Sunrail ridership down, Looks like an Epic Fail (Miami, Orlando: apartment, calculated)

[kyle19125]

Here's just one snippet to help illustrate why SunRail isn't working....poor planning.

From the Orlando Sentinel: "The Maitland station's poor ridership doesn't come as a surprise to city officials. They have long known that a lack of access to the Maitland Center office park, the city's major employment hub, would keep riders away. The park, where an estimated 10,000 people work, is about a 3-mile drive away from the station, on the west side of Interstate 4. But it might as well be 30 miles for would-be train riders.

"There's [Lynx] service, but it takes over an hour," Maitland Mayor Howard Schieferdecker said. "You have to go to Winter Park Village first, disembark there, get on another bus, and then go to Maitland Center."

[Crane's Rooster]

Sorry but this sounds like Chicken Little already. 1 month of decline ridership and the sky is falling on Sunrail already????? Really folks???? Really????

[annerk]

Originally Posted by jadidonato

You are crazy. SunRail is great. Central Floridians just need to get used to it and use it more. "If you build it they will come" is true... I try and use it daily but the times are not the best yet. Last southbound AM train from Lake Mary is 8:13AM, if they had one more 30 min later (their current time spacing) I would never miss it.

I-4 sucks - took me 1.5 hrs one day this week to get from Lake Mary to downtown. Really wish I woke up earlier to catch the train that day!

BTW - all the problems that people emphasize are not really issues they just come with the territory of running a commuter train. Check out commuter rails in the NE corridor you'll see all the same issues, but worse. So SunRail is excellent by those standards. (except hours of operation...)

Don't even begin to compare the NE corridor to Sunrail.

[WithDisp]

Originally Posted by jadidonato

You are crazy. SunRail is great. Central Floridians just need to get used to it and use it more. "If you build it they will come" is true... I try and use it daily but the times are not the best yet. Last southbound AM train from Lake Mary is 8:13AM, if they had one more 30 min later (their current time spacing) I would never miss it.

I-4 sucks - took me 1.5 hrs one day this week to get from Lake Mary to downtown. Really wish I woke up earlier to catch the train that day!

BTW - all the problems that people emphasize are not really issues they just come with the territory of running a commuter train. Check out commuter rails in the NE corridor you'll see all the same issues, but worse. So SunRail is excellent by those standards. (except hours of operation...)

SunRail may be excellent by some standards, but farebox recovery is the big one that matters.

If the thing isn't making money to cut it's losses, it becomes an issue.

High density commerce parks and residential zones need to start popping up on SunRails path, and the powers that be should be pushing for it.

[Fl1150]

I think Orlando is blessed to have leaders progressive enough to embrace rail transportation like they did.

[Spring Hillian]

Originally Posted by spidac

I knew this would not work out in Orlando, too many people in this area have grown accustomed to automobiles and other means of transportation for a project like Sunrail to prosper.

Thursday Morning Political Headlines: Sunrail ridership falling | The Orlando Political Observer

The ridership decreased by a small percentage. Its been running for 4 months. Hardly out of the shell yet and you call it a failure. Gloom and doom.

[Spring Hillian]

Originally Posted by Crane's Rooster

Sorry but this sounds like Chicken Little already. 1 month of decline ridership and the sky is falling on Sunrail already????? Really folks???? Really????

I guess some people expect everything to happen in an instant.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by EditorJul

The big challenge is that special interests decide where it will *not* go. You've got Mears opposed to running it from MCO to Disney or to the Convention Center district because they lose out of fares. You have Disney opposed running to from their parks to Universal or Sea World, because that allows tourists to visit other sites. You've got MCO opposed to running it from Tampa to the Orlando area because people might fly into Tampa for cheaper fares.

I'd gladly use Sunrail, except that the nearest station to me is about a 35 minute drive away.

This explains in a nutshell why SunRail won't be successful unless the routes begin to address the greatest service needs. The I-4 Project will no doubt add some ridership numbers but as already pointed out without proper planning/routing for Lynx transportation to/from the station once at the destination, it's pretty much pointless for most in terms of using it on a daily basis. Otherwise for most of the area life in a car is far too cozy and not at critical mass enough to warrant daily use of commuter rail. If and when traffic ever becomes as bad as other cities where commuting is a nightmare then perhaps. Personally given the growth and continued sprawl in Central Florida (versus infill development) I do not see it happening in our lifetimes.

[tworent]

dumb people vote dumb people into office so they can do dumb things with other peoples money.

[Fl1150]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

This explains in a nutshell why SunRail won't be successful unless the routes begin to address the greatest service needs. The I-4 Project will no doubt add some ridership numbers but as already pointed out without proper planning/routing for Lynx transportation to/from the station once at the destination, it's pretty much pointless for most in terms of using it on a daily basis. Otherwise for most of the area life in a car is far too cozy and not at critical mass enough to warrant daily use of commuter rail. If and when traffic ever becomes as bad as other cities where commuting is a nightmare then perhaps. Personally given the growth and continued sprawl in Central Florida (versus infill development) I do not see it happening in our lifetimes.

But you got look at eventually cars are not going to be around forever and at least it is offering a different choice of transportation and traffic is already pretty bad in Orlando metro area.