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SunRail ridership dips in January
Clearly those who are not riding SunRail this year are willing to trade time in stalled traffic for the convenience of a swift and comfortable ride to their destination. When we will ever learn?
I’ve ridden Sunrail only once, when passing through Orlando last May. very nice equipment and stations, but my main complaint is mostly slow running (@30mph). if you’re going to attract automobile users, you’re going to have to run a swift service. when the train leaves a station, get it up to a decent speed! don’t poke along for 2 minutes before accelerating. I’ll be back when the Poinciana and DeLand extensions are done!
Robert’s 100 per cent right on this. If you have any hope at all of attracting passengers to any kind of rail transportation, you absolutely must be at least be competitive with cars speedwise, if not faster than them. Some of these new streetcar lines that have popped up in recent years have been said to be slower than even walking and that’s not good at all.
The extension to Poinciana will help. What"s really needed is the spur to OIA(MCA). That will connect with AAF if built. Also, with the I-4 ultimate widening project gearing up, one would think many people would give the rail a try as did happen with Tri Rail in S. FL.