SunRail is a disaster

We’ve declared SunRail a disaster.

The only way to save SunRail is to admit how badly things are going. They say the first step to sobriety begins with an admission you’re an alcoholic.

We base our disaster declaration on academic analysis presented on www.thetransportpolitic.com. 

Yonah Freemark, a doctoral candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, publishes that website.

Freemark noted that SunRail has the second worst operating effectiveness costs among commuter rail systems in the U.S., according to 2015 figures.

Data shows SunRail’s operating expense per trip is $35.11 compared to $8.47 for the Salt Lake FrontRunner – similar to SunRail in many ways. Click here for more details.

Responding to an email from us, Freemark wrote: “The ‘operating effectiveness’ figure ($35.11 for SunRail) means that it costs SunRail $35.11 to transport each rider.

“Because SunRail collects $2.21 per passenger in fares per trip this means that other sources (public subsidies) must provide $32.90 per trip to support the operations of the train,” Freemark continued, “You'll note that SunRail is also the worst-performing commuter rail agency in terms of expense per passenger mile ($2.39), which requires the largest subsidy per passenger-mile ($2.24). These figures would be improved substantially with additional ridership.”

Feeble attempts by SunRail and its high-priced consultants haven’t been able to improve SunRail because it’s operating with a half-assed schedule.

Lots of people want to use SunRail. Just check our Facebook page to see the intense demand for SunRail service. But SunRail doesn’t run when many people need it.

• No weekend service.
• No holiday service.
• No late-night service.
• No DeLand service.
• Service gaps of up to 2 ½ hours during the day.

It’s no surprise SunRail’s ridership is in a death spiral.

Please end the disaster. SunRail’s management and operations need a major shakeup to provide the service riders demand.

We’re tired of excuses and SunRail’s ‘can’t do’ attitude.

Save SunRail because it’s critical to provide transportation options Central Florida needs to thrive.

SunRail screwed Volusia out of DeLand train station

SunRail is running off the tracks.

Volusia County Council (county commission) members are ready to pull the plug on SunRail unless the promised DeLand SunRail train station gets built.

Who can blame them?

Mythical DeLand SunRail station

Nine years ago Volusia signed on to SunRail because they were promised a train station in DeLand – Volusia’s county seat.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) currently operates SunRail. Orange, Seminole, Volusia, Osceola counties and the city of Orlando are supposed to take over the financial responsibility and operations of SunRail in 5 years when FDOT leaves the project.

Three new stations are currently being built in Osceola County – with the help of a special federal grant. A new spur is being planned to connect SunRail tracks to Orlando International Airport. But nothing is going on with the DeLand station.

Last year SunRail’s FDOT masters applied for a special federal grant to extend the SunRail tracks to DeLand. The grant was denied. This spring FDOT was preparing another application for the federal grant. In a surprise move, at the last moment, FDOT chose not submit the grant application to extend tracks to DeLand.

Volusia County deserves more than sweet words from FDOT. The county was promised a SunRail DeLand station. FDOT needs to deliver.

Currently SunRail tracks only go as far as the Volusia County city of DeBary – one of the busiest stations in SunRail.

We’re passionate supporters of SunRail. We’re also deeply disappointed in the defective SunRail product FDOT delivered. The train service is limited to weekdays. There are service gaps of up to 2 ½ hours. No late-night service. There’s no trains to DeLand, even though that service was promised.

No surprise SunRail is used by fewer than 2,000 daily because its schedule is so inconvenient. SunRail’s potential is tremendous. There are at least 10,000 people on the SunRail track corridor who could be use the train daily.

SunRail was pitched as a vital element in the I-4 transportation network. Unless our leaders wake up, SunRail will run off the tracks in 2021 when FDOT departs. We’re furious because FDOT’s poor leadership, poor planning, poor attitude and indifference to customer satisfaction are responsible for SunRail’s failures.

Please get this railroad back on the tracks.

No SunRail, but lots of art

No one who rides SunRail on a regular basis should be surprised that SunRail WILL NOT be operating on Monday – Independence Day. Would have been nice, considering the huge July 4^th Celebration being held in downtown Orlando’s Lake Eola Park.

Despite the absence of SunRail on July 4^th, there’s still fun to be had, and all the excitement won’t necessarily be in downtown Orlando.

Winter Park is putting on a pretty good July 4^th shindig. Our friends at the Charles Morse Hosmer More Museum of American Art (445 N. Park Ave.) will be offering free admission for people to see the museum’s extraordinary collection that showcases opalescent glass (stained glass), paintings, pottery and much more.

The Morse Museum will be open 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. meanwhile Winter Park will be celebrating the holiday with a bicycle parade, horse-drawn wagon rides, live patriotic music and more. The city celebration will be 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Happy Independence Day!

What's with SunRail's new executive director

How come SunRail just named its first executive director?

That’s one of several questions that we recently presented to Florida Department of Transportation officials. See the responses provided by an FDOT spokeswoman: 

QUESTION: Help me understand the difference between what Tawny has been doing and what this new executive director will do?  

