Does SunRail own a weedwhacker?

Did anyone notice that weeds are about to take over SunRail’s southbound platform at downtown Orlando’s Church Street station?

An eagle-eyed rider called this unsightly problem to our attention. How come SunRail/FDOT staff didn’t notice and take action?

As you can see in the accompanying photos, the weeds are about 2 feet tall and look really nasty.

It’s not as though this platform is in the middle of nowhere – someplace between Longwood and Lake Mary. Church Street is one of SunRail’s busiest stations – especially for morning commuters. Talk about making a bad impression!

Still, the major question is: Does SunRail inspect stations on a daily basis?

This problem is an issue of housekeeping and maintenance. What if the issue was safety?

This also makes us wonder how many other problems have been overlooked or ignored at other SunRail stations?

Perhaps SunRail is waiting for a rider to bring a weedwhacker to spiff up Church Street.

Mayor Buddy working to solve mess at SunRail's Church Street station

Now we’re getting somewhere.

For the past couple of weeks we’ve been on a rant about poor pedestrian design of downtown Orlando’s SunRail station at Church Street.

Regular users know that after disembarking SunRail in the morning, riders have to survive a dangerous traffic obstacle course to get to work.

 In addition, those boarding the southbound train at Church Street often to walk nearly 4 blocks to reach a ticket machine that accepts cash. The southbound platform doesn’t have a ticket machine that accepts cash, nor is there a sign telling riders where to find a cash machine. Click here to check it out.

Mayor Buddy at SunRail meeting

SunRail’s official response has been either silence, or to blow smoke up our you-know-what.

This morning, however, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer Tweeted this response: “We’re working to have a cash machine added and better ped access for that station. It’s definitely an issue.” Or click here.

The mayor’s response is what SunRail should have said months ago.

Granted there are issues where we may not see eye to eye with the mayor, but this is certainly a case where he walked the talk (No pun intended.)

In the mayor’s 2013 state of downtown speech Dyer said the city’s strategic transportation plan included “making Downtown a more pedestrian friendly destination and expanding public transportation options.”

Dyer’s following through, and he’s got the power to make things happen because he was just selected to chair the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission, which oversees SunRail.

We’re certainly grateful that Mayor Dyer has become directly and publicly involved in this matter, and look forward to a resolution.

Bravo.

How much does SunRail care about rider convenience?

Open letter to SunRail Project Manager Tawny Olore

Dear Ms. Olore,

Were SunRail stations designed for the comfort of real people, or for the convenience of engineers? Certainly rider convenience and safety were not the paramount concerns.

Tawny Olore

One of the worst examples of the passenger-UNfriendly design can be found in the SunRail station at Church Street in downtown Orlando -- ironically the busiest station during the morning and evening commuter rush hours.

Let’s not even talk about the station’s confusing configuration where the northbound platform is at Church Street and the southbound platform is a block away at South Street. Let’s instead focus our attention today on the fact that riders can’t use cash to buy a ticket on the southbound platform.

Show up on the southbound platform hoping to catch a train to Orlando Health or Orlando International Airport and all you have is cash in your pocket and you’re out of luck because both ticket vending machines only accept credit or debit cards. There isn’t even a sign telling you that you can buy a ticket with cash on the northbound platform.

Maybe there’s no sign because getting to the northbound platform poses a huge problem. Following the pedestrian crossing signs you have to walk the equivalent of four (4) city blocks, cross busy South Street and active railroad tracks to use the cash machine.

Southbound machines

As a SunRail official you don’t have to buy a ticket, but for your convenience you can click here to see a video of the path riders with cash have to follow. (By the way, it’s nearly a 10-minute walk to and from the cash machine.)

You’re an experienced engineer, we’re not. But common sense says the easiest solution is to add a cash ticket machine to the southbound platform. We’ve raised this issue before with your public relations staff, and they give us fluff instead of real concern about the safety and convenience of southbound riders who need to buy tickets with cash.

Please don’t study this to death. We showed you the problem, we’re counting on you to act with all deliberate speed and address this situation by installing a cash machine on the southbound platform at Church Street.

Sincerely,

SunRail riders