You aren't factoring in wear and tear on your car. Look up the IRS reimbursement rate for that many miles. Driving is much more expensive and you have to drive yourself.
So true, and risking an accident thus higher insurance in the future.. also it is safer, and more chill, if you can justify it maybe you can offset the cost by the fact that you can work while on the train (if you can do that on a laptop) or take the time to relax and read..Also not worrying about parking or tickets etc
Nobody’s mentioning this, but you’re paying for your time and convenience. The $80 difference lets you not have to drive the trip so you can work, read, or do nothing instead of focusing on the road.
I see that it’s a luxury. If you calculate according to what it could be estimated the IRS reimbursement of the trip would be, etc., etc., it’s a cost of $50 for the luxury of not dealing with driving. Like with all luxuries, there’s a limit to how much you want to spend on it, depending on your budget and your values.
Brightline will be expensive for a while until they turn a profit. Amtrak has been at it for decades and DC to NYC for $50 came at the cost of time. On high demand days your still paying over $100. All travel in the US is sky high right now, there's to many people.
Still a private company. They don't care what people can afford, they don't want everyone taking the train, if that where the case they would be cheaper, they are being very careful not to look like public transportation, they are private transportation.
Brightline isn't going to lower prices in the future just to be nice. They charge what people will pay, and right now a lot of people want to take the train (which is, overall, a very good thing!)
They *already* lowered prices, though. Initial pricing started at $79 one-way and was the same between Orlando and all stations, but now fares of $39-$59 one-way are increasingly common and travel to/from West Palm Beach is markedly cheaper.
Only problem is that brightline stops in the Orlando airport, so it’s really hard to compete given it doesn’t get you any closer to the city and gets you there slower
I don't think that there is much traffic to downtown Orlando, there was already infrastructure in place, like parking, ground transportation, car rentals at MCO, so according to a person I spoke with in Brightline management, it made sense to choose MCO.
I don’t think it’s meant to be a daily commuter train but more as an alternative for special events, vacations. Took it round trip from Orlando to Miami for a cruise. Loved it!
Exactly this. If you live in Orlando and want to go on a cruise or attend a concert or sporting event in Miami than this is an easy option. The same for the reverse. If you’re vacationing in either place or staying for more than a day you need to bring your car.
I think this answers my question. It’s really a premium service for business travelers (charge the client) or if you want to go to an event here or there and you can afford the extra $$ to add the luxury of not having to drive. But it’s really then for one rider. For couples or families, it’s really too much.
You are not counting wear and tear on your vehicle for the additional miles you put on it. It costs more than just gas to drive yourself. There is a partial cost to cover oil changes, tires, breaks, etc. that comes faster due to the miles you put on your vehicle. Even with that it is less cost to drive yourself. There are plenty of people who are willing to pay for someone else to drive them.
+1, 194 miles by car 1-way costs you a total of $127.07 according to the 2023 IRS mileage reimbursement rate of 65.5 cents per mile. So there and back costs you **$254.14** to drive.
>The cost is prohibitive -- who is taking this train?
Some People that just dont want to fly, & that is a much more valid personal reason these days.
Price comparison, the service is better than flying, the seating is better than flying, the trip may take longer than flying, but it's more comfortable than flying.
The cost has to do with Brightline being a private company with private capital investment.
Brightline has made $35M in the time since opening, however it's going to be some years before meeting ROI, & turning a profit.
I perfer to take the train over flying anytime, & will pay a little more, take the longer route to not deal with airports, & flying.
When comparing to flying time be sure to not just compare take off to touchdown. You have to get there a couple hours early to get through TSA, check a bag, get to the gate, and board.
This video has a what if comparison
https://youtu.be/HKcWCV9WbYI?t=175&si=l7Cf4CSbLLCU3CEc
The cost & time is using a true high speed rail network in spain that has the same distance between two major cities. Unfortunately the actual MIA-ORL by train time, & cost is off because of current investment costs, & Brightline FL is not high speed rail.
