Rumor Higher Speed Rail from MCO to Disney World

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
I think this is a flawed premise. Mass transit benefits roads, so if roads benefit everyone (which is arguable -- maybe not in the abstract, but individual roads certainly don't benefit everyone), then mass transit also has to benefit everyone.

And again, I say this as a person who generally prefers to have a car available and drive most places.
Any good that is delivered to a store comes via roads. It's not debatable.

I will have a need to get from FLL to MCO (in a general sense). I'd rather take the train than rent a car and make that drive. Brightline accomplishes that in a more reliable timeframe and for a better price, despite the fact that it's silly expensive, from what I can see, for my journey.
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Any good that is delivered to a store comes via roads. It's not debatable.

Hence my parenthetical. Individual road construction isn't a benefit to everyone even if road construction in general is. It often only benefits a small subset of people.

So again, if you're saying roads in general benefit everyone, then mass transit in general also benefits everyone, because the existence of mass transit improves roads. That's not debatable either.
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
Hence my parenthetical. Individual road construction isn't a benefit to everyone even if road construction in general is. It often only benefits a small subset of people.

So again, if you're saying roads in general benefit everyone, then mass transit in general also benefits everyone, because the existence of mass transit improves roads. That's not debatable either.
Right, because every person on a train or bus is at least half a car off the road (thinking of carpools, etc.). I think we're on the same page here. :)
 

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
Less cars on the road since some including my own family don't even bother getting in their car to run most errands and or going to other stores. Let someone else do it for us and come to poppa .
I argue there are more cars on the road. In the old days, before these services, we planned when we ran errands. and the delivery folks were not on the roads.

I KNOW I use these services to get stuff delivered WAY MORE times than I would have gotten in my car to do the same task.
 

Rich Brownn

Well-Known Member
Tampa plays second fiddle to Orlando in terms of tourists coming to visit. More attractions, excursions etc in Orlando. For a young family with kids , I would think they would not be going to Tampa to take them to fine dining , museums , historical . Orlando , hands down is a premier destination.
Believe it or not, not all Florida tourists have kids. Nor is everyone traveling to Tampa a tourist.
 

Twirlnhurl

Well-Known Member
But they do get grants for expansion and infrastructure correct?
I don't think Disney has received many grants for their theme park stuff. I'm sure that they've had some research grants at Living with the Land and stuff like that, but that is very limited. Maybe they got some grant money for low cost housing and for clean energy busses?

The primary government benefit that Disney gets at WDW is access to municipal bonds for infrastructure through RCID/CFTOD.
Less cars on the road since some including my own family don't even bother getting in their car to run most errands and or going to other stores. Let someone else do it for us and come to poppa .
The only way delivery services could reduce the number of cars on the road is if they are able to trip chain (deliver to multiple houses on a single trip) enough to offset the induced demand for the product.

So if 5% of the grocery deliveries only exist because of the presence of the delivery service, and 6% of grocery deliveries are delivered by drivers who deliver to two houses instead of one house, you would reduce the number of cars on the road by 1%. More factors go into it, though. And I think the literature mostly shows very modest reductions in traffic system wide, but it is contingent on a bunch of variables.
 

Twirlnhurl

Well-Known Member
Right…. Infrastructure. Like… public transit!
Does Disney get grant money for Disney Transport? I don't think they do. (Not saying they never would, I just don't think that it is a part of their current business model.)

Lynx gets grant money to operate, including operating bus likes that serve WDW from outside, but that serves a tiny fraction of the population that is served by Disney Transport.
 

JMcMahonEsq

Well-Known Member
Going to ignore the flat earth comment as that has no bearing in this conversation.

Brightline stopped selling their "annual pass" in order to accommodate demand from just the Miami to Orlando leg, so there's more than enough demand out there for Brightline. When Brightline first opened the Miami-West Palm leg, people questioned the profitability of such a run when it was "only" an hour away driving... and it was well attended and obviously a success as the company continues to invest into adding more stations along the current route (Fort Pierce, Cocoa, etc.), let alone pursuing Tampa.
The flat earther line wasn't meant as a shot at people who want the train line or not. It was more just as a exaggerated statement that there are niche markets that can served for almost anything, but that just because there are "some" people that would use/want something, doesn't mean its a big enough market to invest in servicing. If it came across that i was relating pro tampa/MCO train route people to flat eathers that wasn't the intention.

While I haven't seen the studies that were done, I just don't know how much the demand/use for the Miami/Orlando leg can be used/translates to demand for a east/west spur between Tampa and Orlando. Its not a knock against Brightline the company, it seems like they are doing well both in marketing and implementation for the Miami/Orlando route. But that almost goes to my point, is the the expansion worth the risk, and is the ROI high enough to justify the risk, when the current route is finically doing well, assuming it is.
 

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
It was more just as a exaggerated statement that there are niche markets that can served for almost anything, but that just because there are "some" people that would use/want something, doesn't mean its a big enough market to invest in servicing.
I don’t know if I’d call 2 million riders a year a “niche” product. And that’s of course growing.
is the the expansion worth the risk, and is the ROI high enough to justify the risk, when the current route is finically doing well,
Why do you think it’s not? Businesses expand all the time. Adding Tampa and then Jacksonville has always been part of the business plan.
 

Andrew25

Well-Known Member
But that almost goes to my point, is the the expansion worth the risk, and is the ROI high enough to justify the risk, when the current route is finically doing well, assuming it is.
Businesses need to grow in order to satisfy investors/creditors, they certainly would like to expand into Tampa if they believe it makes sense financially.
 

Rich Brownn

Well-Known Member
The flat earther line wasn't meant as a shot at people who want the train line or not. It was more just as a exaggerated statement that there are niche markets that can served for almost anything, but that just because there are "some" people that would use/want something, doesn't mean its a big enough market to invest in servicing. If it came across that i was relating pro tampa/MCO train route people to flat eathers that wasn't the intention.

While I haven't seen the studies that were done, I just don't know how much the demand/use for the Miami/Orlando leg can be used/translates to demand for a east/west spur between Tampa and Orlando. Its not a knock against Brightline the company, it seems like they are doing well both in marketing and implementation for the Miami/Orlando route. But that almost goes to my point, is the the expansion worth the risk, and is the ROI high enough to justify the risk, when the current route is finically doing well, assuming it is.
Unless something changed, the original analyst for MCO/TPA for high speed rail showed it would actually be profitable. Of course, our Governor had given the funds away by then
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Unless something changed, the original analyst for MCO/TPA for high speed rail showed it would actually be profitable. Of course, our Governor had given the funds away by then
Which was delusional. It required insanely overly optimistic ridership and federal subsidies. The governor was right that there was no actual funding mechanism for operations and ticket sales were not going to be enough to get it going. It was a boondoggle of project, buying a Ferrari for your sailer commuter car. The true high speed capabilities would never have really been utilized.
 

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