projected construction cost is $1 billion dollars, half of which $500 million is coming from Miami-Dade. The county has $100 million and are trying to figure out ways to come up with the additional $400 million.

Currently at the Port of Miami, all operators — buses, taxis or limousines — are charged $300 for an annual permit, plus $60 for drivers’ ID cards. They are all charged a per-trip fee, but only when outbound: $2 for taxis, $10 for shuttles and $20 for large buses. I get a feeling that those fees are going to rise dramatically and the car rental companys that provide shuttles to the port will no longer be able to absorb the cost. This would hold true for hotel shuttles as well.

Here's an excerpt from the 7/23/06 Miami Herald:

But cutting a deal for the county's half of the tunnel will prove to be politically dicey given the powerful interest groups -- cargo haulers, passenger cruise line operators, downtown redevelopment boosters and others -- that would need to quickly come to the table during an election year.

 

Nothing is set in stone. But high-ranking state, county, city and port officials who have been involved in recent closed-door talks said a combination of potential revenue sources are still being considered for the county's portion. They include:

• A per-container surcharge for all cargo leaving the port.

• A per-passenger cruise-line surcharge to cover all of the vehicles that service the big ships.

• Expanding the boundaries of a special downtown Miami redevelopment tax district to reflect the benefit that businesses, cultural centers and high-rise condos would enjoy from reduced truck traffic on city streets.

If a firm deal isn't in place by year's end, Florida transportation officials say they will start reallocating hundreds of millions of tunnel dollars to other big-ticket, high-profile highway projects such as Interstate 595 in Broward County.

 

Miami-Dade doesn't want to lose the tunnel. ;)

[signman]

Bequia, Thanks for the info. This is the first I've heard about any of this. I may know a little about the lay of the land in Miami Dade Broward having been a frequent visitor over the past 35 years, but I'm not tuned into future developement plans at all.

 

Would this proposed tunnel hook into the Causeway for more direct access to 95 and 836? If so, sounds like a nightmare for access to South Beach. This would be a rather unique tunnel in that there really isn't lots of room for normal long access roads going down into the tunnel? The engineering for it should be interesting. If you feel like it, I'd love to see some links to the plans.

 

But how quickly do you think the shuttles might end. Truthfully, I'm only looking as far as returning from a late January cruise and getting to Alamo. Thanks.

[Bequia]

I've read nothing in the news about the shuttles ending. Only talk of hefty fee increases. No indication of any timeline when the fees will increase or when the shuttles will end.

 

Here's the link to the Miami Tunnel project http://www.portofmiamitunnel.com/

On the left hand column is a link to the project video. Be sure to watch it if you can. ;)

In 2009 the new rental car facility with all car rental agencies under one roof (like FLL) will be completed. A new ground transportation center linking MIA to trains, taxis, buses is scheduled to be completed as well. Future plans include linking the ground transportation center with the Port of Miami with a light rail train.

http://www.micdot.com/Default1.htm

Find and view the video for this project, interesting stuff.

[BlueHerons]

From my understanding, it is just re-directing heavy traffic to underground and will ease up on downtown Miami Traffic.

 

I don't think it has anything at all to do with South Beach except that MacArther Causeway would have less traffic. In fact, it seems it would make the drive to the beaches much more pleasant on the MacArthur Causeway.

[Maryandi]

I know it is overdue to improve that congested area and hope it won't turn into a 'little dig' project like Beantown:rolleyes:

 

This congestion is one of the reasons that we quit cruising out of Miami. Ft. Lauderdale is so much easier (except in the season when at least 5 ships or more are going in and out on a weekend - ugh)

 

MaryAnn

[bouhunter]

I've been reading here for a while and the Port of Miami sounds like a challenge to negotiate:rolleyes:

 

We're cruising out of Miami for the first time in a few months. We'll be staying at the Intercontinental and planned on taking a cab to the port. I assume that should be fairly routine, do you tell the cab driver which ship you're on and they drop you near where you need to be.?

 

On return, we have a rental car set at MIA, we're going to Key West for a few days. Thrifty car rental advised they have a shuttle to the MIA car rental facility from the port. Is there a certain place to catch these car rental shuttles, or do they just stop somewhere near where each ship disembarks on a regular basis? Thanks for any help!:)

[Bequia]

I've been reading here for a while and the Port of Miami sounds like a challenge to negotiate:rolleyes:

 

We're cruising out of Miami for the first time in a few months. We'll be staying at the Intercontinental and planned on taking a cab to the port. I assume that should be fairly routine, do you tell the cab driver which ship you're on and they drop you near where you need to be.?

 

Your hotel is five minutes from the port, piece of cake. Tell the cabbie which ship and he will drop you off at it's doorstep.

 

On return, we have a rental car set at MIA, we're going to Key West for a few days. Thrifty car rental advised they have a shuttle to the MIA car rental facility from the port. Is there a certain place to catch these car rental shuttles, or do they just stop somewhere near where each ship disembarks on a regular basis? Thanks for any help!:)

 

You'll notice when your dropped off signs for rental car shuttle at each terminal. If you don't just ask the porter that will be taking your luggage where the pickup is. They're quite knowledgeable. ;)

[bouhunter]

Thanks for the reply!:)