Sunrail ridership Up, Looks like an Epic Success!! (Orlando, Winter Park: apartments, employment)

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by Crane's Rooster

I think with the right schedule they can bring up revenue as well. The current schedule has 7 trains running every 30 mins in the morning, 2 trains every 2 hours midday, and than evening is a mix of 30 mins during rush hours and about an 1 hour 15 for the late trains. If they were to reduce the number of early morning rush hour trains and spread the rest of the trains out more evenly I think that would be more convenient for more potential riders such as patients going to the major hospitals or students going to school or work.

I would use it if it operated on weekends.

[totsuka]

What is the loss each year? 18 million? How can we brag about something that gives up 18 million a year. The money should have gone to building a great bus system.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by totsuka

What is the loss each year? 18 million? How can we brag about something that gives up 18 million a year. The money should have gone to building a great bus system.

Yep...BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) would have actually made sense and could have provided a good portion of the metro area population much easier access to commuter transit and only the truly clueless find SunRail to be something to brag about. The Airport to Disney route is the only segment that made any sense and if working with any kind of proper planning (or common sense) should have been the first route up and running, rather than taking the easy way out in it's current red ink-hemorrhaging state.

[WithDisp]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Yep...BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) would have actually made sense and could have provided a good portion of the metro area population much easier access to commuter transit and only the truly clueless find SunRail to be something to brag about. The Airport to Disney route is the only segment that made any sense and if working with any kind of proper planning (or common sense) should have been the first route up and running, rather than taking the easy way out in it's current red ink-hemorrhaging state.

Useful as Airport to Disney would be- The Magical Express already runs that segment, and the vast amount of people who rent cars and drive the 528 to Disney brings big rental-car tax $$$$ to this county.

I am not trying to anti-advocate for transit that helps move a lot of people, but if the entity is going to lose money, it should be used to at least port local taxpayers over tourists.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by WithDisp

Useful as Airport to Disney would be- The Magical Express already runs that segment, and the vast amount of people who rent cars and drive the 528 to Disney brings big rental-car tax $$$$ to this county.

I am not trying to anti-advocate for transit that helps move a lot of people, but if the entity is going to lose money, it should be used to at least port local taxpayers over tourists.

Which is probably why it didn't happen first and would wonder given the influence of those points made and those behind them if the Airport to Disney route will ever transpire.

[MrKnight]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Yep...BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) would have actually made sense and could have provided a good portion of the metro area population much easier access to commuter transit and only the truly clueless find SunRail to be something to brag about.

BRT does not work in the Orlando metro area due to already congested roads and highways, adding a dedicated BRT-only lane to local roads and highways would take YEARS to build throughout the entire region and would only cause more heavy traffic congestion and less space for road expansion for the already space-limited roads. Not to mention, I can only imagine how many clueless drivers (especially tourists) would violate the BRT-only lanes and help themselves into the lanes causing delays to BRT and accidents. It has already been proven in other major metro areas that rail-based systems are more efficient, more innovative, and significantly safer than bus-based systems.

Originally Posted by kyle19125

The Airport to Disney route is the only segment that made any sense and if working with any kind of proper planning (or common sense) should have been the first route up and running, rather than taking the easy way out in it's current red ink-hemorrhaging state.

The airport to Disney route will likely never happen because Disney has already made it clear that they do not want it and they have the political power to prevent it from happening. As stated by a PP, Disney already has Disney's Magical Express which transports their paying resort guests from MCO to Disney, this is the bread and butter of their business.

[Anna Moose]

Originally Posted by MrKnight

BRT does not work in the Orlando metro area due to already congested roads and highways, adding a dedicated BRT-only lane to local roads and highways would take YEARS to build throughout the entire region and would only cause more heavy traffic congestion and less space for road expansion for the already space-limited roads. Not to mention, I can only imagine how many clueless drivers (especially tourists) would violate the BRT-only lanes and help themselves into the lanes causing delays to BRT and accidents. It has already been proven in other major metro areas that rail-based systems are more efficient, more innovative, and significantly safer than bus-based systems.



The airport to Disney route will likely never happen because Disney has already made it clear that they do not want it and they have the political power to prevent it from happening. As stated by a PP, Disney already has Disney's Magical Express which transports their paying resort guests from MCO to Disney, this is the bread and butter of their business.

Disney was on board with the High Speed Rail from Orlando International Airport, the Convention Center, and Disney World. However, they were adament that was all the stops, and I also believe they were negotiating for a set of trains to skip the Convention Center stop. Disney likely won't be on board with any train that easily or inexpensively allows people to go from Universal/SeaWorld to Disney though... they don't want to risk more people splitting nights between the competitors. Thats likely why the Maglev's proposed phase 2/3 starts back at the airport and goes west on a different route to Disney... so Disney can direct people to use the south route and have them never ride by any other attractions.

As long as they aren't worried about additional competition being created for their customers from the line, I really don't see why Disney wouldn't want to get people onto their property by a maglev train instead of the buses. More comfortable and efficient for their customers.

[MrKnight]

Originally Posted by Anna Moose

Disney was on board with the High Speed Rail from Orlando International Airport, the Convention Center, and Disney World. However, they were adament that was all the stops, and I also believe they were negotiating for a set of trains to skip the Convention Center stop. Disney likely won't be on board with any train that easily or inexpensively allows people to go from Universal/SeaWorld to Disney though... they don't want to risk more people splitting nights between the competitors. Thats likely why the Maglev's proposed phase 2/3 starts back at the airport and goes west on a different route to Disney... so Disney can direct people to use the south route and have them never ride by any other attractions.

Unfortunately our current governor decided to override the choice of Florida voters and destroy any hopes of this project ever becoming a reality.

[PDF]

Originally Posted by MrKnight

Unfortunately our current governor decided to override the choice of Florida voters and destroy any hopes of this project ever becoming a reality.

Imagine all the transit options we would have. Still, what we did get at the end of the day is still quite impressive.

[Anna Moose]

Originally Posted by MrKnight

Unfortunately our current governor decided to override the choice of Florida voters and destroy any hopes of this project ever becoming a reality.

My point was that Disney isn't inherently against transit from MCO to their property. And its hard to say whether his veto was a good or bad thing for transit. I think its highly unlikely All Aboard Florida would be building a Miami to Orlando route if the high speed rail happened (considering that was to be a very distant phase 2). If AAF goes well, its possible they build it without tax dollars on the original HSR route, or at the very least we get a route to Jax.