Brightline, unable to accommodate many of its Orlando passengers, is eliminating a popular $10-per-ride monthly pass program for South Florida commuters and has already begun reducing the number of seats available for purchase on short trips between Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
It is all part of a plan to help get as many passengers as possible on the longer and more profitable route to Orlando International Airport, but it is coming at the expense of users in South Florida. Spokesperson Ben Porritt told The Palm Beach Post that Brightline has always made it clear that its focus would be on the Orlando market.
There are not enough seats on its trains for all of the customers that want to go to Orlando. So Brightline has been "restricting available capacity for short-distance trips to meet demand for more profitable long-distance segments (Orlando)," the company acknowledged in its March report filed for bondholders.
Basically, Brightline is refusing to sell some seats to South Florida passengers to ensure seats are available for Orlando passengers or they are making the ticket price so high that it is not practical to buy one.
Brightline March ridership in South Florida down 31% from year ago
The result: a 31% decline in South Florida ridership when March 2024 is compared with March 2023. And with the elimination of the existing monthly commuter pass program, South Florida ridership is expected to fall even more drastically in the summer.
Brightline will replace its current $399 pass for 40 trips with a 10-ride pack for $350, or $35 a trip. The result: a $70 daily cost for commuters as opposed to $20.
"This is so wrong," said Ira Leiderman, managing director of Cassel Salpeter & Co., an independent investment banking firm. He takes the train daily from Boca Raton to his office in Miami. "No one is going to pay $80 a day ($10 for parking) to commute. Brightline does not want us on its trains.
"(What) this is going to do is place thousands of cars on I-95. I'm not sure our elected officials would have supported Brightline if they knew this was going to be the end result."
Leiderman also questioned the impact on multimillion-dollar parking garages that have been built at South Florida stations, adding: "They are going to be half-empty."
Current Brightline stations in South Florida include West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Aventura and Miami. Additional Brightline stations are planned for Stuart and Cocoa.
Reed Williams, who lives in Palm Beach, works in Miami and like scores of others, he uses Brightline to avoid heavy traffic to Miami-Dade County. Once in Miami, he takes a shuttle his company provides to take employees from the Brightline station to his place of work.
"This is obviously a very big driver of Palm Beach County's economy, as it allows thousands to travel to higher-paying jobs every day inmetro areas, which in turnsupports local businesses here to a tremendous degree," said Reed, who said he used the commuter passes or the past two years. "Many residents of our county seem quite helpless right now and are suddenly looking for new jobs."
Brightline's March ridership rises to 258,000, most of them Orlando passengers
More:Brightline is still losing money, but Orlando extension has significantly boosted ridership
More than half of Brightline's ridership in March 2024 were Orlando passengers. Its average Orlando fare in March was $80; it was $34 for short-distance trips in South Florida. Overall ticket revenue nearly tripled to $18.1 million with much of the increase because of Orlando trips.
More than 258,000 passengers used Brightline in March 2024, 44% more than in March 2023 when its trains were not going to Orlando. And if Brightline had additional trains, it says it could have accommodated as many as 325,000 passengers.
Brightline reported on its website that peak trains are reaching capacity, noting: "We continue to evaluate the best approach to balance customer demand — and as a result, the sale of Train Passes will be discontinued effective June 1, 2024."
Brightline says it is buying more trains to meet demand; they are expected to be ready for use by the end of the year, but it is unlikely that the current commuter pass program will be reinstated. Existing 40-pack passes can be bought for $399 until the end of the month. They will expire within 30 days and will not be of use after June 30.
"To thank you for your loyalty, please enjoy your first 10-Ride SMART Pack on us. Look out for an email for more details in the coming weeks," Brightline reported on its website.
Leiderman was not impressed. "If they thought that giving us a month free of passes was going to make us happy, they were very wrong."
Brightline, which began Orlando service on Sept. 22, 2023, now offers 16 round trips a day. Nearly 700,000 passengers have used the Orlando service through March 31.
"The addition of long-distance service has fundamentally transformed our business with average fares, ancillary revenue per passenger and ridership all increasing significantly," said Brightline in its bondholder report.
Despite the uptick in ticket sales, the company is still losing money. According to its quarterly financial statement released Dec. 29, 2023, it posted a net loss of $192 million between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 of 2023. Brightline predicted it would carry 7 million riders in 2024 on its long-distance service to Orlando. It recently lowered the estimate to 5.5 million.
Will Tri-Rail offer an express service for South Florida?
Meanwhile, Tri-Rail may step in to help fill the void for South Florida commuters like Leiderman and Reed.
Brightline is working with the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, the operator of Tri-Rail, to develop an express route serving daily commuters between West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami.
Tri-Rail spokesperson Victor Garcia said SFRTA Executive Director Dave Dech is currently "exploring the concept of one train in the morning and one returning northbound in the afternoon as a one-seat ride making limited stops."
It would essentially be an express train. The SFRTA Board is compiling passenger-survey feedback before putting a proposed schedule together, Garcia said.
The plan is expected to be voted upon later in May but if it is approved, it could take a few months before it is put in place.
Mike Diamond is a journalist atThe Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and transportation. You can reach him atmdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism.Subscribe today.
