Three Metrobus routes that connect West Kendall to the Dadeland North station are among 12 lines Miami-Dade County plans to eliminate under its new $14.3 billion budget.

Routes 204 (Killian MAX), 272 (Sunset MAX) and 288 (Kendall Cruiser) all terminate at Dadeland North, a major transit hub at 8300 S. Dixie Highway near the South Miami-Pinecrest border. The county commission approved the budget in an 8-3 vote after an 11-hour session that ended at 4:22 a.m. Sept. 18, Diario las Américas reported.

Beyond the 12 route eliminations, 41 routes will lose service after 10 p.m. County officials estimate the changes will affect 14,559 weekday riders, according to the Coconut Grove Spotlight. Transit Alliance Miami said many of those riders are nurses, custodians, security guards, construction workers and school employees.

The county's Department of Transportation targeted routes with the lowest ridership and said about 91% of bus riders will not be affected.

The cuts are not immediate. Sources give varying timelines, with Telemundo 51 reporting changes beginning in March 2027 and the Coconut Grove Spotlight citing a July target. The Department of Transportation must complete operational adjustments before any routes are dropped.

Fare increase could close $19 million shortfall

Commissioners restored $12.5 million during the budget session to preserve early-morning service before 6 a.m. on 45 routes. That left about $19 million in cuts on the table: roughly $8.5 million from eliminating the 12 routes and $10.4 million from ending late-night service.

To close that gap, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava proposed studying a 50-cent fare increase for Metrobus and Metrorail, which would raise the fare from $2.25 to $2.75. The fare has not changed in more than 13 years. Her administration estimates the increase would generate about $10 million a year, money that could restore late-night trips.

Commissioners are also weighing whether to charge riders on the currently free Metromover, the Coconut Grove Spotlight reported.

Late-night workers face steep rideshare costs

For a worker finishing a shift at 10 p.m., losing the last bus could mean $20 to $30 a day in rideshare costs, according to Diario las Américas.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Marleine Bastien warned during the budget debate that low-income residents and seniors depend on certain routes even to buy groceries.

"Eliminating the bus routes for working people who have no other way to get to work strikes at the heart of what we're supposed to be doing as a county," Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado said during a Sept. 14 budget discussion, as reported by the Coconut Grove Spotlight.

In August, when Levine Cava first presented the proposed cuts, Cathy Dos Santos, executive director of Transit Alliance Miami, warned the reductions "could be the start of a spiral that becomes really hard to recover for Miami-Dade transit," as reported by The Miami Times.

Commission to revisit bus cuts Oct. 6

Levine Cava is required to present a proposal linking any fare increase to service restoration before commissioners vote again. No guarantee exists that the 12 eliminated routes can be saved.

A separate financial threat looms. If Florida's Amendment 3 property-tax measure passes in November, the county estimates it could lose $385.8 million in property-tax revenue in its first year.

The commission is expected to take up the remaining cuts again at its Oct. 6 meeting. Residents can attend or submit comments through the county commission's public hearing process.