SunRail Executive Director Nicola Liquori

ANSWER: The Executive Director is an FDOT employee with overall responsibility for SunRail, ensuring that the mission of the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission and SunRail is accomplished consistent with Department goals and objectives. This includes oversight of daily operations, expansion of the system through Phases II and III, increasing ridership while managing costs, maintaining performance benchmarks, as well as administrative, financial and organizational management activities.  Tawny Olore is a consultant who provides guidance and support to the SunRail team. Like all SunRail employees and consultants, Ms. Olore will report to the Executive Director. 

QUESTION: Does SunRail's new executive director have passenger rail experience?  

ANSWER: SunRail’s executive director has 14 years of experience in user-financed transportation with FDOT at Florida’s Turnpike. This experience includes managing the financial aspects of a program with a $5 billion – 5-year capital plan, but also the daily operations of a 483-mile toll system with over 2.5 million transactions per day, management of eight service plazas along the Turnpike mainline and management of business development programs.

The SunRail team collectively has many years of passenger rail experience – the Executive Director brings the management experience of a complex transportation program. This experience will be key now that SunRail is operating a major commuter line (phase I), undertaking a major construction project (phase II) and beginning the development process for a new project (phase III).

QUESTION: Will SunRail's new executive director be focused on helping SunRail reach 7-day and late night service?

ANSWER: Yes, SunRail is at a critical time as the department begins Phase 2 South construction and planning for future expansions like to the Orlando International Airport and extensions of service such as possible nights and weekend service.

QUESTION: What happens to this executive director if the SunRail Commission (elected officials) decide to take over local management of the train system before 2021?

ANSWER: This is an item for future discussion. 

Use your SunRail ticket to unlock art treasure

Did you know that your SunRail ticket is a key to one of Florida’s greatest art treasures?

Seriously, it is.

From now and through September you can present your SunRail ticket for free admission to the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, 445 N. Park Ave. make sure you tell them you’re a SunRailRiders fan.

The museum -- only a 5-minute stroll from the Winter Park SunRail train platform -- is home of one of this nation’s most eye-popping collections of “leaded-glass” (stained glass) windows.

Don’t yawn. We didn’t realize what we were missing until we visited the Morse Museum last year. The works on display at this museum are stunning and you don’t have to be an art expert to enjoy the collection.

The museum showcases the opalescent glass windows and designs of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Surely you’ve heard of Tiffany & Co.? That business was founded by his family.

Our favorite part of the museum is the Tiffany Chapel, an awesome collection of mosaic art, leaded glass windows and Byzantine architecture that was originally created for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. It narrowly escaped destruction and has now been reconstructed in the Morse Museum. When you see it in person, you’ll understand why we’re crazy about it.

For more information on the museum and its programs, including tours, please click here.

The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Please note that the Morse Museum is usually closed on Mondays.

Who the heck is running SunRail?

Funny thing happened this week during the SunRail Customer Advisory Committee meeting.

The Florida Department of Transportation named  Nicola Liquori as the first-ever executive director of SunRail.

The announcement of the appointment was made several hours before the advisory committee met on Tuesday. For some baffling reason, the appointment information was not shared with advisory committee members who advocate for SunRail riders. Probably just a minor oversight, right?

Until now, we’ve been under the impression that FDOT engineer Tawny Olore was the main person calling the shots for SunRail. Now we get Nicola Liquori, who interestingly, comes to SunRail from Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise – a highway agency.

Florida’s Turnpike? Or to put it in the words of reader Simon Duvall: “Wouldn’t a person with a railroad background be a better choice?”

One would think so, especially since FDOT Nicola Liquori’s responsibilities at SunRail will include: finances, construction, maintenance, operations, rail corridors and safety.

It’s also curious this announcement was made about a month since Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who chairs the SunRail Commission, raised the idea of having local government take over the management of SunRail now instead of waiting until 2021 when FDOT funding for the rail system runs out.

A rider asked us if the executive director appointment is good or bad for SunRail riders. Hard to say. If Nicola Liquori is going to focus on expanding the train service to weekends and late-night service, that would be excellent.

But if she’s just another empty suit and a Rick Scott flunky, then she may as well stay out on the Turnpike collecting tolls.

Sound off Tuesday for better SunRail service

The decision to provide special SunRail service on Sunday to support the massive Pulse memorial event at Orlando’s Lake Eola in Orlando was the right call.

It is unfortunate that a special call had to be made, because SunRail should always be running 7 days per week. SunRail is a vital transportation resource, and the need for the train is not limited to Monday to Friday rush hours.

If you want to SunRail running on the weekends and late at night, please make your voice heard this Tuesday at SunRail’s Customer Advisory Committee meeting. This is one of the key forums for getting feedback from the public about the train service.

We attend their meetings and we know this committee, comprised of people who regularly ride SunRail, has been fighting valiantly to expand and improve train service. But they can’t do the job alone. They need the voices of more riders to back them up.

The beautiful thing about Tuesday’s meeting is that for the first time it will be held after business hours making it more convenient for more “regular” people to attend. Up to now the meetings were held in the morning and typically there were only two or three “regular” folks there.

Tuesday’s meeting begins at 5 p.m. in the LYNX office building at the LYNX Central Station, a major train and bus stop. This should make it easy for people to be able to attend the meeting and still catch the train or bus to go home.

This advisory committee meets once every three months, so please don’t miss this opportunity to attend and sound off.

See you at the meeting.