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Its been a long time since we flew into Miami.I am assuming its still a case of mini busing out to the car hire depots. Is there any company that might have an advantage over another?
Trina
As far as I am aware they are all offsite and close to each other. All seem to have regular bus services. I have heard they are moving onto the airport site but not sure if this has happened yet.
Katys Grandad
02-08-2010, 15:23
The new centre opened a couple of weeks ago so all the major rental companies are located there now. It still requires a shuttle bus but I understand that you won't have to wait for the bus associated with your particular company and in time there'll just be 1 common shuttle service. In a couple of years the new rail link will be open and the shuttles will be redundant.
It'll be interesting to see how it works out - IMO it couldn't be worse than the previous set up.
It should work well as I know the city have put quite a lot into this to try and improve matters. General public transport in Miami is good and we have often used it.
It is nearer the airport so will not take as long to get to car depots and is better situated as you exit on to Le Jeune for both US27 and the Turnpike.
I came through Miami last week and Katys Grandad is correct. There is just one "white" shuttle bus that takes you to the new collection centre and all the companies are in the one hall
Katys Grandad
03-08-2010, 11:47
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by vickk17
I came through Miami last week and Katys Grandad is correct. There is just one "white" shuttle bus that takes you to the new collection centre and all the companies are in the one hall[/quote]Have they added a 'facility charge' for this this new location?
Planning for the multi modal facility began back in 1989 and is estimated to cost $1.7 billion. The car hire forms only a tiny part of this overall venture which will not be completed until 2012 so no it is not likely there will be an added facility charge as it is being coordinated under the sponsorship of the Florida Department of Transportation.
Thank you for your replies. I have just taken a look at the Miami Airport web site and I must say it looks rather swish! Lets hope it all runs smoothly. Quite happy do a short shuttle bus journey. Have awful memories of arriving at Miami Airport on a Friday afternoon many many years ago with two tired children, queuing up for the shuttle, queuing up at Dollar and then sitting in traffic for ages trying to get to the 27!
Trina[msnsmile2]
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Katys Grandad
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by vickk17
I came through Miami last week and Katys Grandad is correct. There is just one "white" shuttle bus that takes you to the new collection centre and all the companies are in the one hall[/quote]Have they added a 'facility charge' for this this new location?
[/quote]
nope there was no charge
Sounds like this is going to be a great improvement.[msnsmile]
The mover is expected to be completed by late 2011 and it will be able to transport more than 3000 people per hour to the transport hub. This will cut down on carbon emissions by approx 30% which will be good for the city and then in 2012 the train links will be ready. It will also make it much easier for those staying at the beaches who do not want car hire to get public transport direct from the airport to the beach area.
We tried it last Saturday. Still the same almost, except there is only one shuttle to get there. Still seems quite a long way, not much shorter than the original Alamo depot.
When we arrived there was a hard sell from the desk and he got very annoyed when I would not take an upgrade or roadside assistance. Despite explaining I was fully covered he practically shouted at me to 'wait and see when something happens'.
On arrival at the centre, there were very few trolleys available which made it difficult to drag the bags from the drop off across a huge hall to the Alamo desk.
Then, there were no cars available.(7 seater) they told me to take a Hummer, but it was too small, Then they told me to take a pick up, which I would have except the seats had huge burn holes in them. After an hour or so waiting, a Tahoe was brought round, it was filthy and dented, which was a shame as it only had 2000 miles on the clock, we took it as we had to drive to Pompano beach and our time had been wasted enough. We paid to have the car cleaned ourselves.
Kaz