Wow, the SunRail machine ran out of tickets

Right after noon on Tuesday (Aug. 7) we tried to buy a ticket on the northbound SunRail platform at Church Street. We got the weirdest message on the vending machine screen.

It said the machine had run out of tickets and then it printed the receipt shown in the accompanying photo.

Based on what we read on the receipt, it appeared SunRail charged our credit card, but we weren’t sure. In four years of riding SunRail we had never encountered a vending machine that had run out of tickets.

There was no SunRail Ambassador on the Church Street platform when we had this problem, though we know there were Ambassadors on duty at other stations. We used the call box on the platform to call customer service. After waiting a few minutes, an agent finally picked up.

The agent wasn’t sure if we were charged or not. She checked with her supervisor and then said we had not been charged. The agent went on to say we should check our bank account in a few days to make sure we had not been charged. Huh?

By the time we got done with her, we had to run to catch our train. We told the conductor what happened and showed him the receipt. Thankfully he allowed us to ride. He explained that since the Southern Expansion there had been a problem with machines running out of tickets.

Guess that’s a good problem, considering SunRail’s lackluster ridership before service began on the Southern Expansion.

But guys, you gotta do better!

Vending machines cannot run out of tickets by noon. If they do, then they need to be serviced more frequently. Better yet, we hope SunRail can step up the development of its app so that one day soon we can buy our ticket with our smartphone and not have to deal with the vending machines or ticket validators that have been a continuing problem.

Like they said in that old TV advertisement, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

See you on The Rail!

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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

SunRail's ticketing system sucks

Enough’s enough with SunRail’s unreliable ticket-vending machine system.

Xerox is the vendor with the contract to install and maintain the machines. Quite frankly, the ticketing system hasn't worked since Day 1.

It’s not as though SunRail just launched the other day. SunRail has been running revenue operations since mid-May 2014 when riders were required to buy tickets. We’ve been in SunRail stations where 3 of the 4 vending machines were out of order. In addition, the ticketing problems have fouled up back-office operations that make it difficult for SunRail to accurately count and analyze ridership trends.

On Friday, Jan. 2, the machines had all kinds of problems when riders surged into stations to ride SunRail at the end of the Christmas holiday season. In some cases SunRail trains left stations while people were still in line trying to buy tickets.

Rube Goldberg contraption

Even when the machines actually work, they’re incredibly slow. Who designed these machines? Rube Goldberg? (Millennials, please Google)

Xerox has a million excuses and says they’ve sent squads of techs to resolve the issues. That’s too little, too late. If Xerox can’t deliver, then they shouldn’t have bid on the job.

The ticket-vending machine problems leave many SunRail riders -- and would-be-riders -- with a bad taste in their mouths. Those riders don’t complain about Xerox. They complain about SunRail. 

We think Xerox's top executives should attend the Jan. 9 meeting of the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission to take heat directly from our elected officials.

It’s time to cut the crap.

SunRail says it’s withholding payment to Xerox, and certainly lawsuits are probably in order. But none of that helps the riders who have been inconvenienced by the ticket-machine problems.

Fortunately, we’ve got a solution. Every time a rider tries to buy a ticket and the machine is too slow, or it won’t work, the rider should board the train without a ticket and tell the conductor what happened. The conductor should record the number of riders who couldn’t buy a ticket. Then Xerox should be charged $7.50 -- the full price of a round trip ticket from DeBary to Sand Lake Road.

Will some scamsters game the system? We’re sure they will. But you know whose problem that will be? Xerox. Get the ticket-vending machine system fixed and Xerox won’t have to pay the fares anymore.

The ticket-vending machine problems aren’t an inconvenience. They’re an embarrassment. We’re tired of it.

See you on The Rail.

SunRail ticket vending machines, Chapter 2

We still don’t understand SunRail’s rationale for the placement of ticket vending machines that accept cash. It’s not like everybody has plastic, and considering some of the recent credit-card security problems it might not be wise to use credit cards on public vending machines. There are two platforms – northbound and southbound -- at every SunRail station. But SunRail only puts a cash machine on one platform (they claim financial reasons for this). So if the cash machine isn’t on the platform where you’re waiting you must cross to the other side – using the pedestrian crossing, of course -- to buy your ticket.