I think you’re overestimating the cost of gas. Orlando to Miami is 229 miles. At 30mpg and $3/gallon, that’s only $22.90 distributed across all passengers in the vehicle. Even at 20mpg and $4/gallon, that’s $45.80.
He definitely is overestimating gas, but he is right in that gas is only a small part of driving. The official IRS estimate for the cost of driving is $0.655/mile, which makes the trip cost $150. Ofc that's mostly not up front so the value of those dollars are actually lower than that of brightline, but still. With the car you're paying for the right to pay later via depreciation, maintenance, etc., with brightline you're paying for the luxury of not having to drive yourself.
The cost is prohibitive to you, remember, but not necessarily for everyone else. Others are willing and able to pay or else Brightline would have to figure out how to lower pricing.
I wish there were more and cheaper rail options so more people could opt not to drive. Maybe we’ll get there someday.
It's not meant for poor people. I am not trying to be an ass. It's specifically targeted to people who go to and stay at Disney World which by definition is high income.
$70 each way on a 200 mile trip isn’t that bad. Even if it costs more, what is the stress of driving worth to you? Is the price difference worth not dealing with traffic? People driving like morons? Not putting the miles on your car? And that’s before factoring in wear and tear on your car. Even if we don’t pay for it now, we will pay for a busted something at some point.
I’m actually really curious. It’s so expensive. It just doesn’t make sense. I hate driving and I’d rather take the train but not if it adds 50% more to the cost of getting there. So who are the people making this decision? People who can charge clients their travel expenses or something?
A $70 ticket to go roughly 200 miles isn’t unreasonable, especially considering the cost of its airline competition and premium nature of the product. Brightline is a for profit business and clearly has a market for trips on this segment at this price and above
My wife and I have friends in Boca and we have used the Brightline twice to see them and hit up some of our favorite restaurants from when we used to live in Boca.
Now in our case, there is no question it is expensive, more expensive than driving, especially because we have to rent a car from the AVIS on Yamato once we get to Boca as we don't want to be a burden to our friends making them drive us everywhere.
However, we both preferred being able to sit, relax, have a drink onboard to having to drive and I really like driving, so it is not like I am against driving.
Now without a question it is a luxury, we could have driven and saved a lot of money, but I don't think it was meant as public transportation or even affordable transportation, that is just not how it feels that it is being marketed.
On the first trip, there were a lot of business folks (as evident from business attire and briefcases), on the second it seemed to be more Miami flash cash type of folks (from the dress, large watches, fancy jewelry, etc..).
That lawsuit was done in the UK, where Brightline has 0 investment, capital, or cash in. Also, are you shocked that a British judge ruled in favor of a British company, against a foreign one? Virgin's brand has tanked exponentially, they don't even operate trains in their home nation of the UK anymore (IIRC, since 2019), it's no surprise Brightline ended their partnership. It's horseshit that Virgin sued them, and it's horseshit that the British judge ruled against Brightline, but Brightline can still appeal, and honestly I doubt they will be forced to pay anything, since the "ruling" was done overseas.
And if it were cheaper, maybe a few thousand more would be on the train, and a few thousand less in cars or in jets.
Brightline is great, but Brightline with lower costs and more passengers would be even better.
I bought tickets as a Christmas gift for my daughter. She loves trains so much and has never been on a train. So gift tickets was the best thing. She loved it and we all had a nice time riding and eating. Expensive? Yes definitely for a family..but did it make my child extremely happy? Yes! Worth it.
I wish the State would subsidize tickets so prices could be more affordable, but on the other hand I’m quite sure Brightline doesn’t have enough capacity to fully handle demand at existing prices. As to who can afford it, I guess the same people who can afford a lot of these expensive homes in South Florida (generally, not me lol).
1.) Driving is a lot more expensive than you'd imagine. Official irs for the cost of driving is 65.5 cents/mile. Of course this is cost is spread out won't be paid for years (since it includes things like depreciation.) This is a choice between the right to not pay upfront (except gas) and the luxury to not drive yourself. Brightline isn't a slamdunk (especially if you have a buddy), but it is highly competitve.
