[IMAGE]Lynx.jpg[/IMAGE]Linda Watson, CEO of LYNX, the Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority, believes a huge part of encouraging people to use public transportation relies on making the experience more appealing to riders. And, LYNX’s ability to consistently break its ridership records year after year, echoes that sentiment.

In addition to providing more than 85,000 passenger trips on its fixed route bus service each weekday, the transit system boasts one of the largest routes in the nation by currently serving a 2,500-square-mile area in Orange, Osceola and Seminole, Fla. Counties.

Since becoming LYNX’s CEO in 2004, Watson has remained committed to transforming the agency’s outdated fleet and service offerings to meet the growing needs of a community that has come to rely heavily on its ever-expanding service areas.

“When I got here, I did not know how bad the service and the fleet were,” she says. “Well over half of the buses in the fleet needed to be replaced.” In response, the agency focused its energy on putting a swift bus replacement schedule into action that would distribute new equipment to all of its service sectors, and quickly. “I called it a bus replacement schedule on steroids,” says Watson.

With the many successes accomplished since 2004, including the construction of a central bus facility, LYNX is positioned to have nearly completely transformed the look and feel of its service.

“We’re going to have a totally new system,” says Watson of the new buses, routes, fuel and bus shelters, all in the final stages of planning on the LYNX “To Do” list for 2009. “It all comes together to give the community a really great system that they’re proud of and will want to use,” she adds.

An overdue overhaul

After much time spent in the central Florida community, Watson discovered that LYNX riders were interested in newer buses that were not only modern looking, but high-tech as well. 

“We have a very vibrant, upscale downtown,” she says. “We were looking for buses with a sleek and modern design.” At the time, adds Watson, LYNX began the discussion with California-based bus manufacturer Gillig Corp., who coincidentally was working on a brand new high-tech model — the Low Floor BRT Style bus. “It just worked out that by the time we placed our second order, we were able to go with this new, modern design,” she says.

Over the past four years, LYNX has purchased 170 diesel Gillig buses and is currently waiting on an order of 25 brand new Gilligs, which will be delivered to the community later this summer. LYNX plans to distribute the new buses to all of its service areas for the benefit of all of its customers.

“These new buses will get us very close to replacing the entire fleet,” adds Watson. She expects the new additions to become an incentive for new riders to begin to use public transportation for the first time.

“People get on the bus that haven’t been on the bus in a long time, or ever,” she says, “and they are shocked at how clean and nice they are.”

Gimme shelter

It has been one of Watson’s goals to change the perception people have about riding the bus itself, but purchasing impressive vehicles is just one small part of that process. Out of the 5,000 bus stops on the LYNX route, only 500 have shelters.

Facing the possibility of declining ridership numbers in 2009 due to unemployment (73 percent of LYNX riders used the bus to get to work) and decreases in tourism numbers, Watson worked diligently with U.S. Congressman Alan Grayson to obtain federal funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for 120 new shelters, some of which will be smart shelters. The latter will be equipped with displays providing next bus arrival times and the vehicle’s current location.

Watson hopes the new shelters will make taking the bus more comfortable and appealing, thus encouraging people who don’t ever take the bus to utilize the service as a more cost-efficient means of travel. The project is also expected to create jobs in the area by enlisting local contractors to build the shelters.

[PAGEBREAK]Providing fuel efficiency

Despite the mandates to go green all over the nation, the state of Florida has no air quality restrictions. “We’re not as aggressive in this state when it comes to regulating emissions,” says Watson, “but we’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do.”

One of LYNX’s latest successes is the recent approval and federal funding of its own biodiesel blending and fueling station. The agency recently received a $2.5 million grant from Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to infuse into the project, which is slated to be under way by August 2009.

“We’re going to be using biodiesel on the Gillig fleet once that project is completed,” says Watson.

In addition, Watson plans to add 10 Gillig BRT Hybrid buses to the LYMMO fleet that services the downtown area later this year. A portion of recovery money from the recent federal stimulus package will go toward the agency’s purchase of the hybrid buses.

“The hybrid-electric works really well on a stop-start service, so it is more conducive to the existing downtown service area,” Watson says.

Low cost options

Due to the recent infusion of federal recovery money, Watson foresees being able to continue offering its cost-saving service to its riders without much incident.

Despite a 25-cent fare increase in January, Watson asserts LYNX will not be increasing fares or cutting service in the near future. “After we receive this stimulus money, we are hoping to be good for another two years.” Although Watson would like to believe LYNX will be able to obtain dedicated funding sources for other outstanding projects in the next couple of years, she isn’t very hopeful during this economy. “It’s difficult to look much farther ahead right now,” she says.

Aside from the draw of its cost-effective regular fixed-route bus service, LYNX offers the community a variety of bus services tailor-made to their needs, the most economical being its free downtown Orlando route, LYMMO.

 The centrally located three-mile route has its own designated lane and allows riders to forego the cost and difficulty of parking in the metropolitan area. It offers service to government and business offices, hotels, restaurants, clubs and other downtown attractions.

The bus rapid transit (BRT) service has been a success for more than 11 years and was the first fully functional BRT service in the nation. And since LYNX built its central station in 2004, LYMMO’s ridership has increased by 30 percent.

[PAGEBREAK]Bridging the gap

Offering service to people driven out of the immediate local area due to the price of housing is another challenge that Watson is taking head-on through the expansion of LYNX service into smaller corridors.

The LYNX Pick-Up Line (PUL), which began as a pilot program in 2007, offers customers who formerly did not have access to fixed-route LYNX services a low-cost way to obtain access to the service by making an online or phone reservation for a smaller van, light duty or paratransit vehicle to facilitate the connection gap.

“Our biggest challenge has been finding a sleek, modern vehicle that does the job of a neighborhood circulator,” says Watson. “But the program itself has really outperformed our expectations.”

The PUL project has served as a model for LYNX to be able to concentrate on feeding people into the metro areas from smaller corridors. “It has helped us understand what it takes to expand into these areas through the use of these smaller vehicles,” says Watson. The agency is basing plans for restructuring its service to include 13 more corridors on the PUL program. “We want frequent, high quality service on these 13 major corridors,” adds Watson.

Expansion and beyond

Although technically, LYNX’s designated service area includes three counties, the agency actually services six counties in the central Florida region. “They come to us saying that they really need transit,” says Watson. “And, we’ve reached out to them, as well.”

The Xpress Bus is one example of LYNX’s successful partnerships with counties outside of its service area. The partnership offers two links — one in Volusia County, Fla. and the other in Lake County, Fla. — with limited stops from outside its service area into downtown Orlando, with transfers available to passengers. They also have the opportunity to utilize an FDOT lot for parking, drop off and pickup when using the service.

Through partnerships with not only outside counties, but with tourist-based corporations like Disney and Universal Studios as well, LYNX has received large amounts of funding to improve its service. The agency has also received funding from hospitals to build more shelters. Watson believes these fortunate partnerships have strengthened the agency’s service offerings. “It builds to a point where you can help each other meet your goals,” she adds.

Watson reveals LYNX is looking toward possible expansion into a larger regional system, which may include coordination with a commuter rail, currently being built, that will potentially connect its service to four other counties.

Yet, she adds, “there are no immediate plans to expand into those counties but, I think, the addition of the commuter rail may speed up the need for creating new partnerships.”