Metrorail needs to improve signage

The Disney World Resort monorail has 12 different train lines. The Miami Metrorail has two.

The Miami Metrorail might be your most affordable option in traveling to Miami International Airport, but only if you’re on the right train. Prior to the inauguration of the Orange Line, the singular Green Line spanned 24.4 miles and provided quick and affordable travel throughout Miami-Dade County.

While the Orange Line added access to the airport, it also added confusion and potential detours for all northbound riders. In my case, it made my trip an hour and a half longer because I got on the wrong train.

Yes, partly my fault, but how was I to know which train I was entering when the trains are marked by a letter-sized piece of paper on one train window?

The reality of the situation is that Miami-Dade should have made it painfully obvious to me that I was on the wrong train so I could have switched at any of my first 11 stops and not delayed my trip, long enough for me to have flown home or driven to Disney World to ride their efficient and clearly labeled monorail trains. Actually, they should have made it obvious to me before I even got on.

If they went to the lengths to put these minimal signs up, they should have finished the task and marked the entire train somehow. If you’re going to do something, do it right the first time.

At Disney, I knew I was on the Avengers train. There was Thor right there. The red, green, orange and solid colored trains are marked by a line on the exterior train. So you know which train you’re boarding before the doors even open. Imagine that.

Miami-Dade should be posting the signs on each door or painting lines along the exterior or interior floor of the train. That way, I’ll see and know I’m about to go to the airport, and not the tri-rail transfer station.

 

Jordan Schuman is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism.