Hey everybody, let's ride SunRail on Black Friday

Riders always ask us what they can do to convince SunRail to run trains on the weekends and later at night.

For one thing, please sign the petition calling for expanded SunRail service. (Add your name to the petition by clicking here.)

The other thing we can do is: Ride SunRail as much as possible. Ridership numbers make a big impact. Politicians and bureaucrats pay attention to numbers – big numbers.

We know there are many people who want to ride SunRail but it’s not convenient for them during the week because the train doesn’t go near their home or job. However, those people usually have a long list of places they would catch SunRail to visit on the weekends.

Well, their prayers are answered. Next week there’s a weekday when SunRail will be running and that’s almost like a weekend because many people will have the day off. SunRail won’t be running on Thanksgiving (Nov. 27), but it will run the next day – Black Friday (Nov. 28).

Many people are off from work and plan to go shopping on Black Friday. That’s great, so let’s go shopping and avoid the overflowing mall parking lots by riding SunRail.

You can catch SunRail and transfer to a Lynx bus to reach Florida Mall, Altamonte Mall, Mall at Millennia and Seminole Towne Centre mall.

Oh yes we did! We actually suggested riding the Lynx bus. You might enjoy it. Recently we rode Lynx from the downtown Lynx Central Station to the Sand Lake Road SunRail station in south Orange County. It was easy. The Lynx buses are new; the driver was courteous and helpful; the ride was very quick, and the fare was only $2 (exact fare, please.)

Don’t roll your eyes at the thought of riding the Lynx bus. Easing traffic congestion, saving energy and reducing air pollution in Central Florida requires all of us to support a unified mass transit system that fully utilizes SunRail AND Lynx.

Besides the mega malls, SunRail is an excellent way to reach shopping areas in Central Florida’s smaller cities. Everybody knows that SunRail lets passengers off on Park Avenue in Winter Park. But did you know Lake Mary has a wonderful shopping area that’s just a five-minute stroll from the Lake Mary SunRail station?

In Sanford, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., the city provides a free shuttle van to take riders from the SunRail station to downtown Sanford where there are great places to shop and eat.

The timing of this SunRail rider campaign is especially important for businesses in Central Florida’s smaller cities because Saturday, Nov. 29^th is Small Business Saturday – a national observance when people are encouraged to spend money will small, locally owned businesses. However, as we all know, SunRail doesn’t run on Saturdays and Sundays. So let’s ride SunRail on Black Friday and give our small-business friends some love.

OK, so maybe you don’t want to take SunRail to go Black Friday shopping. Well then ride SunRail just to do it. Get off at Loch Haven Park or downtown Orlando to visit some cultural venues. Or take your bike on the train and ride up to DeBary to explore some of the bicycle trails.

Are you in? Pass the word and ask your friends, neighbors and coworkers to ride SunRail on Black Friday.

Instead of complaining about SunRail not running on weekends and nights, let’s show everyone how much we appreciate SunRail. Let’s pack those trains like we did right after the train service started back in May and June.

Mark Nov. 28^th on your calendar. See you on the rail!

Rough day on the rails

On Thursday SunRail had another rough day on the rails.

A freight train derailed near Sanford blocking one of the two tracks used by SunRail, so operations had to be slowed down to let northbound and southbound commuter trains share one set of tracks.

We think SunRail did a much better job this time than they did last Friday. They pushed out messages much faster and more frequently to let riders know what was going on. Good job guys.

Service interruptions, such  as the one on Thursday morning are going to happen. Much of the time they are beyond the control of SunRail. What is in SunRail's control and responsibility is to let riders know what's going on.

Friday's SunFail

SunRail we still love you guys.

But Friday morning you dropped the ball --- big time.

Certainly it's tragic that someone was killed by a SunRail train late Thursday, but that's a sad reality that comes with running a railroad, and SunRail needs to be prepared to deal with it. If SunRail has a service-interruption plan, it didn't work Friday morning.

Alerted to the SunRail service interruption by one of our Twitter followers in Sanford we rushed to the Sand Lake Road station shortly after 6 a.m. Friday. Information at the station was limited and confusing.

People getting off Lynx buses at the station started walking toward the train platform while bystanders were yelling out that all trains had been canceled. Lynx bus drivers didn’t know that the trains weren’t running until they heard the announcements at the station.

Periodically recordings played on the station’s PA system telling riders that all SunRail service had been canceled this morning “sorry for the inconvenience.” There were no SunRail representatives at the station to assist riders because, you may remember, SunRail laid off the station Ambassadors a couple of weeks back. Many passengers and SunRail conductors said getting rid of the Ambassadors was a big mistake. Friday morning they were proven right.

Lynx, the regional public bus system, was the hero of the day. Shortly before 7 a.m. a Lynx supervisor arrived at the Sand Lake station and brought a convoy of buses with him to start shuttling stranded SunRail riders to their destinations.

But of course there was still no SunRail rep on scene. Then there were confusing recorded announcements saying there would be no SunRail train other than train P308. Who knows what that means? 

Then the announcer said there was a southbound train coming from Lake Mary – but no estimated time of arrival.

The good news is the first SunRail train arrived in Sand Lake at about 7:30.

Now some will say: What could SunRail have done?

1.    Provide real-time updates on what was going on. That means SunRail should have had representatives at the stations to help riders. That responsibility belongs to SunRail, not Lynx. Please bring back the Ambassadors!

2.    Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket. SunRail keeps all of its trains overnight in Sanford. That sets the stage for a disaster because if there’s a service interruption in or near Sanford, then the entire system comes to a halt. Why not store at least two trains on the southern end of the system in the Taft railroad yard south of the Sand Lake Road station? Those trains could have been running this morning to serve riders south of Sanford.

SunRail is not the Hogwarts Express theme park attraction ride. People depend on SunRail to get to work. “We apologize for the inconvenience,” just doesn’t cut it.

---- happens, everybody knows that. But we’re counting on SunRail bosses to be ready for it. Theme parks, hospitals, airlines and schools have plans to address emergency situations. Come on SunRail, we need you guys to step up your game.

Video shows Lynx riding to the rescue!