Service has begun. I don't know how financially feasible it is, but I really like the idea of trains. I'm sure nostalgia is part of it, though they weren't part of my life. It does seem like some kind of mass transit rather than all of us driving our cars down increasingly crowded interstates ought to be in the future. High-speed trains begin making trip between Orlando and Miami
We're planning to try it. Yeah it doesn't save any money over driving. But the turnpike from S FL to Orlando is so damn aggravating Fri-Sun. Way too much traffic for two lanes. Accidents, random accordian panic braking, it gets old fast. We're considering the train as a lower stress option.
If it allows commuters the option to “park and ride” it might make sense, but there likely isn’t the public transit infrastructure to compel this sort of commute like there is in northern cities. You can easily live in several cities like NYC, Boston, D.C, Chicago and maybe a few others without even thinking of driving your personal vehicle to the office (or possible without owning a vehicle at all if an urban dweller). I just don’t see that as possible in FL unless you live in a very strategic location and your workplace is also in a particularly convenient spot. Otherwise: parking, riding the train, then taking an Uber every day to finally arrive gets old and likely gets expensive fast relative to just doing the drive yourself. Without the efficient local public transit the convenience factor isn’t likely to be there. I expect that to be a fatal flaw, unfortunately. Though admittedly haven’t looked much into this. I’m just speaking from personal experience from being one of those “commuters” up north and knowing how bad most southern cities are by comparison.
I hope it’s successful, and I hope they expand to Tampa. I will absolutely use it next time I go to Orlando. If you are going to Disney for a few days you don’t really need a car anyway. And when you do, Uber is there. Sure you can drive to Orlando in about the same time, unless of course you hit rush hour, or there’s an accident, or bad weather. Driving is also tiring and stressful. I’d rather be sitting on a train. And yes, it will be more expensive to take the train, but if you are going to Disney, you already gave up on expense anyway.
This doesn't really reduce traffic, it just confines it to the end points. Once you're at the station you will still need transportation to get where you want to go. So now the traffic will be a bunch of Ubers instead of each traveler's car. Hopefully it will be profitable for the company.
Of course it reduces traffic. By how much is up for debate, as that depends on ridership. If you drive from Miami to Orlando you are still driving in Miami and Orlando. So that doesn't change whether you are driving your own car or in an Uber. The reduction in traffic would be between Miami and Orlando.
I think this makes sense in certain runs. Apparently Brightline is building a track from LA to Vegas where the train will run at 200mph. Scheduled for the 2028 LA Olympics. That will definitely be a hit.
OTOH Brightline Train Hits, Kills Pedestrian On First Day Of Expanded Service Not that it’s an issue of speed. Lived in West Palm for a while and this happened frequently as Floriduh Man apparently enjoys walking or sleeping on railroad tracks.
Apparently jumping in front of a Brightline trains is becoming a preferred method of suicide. We just can’t have nice things in this country.
I took the Brightline train from Miami to Orlando this weekend. Left at 1045AM on Friday and got back at 615PM Sunday. Everything was clean, modern, and on time. No hassles getting to the train station. Lyft was not ready to pick up passengers from the train station as its drivers had no idea where to go. Fixed by Sunday. It was great and easy experience. Traveling alone, its probably the most economical value. Want less hassles with families then this might be a solution. The Orlando airport is nowhere near anything so getting a rideshare will cost you. Hopefully, their plans for a station on International Drive pan out. LESS STRESSFUL than flying!
Railways, say anti-car puritans, are part of the solution to America’s supposed transportation horrors. Collectivist bliss on the tracks is the way to go, efficient, planet-saving and (whispers) a gift to organized labor. Driving where and when you want is so retrograde. People will leap at the chance of hopping on a train. Fixed destination. Fixed timetable (theoretically). None of that pesky choice! Bloomberg (emphasis added): The Brightline train running from Miami to Orlando, lauded as an alternative vision for the future of American rail travel, is making some investors anxious. The concerns have amped up since Bloomberg reported earlier this month that Brightline was going to delay an interest payment on $1.2 billion of bonds it issued through the municipal-bond market, one of several different types of debt issued by various arms of the company. Brightline’s ridership and revenue have lagged projections, creating a growing number of financial hurdles for the Fortress Investment Group-backed project and defying the enthusiasm about the train shared by Ron DeSantis and Joe Biden. Florida’s Brightline Passenger Rail Service Struggling | National Review Sounds like Brightline could be in deep water financially.
One of my wife’s nieces who lives near one of the first stops heading South rides it to Miami twice a month- she loves it but says the train is fairly empty
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article308679915.html Deadliest train in the US. That's Florida excellence baby.
It seems the inefficient and wasteful private sector just cant do mass transportation and deliver public goods, but the train does seem good at killing people
It seems incredibly difficult to accidentally get hit by a train. It's not even a high speed train. Go GATORS! ,WESGATORS
I want Brightline to succeed as well. The travel industry in general has been down, though. Most airlines are struggling too because Americans are not traveling as much due to uncertainty with the economy. I read somewhere recently that every privately owned rail company in the US has eventually failed in one way or another. If Brightline succeeds as a non-subsidized private passenger US rail line it would stand alone in recent history. All other companies like it have failed in one way or another. Some closed down while others had to be subsidized by the government to save them. If Brightline fails it would prove Florida Republicans right that rail is not sustainable. I thought Brightline’s competitive strategy was sound trying to connect routes that are too short to fly but also long enough where driving might be inconvenient.
Well in the article it says some places in South Florida have intentionally silenced train horns because it was bothering people who lived near the tracks. They have been cutting corners on safety and have tried to make it seem like more of the deaths are suicides than they likely are.