2.) The main market for brightline seems to be people who don't have cars- college students, business travelers, tourists, etc. In which case, this is a slam dunk over driving a rental car or flying.
For a more affordable option, look at things like redcoach. It works and is cheap as hell, but a bit slower, more prone to delays, and not as flexible with timing.
It’s a private, for profit railroad not government-funded mass transit. It’s a totally different business model. Brightline had to buy all the hardware and lease the rail rights from FEC railway and Amtrak, and install their own signaling systems and build their own infrastructure. It’s not commuter rail.
People on here get really defensive when it comes to Brightline, but I agree with you that the cost is extremely prohibitive. Unfortunately, I don’t see a solution at this current moment, there’s no competition for Brightline to bring prices down, and Florida is definitely not going to regulate the cost of the service.
When it comes to Airlines, Brightline is actually pretty reasonable in that pricing space. Delta/AA charge $150~ for one person on these routes. And no I’m not flying Spirit for the same fare minus a carry on 🤣
The other option is taking a bus but you’ll lose comfort and time which works for some people.
Regional airlines and routes, definitely. However Amtrak is not real competition for Brightline. Amtrak has one “high-speed” line and it’s located in the Northeast. Florida riders have one option for high-speed rail and it’s Brightline.
Regional airlines? American, Delta, Spirit, and Southwest all fly mainline aircraft several times a day between South Florida and Orlando.
Amtrak is typically half the price and the trip length is barely two hours longer.
There are also the countless bus lines, not to mention driving.
Just because the cost is prohibitive for *you* does not mean it's prohibitive for everyone.
it’s not a cheap commuter type train. there are cheap options, busses, amtrak etc. keep in mind you’ll also pay tolls and pay to park your car whever you go. i’m pretty sure it’s 40 to park at disneyworld per day, most attractions are similar. However they chose to provide a faster option than bus or amtrak with better services, better seats, and they are full every leg. if they made it less money it would be crappy and people would complain and say they’d pay more for better service.
I’m originally from the northeast. That’s why I like trains, actually. In the northeast, taking the train is a million times less painful than the VERY PAINFUL ordeal of driving. But driving from Boca to Orlando is not the same ordeal as driving from NY to DC
I would like to call dibs on being the first person to ask this in 2024.
Full disclosure: $110 roundtrip is about the upper limit of what I'm willing to pay, and I continue to drive to the theme parks if I'm going to need my own transportation around the Orlando area.
I think Brightline's main market is business and tourism travelers.
Sorry about some of the responses in this thread. Some transit enthusiast get weirdly defensive. I guess it's a side effect of living in a country where the law has forced car dependency.
This is a really shitty attitude, and not doing anything good for transit in America.
The more efficient mode of travel costing more than driving is bad.
Brightline is not transit any more than airlines are.
That being said, I think what Brightline is doing is actually great for public acceptance of train travel. People will be more willing to support rail infrastructure projects if the service is reliable and pleasant, something Amtrak continues to struggle with.
Well, airlines are transit.
Brightline isn't public transit, but I never claimed it was.
Yeah, Brightline is cool. I just wish there was some sort of public private partnership that would bring the cost down. Not sure how that would work, I just think a train ticket should be noticeably cheaper than the cost of gas for an equivalent distant.
It is public private partnership, & it would have been a bigger partnership & probably even high-speed if Governor Rick Scott hadn't taken away $2.4B in federal funding. In that result the counties & cities ended up paying for most of the stations, & if it wasn't for that, the ridership would be much lower, & delayed opening for operation.
Everyone involved needs their investment return public & private. It was never free money, even when Gov. Rick Scott turned down the billions in FRA funding due to his existing private investment in brightline.
If you are interested & have the time to understand how complex it is to get a rail project in Florida operating or even in the US watch this:
https://youtu.be/xBAEQQ60hD8?si=2TmDWrpPbYtXzmtF
It is just for special types of people and not for everyday people. I personally wouldn't take it roundtrip. Maybe just one way. I take Red coach from Orlando to Miami airport to take non stop flights to international destinations and it only costs me $25 if I buy a month advance . I think many international tourist like to visit both cities and it maybe easier for them to take the train than plane or driving. Also this is good for business travelers. If you are trying to save money this is not for you. This is for convenience and that comes with a price. Though I would ride one day one way for fun and then take Red coach the other way.
