SunRail Pulls Out and Away From Metro Jacksonville

[Ocklawaha]

They only stopped and celebrated 8x BEFORE my second attempt at Church St with a Sunrail rep!!  Lots of time to read and respond since all he did was hang around. The conductor could have overruled his stance but was making nice with officials.

[nswain1110]

How rude of the Steve guy - what an ass! If you're a dick, the general rule is to not work in customer facing positions...

[Trilby]

Seeing at this was MY son who was crying I can not sympathize for this man "just doing his job." Have you ever seen a 6 year old cry because he was denied his first train ride? Only because of some poor communication errors with a poorly run business? WHEN THERE WERE EMPTY SEATS!?!?

My father was told he didn't need a ticket to ride the train due to short notice, and that he WOULD BE GRANTED ACCESS, he CLEARLY writes for metrojacksonville.com , a media/press business. This rightfully gives him access to a press pass. not to mention he has been a HUGE supporter for rail transit. but unfortunately some God-Complex "Steve" ruined my sons first rail experience, and his chance at a great positive story my father could have shared. After my son woke up at 5:00 a.m. on a school day, took the day off from school, rode 1.5 hrs in a car with his grandparents ... to get told "our bad, but you're not getting on. sorry not sorry."  and then went to the station in Downtown Orlando to get told no, yet again?!

SUNRAIL has many apologies owed to my family.

It doesn't take heart to run a business. but it takes a heart to run a GOOD business. With my dad's business cards he should have been allowed on this train with his family. The headquarters should have been contacted before departure. The whole thing is a shame on Sunrail experience. There is quite literally no other way to put it.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Seeing at this was MY son who was crying I can not sympathize for this man "just doing his job." Have you ever seen a 6 year old cry because he was denied his first train ride? Only because of some poor communication errors with a poorly run business? WHEN THERE WERE EMPTY SEATS!?!?

My father was told he didn't need a ticket to ride the train due to short notice, and that he WOULD BE GRANTED ACCESS, he CLEARLY writes for metrojacksonville.com , a media/press business. This rightfully gives him access to a press pass. not to mention he has been a HUGE supporter for rail transit. but unfortunately some God-Complex "Steve" ruined my sons first rail experience, and his chance at a great positive story my father could have shared. After my son woke up at 5:00 a.m. on a school day, took the day off from school, rode 1.5 hrs in a car with his grandparents ... to get told "our bad, but you're not getting on. sorry not sorry."  and then went to the station in Downtown Orlando to get told no, yet again?!

SUNRAIL has many apologies owed to my family.

It doesn't take heart to run a business. but it takes a heart to run a GOOD business. With my dad's business cards he should have been allowed on this train with his family. The headquarters should have been contacted before departure. The whole thing is a shame on Sunrail experience. There is quite literally no other way to put it.

Perspective?

[tpot]

http://touch.orlandosentinel.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-80076743/

[thelakelander]

http://www.youtube.com/v/51l3o6HGmPs?version=3&hl=en_US

Evil Steve aside, lots of people are checking the train out.  It's been so full, some people are getting pissed off..

SunRail was running mostly on schedule today, although nearly 100 passengers had to wait for another train during the evening ride home because the one they wanted was full.

"This is crazy man. They need to know better than this. This is going to lose them a lot of people," said Frank Reiffenstein, who was at the Lynx downtown station and could not get on the 4:28 northbound train because it was packed.

The 4:28 p.m. run also was 25 minutes late, but the next train arrived on time at 5:02 and Reiffenstein and everyone else on the platform were able to board. The 6:28 northbound train ran a few minutes late but had some open seats.

Passengers feared a repeat of Thursday – SunRail's opening day – which saw trains delayed as much as an hour because the system was overwhelmed by nearly 11,000 riders. SunRail expects to average 4,300 daily during its first year.

But there appeared to be fewer people riding out of curiosity today, and SunRail dispatched an extra train during the off hours, which helped keep the rest of the system on time. Officials did not issue a ridership estimate for today.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/sunrail/os-sunrail-day-2-20140502,0,2169572.story

[Scrub Palmetto]

Well....... the photos are nice!

