MIAMI — South Florida’s Tri-Rail set a ridership record in calendar 2025 with 4.5 million rides, breaking the record of 4.4 million set pre-pandemic in 2019.
The calendar-year mark follows a record of 4.5 million in fiscal 2025 (July 2024 to June 2025), which broke the mark set in fiscal 2019.
“We were not kidding when we said last year that we planned to keep breaking our own records,” Marci Woodward, board chair of Tri-Rail’s parent, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, said in a press release. She is also vice mayor of Palm Beach County. “The value of this system speaks for itself, and it shows that more than ever we must continue to protect this essential service, which serves as a critical asset for the region.”
Tri-Rail plans for 2026 include service for soccer’s World Cup and related fan fair events. Miami will host seven World Cup games between June 15 and July 18, including the tournament’s bronze medal match.
“Our passengers are the lifeblood of this system and we are deeply grateful for their continued support,” said David Dech, SFRTA Executive Director. “We will repay that trust by continuing to enhance the service in every way possible and try to provide the best possible travel experience that South Florida deserves.”
The success comes at a time when the 80-mile, 19-station commuter rail operation faces a major funding shortfall that could force the system to shut down in 2027 [see “Florida’s Tri-Rail says it could run out of money …,” Trains.com, July 23, 2025].
— To report news or errors, contact trainsnewswire@firecrown.com.
With everyone moving here and the perpetually abysmal state of the roads this was inevitable. The next step should be more efficient vehicles for the service. TriRail and SunRail run dinkys compared to NJ Transit, Metra, LIRR, etc. As such right sized trainsets, such as offered by Stadler could lower the cost of fuel consumption and operations overall.
Commuter rail will never have enough revenue from fair box moneys. If this is a service that is needed additional funds need to be allocated from other gov sources. Not saying this is a good or bad thing just the truth.
Maybe they should charge their approximately 9,000 (Assuming a major sevice of daily commuters) customers enough to cover larger proportion of the cost.
There may be room to charge more. A bus from West Palm to Miami Airport costs up to 5 times the railroad fare.