We're getting Osceola SunRail, but still no weekend trains

Wow, earlier this week we heard from some pissed-off would-be SunRail riders.

They were disappointed to learn that even after SunRail begins serving the southern extension into Osceola County, it still won’t be running trains on weekends.

Don’t just complain. Do something about it.

The first thing you can do is click here to add your name to the petition to extend SunRail to Orlando International Airport. Once SunRail connects with the airport it will have to go full-service – weekends and late-night.

The second and most important thing you can do is demand our elected officials provide SunRail, Lynx, and Votran the money those transit systems need to offer the service our communities deserve and need.

The reason SunRail doesn’t run on weekends is politics. It’s just that simple.

Politicians decided not to provide the money to provide the weekend train service that all of us want. Politicians didn’t provide SunRail with an adequate budget to operate the train on the weekends.

The fare box only provides about 30 percent of the money required to run public transit. Almost every public transit system in the world depends on government subsidies.

Though many politicians act as though they’re big bosses; they work for us. Right now, they want something from you.

They want your vote. Make them earn it.

People running for County Commission, State House, the State Senate, the U.S. Senate, and governor are holding candidate nights, calling you on the phone and kissing babies to get your vote.

Ask them what’s their plan to address the region’s awful traffic congestion. Force them to discuss their transportation plans. Don’t vote for them if their plans don’t make sense and if they don’t promise to include more money to support public transit.

Then tell them you want them to increase the funding so SunRail will be able to run weekends, and Lynx and Votran will have the money they need to improve the bus system.

Don’t just complain on Facebook. Let’s do something about it.

New SunRail schedule includes good news for Magic fans

Good news Orlando Magic fans!

It looks like during the next season many of you will be able to take SunRail to weeknight games in downtown Orlando and back home after the games. Fans can thank SunRail’s southern expansion to Poinciana.

As Magic fans know, the present SunRail schedule only works one way – to the game -- because the last northbound train leaves downtown’s Church Street station at 9:25 p.m. (The way the Magic plays, leaving the game early may not be a bad thing.)

SunRail’s tentative new schedule proposes that the last northbound train will leave Church Street after 10 p.m.

SunRail managers have been reworking the schedule to include service to the new Meadow Woods, Osceola Parkway/Tupperware, Kissimmee and Poinciana stations. Two more train roundtrips are being added to serve the longer train route.

One of SunRail’s major priorities has been to better accommodate the real-world schedules of the staff and caregivers at Florida Hospital and Orlando Health hospitals. Even though those hospitals are two of the region’s largest employers – ridership at those stations has been disappointingly low because of shortcomings in the current schedule. Last year SunRail CEO Nicola Liquori pledged to use the opportunity of service expansion to improve the schedule and ridership.

The tentative schedule was discussed briefly at this week’s SunRail Customer Advisory Committee meeting. While Ms. Liquori and her team won’t be able to change water to wine, one of the positive developments appears to be a later departure time for the last northbound SunRail train. They plan to present the new schedule very soon.

This later service will not only benefit Magic fans but also date night for some couples. Magic fans headed southbound after the game still will be out of luck, though.

And no, there is no new weekend service. Remember, Ms. Liquori is limited by the budget she has been provided for Monday to Friday service. Any weekend service needs to be sponsored – either businesses or local government.

During a recent interview, Osceola Commissioner Viviana Janer, who also chairs the SunRail Commission, explained what it will take to get weekend service. Click here for that explanation.

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Love letter from a 'faithful' rider

By Mandi Howell

SunRail, we need to talk.

I think we need couples’ therapy. I feel like our relationship is lopsided and filled with empty promises. I believe your heart is in the right place and that you mean well. I want to make this work, but I really need to you be present and listen to my needs if that is going to happen.

