Remember how we got around Miami before Metrorail, Uber and Tri-Rail? Take a look
By Miami Herald Archives
A bus makes a stop in Miami in 1942.
Miami Herald File
No one will ever confuse mass transit in Miami with mass transit in New York. But through the years, getting around in South Florida without a car has become a little easier.
Metrorail and Metromover. Tri-Rail. Brightline. City trolley shuttles.
And then there are buses.
We’ve always seemed to have those, clustered in downtown Miami, Miami Beach, the South Dade Busway, and making their way across the ribbon of major roadways and causeways.
Let’s take a look at what taking a bus in Miami-Dade looked like through the years as we leaf through the Herald’s photo archives:
A bus got too close to a train at Northwest North RIver Drive and 24th Street in Miami in 1950. Bill Sanders Miami Herald File
In 1964, the bus system’s Sue Farewell welcoms passengers on the maiden run of the South Dixie Express, a commuter bus service between South Miami-Dade and downtown Miami. Miami Herald File
A passenger boards the X route in Miami Beach in 1986. Miami Herald File
A passenger boards a county shuttle bus to cross the Venetian Causeway in 1985. Randy Bazemore Miami Herald File
In 1960, passnegers board a bus to reach the South Miami area from downtown Miami. Mike Freeman Miami Herald File
The interior of a bus as it pulls into the a Miami Lakes technical education center in 1981. Andrew Innerarity Miami Herald File
In 1964, a line of 20 new buses parading in downtown Miami. Tom McCarthy Miami Herald File
An express bus in Homestead after a trip from downtown Miami in 1980. Miami Herald File
The Curtiss Aerocar is one of the few ideas of Glenn H. Curtiss that never got off the ground. Henry L. Doherty, Cities Service Oil Company, who purchased the Miami Biltmore and Roney Plaza hotels in the early 1930s, bought several of the Aerocars, which were manufactured in Coral Gables. He used them to transport passengers between the train stations and his hotels. For faster transportation between hotels he used an autogyro, forerunner of the helicopter, Miami Beach tried out the Aerocar, above as a bus but abandoned it , Curtiss project soon folded. Miami Herald File
An H bus stops on Northeast 18th Avenue near Miami Gardens Drive in 1990. Chuck Fadely Miami Herald File
C bus route driver Abel Correa picks up passengers in Miami Beach in 1988. Marice Cohn Band Miami Herald File
A bus stop on Washington Avenue in Miami Beach in 1980. Miami Herald File
