Faster east-west bus route coming for Broward commuters

April 25--Workday commuters in Sunrise and along Broward Boulevard will have a faster option this fall when a limited-stop bus service begins between Sawgrass Mills and downtown Fort Lauderdale.

It's the first speedier east-west bus route offered by Broward County since a nonstop express service from Sawgrass Mills to downtown Fort Lauderdale was eliminated in 2015 due to low ridership.

Officials say traffic has only gotten worse since then, and the few extra stops along the way will open up the quicker service to more residents, increasing its chances of success.

"We desperately need east-west transportation," Commissioner Nan Rich said. "I think the whole thing is to get a really robust bus system."

Allowing fewer stops should shave about a quarter of the time off the regular bus service, reducing the total one-way trip from 78 minutes to 58 minutes from Sunrise to Fort Lauderdale, Transportation Director Chris Walton said.

The Broward Breeze will operate only weekdays during peak travel times in the morning hours heading east from Sunrise and in the late afternoon going west from downtown. The buses are scheduled to run every half hour, but could be increased if additional funding becomes available, Walton said.

The 42-foot-long buses will have high back seats and wifi.

The new "Broward Breeze" service will be similar to north-south Breeze routes now in operation on U.S. 1, State Road 7 and University Drive.

Despite the stops, the new service will be a more efficient route than the old express service, which traveled further south to use Interstate 595.

The 10-stop service approved by county commissioners Tuesday will include a stop at the west bus terminal in Plantation. The route will pass by the main Broward bus terminal downtown and then continue south on Andrews Avenue to Broward Health Medical Center.

The new route comes as Broward commissioners anticipate going to the voters in November for a penny increase in the sales tax, from 6 percent to 7 percent, to fund county mass transit projects over the next 30 years. Those transit plans include improved bus service and the addition of commuter light rail along heavily traveled corridors -- Broward Boulevard, State Road 7 and University Drive.

Commissioners have been debating how much to focus on light rail in the county's future, in part due to criticism being leveled against the Wave streetcar project in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The light rail would use the same vehicles as the Wave, but the routes would be adapted so that they would move faster between destinations.

Commissioner Steve Geller, who doesn't want the county tied to light rail in the sales tax plan if it isn't feasible in the future, has said improved and fancier buses could be the way to go.

"I think this may be a better alternative than rail, but we're not getting into that now," Geller said before Tuesday's vote.

Rich said the county may not have marketed the old express service well enough, so many people didn't know about it. She wants to make sure it's done right this time.

The new service is being supported by a $500,000 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation. The funding is expected to continue at $1 million a year.

Commissioners said it will be important to increase the frequency of the service to make it more reliable for riders and make people more likely to use it.

Here are some other matters that came before Broward commissioners Tuesday:

-- NURSING HOME LIABILITY: Vice Mayor Mark Bogen sought support for a new law that would require nursing homes in Broward to carry at least $1 million of liability insurance. State Sen. Gary Farmer told commissioners that the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, where 12 people died last year during the power outages after Hurricane Irma, had only a $30,000 policy. Bogen withdrew his request for further study after commissioners said they were concerned it would raise nursing home costs and make them more expensive.

-- TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: Commissioners appointed new Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis to the tourist council.

-- FRACKING: Commissioners said they wanted to make sure their position on fracking was clear in their year-old Broward Next comprehensive plan. They approved a resolution changing the wording in the plan from "opposes" to "opposes and prohibits" the use of hydraulic fracturing to extract resources anywhere in the county.

[email protected], 954-356-4556 or Twitter @lbarszewski

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