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DTPW quarterly report shows ridership gains and a county plan to systematically replace elevator/escalator conveyances
Summary
DTPW officials told the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust that ridership has risen across modes and that the department is shifting to a systematic, prioritized program to repair and replace aging elevators and escalators after repeated outages and parts shortages.
Beth Goldsmith, chief strategy officer for the Miami‑Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works, told the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust on Jan. 29 that ridership increased across Metrobus, Metrorail and other modes in the most recent quarter but that conveyance (elevator and escalator) availability has declined and remains a focus for capital investment.
Goldsmith said bus on‑time performance had improved modestly and that preventative maintenance adherence was generally above 90 percent. She described reliability challenges driven by parts availability and the age of equipment in the county’s rolling stock and said the department has prioritized preventive maintenance and recent procurement actions to address those issues.
On conveyance systems, Goldsmith said the county had historically relied on contracts that did not achieve consistent preventative maintenance outcomes and that DTPW has shifted to a new, more performance‑oriented contracting approach. She said DTPW had declared emergencies at some Metro Mover facilities to begin modernization work and that the department has awarded recent repair and conveyance replacement contracts to tackle long‑standing failures.
Why it matters: Elevator and escalator outages affect accessibility for riders with mobility impairments and can undermine public confidence in the transit system. Trust members said they encounter repeated announcements in service about out‑of‑order conveyances; members pressed DTPW staff to accelerate work where possible.
Goldsmith and deputy director Sean Aitchison described a strategic, systemwide prioritization process: instead of ad‑hoc repairs, DTPW will coordinate larger modernization projects, group replacements by vendor and compatibility, and pursue replacements that reduce the county’s dependence on proprietary parts that are difficult to source. Goldsmith said this approach aims to minimize contractor churn and to focus available vendor capacity on higher‑impact work.
Trust members pressed DTPW about the length of schedules for some projects; DTPW staff said timelines on large modernization efforts consider procurement, permitting and business‑relocation phases, and that changing a delivery method (from design‑build to design‑bid‑build) can extend schedules to produce a more realistic plan. DTPW staff said they would seek opportunities to expedite work when possible.
DTPW also provided an update on other projects: South Bay Transit Operations Center construction was under way, Dadeland South station renovation is moving through design, Coconut Grove station was closed for renovation, and the department is preparing for major events including FIFA Cup planning. Staff said automated external defibrillators have been installed across many facilities and that several conveyance replacement contracts have been awarded.
