Orange County is studying a plan to greatly expand its rail and bus transportation — but officials want to know if it’s actually enough to ease congestion in a region Commissioner Kelly Semrad calls “Carlando.”
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The STAR plan, an acronym for Sunshine Transit Advancement Resolution, aims to create rapid transit lines across vast stretches of the county, including along most of Colonial Drive as well as Semoran Boulevard and the Orange Blossom Trail.
While commissioners took no formal vote after a Tuesday discussion of the approach, they reached a consensus to direct staff to begin studying if such a plan was feasible. But despite the initial thumbs up, officials warned costs could ultimately derail the idea.
“It’s a very, very expensive process,” said Commissioner Mayra Uribe. “Let’s find out what it costs and then we’ll find out how we pay for it.”
The plan calls for creating routes serviced by transit arriving every 15 minutes. That could include buses that operate in designated lanes separated from vehicle traffic, or developing light rail, commuter trains or other transit options.
It was created by a local branch of the national Sunrise Movement progressive organization focused on climate action, and pushed by Semrad as a needed alternative in an auto-dependent region.
“Transit is part of tourism – and we can’t ignore it,” Semrad said. “We must be able to move our workers, our employees, our tourists and the residents that live here.”
Over numerous workshops and meetings, the plan has won endorsements from a slew of local groups and politicians, including mayoral candidate Tiffany Moore Russell and several other candidates for Board of County Commission seats.
Giancarlo Rodriguez, Sunrise Orlando’s Hub Coordinator, said while the ultimate plan may take years to come to fruition, it creates opportunities to move some things along quickly, including expanding SunRail to nights and weekends and making sure buses arrive more frequently.
“We can actually deliver quickly for the people,” he said.
Following the discussion, however, Orange Mayor Jerry Demings said it may not go far enough to solve the county’s transit needs.
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“It’s much smaller in scope than what it truly is needed in our community to adequately address the transportation challenges,” Demings said. “The commitment here from the board is to at least move forward and come up with a dedicated funding source.”
About 90 speakers signed up to address the board Tuesday morning ahead of discussing the plan, with the bulk of them urging the county to study it.
Ryan Myers said the existing bus and rail networks aren’t a practical option for him to make it to his job at Walt Disney World in time to open its Star Wars attractions.
“The few times I’ve ridden the Lynx bus or the SunRail, they’re great; they’re awesome,” he said. But he added they were not widely available and don’t run “early enough for me to get to work on time, especially when I needed them to keep my job at Disney.”
Others contended that a more substantive transit system could ultimately lead to cost savings.
“Every world-class region has mass rapid transit – so why can’t we?” said Michael Montenegro.
The plan proposes paying for the rail and bus lines with a mix of funding, tapping federal, state and local sources. Perhaps most notably, it seeks to create special taxing districts within a half-mile of the lanes.
The districts would siphon off a portion of increases in property taxes that come from new development or rising property values and divert that money to transit over 25 years. Under the proposal, that money could only be spent on train and bus, bicycle and pedestrian improvements near stations and studies, operation and infrastructure costs.
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