SOUTH FLORIDA TRI-RAIL--

Last year we rode this train system from West Palm Beach to downtown Miami.  It was an efficient and cost-free way to zip through the insanity of the area's dense population and traffic.

After this year's experience I will personally install a gernade in the shorts of the person who proposes another such trip.

We arrived at out departure station in advance of the recommended time to obtain tickets and board the train.  Our train arrived at the station on time...and departed for Miami while many of our group were still in the abysmal line waiting for the processing of our tickets.

We caught the next train an hour later, very grateful we were not held up for a second hour, which, at that time, was beginning to appear quite likely.

When you arrive in the Miami area you have to negotiate a transfer station where you board the Metrorail system which takes you into downtown where a people-mover, elevated rail system meanders to the various downtown attractions.

This transfer process was just as pathetic.  A train load of folks were hearded to three automated machines; two for cash purchases and one for credit card use where the proper documentation could be acquired to ride to your chosen destination.

One of the cash machines was out of order and the credit card machine appeared to be working intermittently.  Instructions for passengers were virtually unrecognizable and the security guy, whose task it was to sort out the mess, began his English lessons earlier that morning.

When we inquired about the noticeable deterioration in service a hapless clerk said "...the politicians have made some changes." 
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Downtown Miami can be seen in the distance of the lead photo at the Tri-Rail/Metrorail transfer station.  Our travel group included Mark and Nancy Meinzer who were visiting briefly from Mansfield and we joined long-time Bellville friends, Dick and Jan Shafer and 5 other couples from their winter digs in Vero Beach.

Sue and Nancy are in the foreground of the little photo, top right.  Dick (green shirt) and Jan are on the left in the next lower picture.  Mark and Nancy are enduring some kidding (bottom photo) about the sign between them which reads, "Elderly and Handicapped."