Leave the Driving to Us, Please

To jostled and jaded riders of New York City's subways, the clean and comfortable Miami Metrorail system may seem just about perfect. But in many respects, Miami's four-year-old, 20-mile elevated rail system is a $1 billion study in poor planning. When the system was designed in the late 1970s, Dade . County officials decided to run the rails from downtown to the southern part of Miami, where they expected growth. But most new building occurred in the north and west. At the same time, cost overruns and federal budget cuts knocked out plans to extend the rails into those parts of town. Result: Metrorail cannot deliver residents of lower-income neighborhoods to the northern suburbs, where many of them work. Nor can it transport white-collar commuters in the opposite direction, from the north to downtown. County officials hoped Metrorail would carry 200,000 riders a day; it transports at most 34,000 (the fare: $1). To stem financial losses, the county may cut back on service, a move that could reduce passenger loads even more.