I knew you had a troubled past when I got involved, but you seemed to have changed and learned from those missteps, so I gave you a clean slate. I have built you up to everyone who would listen. I have remained faithful. I support you, but I feel neglected and taken for granted. SunRail, it is going to take some effort on your part if this is going to get better.

I started out a naïve rider at the Lake Mary Station in March of 2016. 

Three weeks later, still in the SunRail “love bubble” I caught a 2:25 out of Church Street to head back to Seminole. I would learn upon my arrival at the hospital that my mother passed away unexpectedly. I was so grateful you were there for me when I needed you most -- this gratitude has bought you a lot of forgiveness. I learned a few weeks later that it was luck that had delivered me where I needed to go that day.

I learned you weren’t as consistent as I had believed. I learned that, had I been moments later in my distraught nature, you would have left me on that platform weeping and vulnerable for two full hours because you do not serve your ridership. Your ridership must accommodate you.

I told myself I just had to work around your selfishness. That I can live with you not being there for me whenever I need you because I love you. Besides, all day, reliable, consistent, convenient public transportation is just subway movie lore. Here in the Sunshine reality doesn’t work like that. It also isn’t fair to compare you to my ex transits – LightRail, PATH, MTA, the Metro. Yeah, I got around in my day, but I am 100 percent with you now.

 
I also recall being concerned about your treatment of others from the get go- that you without impact to conscience charge Volusia “County” riders the same as Seminole and Orange but don’t service them even remotely the same. Even though it didn’t impact me at the time, it seemed inherently unfair and dishonest. I was assured it hinged on a future station in DeLand- which I don’t believe you truly intend to deliver on. I’ve heard rumors of Orange City and Daytona Beach stations -- more lip service to placate a guilty conscience. It is almost as if you can’t tell the truth sometimes. I don’t want to be dramatic but, SunRail, you’re abusing trust.
 
I have tried not to nit-pick the little things you do -- like calling it a 30-day pass when I only get 20 days.

I have tried to overlook the times you have left a minute or two early from a station and left would-be riders stranded.

I have tried not to dwell on the time when you closed your doors because it was “cold” and neither the station attendant or myself could get the buttons to work and you left me behind.

I have tried to understand why you stopped the later service you had in the beginning -- a flat-out ban on Date Night.

 
I have tried to accept that your ticket-tappers don’t consistently work -- they double tap or don’t tap. I even tried to work past the trouble this causes when I must call customer service. Speaking to customer service is even worse than the disappointment I feel when you let me down.

I have tried to help crewmembers, thinking maybe if I give a little more, you will get better.

SunRail, you never give more. You don’t even genuinely try. You talk a good game.

Do you remember almost 2 years ago when you offered service on “some” Saturdays? All you gave were poorly communicated schedules at the last moment for a few Saturdays scattered over a three-month period. Sometimes I only learned about the service after it was over. It’s almost as if you never wanted Saturday service -- you refused to listen to feedback or even praise.

It makes me wonder if you are even remotely serious about an airport connection? Are you willing to commit to 7 days and increased frequency for the airport? If so, why not start working towards it now? You see how poor things are going when you wait until the last minute. I sometimes think that you haven’t thought about the future at all, that you’re making things up as you go.

SunRail, we are in this for the long haul. But, we need serious professional help. We need someone who knows what they are doing and strives for what is best for both of us. We need an outsider who isn’t in bed with either one of us -- someone who has experience in situations like ours.

 
I really hope you are as committed to making this work as I am -- I really want the best for both of us.

Mandi Howell is a DeBary rider who works in downtown Orlando.

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SunRail service on "some" Saturdays doesn't thrill everyone

The response to the news that the local business community is working on a plan to provide SunRail service on “some” Saturdays may not have been what was expected.

Empty SunRail station on the weekend

Immediately after we posted a video of a SunRail consultant disclosing the tentative plan some riders demanded to know why the plan would only cover “some” Saturdays.

While we’re grateful for any progress on getting SunRail weekend service, we also understand the frustration.

