Mayday! Mayday!
The SunRail platform at Lynx Central Station needs to be rescued. It’s gross!
A regular reader of SunRailRiders sent us a photo of the messy SunRail platform late Monday (Nov. 12). We posted the photo on our Facebook page and received an avalanche of comments from riders angry about conditions at that station. When the weather is hot, they say you can smell the stench of human waste. One woman said she has seen rats at the station.
Way before sunrise on Tuesday (Nov. 13), we went to the SunRail platforms at Lynx Central Station. The photo sent to us on Monday didn’t do justice to mess we found.
While some blame the messy conditions on riders using the Lynx bus terminal, Lynx seems to do a reasonably good job of keeping their area clean. The problem appears to be most severe on the SunRail platform that is furthest from the Lynx buses.
Everything from soiled diapers to beverage containers littered the fenced enclosure between the northbound SunRail platform and the grassy courtyard at Central Station on Orange apartment complex that is across the street from the Orange County Courthouse.
Pavement on the SunRail platform is smeared with unknown substances that are best left untouched by bare hands.
This train station is one of the busiest in the SunRail system. It is in the heart of downtown Orlando, and the present conditions should be an embarrassment to SunRail.
The root problem appears to be a major problem with homeless people camping at the SunRail station overnight.
Early morning riders report that the SunRail Ambassador at the station wakes up more than a dozen homeless people sleeping at the station and asks them to move.
On Tuesday morning we saw nearly a dozen people sleeping on the plaza at the Central Station on Orange apartments that opens onto the SunRail platform.
Despite the homeless camping problem, the maintenance staff at Central Station on Orange apartments does an outstanding job keeping that private property clean. Wish we could say as much for the SunRail platform.
The rider experience begins and ends on the train platform. The conditions at SunRail’s Lynx Central Station are unacceptable.
We don’t know how often the station is supposed to be cleaned. But it needs to be cleaned every morning and every night.
Picking up litter is not enough.
The platform, the benches, and all the hard surfaces need to be power-washed daily.
A permanent solution is needed for the fenced-in area between the platform and the apartments where litter accumulates. Pave it over or add some grass. Make it look nice.
A SunRail manager needs to do quality-control checks daily to ensure problems at the station are being addressed.
Homelessness is a complex and awful problem. SunRail can’t solve homelessness, but it should be working with Orlando police and social workers to stop people from camping overnight in the SunRail station.
Please improve the rider experience at Lynx Central Station. The riders deserve better.
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