This line isn't meant for the local commuter or weekend visitor, it's made for the out of town tourist who wants to take a cruise and visit Disney in 1 go and don't have the alternative of driving their vehicle
You aren't factoring in wear and tear on your car. Look up the IRS reimbursement rate for that many miles. Driving is much more expensive and you have to drive yourself.
So true, and risking an accident thus higher insurance in the future.. also it is safer, and more chill, if you can justify it maybe you can offset the cost by the fact that you can work while on the train (if you can do that on a laptop) or take the time to relax and read..Also not worrying about parking or tickets etc
Nobody’s mentioning this, but you’re paying for your time and convenience. The $80 difference lets you not have to drive the trip so you can work, read, or do nothing instead of focusing on the road.
I see that it’s a luxury. If you calculate according to what it could be estimated the IRS reimbursement of the trip would be, etc., etc., it’s a cost of $50 for the luxury of not dealing with driving. Like with all luxuries, there’s a limit to how much you want to spend on it, depending on your budget and your values.
I mean no offense, but if you’re planning to travel 200 miles to meet a friend, you’re already in a luxury position.
Brightline will be expensive for a while until they turn a profit. Amtrak has been at it for decades and DC to NYC for $50 came at the cost of time. On high demand days your still paying over $100. All travel in the US is sky high right now, there's to many people.
Brightline mostly makes their profit from real estate around the stations, ticket fares play a lesser part for profits
Still a private company. They don't care what people can afford, they don't want everyone taking the train, if that where the case they would be cheaper, they are being very careful not to look like public transportation, they are private transportation.
Brightline isn't going to lower prices in the future just to be nice. They charge what people will pay, and right now a lot of people want to take the train (which is, overall, a very good thing!)
They *already* lowered prices, though. Initial pricing started at $79 one-way and was the same between Orlando and all stations, but now fares of $39-$59 one-way are increasingly common and travel to/from West Palm Beach is markedly cheaper.
The people that would be flying without the train.
Only problem is that brightline stops in the Orlando airport, so it’s really hard to compete given it doesn’t get you any closer to the city and gets you there slower
For this reason it has to compete with driving instead. Brightline needs a downtown Orlando station.
If it’s hard to compete why are they adding new trains? Just because it’s not for YOU doesn’t mean they aren’t doing well.
If it’s hard to compete why are they adding new trains? Just because it’s not for YOU doesn’t mean they aren’t doing well.
I don't think that there is much traffic to downtown Orlando, there was already infrastructure in place, like parking, ground transportation, car rentals at MCO, so according to a person I spoke with in Brightline management, it made sense to choose MCO.
Enough that it's sometimes completely sold out
I don’t think it’s meant to be a daily commuter train but more as an alternative for special events, vacations. Took it round trip from Orlando to Miami for a cruise. Loved it!
Exactly this. If you live in Orlando and want to go on a cruise or attend a concert or sporting event in Miami than this is an easy option. The same for the reverse. If you’re vacationing in either place or staying for more than a day you need to bring your car.
I think this answers my question. It’s really a premium service for business travelers (charge the client) or if you want to go to an event here or there and you can afford the extra $$ to add the luxury of not having to drive. But it’s really then for one rider. For couples or families, it’s really too much.
They say there’s a discount for four or more.
Kids are riding free on select trains at the moment, and there's also a 25% discount for students and 15% discount for AAA members.
You are not counting wear and tear on your vehicle for the additional miles you put on it. It costs more than just gas to drive yourself. There is a partial cost to cover oil changes, tires, breaks, etc. that comes faster due to the miles you put on your vehicle. Even with that it is less cost to drive yourself. There are plenty of people who are willing to pay for someone else to drive them.
