FL: Rising costs, empty buses have Seminole planning to ditch Lynx for door-to-door service

Frustrated by what they see as high costs and low ridership, Seminole County officials plan to cut most Lynx bus routes and launch a micro-transit service that dispatches small vans to homes and offices to shuttle riders around the county.

The plan would leave running the most heavily used routes closest to the Orange County border but would cancel the others that county officials say often have mostly empty buses.

According to details unveiled at a county meeting this week, Seminole would hire a private company by Oct. 1 to provide on-demand, door-to-door van service for most of the county — except in the eastern rural area where Lynx doesn’t provide service.

Seminole Commissioners have long blasted Orlando-based Lynx — which runs buses in Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties — as inefficient and not worth the $17 million cost this year.

But some longtime Seminole Lynx riders wonder if replacing many routes with a door-to-door, on-demand service would be efficient and dependable.

On a recent morning, Paul Pilkington waited to transfer to a second bus at a Lynx stop in Fern Park. He frequently uses Lynx for medical appointments, taking buses to get from his home near Longwood to Orlando because he can’t afford a car.

“Sure, I think it would be great. It could be awesome,” Pilkington said about the plans. “But I’d like to know how efficient it’s going to be.

“Will they have these vans available when you need them? What happens if they aren’t? What happens if I can’t get one? Then I’m stuck.”

Maria Dega-Ortiz, who also was waiting at the stop, agreed. She relies on buses to get from her Altamonte Springs apartment to cleaning jobs in Orange.

“I hope that this van will be available to pick me up every day. Otherwise, what do I do?” Dega-Ortiz asked.

Commissioner Amy Lockhart said the county isn’t taking away transportation options from anyone if it ends some Lynx routes.

“We are replacing them with a better service,” Lockhart said. “And it will actually take you where you want to go.”

County staff estimates between 3,500 and 4,200 people ride Lynx every weekday in Seminole, which has a population of about 485,000.

The 40-foot-long buses often have only a handful of riders along many routes, according to staff. Riders often must venture more than a mile to find a convenient stop, then wait nearly an hour outdoors in some cases for a bus to pick them up.

But Lynx officials said those ridership estimates are low. Their 2024 data shows an average weekday ridership of 6,644 and 2.1 million annually.

The agency charges Seminole based on what the county requests — including number of routes, stops and frequency of service.

Lynx spokesman Matt Friedman said the agency is aware of Seminole’s frustrations and willing to work with county officials to improve the service.

“We haven’t received anything official from them,” he said Wednesday of Seminole’s plans. “We understand their decision. But we will work with them and try to come up with a transportation solution. There’s still a lot of questions that need to be answered.”

Here’s how the new service would work: A resident wanting to go, for example, from home to a medical facility, job, SunRail station or shopping district could arrange a ride with a call or app for a six-seater van to pick them up.

The trip’s cost would likely vary depending how far a passenger wants to travel. Riders could receive discounts based on age, income level, disability or if they wanted to go to a SunRail station. Vans could pick up additional passengers along the way.

Lockhart said the door-to-door model is more ideal than a bus system for Seminole, a county not as densely populated as Orange.

“The Lynx fixed-route model is very expensive and it’s not designed for a county like ours,” she said. “We are much more spread out.”

Commissioner Bob Dallari said the micro-transit service could fill pockets of Seminole not serviced by Lynx: “Once we do this, there’s going to be a lot more riders.”

However, service still would not be offered in the sparsely populated rural area, which covers nearly a third of the east side. Lynx currently does not have stops in the county east of Oviedo and the Econlockhatchee River.

Seminole plans to keep Lynx routes along portions of State Road 436 along with U.S. highways 441 and 17-92 near the Orange County border. Those buses travel over the county line daily and are used more heavily than other routes.

“All the routes that we are asking to keep are the ones that are utilized,” County Manager Darren Gray said.

Estimated costs for the service vary from $3.9 million to $13 million annually depending on the number of vehicles in service, range of trips and costs to operate vans, according to proposals from three companies.

Bids were received from Freebee, which operates in Kissimmee surrounding downtown and Osceola Regional Medical Center; Circuit Transit, which launched its Ride DTO shuttle service in downtown Orlando last year; and Via Strategies, which runs a micro-transit system in Arlington, Texas.

Commissioners said the service should run every day with wait times of 30 minutes on weekdays and 60 minutes on weekends.

But setting fares has been a struggle for commissioners. They don’t want them too high, making it expensive for low-income residents and seniors who need it. But too low and many residents give up cars for the service and in effect shut out residents who need it. County officials said it’s likely fares would be at the same rate as the current Lynx fares.

Pricing would develop “as this thing develops,” Commission Chair Jay Zembower said.

Funding for the system could come from gas tax revenues, private sponsorships and advertising on vehicles, according to the county. An estimated $9 million savings from reducing or eliminating fixed routes could go toward paying for the system plus the county is applying for a $10 million state grant for public transit service development.

“We’re not establishing a new bus system,” Commissioner Lee Constantine said. “We’re trying to do a better system.”

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