Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
SunRail ridership is down. March had 3800 per operating day. That's 1900 round trips.
Down from March of last year. Well below the target.
Summer numbers expect to be lower.
Altamonte is using public tax dollars to subsidize private transit rides, including to SunRail stations.
We are less than 5 years out from SunRail being Orange County's fiscal problem.
That means you can expect property taxes, sales taxes, or toll roads to increase to subsidize the failure of a rail system.
Perhaps 15 years from now the thing will turn around... but they could have had a decent system off the bat, had they not gone the cheapest mode of entry.
If you want SunRail ridership to increase than this is a No-brainer.
Run Sunrail on the weekends & return late night service when there are NBA games & Orlando City soccer matches at night past 2 AM when bars close downtown and some health care employees could use the service.
SunRail needs to get it's act together because All Aboard Florida / Brightline is coming to OIA in a couple of years connecting Orlando to Miami.
I don't understand the "short mindess" of those running SunRail to eliminate late night service or to not even provide weekend service.
"Oh! but Sunrail only has 3800 passengers a day !" and you then have to ask "Why"?...really?
If Orlando really wants to be a major metropolis mass transit has to be part of the Equation!
If you want SunRail ridership to increase than this is a No-brainer.
Run Sunrail on the weekends & return late night service when there are NBA games & Orlando City soccer matches at night past 2 AM when bars close downtown and some health care employees could use the service.
SunRail needs to get it's act together because All Aboard Florida / Brightline is coming to OIA in a couple of years connecting Orlando to Miami.
I don't understand the "short mindess" of those running SunRail to eliminate late night service or to not even provide weekend service.
"Oh! but Sunrail only has 3800 passengers a day !" and you then have to ask "Why"?...really?
If Orlando really wants to be a major metropolis mass transit has to be part of the Equation!
Increasing hours of operations costs money.
The additional days and evenings won't cover the cost of this, further sinking the railroad into a heavy cost model with absolutely no benefit of relieving traffic. Bar hops and sporting event visitors are great uses for the train but don't necessarily support any great cause towards overall city productivity. Thus, why subsidize it?
SunRail's contract with the CSX who originally owned the lines allowed them the continuation of use and right of way access on nights and weekends.
OIA is already served from the majority of Orlando Sunrail stations by Bus. It's relatively unused. The train will be less direct, and slower? Why push for it?
Print a map of Orlando and all it's major hubs. Draw a line connecting them.
Notice that it isn't the route of SunRail? You can't fix a system that wasn't designed for any purpose other than to benefit developers along the line, and kickback money to CSX.
Start thinking about -what- we as voters need to do in 2021 to avoid paying for this thing.
If you want SunRail ridership to increase than this is a No-brainer.
Run Sunrail on the weekends & return late night service when there are NBA games & Orlando City soccer matches at night past 2 AM when bars close downtown and some health care employees could use the service.
SunRail needs to get it's act together because All Aboard Florida / Brightline is coming to OIA in a couple of years connecting Orlando to Miami.
I don't understand the "short mindess" of those running SunRail to eliminate late night service or to not even provide weekend service.
"Oh! but Sunrail only has 3800 passengers a day !" and you then have to ask "Why"?...really?
If Orlando really wants to be a major metropolis mass transit has to be part of the Equation!
Yes I agree. The problem with Sunrail is abundantly clear, it caters to a very narrow set of riders, 9-5 workers in downtown and the hospitals. Other than that it seems Sunrail leaders have done everything they can to make it just about as inconvenient to ride as possible for any other reason. I rode it for streaks at a time when I-4 construction affects my commute to work or when my car needed work and it worked fine for me. But I work right downtown within walking distance of the station and work fairly regular morning to evening workdays. For me it was fine and just about every time I rode the train it was fairly full. The problem is we are missing out on huge segments of the population that could be benefiting from the train. Seniors, students, downtown entertainment and even tourists. With the huge gap in midday service it's just not feasible for these groups to use the train, which is a shame because they could represent a huge ridership. Imagine if it ran even hourly during the day, than a senior who needed to make a visit to their doctor at one of the major hospital campuses could use the train to go back and forth to their doctor visit. Students with non-traditional hours could use it for work and school. Even regular workers could use it for lunch. I would love to be able to hop on the train to Winter Park for lunch and than jump back on to return downtown. And if they started weekend and late night ridership, well we've already seen the high demand during special events and sporting events. I just don't get why you would spend over a billion dollars on a project and not make it as accessible as possible to increase ridership????? Mass transit generally does not make money but why spend so much money to lose even more? I saws a study somewhere that said it would cost an additional $250k a year to add hourly service, weekend service and the night train. I'm almost certain if they provided those services ridership would more than cover the additional cost.
If you want SunRail ridership to increase than this is a No-brainer.
Run Sunrail on the weekends & return late night service when there are NBA games & Orlando City soccer matches at night past 2 AM when bars close downtown and some health care employees could use the service.