Everybody calling for weekend SunRail service isn’t trying to get to the Winter Park Farmers’ Market. Many riders need SunRail on Saturday AND Sunday to get to work.

Let’s not forget SunRail connects Central Florida to our two largest hospitals – Florida Hospital and Orlando Health.

How many people have been in a hospital that is open “some” Saturdays?

Caregivers need to be able to take the train to the hospital 7-days a week, on holidays and late at night. Those hospitals are 2 of Central Florida’s largest employers – a ready source of riders for a train that runs all the time.

SunRail also connects Central Florida to Orlando International Airport – another huge employer. Get off at Sand Lake Road and the bus ride (free with a transfer) to the airport takes less than 10 minutes.

Some airport employees are currently using SunRail, despite its painfully limited schedule. A lot more airport employees would be jumping aboard if the train had a more sensible schedule. Lots more airline passengers would be using the train too, if they could count on it.

SunRail leisure riders – going to the farmers’ markets, museums and events at Amway Center – are icing on the ridership cake.

We’re delighted that the Central Florida’s business community has taken an active role in trying to get weekend SunRail service rolling. But please don’t let the people who need the train to get to work on the weekend become an afterthought. They are our community’s backbone.

Please don't blow it on Sunday

We’re praying SunRail doesn’t blow it on Sunday.

This Sunday will be a historic occasion – the first time SunRail will carry passengers on a weekend. For months we’ve campaigned for weekend service and we want everything to go smoothly.

The special Sunday operation -- organized to support the Orlando City Soccer Club’s inaugural Major League Soccer match versus the New York City Soccer Club at downtown Orlando’s Citrus Bowl -- is sure to push SunRail and its station at Church Street -- to their limit.

Orlando City Soccer sold out tickets for the Citrus Bowl (#Fillthebowl) – 60,000 seats.

In addition, the Orlando Magic will play the Boston Celtics at downtown Orlando’s Amway Center on Sunday. Basketball fans also will be ride SunRail to the Church Street SunRail station. No doubt lots of leprechauns will ride SunRail to Winter Park’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday afternoon. Surely many other events will be held along the SunRail corridor. In addition, hundreds of residents will ride to check out SunRail for the first time.

We all remember what happened last May when SunRail launched with free rides.  Many stations and trains were overwhelmed. That was then, and this is now. We just hope the SunRail leaders are on top of their game, nimble and ready to respond to unusual situations.

The stakes are high.

International news media will be in town to cover the historic soccer match. SunRail lovers and haters from Washington D.C. to the Tampa Bay area will be watching closely. Attention will be particularly acute in the Tampa Bay area where our mass transportation allies have been fighting for years to get a commuter rail system.

If we have a SunFail on Sunday, anti-rail forces will gleefully smear SunRail as a taxpayer boondoggle, and that will be a major blow to commuter rail expansion here and throughout Florida.

SunRail needs to be prepared to add trains, as needed. It would be nice if they asked Lynx to be on standby to pick up fans at outlying stations and bring them to the Citrus Bowl in time for the soccer match if trains get overwhelmed. Fortunately people will ride for free on Sunday so riders won’t have to struggle with SunRail’s balky ticket- vending machines – a major chokepoint.

The SunRail bosses have an obligation to keep riders informed if there are problems. People tend to feel better if they know what’s happening and what’s being done to resolve the situation.

Before heading to the closest SunRail station riders need to take a chill pill. SunRail was built to be a commuter train, not a special-events train. On Sunday 25,000 people or more could try to use SunRail. Sunday is an unusual situation – very different from the generally smooth weekday SunRail experience.

Realistically the tracks, trains and stations have a limited capacity. SunRail trains aren’t like the New York City subway. The passenger coaches weren’t designed for standing-room only. On Sunday many people will be standing – it’s unavoidable. Things will go wrong. Patience and good humor can do more to solve problems than a bad attitude and angry words.

