Tri-Rail could suffer cutbacks due to funding drop

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- Money troubles are threatening to derail Tri-Rail services here in South Florida.

Because Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, whose residents are all served by Tri-Rail, are struggling with tax revenues, they are reducing funding to the service. The net result could mean 40 percent fewer trains and no service on the weekends after Oct. 1.

The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority warns that all service could even end within 18 months after Oct. 1 because reduced service means the loss of federal dollars. To top it off, the state legislature refused to add a tax on rental cars to fund public transportation services in Florida like Tri-Rail.

These cuts could leave the 14,000 people who use Tri-Rail on a daily basis stranded. "I use it everyday to get to work," said commuter Olga Ponomareva.

"It would be a big inconvenience," noted Tri-Rail passenger Scott Quintavalle. "I'd have to ask people for rides."

Commissioner Josephus Eggletion, of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, said he is dumbfounded about the cutbacks to public transportation. "I can't figure out the problem in Tallahassee," he said. "You have a budget where they are increasing fees for filing divorces, for getting married, for fishing licenses. I mean you name it, they increased it. But for one of the most important things that you could have had a fee increase for, and that is transportation, that would have generated $135 million, that would have been shared by the entire state of Florida, they didn't see the need to do that."

Now the regional Transportation Authority is appealing to Governor Crist to help keep Tri-Rail alive.

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