The governing board of Tri-Rail, South Florida’s publicly subsidized commuter line, took a step toward making the railroad’s fares a stronger revenue contributor Friday by greenlighting a potential increase by August.
No hard dollar amounts were proposed. But Tri-Rail’s fares — between their rock-bottom levels and a convoluted zone system — have been a nettlesome issue for a management that has been traveling over dual tracks during the past year: Working to restore some or all of a state subsidy that was dramatically cut for operations, while positioning the three-county rail line for the long-term future.
During a presentation on Friday to the board of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, Deputy Executive Director Diane Hernandez del Calvo disclosed that the average fare collected by the rail line is a paltry $3.24. That’s far below the double-digit fares collected by the high-speed Brightline railroad, which offers passengers higher levels of onboard amenities and faster rides among five South Florida cities.
Del Calvo said the low fares are due largely to discount programs and the absence of any increases in years. Tri-Rail has not hiked its fares since 2019, she said.
During Friday’s discussion, Raquel Regalado, a Miami-Dade County commissioner and a transportation authority board member, said she would like to see the number of zones cut from six to two. Others agreed.
The board expects to receive some options for how much fares should be raised and how the zone system should be re-aligned by its next meeting in February.
Building for the future, scraping for money
After the meeting, veteran railroad executive David Dech, who was hired four years ago to be executive director of the transportation authority, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that he has received a number of positive responses from lawmakers as he walked the halls of legislative offices in Tallahassee over the last two weeks in a bid to restore state cuts to the railroad’s annual allocation.
Last year, the Florida Department of Transportation thrust the rail operation into financial uncertainty by slashing millions from its annual contribution to Tri-Rail.
Instead of contributing a statutory minimum of $42.1 million — and as much as $62 million annually as it has in the past — the agency informed the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority that the new figure would be $15 million starting with the 2025-26 fiscal year, which started last July. In the interim, the line has been dipping into dwindling reserves to prop up a $150 million budget. The three counties Tri-Rail serves also contribute annual subsidies of $4 million to go along with the fares paid by riders.
With no action, Tri-Rail is likely to run out of cash by June 2027, Dech has said.
“It’s a dance. We’re still in the same position. We have money through June of 2027,” Dech said in an interview at Tri-Rail headquarters in Pompano Beach. “I remain very encouraged by the tone of the conversations that we’re having in Tallahassee as well as with the counties. That gives me the optimism to go and start looking at long-term investments.”
While the subsidy question is pending in the Legislature, key improvement projects at the railroad remain on hold. They include:
- Northern Layover Facility: A new light maintenance operation near Mangonia Park, which is the northernmost stop for Tri-Rail after West Palm Beach. Besides repairs, it would allow the railroad to engage in overnight cleaning of coaches, and provide crew and training rooms. The current facility is near residential neighborhoods whose occupants consistently hear noise generated by Tri-Rail.
- Improvements at all 19 of Tri-Rail’s stations in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
- Elevator replacements and upgrades at the stations.
“Those are the big projects on hold right now,” Dech said. “I think over the next several months I expect we’re going to be able to start seeing some real movement on funding and be able to start moving some of these projects forward.”
Both the Tri-Rail board and management have been uniform in their approach to the Legislature since the funds were cut last year: Demonstrate that the railroad can operate as a business and is therefore deserving of a continued flow of public dollars from the state and the three counties it serves.
As a show of good faith, Tri-Rail curtailed most of its ride-partnership programs with Uber, Lyft and traditional taxi services at the close of 2025.
And Dech, with FDOT support, implemented safety improvements at railroad crossings and cleared away homeless camps along the rail corridor.
In the meantime, the rail line has ordered seven new diesel-electric locomotives from Siemens Mobility. They will be ready to roll by 2029 and equipped to serve the MiamiCentral station.
“With the addition of seven new locomotives, Tri-Rail will enhance its current aging fleet, introducing equipment designed to enhance the passenger experience with modern features while improving the reliability of daily service,” the railroad said in a recent statement.
The engines are being funded by grant money from the Federal Transit Administration.
Why order equipment for 2029 when operating cash might stop flowing in mid-2027?
“We lose the opportunity [for federal funds] if we don’t do it,” said Tri-Rail spokesman Victor Garcia. “The hope is this is going to get fixed and the trains are running.”
Tri-Rail also intends to upgrade passenger coaches and cab cars over time. It is piggybacking on an order with Chicago Metro, which assigned Tri-Rail some of its options with a manufacturer, Dech said.
The reception
During the Friday board meeting and in the Sun Sentinel interview, Dech said he’s received a universal “positive tone” from state lawmakers.
“I’m not going to put words in politicians’ mouths,” he said. “I know better than that. I would say that when we walked the halls up there we’ve had a very good reception. People understand who we are. People understand what we’ve been doing. People understand our ridership. People understand how important we are to the region.”
Last year’s record ridership figures have helped.
Earlier this month, Tri-Rail, which started operating more than three decades ago, announced it carried more than 4.5 million customers along its 73.1-mile line that runs mainly west of Interstate 95. The tally included passengers who rode the 8-mile segment from the main line over a Florida East Coast Railway spur into the MiamiCentral station that Tri-Rail shares with Brightline in downtown Miami.
“I will say that one of the first things that came out of people’s mouths when we walked into their offices is talking about our ridership and the ridership growth and the ridership record,” Dech said. “That has resonated with folks — not only are we sustaining and we’re among the national leaders in ridership recovery — we’re breaking our own records. That’s a big deal.”
Dech, though, declined to say how much money he is seeking.
“I am absolutely not going to talk about numbers,” he said. “I am negotiating. I’m not negotiating in the newspaper. I have never found that to be a good strategy.”
“I have an ask. Other people have a counter. And we’ll get there,” Dech added. “The good news is that everywhere I go, nobody’s walking around saying ‘no, just shut it down.’ I haven’t heard that once. I’ve talked to a lot of people who are, to a person, very supportive.”