Now let’s go make history.

See you on The Rail.

SunRail rolls for Winter Park Art Festival

Weekend SunRail for the Winter Park Art Festival is the best news we’ve heard in 6 months.

First we must salute the city of Winter Park, the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, the Winter Park Art Festival and Florida Hospital for bankrolling the train operations on Saturday, March 21 and Sunday, March 22. That’s what we call making a serious investment in the future of our community.

Winter Park Art Festival

Providing SunRail service for the art festival is such a smart move because the festival is excellent, but driving there and finding a place to park is a nightmare. It’s a shame that until now we have not been able to get SunRail to budge beyond Monday to Friday service.

By sponsoring the train for the festival weekend our Winter Park friends will show Central Florida what a joy it could be every weekend to get from Point A to Point B if we had full-time SunRail service -- something this community badly needs to reduce the horrendous traffic congestion that plagues almost every major and secondary thoroughfare in Central Florida.

SunRail officials said it will cost $5.5 million annually to provide weekend service. State officials declared they won’t allocate money for weekend service. 

Despite those roadblocks, the city of Winter Park, the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, the Winter Park Art Festival and Florida Hospital put some serious skin in the game to show what’s possible. We’re deeply grateful for their leadership and checkbook on this important issue.

But remember, the funding is just for the festival weekend. We all need to be ask: Where do we go from there?

Unfortunately we’re not going to come up with a permanent formula for weekend SunRail service today. Meanwhile, let’s all plan to ride SunRail to the art festival next month.

See you on The Rail.

Let's get local politicians to support weekend SunRail service

Contact these local elected officials and ask them to support a local plan to raise money for weekend SunRail service.

Seminole County Commissioners

Commissioner Bob Dallari  - fmacdonald@seminolecountyfl.gov

Commissioner John Horan – jspry02@seminolecountyfl.gov

Commissioner Lee Constantine – speters@semuinolecountyfl.gov

Commissioner Carlton Henley – gvenn@seminolecountyfl.gov

Commissioner Brenda Carey – stucker@seminolecountyfl.gov

Winter Park City Council

Mayor Kenneth Bradley – kbradley@cityofwinterpark.org

City Commissioner Carolyn Cooper – ccooper@cityofwinterpark.org

City Commissioner Steven Leary – sleary@cityofwinterpark.org

City Commissioner Sarah Sprinkel – ssprinkel@cityofwinterpark.org

City Commissioner Tom McMacken  - tmcmacken@cityofwinterpark.org

Orlando City Council

Mayor Buddy Dyer – buddy.dyer@cityoforlando.net

City Commissioner Jim Gray – jim.gray@cityoforlando.net

City Commissioner Tony Ortiz – tony.ortiz@cityoforlando.net

City Commissioner Robert Stuart – Robert.stuart@cityoforlando.net

City Commissioner Patty Sheehan – patty.sheehan@cityoforlando.net

City Commissioner Regina Hill – regina.hill@cityoforlando.net

City Commissioner Samuel Ings – Samuel.ings@cityoforlando.net

Orange County Commission

Mayor Teresa Jacobs – Mayor@ocfl.net

Commissioner S. Scott Boyd – district1@ocfl.net

Commissioner Bryan Nelson – district2@ocfl.net

Commissioner Pete Clark – district3@ocfl.net

Commissioner Jennifer Thompson – Jennifer.thompson@ocfl.net

Commissioner Ted Edwards – lynette.runnel@ocfl.net

Commissioner Victoria Siplin – district6@ocfl.net

Riders open letter to Orlando City Soccer President Phil Rawlins

Greetings Phil,

We want to congratulate your success in selling so many season tickets for your team’s inaugural year as a Major League Soccer club and to tell you about a message we just received from one of your team’s fans.

Phil Rawlins

The fan wants to know if he can take SunRail train to the team’s #FilltheBowl event on Sunday, March 8.

