Brightline Announces Prices For Orlando - Miami

https://www.orlando-news.com/2023/04/22 ... mily-of-4/

79 dollars for a single rider, 199 for a family of four. Honestly, these are pretty decent prices, for hourly trains 16 times a day, with under 3 hours of travel time. Certainly faster than driving, and more pleasant than flying.

I admite the optimism. For me, this is expensive. It's $79 for OW as CHEAPEAST fare for not a high speed service, despite its name. Cheapest fares in the NEC for this type of time and distance start at half that price. Don't even talk about Europe, where a fare similar to that gets you driving time 2x as fast. Here, you're getting a more expensive product than flying for the same time as driving. It is what it is, it's bettrer than $99 that people were talking about, but still, to me, if this is the cheapeast, it's an expensive service.

I wholly concur with John; $79 Miami-Orlando is reasonable and not "out of line".

I think Brightline has measured the demographics of their passenger base. I think they have concluded that 95% have been on a commercial airline flight and 60% have been overseas.

They are intending to build a premium service; there's Greyhound - or for that matter Amtrak ($49) - for those who choose not to "pony up".

Finally, and of further interest, Florida Turnpike toll Miami-Orlanfo is Sun Pass $18, or $26 if you choose to pay cash. That's on top of the $.48mi that it costs to operate my auto over the highway. (as Col. Perkowski notes on that one; YMMV)

barciur wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 4:57 pm I admite the optimism. For me, this is expensive. It's $79 for OW as CHEAPEAST fare for not a high speed service, despite its name. Cheapest fares in the NEC for this type of time and distance start at half that price. Don't even talk about Europe, where a fare similar to that gets you driving time 2x as fast. Here, you're getting a more expensive product than flying for the same time as driving. It is what it is, it's bettrer than $99 that people were talking about, but still, to me, if this is the cheapeast, it's an expensive service.

Miami - Orlando is about 230-250 miles, give or take, by car. Probably around 250-300 miles given Brightline's route all the way up the coast to Cocoa, and then West to Orlando.

The same-ish route on the NEC (in terms of distance) is DC to NYC, about 224 miles by car. Taking the typical Northeast Regional, the ride is 3:30-4 hrs; when I look at Amtrak's website for tickets on the Northeast Regional from NYC to DC, the cheapest I found was one for 20 bucks - everything else was at least 80 bucks, most of it being double that price actually. And in some instances, I saw the Acella being cheaper than the Northeast Regional, doing the trip in just under 3 hours - about the same time as Brightline from Miami to Orlando, but Brightline is cheaper in this case!

Flying from Miami to Orlando (or vice versa) isn't as easy as you think. It's a 30 minute flight, but you have to be at the airport at least 1-2 hours earlier than your flight time to make sure you get through security and all that on time - and even then that might not be enough time with how busy Florida airports can be.

For price, they "start" at 30 something dollars, but when you actually go to buy tickets, everything is around 100 dollars. Sure, you can plan your trip much later down the line (going into June, you can get them for 44 dollars), but that is inconvenient, when you can just take a train for cheaper at any date you want!
And let's not forget bags, which airlines are notorious for overcharging for. AFAIK, the 79 dollar Brightline tickets include luggage...

Driving would be expensive. One way, tolls aren't that cheap, not to mention the gas you will have to buy, not to mention the wear and tear on your car, or the stress of driving in Florida. God forbid you get into a little fender bender.

Taking a bus is the cheapest option by far here, but you are still relegated to traffic, and personally, having ridden the Greyhound from Miami to Orlando before, it wasn't all that pleasant.

All these things considered, Brightline is the best option. The price is pretty reasonable for how pleasant, convenient, and quick the experience is. And honestly? It's pretty cheap when you crunch the numbers, and think about alternatives.

JohnFromJersey wrote: ↑Tue Apr 25, 2023 1:04 am All these things considered, Brightline is the best option. The price is pretty reasonable for how pleasant, convenient, and quick the experience is. And honestly? It's pretty cheap when you crunch the numbers, and think about alternatives.

True, a teen aged kid thinks in terms of "Dad, may I borrow the car? I'll pay for the gas".

In my case, the $.48/mi covers only the running costs comprising gas and a $.24mi allowance for maintenance. The fully allocated (running, depreciation, insurance, interest) cost is $2.33mi.

Brightline's planned $99 "Family Fare" offering is recognition that "loading up the car" does represent economies. But on my road trips, when I see kid's feet sticking out the window and noting half eaten MickeyD's littering the auto, it appears the occupants must be on some kind of "low level assault course".

It's "priced right".

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Tue Apr 25, 2023 6:56 amIt's "priced right".

Absolutely. My family vacations every few years at Disney World. Two of our kids are now out on their own, and may or may not be taking such trips with us any longer. And the third is ready to fly the nest, so next time might just be my wife and me. If so, we'll definitely take a side trip to Miami via Brigthline. The price makes that a no brainer.

lets take a $20k car 200,000 miles till wheels fall off. Depreciation alone _= almost $o.10 or 10 cents a mile. the many $40k trucks and EVs 200k miles = $ 20 cents per mile depreciation.

Well Mr (Officer/Captain?) West Point, if you're into running a $20K "egg beater some 200K miles, than your depreciation schedule could well be in line. After all, third grade arithmetic does establish $20K/200K miles is $.10mi.

I'm not about to try to emulate those numbers with my own auto.

Finally, if in fact you are a Flight Officer, as you have strongly suggested around here that you are, I had a client who was just such - and he did drive around in a 20yo, albeit well-maintained, 'Vette" with six figures on the clock.

I didn't see any mention of the Premium Class, nor if that family bundle will be offered in that particular coach.

Interesting aside: https://www.businessinsider.com/see-ins ... 2023-4?amp

There are point-to-point air carriers out there who run "public charter" service using private terminals with better-than-cattle-car cabins. While some of the routes are expensive (although not as expensive as private jets), there are some routes which are affordable. On of those carriers, JSX, has a route from Burbank to Vegas with fares starting at $149 one way. We don't have any idea what the Premium cabin price will be for Brightline yet, and JSX would not have the same frequency, but still, a competitor just the same.