Public given an opportunity to improve bus service

Imagine if you only had to wait 10 minutes for a Lynx bus in Orlando.

Sounds farfetched, but it could happen.

Faster bus service and other improvement ideas are the goal of “LYNX Forward” a new initiative the Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority (the official name for Lynx) is launching with public meetings next week.

Lynx officials say that they want to reimagine public transit in Central Florida.

Specifically, officials said: “Lynx is moving forward with a focus on more frequent, reliable and quality service for all of Central Florida.”

The Lynx daily ridership is more than 105,000, but the service is slow and many people wait for their buses in the rain and sun with no shelter from the elements. There are barely more than 300 buses in the fleet that serves three counties – Orange, Seminole and Osceola -- and there are no buses to reach many important destinations, such as Orlando Sanford Airport.

Lynx has not been able to expand its service because it doesn’t receive enough money from the local governments to subsidize the service. No public transit system in the world survives solely on fare-box income. All public transit systems receive government subsidies.

Lynx will be holding a public meeting next Wednesday (Sept. 20^th) for riders and others to discuss community priorities, technology, amenities and bus routes.

Wednesday’s meeting will be held at Lynx Central Station on Garland in downtown Orlando. The meeting begins at 6 p.m.

Lynx also will hold public meetings next Tuesday (Sept 19) at Casselberry City Hall, 95 Triplet Lake Drive. That meeting will begin at 6 p.m.

On Thursday (Sept. 21) Lynx will also have a meeting on those topic at Kissimmee City Hall, 101 Church St., Kissimmee. That meeting will start at 6 p.m.

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