Route 88
Dadeland North to SW 142 Avenue or SW 157 Avenue via SW 88 St. (Kendall Drive....America's biggest headache!!)
Vital Stats:
Division: Coral Way
Service: 5 AM to midnight weekdays, 5am to 11pm weekends
Headway: 30 minutes base (Every 60 min. to each leg); 15 minutes at rush-hour.
Destination sign:
Eastbound- 88 DADELAND NO
Westbound-88 KENDALL LAKE / 88 to 142 AV (Transdot)
88 KENDALL LAKES / 88 SW 142 AV (Luminator)
88
KENDALL LAKES
SW 142 AV
(TwinVision)
88-88A WEST / 142 - 157 AVE (Transdot / Luminator)
88 & 88A WEST / 88& 142- 157
88A AVENUE (TwinVision)
THE ROUTE: This is a straight east-west route. It runs from Dadeland North out to 132 Avenue. The 88 then goes north on 132nd to 72 Street, then heads west to 137th , where it makes a clock wise loop : South on 137th, west on 84th (the layover spot is at 141 Ave. and 84th St., after the layover the bus continues the loop.), north on 142 Ave., and east on 72 St., where it turns off at 132 Ave. and resumes the trip eastbound. The 88A extension takes Kendall all the way down to 157th Ave., the layover spot is on 157th across the street from Wal-Mart. To return eastbound, the bus makes this clockwise loop: north on 157th, east on 80th St., south on 152nd Ave., and back onto 88 St. The 104 and Kendall KAT make this exact same loop, along with the 72A and Sunset KAT, which make it slightly different.
Kendall Drive was once officially known as North Kendall Drive ( SW 104 ST. was South Kendall Drive. Many signs on 88th still have the 'North' as do the adresses of many area businesses.). During the '80's it was also known as 'the great headache' due to the nasty backups during rush-hour, especially in front of Dadeland Mall. In the late '80's Kendall went from 4 to 6 lanes, which alleviated the Dadeland problem. However, Kendall and West Kendall exploded in growth, and the snarls returned. The hot-spots are approaching 107th Avenue and 117th Avenue and the Turnpike entrance ramp that's there. Eastbound in the morning, Westbound in the afternoon. Also at 117th is the Town and Country Mall, so during the Christmas holidays Kendall in the evening is absolutely nasty. The 88 has heavy ridership, and the 88A in particular has constant standing loads during the rush and on Saturday eveings. On Saturday evenings if one breaks down, there can easily be 60+ people waiting to board at Dadeland North (I saw a case like this in August of 1998. The 6 PM 88 bus broke down, and I came in on the 6:30 bus, which left as an 88A. I saw the huge crown and I sarted to count. I stopped at 60.). Every so often an articulated runs out there. This route hopefully will soon have a shorter headway. It might even get stretched out to 162 Avenue. Who knows?
The last two westbound trips (leaving at 10PM and 11 PM ) on weekdays and the last trip on weekends ( 10PM) run the two legs combined, but not in the usual way, which would be running the 88 then returning to Kendall on 132nd and going to 157th. Instead it makes a left instead of a right at 142 Ave., and returns to 88th, so there is no service on Kendall between 132nd and 142nd, although 84th is only a short distance away.
The 88 gets help at rush hour from the $1.50 Kendall KAT. This one runs every 30 minutes. Until 1986, the original route 88 ran from 142 Ave. to the Coral Gables Terminal. Before Metrorail opened in 1984, the bus ran down Kendall to 67th Avenue, then, with the 67, North to 16th Street, and East into Coral Gables and the old Gables Terminal, which was on Aragon between LeJeune and Salzedo. An office building sits there today, the terminal closed in 1996. Beginning May 20, 1984, the 88 ran through Dadeland North. When network '86 took effect, the 88A was added and the 88 was cut off at Dadeland North. The 67 provided the service to Gables terminal until it was Merged with the 73 in the early '90's.