It's a real shame your grandson's trip was ruined. And it's a shame that while Orlando audiences get to construct a fuller picture of how opening day went with a multitude of anecdotes, reports, and interviews, the big story for Jacksonville audiences is... the rudeness of Steve.

I don't mean for that to sound snarky. Your story needs to be told, but I'm frustrated that this isn't just one of several anecdotes coming from Jax-based media. News4Jax has a tiny, cringe-worthy blurb about it, of course calling it "light rail." (Wonderful reporting.) Heck, in 2009, a Times-Union writer called SunRail important for potentially paving the way for commuter rail in Jax, and they couldn't send anyone down there on opening day? Jax-based media followed the proposal, the legislative battle, the groundbreaking, the ups and downs of getting it built, and even the unveiling of the train schedules, and come opening day... crickets. Almost like they were only waiting for it to not actually happen.

If Jax truly cared about its future, it would have all eyes on how its neighbors are conquering theirs. And this was an important moment -- the country's newest commuter rail system begins operation, less than 100 miles outside Jax's borders. But countless Jaxsons are left to be surprised by its very existence in person, the next time they happen to be down there.

[thelakelander]

^Yeah, unfortunately, Jax doesn't care.  If we truly paid attention to the world outside of NE Florida, we'd be doing a lot of things different.

[Charles Hunter]

Maybe SunRail should have promised WJXT, FCN, and Action News a gun-toting teacher having sex with a student - then the local media would have been all over it.

[JeffreyS]

+1

[floridaal]

I was in Winter Park so I decided to try out Sunrail.  The plan was to take the 6:06PM southbound.  After waiting 25 minutes or so I gave up but was still in the area.  It did not arrive until around 7:00PM, with the 6:36PM arriving around 7:10PM.   There were quite a few waiting there when I left.  The Sunrail person on duty blamed it on the heavy usage.   Probably not the first impression they were hoping to make.

[peestandingup]

Sounds like they've forgotten how this whole thing works.

[spuwho]

Waiting 25 minutes for a train that is running not only free but for the first time ever is not a demerit against the system.

When paying fares start and patterns emerge over the next few months, I seriously doubt you would see delays like this.

Also when the newness wears off and people start riding for a purpose train men can be way more disciplined about door closures.

Check back in 2 months. If they still have on time issues then there is an issue.

[Jdog]

Well....... the photos are nice!

It's a real shame your grandson's trip was ruined. And it's a shame that while Orlando audiences get to construct a fuller picture of how opening day went with a multitude of anecdotes, reports, and interviews, the big story for Jacksonville audiences is... the rudeness of Steve.

I don't mean for that to sound snarky. Your story needs to be told, but I'm frustrated that this isn't just one of several anecdotes coming from Jax-based media. News4Jax has a tiny, cringe-worthy blurb about it, of course calling it "light rail." (Wonderful reporting.) Heck, in 2009, a Times-Union writer called SunRail important for potentially paving the way for commuter rail in Jax, and they couldn't send anyone down there on opening day? Jax-based media followed the proposal, the legislative battle, the groundbreaking, the ups and downs of getting it built, and even the unveiling of the train schedules, and come opening day... crickets. Almost like they were only waiting for it to not actually happen.

If Jax truly cared about its future, it would have all eyes on how its neighbors are conquering theirs. And this was an important moment -- the country's newest commuter rail system begins operation, less than 100 miles outside Jax's borders. But countless Jaxsons are left to be surprised by its very existence in person, the next time they happen to be down there.

Be nice to have a little reconnaissance on something like this?


http://www.abccentralflorida.com/flyers/ABCBldrBrkfst_05_06_2014.pdf

[JC]

"Going to report on the Sunrail opening, Robert Mann gets more then he bargained for. A grandson rings in the new era with the Mayor of Debary, and a Sunrail official leaves him crying on the platform."

It's more than, not more then.