SunRail needs to get it's act together because All Aboard Florida / Brightline is coming to OIA in a couple of years connecting Orlando to Miami.
I don't understand the "short mindess" of those running SunRail to eliminate late night service or to not even provide weekend service.
"Oh! but Sunrail only has 3800 passengers a day !" and you then have to ask "Why"?...really?
If Orlando really wants to be a major metropolis mass transit has to be part of the Equation!
Bob if they run the service at night or weekend(Saturdays at least) the headway's would have to be longer. I dont think it can run as frequent as it does on the weekdays. Maybe run a line every 1 after 9pm. I dont know if Orlando is busy on sundays out side of a 3 hour sporting event.
Bob if they run the service at night or weekend(Saturdays at least) the headway's would have to be longer. I dont think it can run as frequent as it does on the weekdays. Maybe run a line every 1 after 9pm. I dont know if Orlando is busy on sundays out side of a 3 hour sporting event.
Downtown is usually pretty active on Sunday afternoons; always something going on at Lake Eola and also at the corner of Orange and Anderson. I know I'd definitely use it.
I saws a study somewhere that said it would cost an additional $250k a year to add hourly service, weekend service and the night train. I'm almost certain if they provided those services ridership would more than cover the additional cost.
It cost 34 million to operate Sunrail in 2014-2015.
I don't think it's at all possible to believe less than a 1% increase in funding can provide a 40% increase in service. You'll have to fact check that study.
You also mention students not being able to use it for school. At the moment, there aren't a ton of classes held in the vicinity of Sunrail stations. The train was built omitting UCF's main campus and Valencia's campuses.
Orlando Tech, UCF's Digital Media Campus and Rollins College combined don't have the massive student population of UCF and Valencia East.
So why build a train for 1B that goes nowhere and bleeds money?
I'd say you shouldn't. However the project funnels federal funds into Florida for a few years, and makes the powers that be look proactive- passing the pricetag down the way.
It's likely the combination of sweetheart deals, and the Mayor of Orlando City who despite being a charismatic individual, really cannot accept that Downtown Orlando is not, nor was built to be, an urban metropolis and business district.
Yeah I tried googling it but couldn't find it. You are likely right, that figure is probably more of a monthly increase. Either way, I think it would be a good investment.
As far as students, I meant grade school kids as well. While I was riding I saw many groups of middle school and elementary classes using the train to get to and from downtown, Loch Haven Park and Winter Park. I think if it ran hourly the local schools could use it for field trips instead of having to take buses. It could be useful to college students at Rollins, Valencia WP and SSC Lake Mary and Altamonte with a simple shuttle bus. All those campuses are within just a few miles of Sunrail stations, but again with limited schedule even a shuttle bus would not help.
I"m anxious to see what happens once the local municipalities take over, if it gets to that point. It'll also be interesting to see how ridership fares once Osceola gets online. We know it can work, it works great for commuters, now let's see if we can get others served as well.
Yeah I tried googling it but couldn't find it. You are likely right, that figure is probably more of a monthly increase. Either way, I think it would be a good investment.
As far as students, I meant grade school kids as well. While I was riding I saw many groups of middle school and elementary classes using the train to get to and from downtown, Loch Haven Park and Winter Park. I think if it ran hourly the local schools could use it for field trips instead of having to take buses. It could be useful to college students at Rollins, Valencia WP and SSC Lake Mary and Altamonte with a simple shuttle bus. All those campuses are within just a few miles of Sunrail stations, but again with limited schedule even a shuttle bus would not help.
I"m anxious to see what happens once the local municipalities take over, if it gets to that point. It'll also be interesting to see how ridership fares once Osceola gets online. We know it can work, it works great for commuters, now let's see if we can get others served as well.
What you think would be a good investment, is fiscally a bad investment.
Very very few grade schools are on the SunRail line, and aside from it being a 'field trip' in itself- OCPS does not allow it's staff to take students on Lynx Transit, I don't see how the situation would be remarkably different with SunRail.
When the local municipalities receive the bills, they will either choose to pass the cost to the rider, resulting in fares moving from $2 per trip to $10 per trip (which will decimate ridership, thus not really an option), attempt to pass a new property or sales tax increase countywide, attempt to funnel money from the Central Florida Expressway Authority, or shut the system down to a minimum.
Hundreds of thousands will be financially inconvenienced for the 2,000 who ride SunRail per day.
I wish I could offer any real solutions- but I don't believe there are any.
This was just poor urban planning.
The system was just poorly planned. There is no way any sane person could have thought that using the existing line would be a good idea. The majority of the stations are in the middle of nowhere, making its purpose as a commuter rail practically useless. I mean, who wants to get dropped off here?:
The only way a commuter rail would work here would be for it to be on a new line connecting the main business/financial hubs of Lake Mary, Maitland, and Winter Park, Downtown and the attractions.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
