Brightline Orlando Fare Discussion Comparison and Value

[Jeff Smith]

Well, let's try this: https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/2019 ... -commuters

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According to Hicks, the standard monthly pass between West Palm Beach and Miami is $450. That equates to approximately $11.25 per ride.

A yearly pass costs $3,800.
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The garage costs $80 a month for Jonathan Liguori, who commutes from Fort Lauderdale to his job as Apollo Bank’s chief technology officer on Miami’s Brickell Avenue. But he said there are ways to work the train price down. For example, he said, he takes advantage of deals that come up, such as a buy-two-months-get-one-month-free fare offer from Virgin.

Liguori said he used to live in Miami but the train made it easier for him to live in Fort Lauderdale.

The morning car ride wasn’t so bad, because he would leave early. But he never knew what he’d encounter along the way, he said. And driving hundreds of miles a week on the interstate put wear and tear on his car, not to mention stress on him, he said.
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Every Apollo Bank employee is eligible for one round-trip voucher to try the train this summer, for example, plus a $5 Lyft credit.

The company worked out a corporate program with Virgin, which should save riders money on train rides and parking, a spokesman said. The bank also offered employees a $125 credit to use towards a Metrorail Pass for their Miami connections.
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Thoughts? I know the fares in NY have gotten very high; this high, for this distance? How do they compare? I'd add that the lower cost of real estate probably defrays some of the monthly pass cost.

[Jeff Smith]

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/new ... 985598007/

Brightline to Orlando: 130-mph speed tests, opening date, ticket prices and safety updates
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A standard one-way ticket between Miami and Orlando is expected to cost about $100. A West Palm Beach-Orlando ticket is expected to run anywhere from $75 to $85. Official prices have not been announced. Passengers can buy tickets at the stations, but they also can purchase online. Discounted fares are available with two days advance purchase.

Smart-class Brightline tickets between Miami and West Palm Beach currently cost about $15-$42 each way and premium-class tickets range from $42-$79 each way. Tickets for trains between other stations over a shorter distance are less.
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[Matt Johnson]

It seems that it will be a very Acela-like service, even if the rolling stock is more of a regional disguised as an HST. As such, the fare seems to be about expected but time will tell the story of supply vs demand I suppose. They must be expecting increased ridership with the recent announcement of 20 additional coaches from Siemens (which means two more per trainset).

[RandallW]

Brightline's stated equipment acquisition plans when the service was initially unveiled were to purchase 4 car trains for initial operating segment (Miami-West Palm Beach), purchase additional 4 car trains for second segment (Miami-Orlando), and then add 3 cars to the existing trains to increase capacity without increasing frequency. I'd think that if ordering only 2 cars per train instead of 3, Brightline might be expecting that passenger loads will not be as high as originally expected.

[BandA]

What is Brightline charging per seat mile and per passenger mile? How does that compare to subsidized systems around the country such as Metro-North? It's funny how some airplanes charge less per mile than surface transportation such as Brightline, private shuttle buses, ubers / taxis. You can fly across the country starting at $200 but a taxi is $50 for 10 miles.

[JohnFromJersey]

Airplanes are also subsidized quite a bit, and you can tend to squeeze more people + cargo in a plane than you can in a taxi, and move more people + cargo in a shorter amount of time than a train can.