After offering free transportation for fans heading to Miami Stadium during the World Cup, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced a plan to reduce bus service. This is a way to maintain a service facing a funding shortfall.
During the World Cup, the Miami Game Day Express provided free round-trip transportation between four points in the city and Miami Stadium. Fans could count on it from three and a half hours before to one and a half hours after each match.
But the public transportation system is in crisis. The Miami Herald reports that “the system would face a significant funding shortfall and therefore must use reserve funds earmarked for future projects.” The Reserve Fund is financed by property taxes on properties located near Miami-Dade public transportation lines.
Just days before the World Cup ended, Mayor Levine Cava presented a $14.261 billion budget for fiscal year 2026-2027, nearly $1 billion more than the current budget, with spending cuts that include public transportation.
To keep the public transportation system afloat during fiscal year 2027, the mayor wants to use an $89 million reserve earmarked for future rail projects. She also proposes using $96 million from a fund linked to the increased value of properties located along transportation corridors.
Among the public transportation cuts that would be implemented are:
Eliminating or reducing 12 bus routes, six operated by the county and six through private contracts (the affected routes would be 16, 25, 42, 57, 70, 132, 203, 204, 272, 279, 288, and 338).
The plan proposes reducing early morning service on 44 routes and late-night service on 38 routes (this would affect service before 6:00 a.m. or after 10:00 p.m.).
According to the Miami Herald, these routes carry approximately 4,400 trips daily on weekdays, which is roughly 2% of the 262,000 trips carried by the entire system.
Mayor Levine Cava explained that fares no longer cover the system’s costs and have not been increased in over 12 years. In 2025, she had proposed a $0.50 fare increase and a rise in the local gas tax, but this was rejected by the Miami-Dade commissioners.
However, Levine Cava’s proposal is not yet final. As part of her budget proposal, it is scheduled to be reviewed by the commissioners on September 17.
The budget prioritizes public safety, parks, infrastructure, resilience, and health services. She maintained that the county is facing slower revenue growth, inflation, and higher costs. “Everything we have to buy costs more: gas, produce, and wages, which are increasing due to contracts,” she explained.
Measures to reduce county expenses include stricter overtime controls, consolidation of administrative functions, increased use of technology, and the elimination of more than 400 vacant positions. “We’re going to continue without cutting positions for people who are already in their roles, because we have 400 vacant positions, and we are eliminating those,” Levine Cava noted.