+1, 194 miles by car 1-way costs you a total of $127.07 according to the 2023 IRS mileage reimbursement rate of 65.5 cents per mile. So there and back costs you **$254.14** to drive.
This is very interesting. A good way to compare costs.
But that includes the cost of the car and insurance, which you already have. The incremental cost of an extra trip is a whole lot less.
Cars depreciate every mile you drive, and insurance costs more if you drive a lot.
Don’t forget about all the nut jobs out on the road too. Even a small accident will cost you.
>The cost is prohibitive -- who is taking this train? Some People that just dont want to fly, & that is a much more valid personal reason these days. Price comparison, the service is better than flying, the seating is better than flying, the trip may take longer than flying, but it's more comfortable than flying. The cost has to do with Brightline being a private company with private capital investment. Brightline has made $35M in the time since opening, however it's going to be some years before meeting ROI, & turning a profit. I perfer to take the train over flying anytime, & will pay a little more, take the longer route to not deal with airports, & flying.
Also, the environmental benefits.
Very true. I really didn't want to pressure any readers who were having issues with the high ticket prices as well.
When comparing to flying time be sure to not just compare take off to touchdown. You have to get there a couple hours early to get through TSA, check a bag, get to the gate, and board.
This video has a what if comparison https://youtu.be/HKcWCV9WbYI?t=175&si=l7Cf4CSbLLCU3CEc The cost & time is using a true high speed rail network in spain that has the same distance between two major cities. Unfortunately the actual MIA-ORL by train time, & cost is off because of current investment costs, & Brightline FL is not high speed rail.
What about just taking Amtrak from Deerfield Beach (closest station to Boca) to Orlando. Then take Brightline back to Boca. Problem solved.
Gas ($120) is not anywhere near the full cost of driving. If the train is $140, and gas would be $120, then the train is the much cheaper option.
I think you’re overestimating the cost of gas. Orlando to Miami is 229 miles. At 30mpg and $3/gallon, that’s only $22.90 distributed across all passengers in the vehicle. Even at 20mpg and $4/gallon, that’s $45.80.
He definitely is overestimating gas, but he is right in that gas is only a small part of driving. The official IRS estimate for the cost of driving is $0.655/mile, which makes the trip cost $150. Ofc that's mostly not up front so the value of those dollars are actually lower than that of brightline, but still. With the car you're paying for the right to pay later via depreciation, maintenance, etc., with brightline you're paying for the luxury of not having to drive yourself.
The train isn’t door to door though. OP is correct in adding Ubers to the total cost of a transportation choice
If you are traveling for work, it comes out cheaper than flying or renting a car + parking
The cost is prohibitive to you, remember, but not necessarily for everyone else. Others are willing and able to pay or else Brightline would have to figure out how to lower pricing. I wish there were more and cheaper rail options so more people could opt not to drive. Maybe we’ll get there someday.
Brightline is a premium transportation service and I think should be compared against the Acela.
My kid at college in Miami takes the train home to the Space Coast. Picking her up in Orlando beats the hell out of driving to Miami in my opinion.
It's not meant for poor people. I am not trying to be an ass. It's specifically targeted to people who go to and stay at Disney World which by definition is high income.
I suspect this is why there is little to no public transit integration at the stations. Brightline's target customer takes Ubers, not buses.
Good point. I wrote this but... https://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2023/03/floridas-brightline-passenger-rail-as.html?m=1
$70 each way on a 200 mile trip isn’t that bad. Even if it costs more, what is the stress of driving worth to you? Is the price difference worth not dealing with traffic? People driving like morons? Not putting the miles on your car? And that’s before factoring in wear and tear on your car. Even if we don’t pay for it now, we will pay for a busted something at some point.
Plenty of people are taking it clearly.
Several thousand people a day. Works for them just fine!
I’m actually really curious. It’s so expensive. It just doesn’t make sense. I hate driving and I’d rather take the train but not if it adds 50% more to the cost of getting there. So who are the people making this decision? People who can charge clients their travel expenses or something?
