I despise nothing more than the cramped backseat of my mom’s Mazda as we drive for over five hours to the University of Florida to visit my sister. The sound of my dad’s snores, my mom on the phone with my grandmother and my dog’s incessant barking makes the journey feel never-ending. The noise cancellation of my headphones only keeps me distracted for so long, and I long for a comfortable and peaceful way to visit my sister. The Brightline seems to be the perfect solution, yet since its start in 2018, the transit line has failed to expand to prime Florida destinations.
The Brightline is the sole privately owned inter-city railroad in the United States and has since given rides to over five million travelers. Currently, the train offers routes to Miami, Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach and Orlando. As someone who has only ridden the Brightline once, I can assure you it was worth it. While the cost of my mom’s and my tickets to Orlando by train practically equaled what it would have cost for us to drive alone, it offered us the benefits of peace and relaxation. Instead of having to listen to music or speak to my grandmother on speakerphone, my mom got a chance to sit back and relax as someone else steered the wheel.
On the other hand, I reveled in the opportunity to stretch my legs and watch a movie with the screen at an adequate distance from my face. My one experience on Brightline both enlightened and shocked me. Since then, I have never understood why they have not established plans to expand their services further up to northern Florida.
Right now, the Brightline is already moving on with us Floridians. With only plans announced to branch out their railroads to Cocoa, Fla. and Stuart, Fla., which sit on the state’s southern east coast, the company has not mentioned any aims at hitting great stops throughout the rest of the state. Instead, it seems they are focusing more on their new initiative, Brightline West.
Brightline West will connect Southern California and Las Vegas with a 218-mile track and speeds up to 200 miles per hour getting passengers from each location in under two hours. This initiative is set to open by 2028, highlighting just how long it takes for these additional routes to be created. While it is fantastic that they are looking to establish the company in other states, I wish they would finish where they started first. However, Brightline creator Wes Edens hopes to have the next Brightline trains in Washington or Texas. The Brightline has opened so many doors for both locals and tourists in South Florida and the corporation needs to rethink their next steps.
While other prominent cities offer great audiences for the company, so can more clustered distinct ones. Various locations within the state would flourish from having Brightline stations including Gainesville, Tallahassee, St. Augustine and Daytona. Each location has frequent visitors that align with Brightline’s mission to make traveling distances too long to drive, but too short to fly to more close at hand. College students want to come home for a weekend and not have to pay for overpriced gas just for three days. Families want to visit their loved ones without having to box their lives up into a car and lose sleep to get to them. People want convenience. Despite the pros and cons, most would be willing to utilize the train rather than drive themselves — I know my family would. Truly, I believe a lot of college students would as well. It is not like my sister is always energetic and cheerful when she makes the trek back to Miami from Gainesville.
Whether it is families or students traveling to loved ones, people trying to do some in-state exploration, or visitors wanting the full Florida experience, Brightline can accomplish much more here. The train will not be fully bright until it lights up all areas of the sunshine state.
