Sunrail has sold 6,500 passes in anticipation of May start up

[thelakelander]

SunRail handing out free round-trip tickets if you buy a pass

The SunRail commuter train, which starts picking up paying passengers May 1, has sold more than 6,500 passes and is offering a free round-trip ticket to anyone who buys a pass next week at two downtown Orlando office towers.

SunRail intends to sell 10,000 passes – which can be loaded with any amount of money – before opening day.

To help reach that goal, on Monday and Tuesday SunRail promoters will be in the lobby of the Bank of America building, 390 N. Orange Ave., and on Wednesday and Thursday at the SunTrust tower, 300 S. Orange Ave., handing out free tickets worth $4 with every pass purchased.

Downtown is a key location for SunRail because an estimated 95,000 people work there, many of them on a relatively set schedule. That makes them prime candidates for Central Florida's first fixed rail transit system.

"We're getting to the businesses to get to the employees," said Tawny Olore, the SunRail project manager.

full article: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-sunrail-passes-freebies-20140207,0,2734221.story

[spuwho]

That is pretty good considering it has 3 months before it starts service.

[Ocklawaha]

People just hate rail!

[Kerry]

Yet there are some people who just don't get it.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20130324/COLUMNS/303239985

I hate it when people opposed to rail say it will do nothing to alleviate highway congestion.  Taking the train to alleviate highway congestion is exactly like taking aspirin to cure a headache.  It only works if you are the one taking it.  If I take the train my traffic congestion is cured.  If I take the aspirin my headache is cured.  No matter how many aspirin I take it can never cure someone else headache.  The same goes for rail, only the people taking train see a decrease in traffic congestion.  Latent demand dictates that as soon as my car is taken off the road another car will be right there to take my space.  If so much capacity is built that latent demand is taken to zero, induced demand will take over.

[prahaboheme]

Here are some SunRail station progress updates:


Debary Station:











Sanford Station:



Lake Mary Station:








Longwood Station:





Altamonte Springs Station:









Maitland Station:





Winter Park Station:









Florida Hospital Station:















Orlando Amtrak Station:









Sand Lake Rd Station:









Lynx Central Station:





Church Street Station:

[Kerry]

Very cool pictures - thanks for posting.  Going over to see the progress has been on my todo list.  Maybe I'll go next Saturday.

[mtraininjax]

People will try free once, just to see if it is as good as advertised. Of course, the service has to live up to the billing to keep repeat customers. I am sure many of those paid passes were subsidized by corporations, so patrons have little downside at this moment.

[thelakelander]

Thanks for posting the construction pics, Prahaboheme.  I noticed the development next to Lynx Central Station has already broken ground.  Is there a decent amount of TOD already going up within walking distance of Sunrail's stations?

[prahaboheme]

There are a handful of new projects around the stations - i'd expect to see more once the first phase is actually up and running:


Lynx - Central Station development (under construction)
Lynx - Creative Village development (in planning - demolition of O'rena finished)

Florida Hospital Station - several projects under construction at Florida Hospital, who committed to centralizing their services to the downtown location due to SunRail
Florida Hospital Station - Health Village apartments under construction

Winter Park - building a new train station

Orlando Amtrak Station - ORMC hospital expansion project ongoing

Maitland Station:  Maitland Village condos / apt (proposed)

Longwood:  big TOD development proposed adjacent to SunRail

Kissimmee Station (Phase II):  Intermodal Center (SunRail, Amtrak, Greyhound, and Lynx), under construction (this is huge for downtown Kissimmee as it reroutes thousands of daily Lynx bus riders through downtown rather than to the mall).  This will be great for local businesses.

[prahaboheme]

More SunRail updates -- about 1.5 months to Phase I opening date:

Sand Lake Road Station:


Sand Lake Road SunRail Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Ticket Vending Machines at Sand Lake Road by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Sand Lake Road Handicapped Accessible Parking by Ride SunRail, on Flickr

Amtrak / Orlando Regional Hospital Station:


Orlando Health/Orlando Amtrak Station Platform by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Orlando Health/Amtrak Brick Work by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Orlando Amtrak/Orlando Health SunRail Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr

Church Street Station:


SunRail Train at Church Street Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Church Street SunRail Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Church Street Station Canopy Construction by Ride SunRail, on Flickr

Lynx Central Station:


Ticket Vending Machine at LYNX Central Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Ticket Vending Machine at LYNX Central Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


LYNX Central SunRail Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr

Florida Hospital Station:

Florida Hospital Station Platform by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Florida Hospital SunRail Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr

Winter Park Station:


