[Nfbf-l] Fw: Article from Orlando Sentinel A Section 2010 01 31

[Sherri]

I am hoping the train will get use! Please see the article below and while 
you're at it, check out Newsline and try the new voices. Just press 8 when 
you are in an article until you get to the two new voices. Also, as I just 
did, press pound 9 to have an article e-mailed to you. If you don't have 
your e-mail noted, send it to me and I will be sure to include it in your 
Newsline info.
Sherri
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "NFB-NEWSLINE Online" <nfbnewsline at nfb.org>
To: "Sherri Brun" <flmom2006 at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2010 5:55 PM
Subject: Article from Orlando Sentinel A Section 2010 01 31


Will Central Floridians really take the train?. Dan Tracy, Orlando Sentinel. 
Central Florida is in for a culture shock. Dependent for generations on the 
automobile for virtually all means of transit, the region relatively soon 
will have not one, but two, new passenger trains running through it. But 
will people ride them when, as President Barack Obama pointed out in Tampa 
last week, "we don't love gas prices, but we love our cars"? That could well 
become the $4.4billion question. Critics maintain the two trains will be a 
massive waste of money, rolling along the tracks with largely empty seats. 
After all, they say, the only time most people notice any trains now --  
whether it is the occasional Amtrak or the more frequent freight traffic --  
is when they have to impatiently wait for them to pass through an 
intersection. People want the convenience of cars, especially when needing 
to get to far-flung destinations in our urbanely sprawled Central Florida," 
said William Shallcross, 54, a Winter Park developer. Winter Park will have 
a station for the first new train slated for the area. Called SunRail, the 
$1.2billion system would operate on a 61-mile set of tracks running from 
DeLand in Volusia County through Winter Park and downtown Orlando to 
Poinciana in Osceola County. The first 30miles of the route should be ready 
in late 2012, with the entire setup coming on line in 2014. The second 
train, a high-speed system that will cost $3.2billion when the cost of land 
is included, will link Orlando International Airport with Lakeland and Tampa 
by late 2014 or early 2015. Right now, no connection between the two trains 
is set, although officials have started discussing ways to join them, 
perhaps at the SunRail Sand Lake Road station in south Orange County. That 
gap bothers John Gilbert, an 81-year-old retired aerospace engineer who 
lives near Lake Conway. Tampa gets a high-speed train, but we have to go out 
to the airport," Gilbert said. We have all these politicians, all kinds of 
things that get in the way . \ Key: Be on time, safe  The key to winning 
ridership is being on time and operating safely, said Bonnie Arnold, 
marketing director for Tri-Rail, the commuter train that has run along 
Interstate95 in South Florida for 20years. If people don't think you are 
reliable and don't think you are safe, they aren't going to ride," she said. 
Tri-Rail, which also hooks into a light-rail system that circulates in 
downtown Miami, was the first commuter train launched in South Florida, 
which like Metro Orlando had no real experience with rail transit. The train 
started during an expansion of I-95, which clogged traffic in the state's 
most densely populated area. Arnold said some of the best advertising the 
train had was breezing by motorists stopped in traffic jams. Now carrying 
about 13,000 passengers a day,  Tri-Rail constantly promotes itself at 
festivals and co-promotes with fast-food restaurants, Arnold said. It also 
offers a 25percent fare discount to people who sign up at work. Perhaps the 
biggest incentive for ridership will come with time and the increased road 
traffic it brings, said Dave Grovdahl, chief transportation planner for 
MetroPlan, which sets transit policy in Orange, Osceola and Seminole 
counties. What do you do when you can no longer make your trips because of 
congestion on the roads? he asked. Grovdahl said many of the major roads in 
Central Florida -- I-4, Colonial Drive, State Road 436 -- are hemmed in by 
development or the environment and cannot be widened. That means the 
congestion of today will only worsen. You can't dynamite the high rises in 
downtown Orlando," he said, referring to often-jammed Orange Avenue. You're 
stuck with it. It's at the max. Buses, he said, provide short-term relief 
because they can get drivers out of their cars, but they are prone to get 
stuck in the same traffic jams as every other vehicle. Grovdahl also 
predicted that gasoline prices will rise again, possibly hitting the 
$4-a-gallon mark, as they did during summer 2008. Ridership broke records on 
mass-transit systems across the nation that year. But Shallcross contends 
the expense of tickets -- it could cost $29 one way to ride from OIA to 
Tampa and at least $2.50 to ride  SunRail -- is likely too much for many 
people. He also questions whether either train will be able to get anyone 
close enough to destinations to avoid having to also ride a bus or call a 
cab. Winter Park City Commissioner Beth Dillaha is especially adamant about 
her opposition to SunRail. I don't believe that many commuters will be 
willing to invest that much time and money," she said. People care about how 
to get from point A to point B as efficiently, in terms of time and money, 
as possible and most do not want to be held 'hostage' without their cars and 
the ability to come and go as needed . \ Lynx weighs options  Lynx, the 
regional bus service in Metro Orlando, is in the early stages of figuring 
out what it will take to work with the trains, including coming up with new 
routes and how the fares will be split. Jack Couture, a 66-year-old retired 
banker and frequent Lynx rider, said the only way people will consider the 
trains is if they offer "accessibility and availability -- let's face it. 
Ultimately, though, a train can bypass buses, cars and trucks stuck in 
traffic, freeing passengers to read or work during the trip, Grovdahl said. 
They take the stress out," he said. Publishers Notes: Dan Tracy can be 
reached at dtracy at orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5444..

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