Weekend SunRail means more than joyriding

When most of us vent our frustration about SunRail’s weekday-only schedule, we talk about all the cool places we could visit on weekends if the train ran Saturdays and Sundays.

But for numerous riders weekend SunRail service isn’t about “leisure riding”. They need weekend SunRail service to get to work because they don’t have traditional Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 jobs. Many can’t afford cars.

Empty SunRail station on the weekend

Recently we heard from an Orlando mother whose adult daughter rides SunRail to her waitress job in Altamonte Springs.

When SunRail is running the daughter can get to work in about 40 minutes. But on the weekends when she has to rely on several Lynx buses to reach her job it takes nearly 3 hours to travel to work.

That’s ridiculous.

Some will say, will say: “Well before SunRail she was taking the bus. What’s the big deal if she has to take the bus two days a week?”

Well, before indoor plumbing everybody had to go outside and use the outhouse. Today how many of us would want to go outside to use an outhouse a couple of days every week?

The young woman with the waitress job certainly is not alone.

There are many riders who work non-traditional schedules including people employed in the hospitality/tourism industry, hospitals, public safety and airport, to name a few. Their need for 7-day SunRail service is at least as important, if not more important, than our desire to ride the train to the Winter Park Farmers Market on Saturday morning.

Weekend service is much more than a joyride, it's a necessity for many workers.