Lynx buses running with no fares, few riders
Leaders try to map out future for system during coronavirus
Recovery from the Lynx bus system’s coronavirus implosion will be gradual and uncertain, the agency’s leaders say as they look optimistically toward the future.
“We remain on solid financial ground,” said Lynx director Jim Harrison, citing his agency’s cash reserves, availability of tens of millions of federal relief dollars and an appraisal of financial bleeding as painful but not ruinous. Without making a broad, public announcement, Lynx suspended charging fares in late March so that riders could use only the rear doors of buses to spare drivers from possible COVID-19 infection. Front entrances, where fare machines are mounted, open now only for drivers, cleaning crews and passengers with special needs.
Purple placards plastered on buses’ accordion front doors say in Spanish and English: “This ride is on us. Please enter and exit at the rear door unless the ramp is needed.”
As Florida hunkered down in response to the pandemic and Lynx continued service for essential workers, ridership plunged from 83,000 passengers a day to as few as 25,000.
Route schedules were revised to resemble Sunday – every day – meaning generally that buses arrive at stops every hour, rather than every half-hour as before the state’s stay-athome order was issued.
Roughly every other bus seat, primarily those next to aisles, is marked as off limits to encourage social distancing.
Lynx’s fleet has dwindled from a daily peak of 240 buses on the road to about half as many.
The agency’s central station, a covered, open-air hub extending along Garland Avenue between Amelia and Livingston streets in Orlando, ordinarily churns with buses and riders, many of whom struggle economically.
This week, by comparison, the station seemed on the verge of abandonment, without a single bus running for a short period on one afternoon.
Earl Lewis, 57, an electrician striving to own a car again, said he has been impressed by the Lynx’s efforts to clean its vehicles.
“When a bus pulls up, two people get on and clean everything,” Lewis said while waiting for the No. 8 bus. “But to tell you the truth, I think the drivers are brave. I wouldn’t do it.”
Cleaning crews provided by contractors work nonstop as buses arrive and leave.
“I don’t want anybody to get sick,” said Derica Wright, in a yellow vest, carrying a rag and spray bottle. “If I don’t do my job, that could be on me.”
The only Lynx employee diagnosed with the coronavirus has returned to work, according to the agency.
Lynx’s central station and its buses amount to an enormous, collective billboard with COVID-19 messaging: wash hands, use sanitizer, wear face covers and practice social distancing.
The effectiveness of the messaging appears uneven at best.
Passenger Jerry Dunbar, thinks Lynx – and churches – should provide masks. They are difficult to find or costly when they are available, he said.
On a weekday afternoon at the central station, perhaps one rider out of 20 wore a mask or face cover, and more often than not, they were something like a scarf or bandana.
Of high-efficiency, N95-style masks visible, many were worn below chins or were battered and dirty.
Lynx is waiting on a large order of permanent dispensers of sanitizer to be mounted in buses. In the meantime, many buses are equipped temporarily with small, pump bottles of sanitizer.
Lois Aguilar, 13, traveling with her mother, said buses are reliably clean but often don’t have dispensers or dispensers are empty.
Extra cleaning, decreased bus capacity, suspended fares, reduced schedules, protective measures such as driver shields and face masks, and keeping employees on the payroll as workloads shrink represents losses of about $3.7 million a month, said
Bert Francis, the agency’s chief financial officer.
No employees have been furloughed or laid off.
Francis estimated that Lynx loses during the first six months of the pandemic will approach $20 million.
“Even if we resume full service this summer, we wouldn’t expect fare revenues to go back to pre-pandemic levels,” Francis said. “If we got 50 percent of revenue back we would probably be happy in light of everything going on.”
A potential offset to the agency’s losses is the estimated availability of nearly $77 million from the federal CARES Act to be applied to additional costs from pandemic in years to come.
Harrison said Lynx’s path forward depends on local financial support from Orlando, Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties, state and federal pandemic guidelines and how passengers respond.
The first step will be a return to normal bus schedules in the coming weeks.
Fares won’t resume until the end of May and removing limits on bus seating capacity remains to be determined, Harrison said.
“This is unlike a hurricane or any other shortterm event,” Harrison said.