Kendall KAT
Dadeland North Station to SW 157 Ave./ 88 St. via SW 88 St. (North Kendall Drive)
VITAL STATS:
Also known as : Route 288, Route K88 (Transfers.)
Service- Weekday Rush-hours only.
Headway- 15 minutes.
Destination Signs- (Headsign / Sidesign)
Eastbound: KENDALL KAT / METRORAIL -or- KENDALL KAT -or- EAST
Westbound: KENDALL KAT / WEST -or- KENDALL KAT
Equipment used- Paratransit minibuses or Blue Birds.
KAT stands for Kendall Area Transit.
THE ROUTE ITSELF-
This is one of four $1.50 express routes that MDTA operates. This route leaves Dadeland North and takes the 878 (Snapper Creek) Expressway west until the 878 turns into the 874 southbound. The bus exits onto Kendall Drive and heads west to 157th Avenue. It only makes eight stops along the way: At SW 107th Ave.; 117th Ave. (Town and Country Mall); 123 Court; and at 127th, 139th, 147th, 152nd and 157th Avenues. The stop at 152 Av. is the newest stop- it was added on December 13th, 1999. When it reaches 157th it makes a left turn- the last stop is just a few feet up the road. At this stop it meets up with the 72A, 88A and the 104. There is an additional ninth stop on 80th St. and 154th Avenue, where it also meets the Sunset KAT. This is the final stop, after this the bus returns to 88th Street via 152 Avenue, and returns to the rail station.
The three KAT routes are at least 10 years old. They were originally run by Mayflower Bus, which was under contract with MDTA for several years. For a while big greyhound style buses were used, with the KAT logo, which is a cat's paw, painted on the side. Later the MDTA leased some RTS' to Mayflower, they may've been used here. Well,the contract ended around 1996 and Metrobus took over, sending the routes to the Paratransit division, which originally was only running the 6, 29 and the A. STS service had recently been privatized so there were a bunch of vans sitting around so they did the routes until the minibuses arrived. Now the three KAT's use mostly Blue-Birds.
The K88 is an express bus, but traffic on Kendall is horrendous at rush-hour. Especially during the Christmas season. I used to have this route every Thursday evening, and I eventually developed two pet names for this route: The Kendall DOG (or Kendall DAWG) and the GGA KAT. The GGA stands for 'Good God Almighty'. At least when the bus runs late, people don't cuss you out because they all know why it's late!