MIAMI — Miami-Dade County commissioners have approved spending $76 million to build a Virgin Trains USA station at the Aventura Mall, a move that could see trains begin to serve the new stop as early as next year.
The new station at 19700 West Dixie Highway will be roughly halfway between Virgin Trains’ existing MiamiCentral and Fort Lauderdale stations. The project will include construction of a pedestrian bridge over the highway to connect to the Aventura Mall. The Miami Herald reports that Virgin Trains will develop the station, but the county will pay for it using reserves from its sales tax and will own the facility.
Last week’s approval of the station came after the commissioners initially voted down the proposal, but it passed on a revote after one commissioner negotiated a concession from Virgin Trains on residential development at the property. Any such development will be for workforce-housing units, which typically charge below-market rates.
Mister Thorniley:
“There is public utility in it since the station will help lesson [sic] traffic and other demands on public investments, such as roads and buses, etc…”
These are precisely the kinds of externalities I have been talking about. Demanding that a rail transportation system pay for itself on the farebox alone is a narrow view. Especially these days, with an overburdened public infrastructure, the costs of increasingly violent weather, and other things, the differential cost caused by shift demand from (say) roads to (say) rail must be factored into the profit-and-loss characterization of the rail system.
While it is not my place to quantify these externalities I know it can be done relatively accurately. In such a scenario is Brightline a net public good or a net public liability? That, I cannot answer until the numbers are available.
On the other hand, there are issues in providing public support for a private good. It is not in the nature of any of the parties in question – the private party (whoever it might be), the government(s) in question, or the decision makers (I am assuming a functioning democracy, therefore the voters) to either be honest and forthright about their accounting, or to be interested and willing to make a reasoned decision concerning their choices.
The above comments are genetic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. In Free Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Soviet Socialist Canuckistan train ride YOU!
Part gift, part reality that Brightline can get service started decades before TriRail Rail would have with their Coastal Link proposed service on FECR. Brightline will pay to operate the station and will charge reduced fares for riders going to and from this station (60% of market price) as part of the deal. Not sure who comes out better in the end on a strictly financial review. There is public utility in it since the station will help lesson traffic and other demands on public investments, such as roads and buses, etc…
Will Miami-Dade charge Virgin for use of the station? Or is the station a gift to the supposedly free-market train service? Plz. advise.
Anna, thanks for catching that typo. I hate auto spell correction on my tablet!
But yes, I do agree with you. It was good that Brightline gave some in the negotiations. Brightline also promised to design the station to allow for a future low level platforms for TriRail as well as the requirement for “workforce” housing development. I believe the apartments at Miami Central also include a good amount of similar lower priced rentals. That might have been part of the deal with the local Overtown CRA that allowed them to buy certain properties in the area from the CRA.