As we’re sure you know, SunRail doesn’t run on weekends. But what if it did?

Imagine how cool that would be to have thousands of people getting off SunRail in downtown Orlando for the pre-game festivities and then to head over to the newly renovated Citrus Bowl stadium for the team’s much anticipated match against the New York City Football Club. What a first-class way to begin this new venture, and to show the New York City team that Orlando has got it going on.

You’ve got the power to make this scene a reality by sponsoring SunRail operations for that one day – Sunday, March 8.

There is precedent sponsoring SunRail operations. The organizers and sponsors of the Jan. 1^st Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl paid to run SunRail that day, and it was much 

appreciated by the college football fans. 

The train ran before and after the game – but not during the game.

Citrus Bowl fans

We’re suggesting that you one-up the Buffalo Wild Wings team by sponsoring SunRail for the entire day – maybe 8 round trips.

Why? Because SunRail riders – many of them are fans and season-ticket holders for your games – want to see SunRail run on weekends. Running the train on Sunday, March 8 – would provide an opportunity to show how many people would ride SunRail on weekends, if it was available.

Many people work weekends and need the train to get to jobs. Others want to ride the train to easily reach a variety of destinations, including, church, shopping, dining, museums, parks and to cheer for your team.

Sponsoring SunRail operations for a day certainly would cost more than $100, but it strikes us that you’re a guy who knows the value of a great investment – considering that you’re spending nearly $7 million on Kaka’s contract.

Fans going to the Citrus Bowl got to ride for free. But maybe you can recoup some of your investment by requiring people who ride on March 8 to pay the regular fare. We bet SunRail fans would be more than happy to pay.

So what’s in it for you and Orlando City Soccer?

Great publicity and amazing goodwill in the community. We’re sure your marketing team will tell you that you can’t buy that kind of goodwill for $100 million. You’ll be making a crucial investment to improve our community, and we’ll never forget that gesture.

March 8^th is only a few weeks away. So how about Phil? We’d love to see you on The Rail on March 8^th.

Weekend SunRail means more than joyriding

When most of us vent our frustration about SunRail’s weekday-only schedule, we talk about all the cool places we could visit on weekends if the train ran Saturdays and Sundays.

But for numerous riders weekend SunRail service isn’t about “leisure riding”. They need weekend SunRail service to get to work because they don’t have traditional Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 jobs. Many can’t afford cars.

Empty SunRail station on the weekend

Recently we heard from an Orlando mother whose adult daughter rides SunRail to her waitress job in Altamonte Springs.

When SunRail is running the daughter can get to work in about 40 minutes. But on the weekends when she has to rely on several Lynx buses to reach her job it takes nearly 3 hours to travel to work.

That’s ridiculous.

Some will say, will say: “Well before SunRail she was taking the bus. What’s the big deal if she has to take the bus two days a week?”

Well, before indoor plumbing everybody had to go outside and use the outhouse. Today how many of us would want to go outside to use an outhouse a couple of days every week?

The young woman with the waitress job certainly is not alone.

There are many riders who work non-traditional schedules including people employed in the hospitality/tourism industry, hospitals, public safety and airport, to name a few. Their need for 7-day SunRail service is at least as important, if not more important, than our desire to ride the train to the Winter Park Farmers Market on Saturday morning.

Weekend service is much more than a joyride, it's a necessity for many workers.

How should we pay for weekend SunRail service?

Click here to see a video shot at a SunRail meeting showing an official explaining that it will cost $5.5 million to run the train on weekends.

Keep in mind that almost no public transit system anywhere in the world pays all of its operating expenses through rider fares. Some subsidy is almost always needed to pay for buses and trains.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has already refused to pick up the extra expenses for weekend operations. Lobbying Scott is a waste of time. If we’re going to get SunRail running on weekends we have to come up with the money locally. How would you raise the money needed to run SunRail on Saturdays and Sundays?