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  • 3 months later...

I like this video. 

I am hoping after Phase II opens they start really focusing on whatever Phase IV will be.  With Phase III being tied up by more than just SunRail itself, we'll just hope that gets done.  The next phase beyond the airport (whatever that may be) will be the biggest step yet!

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Transportation to the west and northwest would be nice and it could bring Lake county into Mass transit fold,  however I’ve always opined that Sunrail to the tourist attractions and to UCF makes better sense at this point.  UCF has 64,000 millenials a demographic known to utilize public transportation  not to mention Sunrail would connect the Main campus to the downtown campus.  Also train service to the tourist areas is more desirable because  a majority of Metro Orlando work at the attractions and it would provide a link for tourists to visit our city centers. 

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Shuttles between campuses for sure, not that they are that reliable. I remember a good number of times those shuttles breaking down between the Rosen campus and the main campus . Also Sunrail can take you home from campus where a shuttle will not. Imagine if Sunrail were to only capture 1% of the student population that’s 6400 ppl. That’s significantly higher then our ridership now!!

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1 hour ago, Jernigan said:

Interesting, please elaborate 

I think @Urban Mail Carrier's point is that SunRail to UCF isn't just about connecting the campuses.  It's about connecting UCF to the entire region via public transit.   Much more than a campus-to-campus shuttle.

Edited by uncreativeusername
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6 hours ago, uncreativeusername said:

I think @Urban Mail Carrier's point is that SunRail to UCF isn't just about connecting the campuses.  It's about connecting UCF to the entire region via public transit.   Much more than a campus-to-campus shuttle.

Yes.  I can't ride a shuttle from UCF.  I could ride SunRail on the same path.

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We’ve seen this already with the existing service.   People say they would ride but if you are as close to Downtown as UCF/Waterford is (similar to Altamonte/Longwood to Downtown, right?) the relative ease and low cost of driving coupled with the local traffic that makes getting to your SunRail station difficult is going to kill it.   That’s the reason my friends in those cities don’t take the train - 434 and 436 are too congested and they can’t mentally pass I-4 west without just getting on and going to work.

Also the idea of “SunRail will take you home” in a world of walled communities is questionable.   No ones walking in that area and it could be a half mile to your subdivision entrance plus however far the station is from there.

Edited by Jernigan
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For me, and I can only speak for me, my lack of SunRail use (only a dozen times so far) is purely on the where-to-where.  I don't live nor do I work along the line.  If I did, I know for a fact that I would use it more.

We live out East in unincorporated OC beyond the bus service, so yes, it is completely beyond us.  My wife uses it on a regular basis because she works downtown and does business (plus lunch/shopping) along the route.  We have actually talked about selling our home and getting a home near SunRail, but it just isn't effective enough YET for us to make a major life decision like that around.  Although, if they ever get their act together and drop the Lymmo in favor of a much larger/expanded street car program it would probably be a big enough factor.

Dreams.  Dreams.

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100% Airport Intermodal to Main Line at Meadow Woods and then over to I-Drive/Convention Center/Universal/Seaworld area should be the priority. 

This is what the MagLev was supposed to do, but now that it's dead in the water, SunRail should look more to do this connection as opposed to just being "Commuter Rail" for suburbs. There is not enough ridership for Commuter Rail from suburbs at this point. They should connect it to actual traffic draws. 

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Technically, maglev states it's just waiting for new Orange County leadership and isn't dead but yeah, I'd say it's dead. Issue with East/West SunRail routes are the lack of rail lines (ironically thanks in part to the many bikes trails in the area). Elevated lines, like what maglev called for, would be difficult with the current SunRail trains.

If a MCO to I-Drive connector happens I'd love to see it run up Kirkman. A bus dedicated lanethe length of Kirkman is in the long term plans but light rail along this route would be even better. 

As far as UCF goes, I think something like earlier  proposed gondola system is a better option. I live 1 block from a SunRail station (Winter Park) and rarely use it because it doesn't run when I need it, like nights and weekends. I suspect the same would be true for UCF students. I know when I was there for grad school all my classes were late afternoon and evenings, often times with classes not getting out until 10 PM and me not getting out to my car well past 11 or 12. 

I suspect the next leg after Phase 2 and 3 would be the Orange Blossom Express simply because the tracks already exist and many of the stations (Mt. Dora, Eustis, Tavares, Winter Garden) do as well. It'd be great to see them add a stop in the upcoming Packing District too. 

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If (big IF) they can get the politics out of SunRail and focus on serving the people, it might be something.  As it stands there are people who feel that public transportation (oddly... they never seem to feel that way about driving their cars on the roads!!! ODDLY) should make the government money and they are basically the NIMBYs of the rail world.

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Want a totally out-of-the-box idea (maybe)?  Downtown to UCF to the Cape.  

