Miami-Dade’s $300 million rapid-transit bus system failed to fully deliver during its first morning rush hour Monday, with passengers facing delayed arrivals and crowded buses stalling at red lights that were supposed to turn green automatically.
“These lights are way too long,” Vernon Huggins, a 49-year-old cook, said from his seat on a northbound Metro Express electric bus shortly before 9 a.m. “The red lights take up a lot of time.”
Transit administrators acknowledged shortcomings with the Metro Express rollout and said the red-light issue is high on the list of glitches that need to be fixed. They described the problems causing passenger frustrations and delays as early-stage hiccups that can be smoothed over as Miami-Dade shifts from testing the 20-mile system to actually operating it…