Riding the 100: Your Ticket to an Authentic Miami Experience

Introduction

Are you a Miami visitor or perhaps a local who seeks more than the usual tourist experience? Do you have a keen interest in the built environment, public transit, sociology, history, and museums? If you want to explore a large portion of Miami and Miami Beach without a car, while immersing yourself in the local vibe, then this blog post is for you!

For context,  I spent my Miami childhood in a household that wasn't entirely car-dependent. We were a one-car family, with my father as the sole driver and my mother as the non-driver. I also had many elderly, non-driving relatives, which meant I became intimately familiar with the Metropolitan Transit Agency (MTA) bus routes of the 1970s and 1980s that crisscrossed the northeastern part of then(Miami)-Dade County, including Downtown Miami and Miami Beach, while in tow of mom, grandparents, great aunts and uncles. I  recently rode one of the successor routes that I frequented as a teenager, and I have updated the sites along the way for this piece.

For all urbanist transit enthusiasts, Miami-Dade's bus routes were retooled in the fall of 2023 as part of the Better Bus Network campaign. This initiative aimed to create more bus routes that have buses running every 15 minutes or less per hour. Before the reorganization, there were 5 routes with that frequency, and the number has increased to 19! One of these retooled routes is the 100, which succeeded the S, C, and E buses that  I rode in my youth, and is now touted as the busiest bus route in the Miami Metrobus system!

Bus 100 operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. During peak hours, it runs every nine minutes. At the time of this writing, Summer 2025,  the bus maintains this nine-minute frequency from approximately 6 AM until midnight. The route spans the 20-mile distance between  Downtown Miami and Aventura by crossing Biscayne Bay to Miami Beach, traveling the entire length of Miami Beach, and then crossing the Intracoastal Waterway back to the mainland, terminating at  the Aventura Mall near the Miami-Dade/Broward County line

Before you begin the journey, please double-check the Metro website and your favorite transit app. As buses run in traffic that is subject to delays, never-ending construction, and even summer-time thunderstorms, it is always good to double and triple check the frequency.  Also, bring your patience, a sense of humor, sunscreen, and a cold beverage in case you're waiting longer than the advertised 9 minutes!

Useful Apps

Miami Metrobus-- https://www.miamidade.gov/global/transportation/metrobus.page

Google maps-- https://maps.google .com

Moovit--my new favorite transit app

https://moovitapp.com/index/en/public_transit-line-100-Miami_FL-742-8797-167013536-0

Quick note on how to ride Metro: You can use good ol fashioned cash or purchase an Easy Card. Contactless payment via credit card is also listed as an option. Fare is $2.25 per ride

Your journey on route 100 begins in the next post.