‘Better Bus’ promised speed in Miami-Dade. Riders are still waiting for results

In a Facebook group titled “Miami Bus Riders Against The Better Bus Network,” frustration fills the page.

“Complete disaster,” Jose Mandriano wrote in the group.

“Awful mess,” Erik Paul Vasquez posted.

“Wait over an hour,” Mandriano added.

“I cannot sit down,” commented Janine Therese.

Thousands of similar posts describe problems with Miami-Dade buses. Riders across the county recount being left behind by overcrowded buses, and unpredictable service and routes that no longer take them where they need to go. One post made March 22 drew more than 40 comments.

Miami-Dade’s Better Bus Network (BBN) launched in November 2023. It aimed to improve service by cutting some routes and increasing frequency on others. It was described as the biggest bus system overhaul in Miami-Dade County history.

But for many, the redesign has fallen short of its promise. Instead, riders report longer wait times, overcrowded buses and routes that no longer take them where they need to go.

According to Miami-Dade County’s ridership data, Metrobus ridership declined every month from October 2025 to December 2025, with drops ranging from 2% to 10%.

Nine phone calls and 10 emails to Miami-Dade’s Department of Transportation and Public Works, including Director Stacy L. Miller, and the Miami-Dade Transportation Committee were not returned.

The Better Bus Network grew out of a years-long push to rethink a system that had not been fully redesigned in decades. WLRN reported in 2023 that the project began years earlier as a community-driven effort to simplify routes and improve frequency.

What changed was significant. The redesign increased high-frequency routes while eliminating or revamping others, forcing some riders to rely more on transfers and longer walks to reach their destinations.

Supporters argued the shift would make the system more efficient.

“We had the opportunity with the Better Bus Network to look at how we become more efficient,” then-Miami-Dade Commissioner (and now Miami Mayor) Eileen Higgins told WLRN.

For the majority of riders, the problems start even before stepping on the bus.

Jose Hernandez, a 19-year-old senior at Coral Gables Senior High School, relies heavily on public transit every day. Buses, he said, often do not show up at all.

“Very often, there are ghost buses that are scheduled to pass, but there’s no bus linked to that particular trip,” he said.

Hernandez travels on many routes in the county. He uses Metrorail to get to school every day and the Metrobus after to explore, get something to eat and meet up with friends.

But the system is not predictable. Routes 203 and 211 — the 203 Biscayne MAX runs between downtown Miami and Aventura Mall on Biscayne Boulevard, and 211 Flagler MAX runs from Southwest 108th Avenue — are scheduled to run every 30 and 15 minutes, respectively. In reality, service often falls short, he said.

He recalled a recent ride on Route 77, which runs between the Aventura bus terminal and downtown Miami, when overcrowding became so severe that a wheelchair user was unable to board.

“There was just no room,” he said. “The bus was completely packed, and they had to be left behind.”

Transit experts say long waits and congestion stem from inconsistent service.

Qianwen Guo, an assistant professor of transportation engineering at Florida State University, said small disruptions can have system-wide consequences for public transit service.

“Missed trips mean more crowding, wait time and missed connections,” Guo explains. “This uncertainty affects passengers’ perception of transit as well.”

That unpredictability is not limited to one corridor. Route 100, for example, links downtown Miami, Miami Beach and Aventura, and its path through traffic-heavy congestions like the MacArthur Causeway helps explain why delays can cascade into crowding.

For riders, those system-wide effects shape the truth of their daily commutes.

Gaby Figueredo, a sophomore at Florida International University from Allapattah, said the Better Bus Network has made her trips more unpredictable, especially during peak hours. She relies on Routes 54, 3 and 203 to get to FIU’s Biscayne Bay campus but said they can be difficult to rely on.

Late-afternoon buses are regularly overcrowded, she said, forcing riders to let one pass before finding space.

“Sometimes I have to wait for two or three buses because the first ones are too full,” she said.

For Figueredo, the commute from Allapattah to FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique campus is “100 times easier.” Getting to the Biscayne Bay campus is less reliable and harder to plan.

But Figueredo is not alone. For some Miami-Dade residents, those frustrations stretch back decades.

Georgina Reyes, an 88-year-old longtime Miami resident, has relied on Miami-Dade buses for about 45 years, most particularly taking Route 36. Delays and long wait times have been part of the system, she said. In her view, nothing has improved. Buses can arrive 15 to 20 minutes late, forcing her to wait far longer than expected.

The experience is exhausting, especially for older riders who have to stand at stops without benches.

“It hasn’t changed at all,” she said, sighing. “It’s the same.”

And across Miami-Dade, the scene repeats itself.

No seats. No space.

On a bright afternoon along Biscayne Boulevard, a Route 3 bus pulls up already packed, bodies pressed against windows, riders gripping overhead bars just to stay upright. There is no room left.

Six riders step forward, peer inside, and hesitate.

Then, without a word, they turn back.

They return to the curb.

And still, they wait.

This story is the result of a partnership between Florida International University’s Lee Caplin School of Journalism and Media and the Miami Herald.