Miami Shores (Biscayne Blvd. and NE 79 St.) to Medley via NW 71 St.
Destination signs: (These are my best guesses, based on the signs from Route 33, which also begins at Biscayne and 79th and also ends in Medley)
74 MIAMI SHORES
74 MEDLEY 74
Vital Stats:
Division: Central (Guess based on the fact that all East-West buses in Liberty City (54,62,L) are out of Central.)
Service: Weekdays only, every 30 minutes during rush hour, every hour at midday ; operated from 5 AM to 6 or 7 PM.
This bus was added in late 1988 to the Metrobus system to run on NW 71 St. The bus would begin at the Biscayne Plaza shopping center, across the street from the INS office, at Biscayne and 79th. The 33 also begins here. It goes west on 79th about a block or so and it makes a right and goes uo to 81st, where it made a left and headed back east to Biscayne Blvd.Here it would make a left and go down to 71st. Now the east bound bus, going up Biscayne, wouldn't turn directly off Biscayne onto 79th. It would make a right on 78th, head down to NE 7 Ave., then make a left on 7th to go up to 79th, and then it would turn left and head west. The corner of 78th and Biscayne is another spot where it might have taken it's layover, though.
Now going west on 71st, it would stay on it until it got to NW 42 Ave./ East 8 Ave. in Hialeah. The only turnoff was at about 22 Ave., where it would wind it's way up to NW 75 St. and 27th Ave., then it would return to 71st. At 8th, in Hialeah, it would go up to E 21 St. (NW 74 St.) and make a left, go down to E 1 Ave., and make a left, entering the Hialeah Metrorail Station. It looped around and came back out. It would continue down 21st/74th to W. 4 Ave. (Red Road, NW 57 Ave.). Here it would go up to W. 23 St. (S.C. Barrett Blvd.). It took 23rd to it's end at West 12th Ave. (Ludlam Rd./NW 67 Ave./Milander Blvd.) It would then follow the 73 bus, crossing Okeechobee Rd., the Miami Canal and South River Dr. into the factory town of Medley, on NW 74 St. At Milam Dairy Rd. (NW 72 Ave.) It turned right and went up to 79th Terrace. It turned left and went down to NW 74 Ave. It heads up to NW S. River Dr. and goes back to Milam Dairy, which ends there. Somewhere here was the western layover point.
At the end of the '80's a bunch of private jitneys began running. They were mostly illegal. And they'd take passengers away from Metrobus. Especially in Liberty City. I think the 74 was drained by the jitneys. This is the most logical answer since the other buses that serve Liberty City (2,77,12,21,17,22,27,32,54,62,L) have high ridership. All run frequently, the L uses artics, the 54 is crowded constantly and the 62 has a 'Saturday rush-hour".
Dade County eventually began a crackdown that became a nasty war that ran into 1992, when Metro-Dade put in effect some regulations that drove most out of business. The MDTA now contracts with the rest to provide service in areas not served by Metrobus. I don't know when it was eliminated, but by the time Hurricane Andrew hit, it was definitley off the route list.