Buses to start running from SunRail to Maitland Center

Seven months after SunRail started rolling, Maitland Center employees will finally have a feasible way to get to work by commuting on the rails with a new bus service line hitting the road on Dec. 15.

Maitland City Council members have repeatedly referred to a link between the city’s SunRail station and the Maitland Center complex as the key to the rail line’s success in the city. Since the system’s May launch, rail ridership to and from the Maitland station has lagged consistently behind, in the bottom two for number of riders in the 12-stop system, according to SunRail reported statistics.

But Maitland Mayor Howard Schieferdecker hopes those numbers will start to rise when buses start rolling directly from the station to the city’s largest employer, the Maitland Center. Starting Monday Dec. 15, NeighborLink buses will depart the station at 6:05 a.m., 7:05 a.m. and 8:05 a.m. and arrive back at 5:15 p.m., 6:15 p.m. and 7 p.m.

“It’s a very special day for Maitland to get this service,” Schieferdecker said at the City Council’s Nov. 24 meeting.

The buses can each hold only 15 passengers, so reservations will likely be necessary. With 17,000 people employed at the Center, Schieferdecker said this is just the beginning of services needed to funnel riders to and from the office complex.

“I think once this catches on, they’ll have to have much more service to make this work,” he said.

The NeighborLink route will serve as a pilot program from one year, with funding split 50-50 between the Florida Department of Transportation and Orange County. Maitland is working to supplement that service with its own bus system in partnership with three other local cities, called FlexBus, which would offer on-demand service for those looking to get to and from the rails to work or home.

FlexBus was originally scheduled to launch prior to SunRail’s start in May, but has been on hold since Lynx pulled out of running the service last year. The Maitland City Council will vote on Monday, Dec. 8, whether to join in an interlocal agreement with Altamonte Springs, Casselberry and Longwood to start up the service on their own.

“We need all the service we can get,” Schieferdecker said, mentioning that a few businesses in Maitland City have also proposed running their own shuttles back and forth from the station to increase the ease of commuting by rail.

Without any of these services yet in place, those looking to commute from the Maitland SunRail station to the Maitland Center have had to board a bus bound the opposite direction to Winter Park Village, and then wait to transfer to a different Lynx route to get to the office complex, said the city’s community development director, Dick Wells.

Starting on Dec. 15, 45 commuters in the morning and 45 in the evening will be able to cut that route in half, with direct Maitland Center service on NeighborLink.

On Tuesday, Dec. 16, at 7:45 a.m. Mayor Schieferdecker, U.S. Rep. John Mica and Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs will host a brief 15-minute program at the Maitland SunRail station to celebrate the bus route launch.