Taxi to train station

[neverlaysup]

For those taking the train home, beware. We disembarked last week and having never taken the train in Florida, I told the taxi driver to deliver us to the Fort Lauderdale Amtrak station. He drove us to a train station and we collected our luggage and went to the platform only to realize it was the Fort Lauderdale Airport Tri Rail station. We ended up having to buy two tickets to transfer to the FTL train station one stop north. I spoke to the ticket agent and found out this is common practice for taxis to dump passengers here so they can get in line quicker for another fare at the airport. Now that I know the difference in train stations this won't happen again but I was pretty irritated to say the least.

 

 

[Cienfuegos]

That's  good information to know. Because of the limited number of trains (two per day inbound), Amtrak station doesn't get a lot of taxi presence.

 

8303 NW  37th Avenue, Miami FL  33147

[FlaMariner]

We got off our ship in Port Everglades (November 2021)and made the mistake of using a taxi to get to Amtrak Fort Lauderdale instead of Uber/Lyft.  

 

The taxi drivers were lined up and we thought it would be fine.

 

The taxi driver got us to Amtrak Fort Lauderdale but he accidentally missed the Amtrak exit off 1-95 and we drove past and then back.  It seemed to be on purpose as he had his map and the exit was clearly market for Amtrak. The fare seemed high also. 

 

We will not do that again.....my Fort Lauderdale taxi experiences have not been good over the years.....And Uber/Lyft has been great. 

Edited January 2, 2022 by FlaMariner

[Noxequifans]

Thanks all for the first hand experiences.

[rkacruiser]

On 1/2/2022 at 2:37 PM, FlaMariner said:

The taxi driver got us to Amtrak Fort Lauderdale but he accidentally missed the Amtrak exit off 1-95 and we drove past and then back.  It seemed to be on purpose as he had his map and the exit was clearly market for Amtrak. The fare seemed high also. 

 

In defense of the taxi driver, as I recall driving North from the Port Everglades area on I-95, the exit off of I-95 to the Amtrak station is an odd one.  One exits from the left side of the interstate, as I recall.  The first time I tried to do this, I missed the exit because I expected it to be a "normal" exit from the right side of the highway.  An Uber/Lyft driver might have had the same issue as your taxi driver did if they were unfamiliar taking passengers to the Fort Lauderdale Amtrak station from Port Everglades.  

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

I think it's the job of the passenger to know which train station to go to; you can't just say "train station". In Fort Lauderdale, there is a combined AMTRAK station/Tri-Rail Station and a Brightline Station. The airport also has a Tri-Rail station. Depending on the Tri-Rail schedule that day, you could have taken a train from Tri-Rail Fort Lauderdale Airport one stop to Tri-Rail/Amtrak and saved the extra taxi fare.

[rkacruiser]

16 hours ago, KINGBOBOFTHENORTH said:

I think it's the job of the passenger to know which train station to go to; you can't just say "train station". In Fort Lauderdale, there is a combined AMTRAK station/Tri-Rail Station and a Brightline Station. The airport also has a Tri-Rail station. Depending on the Tri-Rail schedule that day, you could have taken a train from Tri-Rail Fort Lauderdale Airport one stop to Tri-Rail/Amtrak and saved the extra taxi fare.

 

Agree.  Getting from point A to B and how to do it and where these points are should be part of one's preparation for a trip.  Even after the research that I had done with getting to the Amtrak station in Fort Lauderdale, I was surprised at what I found concerning the exit off of Northbound I-95.

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

23 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 Even after the research that I had done with getting to the Amtrak station in Fort Lauderdale, I was surprised at what I found concerning the exit off of Northbound I-95.

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.1038253,-80.1686343,3a,75y,357.54h,100.72t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sH3m7dbBuuWZ3QA3Rt61vUg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192