Where the data comes from
Every figure on this site has a source. Here they are, with the method and a dated log of corrections.
What comes from where
| Data | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Journey time between any two stations | Miami-Dade GTFS feed, median over every trip in the feed | 27 August 2026 |
| First and last train, frequency by day type | Miami-Dade GTFS feed, measured per direction | 27 August 2026 |
| Which stations each line serves, and the weekend shuttle | GTFS trip patterns, confirmed in writing on the operator's Metrorail page | 27 August 2026 |
| Station names, addresses, parking capacity, public art | Miami-Dade GIS station layer (MetroRailStations_gdb) | 27 August 2026 |
| Which stations have parking, and of what type | Miami-Dade DTPW Metrorail Parking page | 27 August 2026 |
| Fares, passes, discounts, the daily cap | Miami-Dade DTPW Transit Fares & Parking Fees, and Transit Pass | 27 August 2026 |
| Next trains board | Swiftly real-time feed, through an endpoint on our own server, refreshed once a minute | 27 August 2026 |
| Nu Stadium walking route and match-day service | Miami-Dade DTPW news item, 3 April 2026 | 27 August 2026 |
What "live" means on this site
The arrival boards call Swiftly — the company that runs Miami-Dade’s own real-time passenger information — through an endpoint on our server, so no API key ever reaches your browser and only the 23 Metrorail stations can be asked for. It is not an open proxy. A system cron refreshes once a minute, which uses about eight per cent of our quota and means no visitor request ever touches Swiftly directly. Nothing is labelled live unless the feed supplies a real-time value for it.
The hard part: telling an Orange train from a Green one
Miami-Dade publishes both lines under a single route id, so taken at face value every Green Line train would be labelled Orange. The line has to be deduced from the stops each trip calls at — a trip that calls at the airport is Orange, one that calls at Palmetto is Green — and Swiftly trims that stop list at both ends, which breaks something different at each end.
Stops already passed disappear
A southbound Green Line train that left Palmetto is, by Northside, publishing a list that starts at Northside — the terminal that identified it has gone. On the shared trunk the two lines number their stops six apart in that direction, so the stop number resolves it: Dadeland South is the 22nd stop on the Green Line and the 16th on the Orange.
Distant trips are cut at the far end
Two hours out, the feed publishes only the next few stops, so the last stop on the list is not where the train is going. A destination is only shown when the trip really ends at a terminal.
The sixteen northbound platform pairs are left out on purpose
Northbound both lines number identically from Dadeland South, so the pair would be ambiguous — and an ambiguous entry is worse than none, because it would label half the trains backwards. Northbound the terminal is still in the list, which settles it.
Checked against the live feed: 539 stop matches, no contradictions. Miami-Dade renumbered the Metrorail route in its August 2026 feed; the mapping was regenerated against the new one and came out identical.
Correction log
27 August 2026 — the reduced fare was attributed to the wrong people
We said $1.10 was for "seniors 65 and over, riders with disabilities, Medicare card holders and students". Miami-Dade reserves the discount fare for Medicare recipients, most riders with disabilities and K-12 students; a Miami-Dade resident aged 65 or over rides free with a Golden Passport, and it is the 65+ visitor from outside the county who uses the discount card. Fixed on the fares page and the front page, in both languages.
27 August 2026 — the daily fare cap was missing entirely
Miami-Dade caps a day on one card at $5.65, the price of a 1-Day Pass. It is the single most useful fare fact for a visitor and it was not on the site. Added, along with the fact that Metrorail does not ask you to tap out.
27 August 2026 — pass prices and validity rules added
The 1-Day ($5.65 / $2.80) and 7-Day ($29.25 / $14.60) prices were missing, and none of the three passes lasts what its name suggests: the 1-Day runs to 2:00 am, the 1-Month is a calendar month and is not sold between the 11th and the 20th. Also added that the EASY Card costs $2 while the EASY Ticket is free, and the third-party apps that sell passes.
27 August 2026 — "contactless gives you no free transfer" removed
We stated it as fact. Miami-Dade publishes the free bus-to-rail transfer for the EASY Card and EASY Ticket and says cash pays full fare every time, but publishes no transfer rule for contactless either way. We now say what the operator says, and point at the daily cap.
27 August 2026 — the parking page was reconciled with the operator
It listed 18 stations from the GIS layer alone. Tri-Rail was in it, though the operator says there is no Metrorail parking there; Culmer and the airport were missing, though the operator lists both. Now 19 stations, with the operator deciding what exists and the GIS supplying the capacity, and every disagreement flagged in the row. Added the fees, the opening hours, the overnight rule and the six rules that get cars ticketed.
27 August 2026 — Patriot Passport income limit
We said "within the income limit". The operator publishes the figure: $38,686 or less.
27 August 2026 — Nu Stadium and Metro Express added
Inter Miami's ground opened at Miami Freedom Park on 4 April 2026, a ten-minute walk from the airport station, with extra Orange Line trains on match days. And the busway out of Dadeland South has been Metro Express bus rapid transit since October 2025 — the station page still called it by the old corridor name.
Report an error
Write to [email protected] with the page address and what does not match. Corrections go in above, with a date. More about how we work on the About page.
Sources
- Miami-Dade DTPW — Metrorail — lines, weekend shuttle, operating hours
- Miami-Dade DTPW — Transit Pass and Transit Fares & Parking Fees — every fare, pass, discount and parking charge
- Miami-Dade DTPW GTFS feed (
google_transit.zip) — running order, journey times, service calendar, headways - Miami-Dade GIS station layer (MetroRailStations_gdb) — station names, addresses, parking capacity, public art
- Swiftly (
agencyKey=miami) — the real-time feed behind Miami-Dade's own passenger information, used for the arrival boards