At almost all the stations the northbound and southbound platforms are directly opposite each other. The one exception is at Church Street in downtown Orlando. There platforms are a block away from each other with a busy street – South Street – between them. The cash machine is on the northbound platform, and get this, a rider on Monday told us that machine has been out of order for several day. So if you arrive at the southbound platform to buy a ticket with cash as the train is approaching you’re going to be SOL.  Thanks SunRail bosses, nice planning.

What grade does SunRail deserve?

How would you grade Central Florida’s SunRail commuter train system?

It’s hard to believe that SunRail will soon be 6 months old. It began service on May 1.

So how would you grade SunRail?

We think overall SunRail deserves high praise for the launch of commuter train service in our community, but there’s lots of room for improvement.

Now let’s get to specifics:

Facilities

The stations are generally well designed. We particularly like aesthetic touches at stations, such as the metal sculpture wading birds at Sand Lake Road and the orange-crate art at DeBary.

Spaces are free and plentiful at most of the stations where parking is provided. However, the automatic ticket vending machines are slow and sometimes unreliable. There continue to be problems with a few crossing gates. But the worst problem is the poorly designed platform canopies that provide scant protection from the sun and rain. Whoever designed those canopies deserves a kick in the pants.

Grade: B minus

Trains

The SunRail trains are great. They’re comfortable and well designed. The train crews, especially the conductors, are fabulous.

Grade: A

Fare

The fare is an outstanding bargain. Try driving round trip from South Orange County to DeBary in Volusia County for $7.50. Can’t be done.

However, many riders are rightly pissed off with the labeling of tickets in the vending machines. One ticket selection is for a 7-day ticket, even though SunRail only runs Monday through Friday. Many riders feel they’re getting ripped off because you only get 5 days of rides on a 7-day ticket, and you must use the ticket on 5 consecutive days.  This untruthful labeling highlights just reminds people that SunRail doesn’t run on weekends. Labeling is equally deceptive for 30-day tickets.

Grade: C

Reliability

 SunRail has an excellent on-time record. But when things go wrong, it’s time for Katie to bar the door. Most of SunRail problems are caused by people and vehicles trespassing on the tracks, despite a robust public-education program.

SunRail’s responses to these problems have been uneven. SunRail needs to be much better prepared for the unexpected because things are bound to go wrong. Riders depend on SunRail to get them to their destinations, regardless problems.

The biggest service deficiency is that SunRail does not provide service on the weekends or during late-night hours. SunRail remains stubbornly reluctant to expand service despite a petition signed by more than 2,000 people. Weekend service would mean a tremendous boost to businesses and cultural venues throughout Central Florida.

Grade: C minus

Customer service

We live in the hospitality capital of the world, yet SunRail doesn’t seem to have much aptitude for customer service. They're not rude, they're neglectful.

Getting rid of the SunRail Ambassadors who worked on the station platforms was a terrible idea. Even though they were hired as temps, they proved to be invaluable in answering questions, helping with balky ticket vending machines and reinforcing operating and safety rules. Riders really appreciated the assistance provided by the Ambassadors.

SunRail does a poor job of communicating with riders waiting on platforms when there are service interruptions. We’re happy SunRail is now working on a text messaging system to contact riders, but why wasn’t that done before SunRail started operations?

Based on what we’ve seen SunRail needs lessons in disaster planning and customer recovery. To improve they should reach out to the airlines and Disney -- businesses that have extensive experience and knowledge in those subjects.

Grade: D

SunRail’s overall grade: B minus

Lynx and Votran also deserve a B grade for providing the essential public bus service that connects many neighborhoods to SunRail stations.

So what’s your grade for SunRail?

Why do SunRail stations only have 1 cash machine?

Here is another one of those questions we get all the time from fellow riders. How come there is only a ticket machine on one SunRail platform that takes cash. 

We know one woman – a first time rider – who only had cash when she came to the station and didn’t realize the cash machine was on the other platform. So we put the question to a SunRail spokesman. Here’s his response:

“There is only one cash machine at every station due to the additional maintenance and costs associated with operating a cash machine (i.e. people try to jam bills into the receptacle, it requires an armored service to empty the machines, and a place to store and count the cash, etc.). More and more CRT properties (including Tri-Rail) are moving toward this system of fare collection. If there are more stations northbound, the cash machine is on the NB platform. If there are more stations SB, the cash machine is located on the SB platform. Rationale is, you are more likely to serve the most passengers where additional destinations are on the line.”