Q&A of the Day – How Many People Are Now Riding Brightline?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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Today’s Entry: Hi Brian, I have a Brightline question for you. When you reported on the potential Treasure Coast station stop you mentioned that your wife has been taking the train to Orlando and back and found that it’s frequently at capacity. I’ve also taken the train occasionally and have noticed that it’s much fuller than it used to be. Two questions. How many people are now riding Brightline and do you know if in addition to additional stations if they’re considering additional capacity? Thanks.
Bottom Line: Even before the Orlando expansion there was evidence that Brightline was starting to hit its stride as it was posting huge year-over-year growth in riders and revenue. The Orlando expansion has no doubt taken that to another level. You referenced my wife Ashley, who I've frequently used as a barometer of what it’s like on Brightline from a passenger’s perspective. She regularly travels around the state for business and has taken to using Brightline when it’s an option based on where she’s going because it provides her with the opportunity to work from the train as opposed to losing potentially productive time driving. For a while she didn’t worry about booking well in advance of when she was traveling because there was always capacity, especially in “Premium” which is Brightline’s first-class option. More recently she first noticed that trains were routinely far fuller than they had been and then she noticed that certain times for certain trips, especially to and from Orlando, were sold out. As a result, she’s now planning with Brightline the way she would when scheduling a flight on an airline and that’s a segue way into the rise in riders.
Preceding the launch of Brightline’s Orlando Service, business was already starting to boom. In August Brightline carried almost 150,000 passengers, which was right at a 50% increase year-over-year. And year-to-date through August total passengers were up 68% year-over-year with a total of 1,262,419 riders. Based on the August pacing the annual number of riders had grown to a 1.8 million annualized rate. That illustrates that progressively throughout the year the trains have become fuller. And that was before the Orlando expansion. I haven’t seen a full month’s worth of data on the Brightline expansion to Orlando, but initial reports suggested that demand doubled for the Orlando route within the first three weeks of operation of the service. This coincides with answering another one of your questions. Brightline doubled the number of trains operating between Orlando and Miami (and points in-between) as of October 9th with a total of 15 daily trips in each direction with trains departing on an hourly basis.
By all accounts the interest in and demand for Brightline’s service is growing and is likely to exceed 2 million passengers for the year. For perspective on how far it’s come. In 2018 a total of 579,000 total passengers rode the train that year. It’s essentially quadrupled since then. There’s no doubt early adopters are noticing the difference. What’s more is that with many business travelers using Brightline to get from point A to point B with others using it to commute to and from work now as well, it’s likely there’s a regular base of business that’s already significant and growing.
What’s nice about this is that there’s an ambient benefit for commuters generally as Brightline grows. While there’s no doubt that Brightline’s Orlando expansion will and already is attracting tourists to South Florida (and vice-versa) that wouldn’t otherwise be here, it’s also taking a lot of cars off of the road which given existing traffic headaches is a win. According to US Highway Safety Traffic info – 76% of cars on the road only contain one person. That means in 2023 we’ve taken an additional 3,750 cars off of Florida’s roads daily with the use of this service. I’ve been rooting for its success because of Florida’s existing traffic headaches that are only getting worse as our population grows. And speaking of growing...
Last week Brightline launched an official inquiry into where to locate a Treasure Coast station. Public or private landowners in Martin or St. Lucie counties which meet the requirements for the potential building of a station are encouraged to reach out to the company. On that note quoting Brightline CEO Michael Reininger... We're excited to begin the process of identifying a station location in the Treasure Coast and have seen tremendous support from the local community. Expanding Brightline into the Treasure Coast region will make Brightline one of the most accessible forms of transportation in Florida, giving access to nearly half of the state's residents. And of course the wheels are also in motion to expand to Tampa. All of this means that Brightline is well on its way to hitting their long-term goal of over 3 million passengers per year which they outlined at the onset of their operations nearly seven years ago.