SunRail ridership grows despite glitches

[thelakelander]

Sunrail ridership is growing despite going through some initial growing pains.

Ridership is climbing on the SunRail commuter train, despite glitches ranging from balky crossing gates and ticket machines to crowded cars during the evening commute.

Each day, on average, more than 4,100 people board SunRail — just a bit fewer than the 4,300 average expected during the first year.

Passenger counts are expected to keep rising, particularly early next year. That's when a six-year, $2.3 billion construction project starts on Interstate 4, Central Florida's main transportation artery.

"In general, I think [SunRail] it's good, but there are things that need to be worked out," said David Porter, who founded the rider-advocacy website SunRailRiders.com.

He typically rides SunRail three times a week and talks with passengers often. One of the biggest complaints he hears, he said, is that passengers forced to stand have few ways to steady themselves, especially during crowded evening rides home.

Porter, who has a PR firm and is a former editor at the Sentinel, contends SunRail officials should install poles and ceiling straps or add a third car to the more popular runs.

SunRail spokesman Steve Olson said additional hardware is not in the offing.

"We have hand rails [spaced in certain areas in the passenger cars] and hand holds on the seats for riders to hold on to," he wrote in an email to the Orlando Sentinel.

A third car, he wrote, "is an option, if needed." He did not elaborate.

SunRail added not only a third car, but also an extra two trains, during early May, when it was offering free rides and was overrun with passengers. Ridership fell from a high of more than 17,000 on its last day of freebies — May 16 — to 3,190 on May 19, the first day fares were charged.

Boardings have slowly grown, with the biggest loads on the evening rides and Fridays, when SunRail officials say passengers going out for lunch and dinner join the regular commuters.

full article: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/sunrail/os-sunrail-early-performance-20140614,0,7113612.story