Route S
Downtown Miami to Aventura Mall
Vital Stats:
Division: Central
Service: From 5AM to past 2 AM the next day.
Headway: Every 10 minutes.
Destination Signs:
Southbound:
S DOWNTOWN MIA
Northbound:
S AVENTURA
Wheelchair acessible since 1990.
Uses mostly articulateds.
THE ROUTE ITSELF:
WARNING: DO NOT ride this bus all the way from Downtown to Aventura. The ride is extremely long and awfully tiring. The driver, once he/she gets to the beach, WILL BE hitting every stop. At least that was my experience in May of 1998, when I actually did this. And that was on a Sunday!! Of course if you're not going directly to Aventura, or to Downtown from Aventura, by all means, ride on! The route leaves Downtown and heads to the Beach on the McArthur Causeway. The cuaseway dumps out onto 5th Street, the bus turns up Washington Avenue and goes up to Lincoln Road, where it goes over to Collins Avenue (A1A) and goes up to 193 St. (Gallahad Dade Blvd.) And does the U-turn I described on the E page. It goes onto 192 St., which becomes the Lehman Causeway, and gets of on West Country Club Drive. It goes up WCC Dr. to 199 St., and turns into the Mall. Easy, but there's a lot of folks that have to go on about their business, and their plans include a trip on the S. Lots of older folk too, in fact. So the trip is almost 2 hours long. It's a slow trek up Collins. If you're going directly from Downtown to Aventura, or vice-versa, your best bet is Biscayne MAX , or the 3 if it's not rush-hour. The 9 too, maybe. Of course if you've got patience and time, then the S is the bus for you.
By the way, I've heard that even at 1 AM this bus is packed. Wow.