From where I live, it takes longer to get to Disney than KSC (taking into account traffic).  For some reason, the KSC seems disconnected from the rest of the metro.  It's really not that far away at all and it's a huge economic engine.

Why not connect two of our greatest economic assets -  UCF and the Cape?  It would provide a shot in the arm to UCF and would build upon its engineering/tech program.  There is a natural synergy there. From the KSC perspective, many young engineers that Tesla and Blue Origins targets would probably rather live downtown than Titusville.  

Bring that area into the metro.

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That is a very good idea. It matches up with the tech area/research park of UCF and the tech/space center area. Maybe if/when they get Brightline from Cocoa, could actually just use brightline  to go to that area and have DT to UC and then South to Brighline along 528 and back over to MCO Intermodal.  I do think that the Intermodal Station will serve its eventual purpose as a main hub for a lot of this and we will see more interconnection/spurs/nodal system off it with lighter rail and slower speeds to connect everything together. 

It really just makes sense to try to connect the existing SunRail line to the Intermodal ASAP in order to grow the network. Hyperloop is an awesome idea, but I agree with Hank above that it has a long way to go. I don't envision them building out hyperloop technology for all the node/spur lines, just the main lines between major cities, then using other older or easier technology to build out the local networks. 

Edited by dcluley98
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4 hours ago, Urban Mail Carrier said:

Well the latest suggestion or DREAM was for Sunrail to go to Clermont or Apopka which I agree with. However a more sensible goal would be to shoot for UCF and the tourist attractions first. We can revisit the northwestern corridor later on.

I know John Mica was pushing real hard for that to happen, the tracks are in place and have supposedly already been upgraded to support the commuter train up to 60mph, they needed train stations and trainsets. And his plan was to take the old trainsets from Tri-Rail in South Florida as they upgraded theirs so we wouldn't need new ones, so it'd be a very small fraction of the cost that Sunrail was per mile. Volusia was also looking at extending it to Daytona Beach. My understanding the problem with going to UCF is there is no viable route or infrastructure in place. The ridership would need to be much, much higher to support that. The tourist route is the obvious one thats likely to be a success, but the airport is very against that due to fear of lost rental car revenue, which is what killed the maglev proposal. I just hope its an elevated route that can run frequently enough to make it a success. If they can partner with Universal... give Universal a better response to Disney's magical express, it will get the ridership, and could even be self sustaining on top of taking a ton of cars off the road. I doubt we'll see this happen though, the airport and Disney will kill it.

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1 hour ago, I am Reality said:

Want a totally out-of-the-box idea (maybe)?  Downtown to UCF to the Cape.  

From where I live, it takes longer to get to Disney than KSC (taking into account traffic).  For some reason, the KSC seems disconnected from the rest of the metro.  It's really not that far away at all and it's a huge economic engine.

Why not connect two of our greatest economic assets -  UCF and the Cape?  It would provide a shot in the arm to UCF and would build upon its engineering/tech program.  There is a natural synergy there. From the KSC perspective, many young engineers that Tesla and Blue Origins targets would probably rather live downtown than Titusville.  

Bring that area into the metro.

I totally didn't see any of the other replies when I posted my last post, but I also like this idea, but the big showstopper is thus far, Brevard County doesn't seem to play well with transit and trains especially. Extending Sunrail "north" to Daytona Beach has been proposed and studied as Volusia is on board, but I agree KSC/Cape would be better to have a real high tech line instead of a tourist oriented one (although tourists should be happy with that route too).

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This is very true about routes. The reason people are saying OB Express is because the tracks are there and ready. I just don't think it necessarily would be best to actually grow the system. There is no clear way to UCF from downtown, would have to be full buildout. People before have suggested using 408 ROW or Colonial, but I just don't know how that would be feasible. It's a great idea, but hard to execute. 

IMO MCO Intermodal to I-drive is the only really good answer. There is some trackage down there but the use is for other business and industrial parks, not transportation. Partnership with Universal, SeaWorld and Convention Center would be ideal because as Aent said, a big barrier to this is Disney and the Airport not wanting to give up their revenue producers and their own ecosystem. If it is a subsidized public transportation line it takes money out of their pockets. (which kinda doesn't make sense overall since they built the intermodal station just to expand). I guess they just want to hold onto all the DOT Grants to use for Inter-City travel and keep their own systems for surface traffic to have their cake and eat it too. 

The DOT needs to either force their hand or the other major players need to be in on it to compete with Disney and GOAA. 

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What needs to be done is going to take money. We can't we handcuffed by what frieght haulers decided to do decades ago.  If the population grew to the east of town, we need transit to the east of town. 

We have already short-changed the transit system for monetary reasons.  I've said it before...SunRail uses 100 year-old technology.  

If it's going to be done right, it will cost real money.  Orando would not be the first city to build a rail line from scratch.  

We should not throw money at the tourism-stuff and leave local residents as an afterthought. If we allow that to happen, we get what we deserve.

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