Transportation volunteers needed

By Chris Carson

Special Correspondent

Here’s a chance to play a role in improving “multimodal” transportation in our community. “Multimodal” includes sidewalks, bicycles, buses and trains.

Dangerous pedestrian crossing at Church Street SunRail station.

Metroplan Orlando, a regional transportation partnership, needs volunteers – lots of volunteers – to count bicyclists and pedestrians throughout the area during September.

The volunteers will be assigned to specific locations throughout Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties where they will count passing pedestrians and bicyclists during a two-hour period on Sept. 17 and Sept. 19.

The data gathered will help plan safety improvements and future transit projects. Several of the locations that will be monitored are near SunRail stations. One of SunRail’s biggest challenges is how riders get from the train station to their ultimate destination. Figuring out how to make it easier for people to safely, ad easily walk of ride a bike is critical to SunRail’s ridership success.

There is a mandatory training session for volunteers on Sept. 14, 5 p.m. at the Metroplan office in downtown Orlando on Robinson Street, across the street from Lake Eola Park.

If interested, please contact Gabriella Arismendi at (407) 481-5672 ext. 312 or garismendi@metroplanorlando.com