Key Biscayne, Florida

I often visit family in Miami–and I explore the area including upscale Key Biscayne, just across a causeway from Miami.

We of course took the bus over the water, to maximize leisure and 360 views!

Miami’s 26 bus route ranges in frequency from every 10 minutes at peak to hourly late at night.

In Key Biscayne we walked through affluent neighborhoods–here is a snapshot of the Zillow Zestimate map:

This snapshot is a bit exaggerated, as available condos in Key Biscayne bring the median home price down a bit lower to a cool $1.6M.

Walking meant no sidewalks:

Proof-of-life: a parent & child bike ride–something I had not seen in Miami before:

Tragically, we saw this bench with flowers and knew something was off:

This bench marks the site of a fatal collison between a 12-year old e-bike rider and a 66-year old bicycle rider.

The two riders collided: while the 12-year old was wearing a helmet the 66-year old was not, and the 66-year old died from the crash.

I learned from reading about the crash that Key Biscayne (the municipality) pushed through an e-bike ban and attempted but failed to push through a state-wide ban.

A few personal learnings (or reminders, rather):

• motorized mobility is fatally dangerous
• practice safe-riding practices that are within your control:
  • wear a helmet
  • ride a manageable speed
  • improve visibility with reflective clothing and lights
• adolescent motor vehicle access is fatally dangerous to others, and enforcement has failed to eliminate this danger

The visual experience of walking around Key Biscayne’s neighborhoods (besides the humidity experience–which was very high) meant a ton of golfcarts:

You can tell that these golfcarts do not enable car free living, but perhaps they replace one of a household’s car portfolio:

Golfcarts are so embraced by the community that infrastructure & signage accommodates the motorized vehicles:

Some illustrative golfcart parking photos:

And quite a few households had visibly more than one golfcart:

Parking etiquette is all over the place, but it does mean less of the key is paved over:

You know it is an exclusive (exclusionary?) community when they call their municipality a “village”–more folksy-sounding than than “town” or “city”!

Aspirational naming:

Before we wrapped up our visit we picked up some baked goods before timing the bus pickup perfectly:

The bus stop was crowded:

Return ride:

Enjoy your own transit-enabled adventures!