Posted on 03/04/2017 3:28:26 PM PST by dynachrome
It’s no secret that tickets bought by SunRail passengers pay only a tiny fraction of the commuter train’s bills, but less known is that ticket revenue doesn’t even cover the cost of selling tickets.
SunRail’s finances would be slightly stronger if riding was free. Put another way, the revenue of $1 to $7.50 per ticket is devoured by ticket machines, employees who support ticket sales and armored cars that collect fares, and does nothing to keep the train running.
“If we have to pay more money to collect revenue than we are actually collecting, why does it make sense to collect it at all?” asked Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, speaking this week as a member of the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
“SunRail’s finances would be slightly stronger if riding was free.”
yeah, but the nominal cost of tickets at least keeps the worst of the riff-raff out of the cars. Free rides would instantly turn this into gang-banger-only transportation.
Make it up in volume.
Handling cash is expensive.
Toll roads are becoming RFID chip based and photo bill if you don’t have an ID.
I remember when this was first proposed. Someone calculated that it would be cheaper to lease a Volvo sedan to every passenger who was expected to ride on the system.
Where does it go???
“Free rides would instantly turn this into gang-banger-only transportation.”
Or hotels for the homeless.
Solution, keep selling the tickets, but convert the bill collecting machines into shredders. Forget about counting the money, just send the trash to the dump. That would be the cheapest solution.
Slum Rail was Mica’s thuggery. Good bye to bad rubbish.
Willie Green is deeply saddened.
It keeps people off the roads though. I gladly pay to support public transit to keep fewer people on the roads.
Unfortunately, due to the decades of delay, cost considerations prevent Orlando from having a logical, high traffic light rail system that connects the tourist areas and airport with central Orlando. In this manner, Disney's exclusivity as a tourist destination and the business model of taxi and car rental companies were protected. SunRail thus now mainly takes traffic off the congested I-4 corridor. It is hardly a surprise that the take from fares is dismal now, with the expectation that it will gradually grow over the years.
Tol - get a load of this!
Clearly, the way to optimize revenue would be to charge one billion dollars fare per passenger mile. Then they wouldn’t have to collect any fairs, run trains or open any stations.
It was originally planned to follow I-4 from Orlando to Tampa. Only a relatively short segment in the Orlando area has been built thus far.
Heh. Blast from the past.
It goes from Sanford, Florida just north of Orlando, to the south side of downtown, almost (but not quite) to the airport.
If you’re thinking of diverting gas tax to bus and rail, I disagree. Use a penny sales tax for that, so that the highway “user fees” can actually go to the roads.
When they opened the first express toll lanes (HOT Lanes) on Highway 167 near Seattle, the revenue apparently was not enough to even cover the cost of maintaining the tolling equipment. I have no idea whether things have improved since I read that a few years ago.
That is, the first toll lanes in Washington state, not necessarily for the entire country.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.