The East Orlando Sun

LYNX plans to pull out all new stops to get people to ditch their cars and hop on a bus, starting with East Orlando.

One of the biggest complaints LYNX gets from its riders is efficiency: buses that are late and rides that take too long.

CEO John Lewis said the system is about to be overhauled to avoid this problem, starting with Link 30, which ran from the University of Central Florida to Winter Garden.

Lewis said Link 30 was notoriously late. To fix that, the Link was cut into two routes on Dec. 4, creating Link 104, which runs from the UCF station to the LYNX station in downtown Orlando, making stops at the intersection of Alafaya Trail and East Colonial Drive, Valencia East Campus, the intersection of Semoran Boulevard and East Colonial Drive and Fashion Square Mall.

“Link 30 is our first try at that, but there will be several other corridors where we’ll be repeating the same action — cutting routes, gaining efficiency and cutting down on peoples’ travel time. We think we’ll be able to gain more riders when the ride is much shorter.”

The new route will run every 30 minutes, instead of every hour.

“At the end of the day, my job is to compete with the single-occupant car,” Lewis said. “If I can get within 10-15 min of the competition — yes it’s still a little longer but it’s much cheaper — we’re able to recapture that time period for the rider by allowing them to work while they ride and we’re environmentally friendly.”

Waterford Lakes Town Center Marketing Director Jamie Fraser envisions more people visiting the outdoor shopping mall now that the new route is in place.

The change will “increase traffic here at the center,” she said. “Reducing the wait time from one hour to 30 minutes will encourage shoppers to leave their cars at home and come to the Waterford Lakes Town Center”.

Stops along the way

Despite its problems, Link 30 was the fourth most popular link in the system with 1.1 million riders in 2011, averaging 95,000 riders monthly.

But not only was the route long, it also required riders with a destination other than Winter Garden to transfer to other buses. Link 104 will create a direct line from East Orlando to downtown and vise versa.

“Some people don’t like to transfer. It’s like when people fly, they want to get to their destination as quickly and directly as possible,” LYNX Spokesperson Matt Friedman said.

New route for Bithlo

Residents in Bithlo have complained that the lack of public transportation has cost them jobs, kept them from attending community events and limited their access to things like the grocery store and health care.

In 2008, LYNX cut the fixed route that traveled through Bithlo and Christmas due to low ridership. The system has since implemented a pick-up line, which operates on request Monday through Saturday, but residents have voiced concerns with that system saying it’s too unreliable and inadequate to fulfill their transportation needs.

In November, LYNX approved Xpress 212, a direct line running from Bithlo to Waterford Lakes that would feature free WiFi and bathrooms on board. LYNX does not have the funding to purchase any new buses so they’ve solicited the private sector to provide the vehicles and partner with LYNX.

“Instead of waiting until we can buy more, we’re looking to partner so it saves us on capital expenditures,” Lewis said. “For folks out in Bithlo, it’s an issue of access for them. We’re talking about providing basic access to the people in that part of the county.”

Xpress is already in Clermont and Volusia County. East Orlando would be the first to have the service in the Orlando area. Because it’s premium service, Xpress costs $1.50 more than the standard $2 bus fare.

“I’m super excited that LYNX has made restoring efficient bus service back to the Bithlo community a priority,” United Global Outreach Executive Director and Bithlo advocate Tim McKinney said. “I have no doubt that this is going to save lives and allow people who want to work the opportunity to work.”