Despite getting $9M, Lynx won’t add routes
Official: Extra money is needed to ‘stabilize’ the system
Lynx will get nearly $9 million more from Orange County next year if the proposed county budget is approved, but bus riders may not notice a difference.
The extra money is needed to “stabilize” the transit system — not add routes or expand hours, which could boost bus ridership, said Jim Harrison, Lynx’s interim director.
“This budget maintains the current service levels,” said Harrison, who was named to his interim post in March after Lynx CEO Edward Johnson resigned.
Lynx wants $55.5 million from Orange County in the next fiscal year, an increase of about $9 million from the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
Commissioners will vote in September on the final budget.
Orange County and its local Lynx partners, Osceola and Seminole counties, will pay about $71 million of the service’s estimated $148 million in operating expenses.
The financial commitments are determined by a formula directly related to the number of Lynx service hours each county gets.
Orange County gets the most by far and so it pays the most by far.
The rest of the operating funds money comes from a variety of sources, notably rider fares and federal and state funds.
Lynx’s operating budget for the current funding year is $143 million, which includes about $6.5 million from its financial reserves.
Harrison submitted a proposed budget to Orange County that eliminated use of reserve money.
He said continuing to dip into the transit system’s so-called rainy day fund was “not a longterm, sustainable strategy.”
While overall ridership is declining, use of Lynx’ paratransit service is increasing, Harrison said.
The door-to-door service for people with disabilities, the elderly or those living in poverty is more expensive to operate.
Lynx uses a fleet of 310 buses to service 74 fixed routes in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, serving a combined population of more than 2 million people.
While it provides about 78,000 passenger trips a day, rid
ership is “relatively flat, in fact declining just slightly,” Harrison told Orange County commissioners Tuesday.
Sinking ridership is a serious worry because fares are an important part Lynx’s funding structure.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings used the budget discussion to restate his view that the county needs a reliable funding stream for its transportation options.
“We have to look at a dedicated funding source that we can count on in the future,” Demings said. “I think the time is now for us to look at that.”
He proposed a 2020 ballot initiative to add a penny to the county sales tax for transportation needs during his state-ofthe-county speech in May.
Demings made similar remarks for the tax bump at Monday’s budget session after Public Works officials clicked though a list of 16 multimillion-dollar road projects.
The county expects to spend about $146 million on road projects in the coming fiscal year.
But many Lynx riders don’t have access to a car, Harrison said, citing ridership surveys. About half of Lynx’ riders take the bus to and from work.
Orange County Commissioner Betsy VanderLey, whose west Orange district includes Disney properties, said some night-shift hospitality workers who ride the transit service to their jobs in the afternoon can’t depend on Lynx for a ride home after work because the buses stop running about 11 p.m., an hour two before they clock out.
Those workers sometimes camp out in a break room until morning or call Uber to take them home, VanderLey said.
More routes, more frequent buses, longer service hours could make Lynx a more reliable option and boost ridership, Harrison said, but that’s also expensive.
Harrison was appointed to lead Lynx after Johnson stepped down amid turmoil, which included the service’s strained budget.
Harrison draws an annual salary of $195,000, though it’s paid by Orange County, where he is an assistant county administrator.