Brightline is reporting that revenue and ridership is continuing to surge, as it prepares to inaugurate service to its new Orlando station tomorrow.
Brightline’s website shows that many tickets for tomorrow’s first trains to Orlando are already sold out.
According to a September 20 report to investors, Brightline carried 149,821 passengers in August 2023, up 50% from August 2022.
Ticket revenue was up 35% in August compared to last year (despite the average fare dropping 10%), while ancillary revenue surged 183%. The company announced a partnership with Orlando Health this week that will generate in excess of $4 million in revenue over three years.
Year to date through August, ridership is up 68%, with revenue up 114%. Total ridership for the first 8 months of the year was 1,262,419 (compared to 749,838 in the same period in 2022), with revenue (including ancillary revenue) at $38.5M.
A Brightline forecast in 2017 had projected 2.9 million passengers on the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach route, but an analysis by a bond rating firm had projected the service could still be profitable with much fewer passengers.