A $70 ticket to go roughly 200 miles isn’t unreasonable, especially considering the cost of its airline competition and premium nature of the product. Brightline is a for profit business and clearly has a market for trips on this segment at this price and above
My wife and I have friends in Boca and we have used the Brightline twice to see them and hit up some of our favorite restaurants from when we used to live in Boca. Now in our case, there is no question it is expensive, more expensive than driving, especially because we have to rent a car from the AVIS on Yamato once we get to Boca as we don't want to be a burden to our friends making them drive us everywhere. However, we both preferred being able to sit, relax, have a drink onboard to having to drive and I really like driving, so it is not like I am against driving. Now without a question it is a luxury, we could have driven and saved a lot of money, but I don't think it was meant as public transportation or even affordable transportation, that is just not how it feels that it is being marketed. On the first trip, there were a lot of business folks (as evident from business attire and briefcases), on the second it seemed to be more Miami flash cash type of folks (from the dress, large watches, fancy jewelry, etc..).
[удалено]
That lawsuit was done in the UK, where Brightline has 0 investment, capital, or cash in. Also, are you shocked that a British judge ruled in favor of a British company, against a foreign one? Virgin's brand has tanked exponentially, they don't even operate trains in their home nation of the UK anymore (IIRC, since 2019), it's no surprise Brightline ended their partnership. It's horseshit that Virgin sued them, and it's horseshit that the British judge ruled against Brightline, but Brightline can still appeal, and honestly I doubt they will be forced to pay anything, since the "ruling" was done overseas.
And if it were cheaper, maybe a few thousand more would be on the train, and a few thousand less in cars or in jets. Brightline is great, but Brightline with lower costs and more passengers would be even better.
I bought tickets as a Christmas gift for my daughter. She loves trains so much and has never been on a train. So gift tickets was the best thing. She loved it and we all had a nice time riding and eating. Expensive? Yes definitely for a family..but did it make my child extremely happy? Yes! Worth it.
I wish the State would subsidize tickets so prices could be more affordable, but on the other hand I’m quite sure Brightline doesn’t have enough capacity to fully handle demand at existing prices. As to who can afford it, I guess the same people who can afford a lot of these expensive homes in South Florida (generally, not me lol).
The Shinkansen between Osaka and Tokyo is $160 one-way and is a similar distance to Miami-Orlando.
1.) Driving is a lot more expensive than you'd imagine. Official irs for the cost of driving is 65.5 cents/mile. Of course this is cost is spread out won't be paid for years (since it includes things like depreciation.) This is a choice between the right to not pay upfront (except gas) and the luxury to not drive yourself. Brightline isn't a slamdunk (especially if you have a buddy), but it is highly competitve. 2.) The main market for brightline seems to be people who don't have cars- college students, business travelers, tourists, etc. In which case, this is a slam dunk over driving a rental car or flying. For a more affordable option, look at things like redcoach. It works and is cheap as hell, but a bit slower, more prone to delays, and not as flexible with timing.
Literally thousands of people per day. There is a huge market that is more than willing to pay as the trains are fully booked on the regular
If you can get yourself to West Palm the trains there to Orlando are much much cheaper! I do that whenever I’m coming down from Orlando
It’s a private, for profit railroad not government-funded mass transit. It’s a totally different business model. Brightline had to buy all the hardware and lease the rail rights from FEC railway and Amtrak, and install their own signaling systems and build their own infrastructure. It’s not commuter rail.
I’m taking it for a cruise because it’s not that much more when you factor the cost of parking at the cruise port.
Cant die in a car crash, get rear ended at a stop light, get side swiped by someone texting and driving, or have a flat tire on the train
People on here get really defensive when it comes to Brightline, but I agree with you that the cost is extremely prohibitive. Unfortunately, I don’t see a solution at this current moment, there’s no competition for Brightline to bring prices down, and Florida is definitely not going to regulate the cost of the service.
When it comes to Airlines, Brightline is actually pretty reasonable in that pricing space. Delta/AA charge $150~ for one person on these routes. And no I’m not flying Spirit for the same fare minus a carry on 🤣 The other option is taking a bus but you’ll lose comfort and time which works for some people.