Winter Park Station Canopies by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Winter Park Station from Central Park by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Welcome to Winter Park by Ride SunRail, on Flickr

Maitland Station:


Maitland Platform Finishes by Ride SunRail, on Flickr

Altamonte Springs Station:


Ticket Vending Machines at the Altamonte Springs Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Altamonte Springs Station Platform by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Altamonte Springs Station Landscaping by Ride SunRail, on Flickr

Longwood Station:


Longwood Station Platform and Canopy by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Longwood SunRail Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Longwood SunRail Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Longwood SunRail Station Landscaping by Ride SunRail, on Flickr

Lake Mary Station:


Lake Mary SunRail Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Ticket Vending Machines in Lake Mary by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Lake Mary SunRail Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr

Sanford Station:


Ticket Vending Machines on the Sanford Platform by Ride SunRail, on Flickr

DeBary Station:


DeBary SunRail Station Platform by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Ticket Vending Machines in DeBary by Ride SunRail, on Flickr


Welcome to the DeBary Station by Ride SunRail, on Flickr

[thelakelander]

Interesting movement happening in the background of these station pics.  Just like what happened in Charlotte, Austin, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Houston, etc., TOD has started popping up before the rail line is even complete.......even in the burbs!  Who in the world would have ever imagined fixed transit having the ability to achieve this in Florida, once a real local commitment is made? 

Lake Mary Station

200 Apartments Being Built Near Lake Mary SunRail Station

LAKE MARY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) -
Construction is under way and 18 months from now, people will move into the station house apartments. There will be two hundred luxury apartments just across the street from the Lake Mary Sun Rail station.

John Omana is Lake Mary's community development director. He says building apartments near the Sun Rail station is a concept called transit oriented development or T.O.D.

He says, "It's a term that's used in land use to really embrace the concept of live, work and play within a specific geographical area."

Four hundred people will live in the apartments, and businesses will move in to serve them.

Read more: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/23822699/200-apartments-being-built-near-lake-mary-sunrail-station#ixzz2wYlOUIWT


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WXtf9d4NXbI/UeRcdxZsszI/AAAAAAAAANQ/hTjSH7J_KmA/s1600/station+house.jpg



LYNX Central Station

Orlando SunRail station to get apartment complex

ORLANDO --

A new luxury apartment community is coming to Downtown Orlando, and will have SunRail at its back door.

"The employment growth is what we're looking for in terms of household formation and this is a great vibrant area," said Jay Curran, Crescent Communities vice president.

Thursday's groundbreaking ceremony makes Crescent Central Station official.

"It's a very central location that has been talked about for redevelopment for a very long period of time," Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said.

Crescent Central Station developers believe the new building fills a huge gap in downtown Orlando. The $56 million project will have 279 apartments with resort-style amenities and 12,000 square feet of ground level retail space. That is enough room for four to five small stores.

"I think the economy has rebounded and certainly SunRail played a big role in this transit oriented development," Dyer said. This locale is ideal right across from the (Orange County) courthouse but more importantly, right next to LYNX Central Station, right next to SunRail and the LYMMO line."

http://mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2014/2/6/new_apartment_comple.html


http://www.wpc.com/projects/aerials/images/fullsize/Crescent.jpg


http://crescentcentralstation.com/img/slide-2.jpg

You know how we kiss the ring of 200 Riverside?  Imagine something comparable to that popping up at multiple areas of the city and region, all directly linked together by reliable transit.  That is happening in the Orlando area now. Expect more, once AAF kicks into high gear.

[prahaboheme]

Hopefully this is just the beginning of infill projects around SunRail stations.

The Florida Hospital station is likely the most ambitious at the moment in terms of development and integration, as the hospital has made a major commitment to centralizing it's operations at the downtown location as a result of SunRail.  The Ivy at Health Village residences is a good start, and the continued growth of the hospital itself is creating a nice cluster just north of downtown.

Hopefully Orlando Health will follow suit and create key connections to the Orlando Amtrak station.

[mbwright]

so much better than BRT!!

[duvaldude08]

We could only dream of anything remotely close to that happening here. I give up on our city. Nothing good or productive ever occurs here. My way of dealing with it has been to block it out, but I dont think its working

[tufsu1]

We could only dream of anything remotely close to that happening here. I give up on our city. Nothing good or productive ever occurs here. My way of dealing with it has been to block it out, but I dont think its working

It has taken Orlando nearly 20 years to get SunRail up and running.  And keep in mind Orlando also said thanks but no thanks to Federal money for light rail about 15 years ago...that $ is now in Charlotte.