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SunRail ridership drops
If nobody rides it, why fund it? That might be the reason why ridership is so imporant… plus there is a fare, so the more who ride it the more revenue, the less its cost to the public. The more people who ride, the less the subsidy per rider, the greater the public good of the rail commuter service.
Why should they worry?,its a govt operation, who cares if people ride or not, it will be paid for regardless.
Im just referring to the insignificance of ridership numbers on a govt. operation funded by taxpayers NOT the operator, That other stuff? I have no idea
2-hour headway for off-peak service will not attract passengers from using their automobiles.
Give it at least a year before you discuss numbers. It takes a while for people to adapt their travel patterns.
It takes more than a few months to establish ridership. Tri rail in South Florida is an example of a start up operation. Took years to develop. Some are very anti government, anti rail and anti Amtrak.
They care because they care about what they are doing, they have pride and a stake in their job.
NO, I am wrong, all government workers are just lazy, carefree, fat cats just lazing around for the next paycheck. They have no pride and are content to plug in their XX hours per week and that’s it! Where do people come up with this demeaning blanket, know it all, unsubstantiated statements like this?
Mel is right…You never hear concerns over usage when it comes to highways or airports.
We have a couple of posters in this forum, Robert. And yet why don’t these individuals carp about the highways and traffic control, TSA and airports, they’re government entities. I would think the ways TSA treats flyers these two would be stark raving mad.
In the private sector, it takes 3-5 years to show a profit. Marketing is a key factor but not the only one. It takes sometime initially crunch the figures. If one month decided whether to keep a project, we’d all end up in the unemployment lines.
In the private sector, it takes 3-5 years to show a profit. Marketing is a key factor but not the only one. It takes sometime initially crunch the figures. If one month decided whether to keep a project, we’d all end up in the unemployment lines.
The article photo was taken during the pre-service preview event in Winter park. It’s very out-of-date…I would be more than happy to provide a current photo of the train!
Maybe ridership has dropped because their is little market for the service. This is a suburbs to downtown service. Maybe most of the jobs have moved to the suburbs and taking the train isn’t convenient. And maybe those jobs that do remain downtown are not near the station. Why would people take the train and then walk 1/2 mile or more or transfer to the bus when they can drive from their house to the office building parking garage and simply take the elevator to their office. Yeah I know all about “traffic congestion” but congestion is a part of life now and people either work around it or deal with it. I would think they need to give it more time but in a year if patronage hasn’t increased then cut the losses and discontinue the service. The equipment can go where it is really needed.
Sunrail serves an area that is very widely spread out. Trains do their best at serving passengers in narrow corridors, where people don’t have to travel far from the station at either end. Just remember, when you step off the train, your top speed goes from maybe 80mph to about 4 mph. Busses can help, but even they won’t cover much ground compared to how widely spread out things are in that area. To make a service like this work, it has to cut through areas that are difficult for individual passengers to get through easily in any other way. It has to actually save them time to be attractive. In this case, fast connections to the airport, or to some of the most popular resorts/attractions, or to other high density employment districts, or to connections with other transportation services would help. Until the train can connect more destinations where lots of people are going and/or coming from and get them there at least as quick as the alternative, you can count on low ridership.
This Rail service has private investors that did their DMA homework. I expect seasonal fluctuations and as far that area goes, the tourism part has yet to begin…
After living in both Miami and Orlando anything would be better than driving on I 4 or I 95. These same comments were made with the start up of trip rail. With better coordinate bus service, employer involvement, sun rail will survive and grow. Florida has always been anti rail and transit.
it’s understandable that August ridership is a little below par. August is not the ideal month for visiting Florida-don’t forget, it’s hurricane season, too. Things will pick up again as winter residents start returning in late October. Well see real impact around the Holidays, as tourists will have an option to avoid the construction on I-4 and alternative to feeding toll road hogs on congested highways.