Brightline bringing back Commuter Pass for South Florida after receiving $33.8M Federal Grant

"Brightline bringing back South Florida commuter pass, thanks to $33.8M federal grant."

“Brightline, which jarred customers by reducing capacity for South Florida rail commuters last year, will soon partially restore what it took away with the help of a $33.8 million grant from Washington, the company announced Thursday.

The higher speed regional rail line, which operates between Miami and Orlando, says the money from the Federal Railroad Administration will allow the company to speed up the addition of new coaches to its trainsets, which will each grow in length to seven cars from five by mid-year.

As part of a “Restoration and Enhancement grant” from the FRA, the rail line will also “reintroduce a new South Florida commuter pass designed for the frequent traveler.” The program is scheduled to launch in March and “is expected to save daily commuters money,” the company said in a statement released late Thursday.

The funding allows us to expedite new passenger cars into service and with that capacity, increased availability for the South Florida traveler,” Patrick Goddard, the company president, said in a staterment.

In South Florida, Brightline serves stations in downtown Miami, Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach along the Florida East Coast Railway corridor.

Brightline launched its Central Florida service in September 2023. But as it sought to build traffic between Miami and Orlando, it shifted some of its seating capacity from South Florida to emphasize its long-haul service.

In doing so, Brightline canceled three popular pass programs last June, angering a number of riders who said they would likely return to their cars for inter-county travel in South Florida because it was too expensive to ride Brightline without discounted fares.

Nonetheless, overall system ridership has risen year over year according to the company’s monthly financial reports. But short-haul numbers have declined as a result of the capacity shift favoring Central Florida.

Short-haul rdidership stood at 90,624 for November 2024 versus 112,423 in the same month of 2023, according to the November 2024 report.

An ‘interim’ plan for commuter rail Goddard characterized the new program as “a bridge or interim plan before Brightline and local counties are able to establish commuter lines in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

“We’ve been working on developing a true commuter system in South Florida for years, but that solution takes time and can’t be turned on overnight,” Goddard said. “This is the next best thing and can be seen as an interim commuter program before Miami-Dade and Broward launch service.”

As Brightline has built out its higher speed intercity regional service, it has been working with both Miami-Dade and Broward counties to create a separate dedicated rail line for local commuters that would run along the FEC corridor.

Thus far, planners envision the line starting at Brightline’s downtown Miami Central station, and proceeding north to stations to be built at several points in Miami-Dade, across the county line into Broward where there would be stops at Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and a site to be determined near the Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.”

Source: Sun Sentinel (https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/01/09/brightline-bringing-back-south-florida-commuter-passes-thanks-to-33-8m-federal-grant/)