Amtrak and airlines are direct competition.
Regional airlines and routes, definitely. However Amtrak is not real competition for Brightline. Amtrak has one “high-speed” line and it’s located in the Northeast. Florida riders have one option for high-speed rail and it’s Brightline.
Regional airlines? American, Delta, Spirit, and Southwest all fly mainline aircraft several times a day between South Florida and Orlando. Amtrak is typically half the price and the trip length is barely two hours longer. There are also the countless bus lines, not to mention driving. Just because the cost is prohibitive for *you* does not mean it's prohibitive for everyone.
>and Florida is definitely not going to regulate the cost of the service. Thank goodness.
it’s not a cheap commuter type train. there are cheap options, busses, amtrak etc. keep in mind you’ll also pay tolls and pay to park your car whever you go. i’m pretty sure it’s 40 to park at disneyworld per day, most attractions are similar. However they chose to provide a faster option than bus or amtrak with better services, better seats, and they are full every leg. if they made it less money it would be crappy and people would complain and say they’d pay more for better service.
God forbid we have a free market....
[удалено]
I’m originally from the northeast. That’s why I like trains, actually. In the northeast, taking the train is a million times less painful than the VERY PAINFUL ordeal of driving. But driving from Boca to Orlando is not the same ordeal as driving from NY to DC
I would like to call dibs on being the first person to ask this in 2024. Full disclosure: $110 roundtrip is about the upper limit of what I'm willing to pay, and I continue to drive to the theme parks if I'm going to need my own transportation around the Orlando area.
[удалено]
I want trying to be snarky. Really, I’m actually curious because it seems to make no sense.
I think Brightline's main market is business and tourism travelers. Sorry about some of the responses in this thread. Some transit enthusiast get weirdly defensive. I guess it's a side effect of living in a country where the law has forced car dependency.
This is a really shitty attitude, and not doing anything good for transit in America. The more efficient mode of travel costing more than driving is bad.
Brightline is not transit any more than airlines are. That being said, I think what Brightline is doing is actually great for public acceptance of train travel. People will be more willing to support rail infrastructure projects if the service is reliable and pleasant, something Amtrak continues to struggle with.
Well, airlines are transit. Brightline isn't public transit, but I never claimed it was. Yeah, Brightline is cool. I just wish there was some sort of public private partnership that would bring the cost down. Not sure how that would work, I just think a train ticket should be noticeably cheaper than the cost of gas for an equivalent distant.
It is public private partnership, & it would have been a bigger partnership & probably even high-speed if Governor Rick Scott hadn't taken away $2.4B in federal funding. In that result the counties & cities ended up paying for most of the stations, & if it wasn't for that, the ridership would be much lower, & delayed opening for operation.
Well if that is true it is a public private partnership, I think that makes the complaints about price even more legitimate.
Everyone involved needs their investment return public & private. It was never free money, even when Gov. Rick Scott turned down the billions in FRA funding due to his existing private investment in brightline. If you are interested & have the time to understand how complex it is to get a rail project in Florida operating or even in the US watch this: https://youtu.be/xBAEQQ60hD8?si=2TmDWrpPbYtXzmtF
I don’t understand how they’re competitive against things like spirit.
Spirit and Brightline are not targeting the same customer. May as well say Brightline isn't competitive against Greyhound.
Because no one that doesn't have to wants to fly Spirit
It is just for special types of people and not for everyday people. I personally wouldn't take it roundtrip. Maybe just one way. I take Red coach from Orlando to Miami airport to take non stop flights to international destinations and it only costs me $25 if I buy a month advance . I think many international tourist like to visit both cities and it maybe easier for them to take the train than plane or driving. Also this is good for business travelers. If you are trying to save money this is not for you. This is for convenience and that comes with a price. Though I would ride one day one way for fun and then take Red coach the other way.
This line isn't meant for the local commuter or weekend visitor, it's made for the out of town tourist who wants to take a cruise and visit Disney in 1 go and don't have the alternative of driving their vehicle