Text alerts come to SunRail

Why doesn’t SunRail send text messages when there’s a service interruption?

Great question.

The SunRail Customer Advisory Committee has been fighting for a text alert service for a year.

Their requests fell on deaf ears of SunRail’s former leadership team, which kept making excuses for why the text alert system was unneeded.

The committee members – regular riders charged with speaking up for the consumers – said putting service interruption alerts on Twitter was not adequate.

SunRail staff said a text messaging service would cost too much and would distract staff.

The SunRail marketing team even presented the results of a rigged survey to try to shut down the discussion.

Enter SunRail’s new CEO Nicola Liquori. After hearing the request, she decided that SunRail will offer text message alerts when a train is delayed or canceled. The details are still being worked out.

Ms. Liquori has certainly set a new standard for service at SunRail.

Make your SunRail opinion count

SunRail wants your opinion.

Hard to believe, but SunRail actually wants to hear what you think of the train service.

SunRail reps are boarding trains and distributing survey forms to get your opinion. Now is your chance to let SunRail bosses know what you think.

It’s also an opportunity for you to tell SunRail that expanding service to weekends and late-night hours should be a priority.

The form asks where you board and get off. How you get to the SunRail station? If you use Lynx, Lymmo or Votran bus service? If you use reloadable SunCards? (This opens the door for you to blast Lynx for selling a 7-day SunCard, but only providing 5 days of service.)

The one-page form is very clear and easy to complete. (They don’t ask for your name.) The SunRail rep who distributes the forms will pick them up. Please take this seriously and complete the survey form to help make SunRail service better.

SunRail needs to sound off quicker when there are delays

SunRail’s success and ridership depend on one word – reliability.

We’re the first to say that SunRail can’t be held responsible when somebody carelessly, or intentionally, blocks the tracks.

But SunRail can mitigate the situation by promptly communicating with riders when delays occur.

That was not the case early Monday morning with a southbound train was delayed by a vehicle blocking the tracks.

One of our favorite riders tweeted the delay news at 7:06 a.m. SunRail didn’t send their first tweet until 7:24 a.m. By then our favorite rider sent a second tweet at 7:14 a.m.  During that time two other riders also tweeted delay information – before SunRail.

Some may say, “Oh come on, it’s only a ‘few’ minutes.” But minutes count, especially when people are heading to work in the morning. Folks have deadlines and early-morning meetings. Hourly workers get penalized for clocking in late.

At least if people know there’s a delay they can call and email their places of work to let team members and bosses know they’re stuck on the train. Beyond riders on the train, let’s not forget people stranded on platforms waiting for the delayed train.

Keep in mind that if the southbound SunRail train is delayed, there’s a good chance the delay will cascade and affect northbound trips because the southbound train becomes the northbound train when it reaches the end of the line at Sand Lake Road. (SunRail deserves credit for quickly getting things back on schedule this morning.)

We have no idea how the SunRail operations center in Sanford is set up, but there should be one person in the operations center at all times whose only job is to communicate with riders when there are service delays. Rider communications are a big part of reliability. Remember, SunRail is hauling people, not sacks of cement.

Once a train experiences a delay of more than 5 or 6 minutes that person should be tweeting.  We would rather have SunRail over communicate than leave riders uninformed.

Communicate, communicate, communicate.

Who you gonna call?

Frequently we get calls and emails for riders who have experienced trouble with the SunRail trains, stations, or (heaven forbid) ticket vending machines.

We're always happy to look into those concerns, but we're not affiliated with SunRail or the Florida Department of Transportation. We're riders, just like you.

If you have a concern, the best course of action is to call SunRail customer service at 1-855-724-5411. SunRail promises that phone will be staffed by a living and breathing human being starting very early in the morning to very late at night on weekdays.

If you're dissatisfied with the response, let us know and we'll look into the situation. 

What would really be cool is if SunRail's response exceeds your expectations. We would love to hear and share the news with fellow riders. Also please let us know about good deeds by the train crews and like you, we're eagerly awaiting the return of the SunRail station Ambassadors.

See you on The Rail!

Hooray for SunRail Ambassadors, they're coming back!

We’re so excited! The SunRail Station Ambassadors are coming back.

When SunRail launched in May Ambassadors were assigned to each of the 12 commuter-train stations to help riders understand the schedule, wrestle with the ticket vending machines and address other issues.

The Ambassadors were hired as temps, and in August – much to the dismay of many riders – they were let go. Their departure has been the source of complaints by many riders, especially new riders who arrived at stations and didn’t have a clue on how to use the ticket-vending machines or even which platform they should wait on. New riders tried to help the newbies, but that’s a heck of a way to run a railroad.

Wednesday afternoon during the Technical Advisory Committee of the Central Florida Rail Commission, a SunRail official announced that the Ambassadors would be brought back.

Officials acknowledged that their decision was driven partly because of continuing problems with the ticket-vending machines. In addition, the officials noted that new people are trying SunRail every day and they many have questions about the train, schedule and other details. The Ambassadors also played a very important safety role in making sure riders waited behind the warning line on platforms and stayed off the tracks. (Without Ambassadors present we’ve actually seen riders jump down on tracks to pose for pictures – what are they thinking?)

Bringing back the Ambassadors was very good public relations decision by SunRail because many regular riders really bonded with the Ambassadors. The SunRail commuter train system needs a friendly face at every station – especially when the unavoidable happens and things go wrong. With the massive construction project starting on Interstate 4 early next year there are bound to be hundreds -- probably thousands -- of new riders between now and next spring. The Ambassadors will have their work cut out.

We probably won’t see the Ambassadors in their familiar black golf shirts back for another four to six weeks. There’s paperwork and training that needs to be completed before they on-duty again. It will be good to have them back.