Brightline relaunch date set with improved travel experiences

Brightline’s train service will relaunch with multiple service enhancements and investments to the guest experience, including new food and beverage options and complimentary door-to-door transportation in December 2020.

Patrick Goddard, President of Brightline, said: “There is a lot of enthusiasm for Brightline’s return and we are excited to welcome back past riders and all our new riders. Our relaunch opens a new chapter for Brightline that includes an enhanced guest experience, from the moment they book their travel plans on our app, to the moment they reach their final destination. Every stage of the Brightline journey has been built through the lens of today’s modern traveller and creates a travel experience unlike any other.”

As part of its relaunch, Brightline – the only provider of modern, eco-friendly, intercity rail in America – is unveiling guest enhancements that will elevate train travel to a true car-free lifestyle experience in South Florida through its new door-to-door service and upgraded food and beverage options.

Door-to-door service

In addition to the Tri-County connectivity provided by Brightline, passengers will now get to experience the new and first-of-its-kind branded, door-to-door service. This will include a fleet of both private and third-party vendor vehicles supporting point-to-point service beyond the train and making a car-optional lifestyle possible. This first-of-its-kind multimodal app will help its guests plan trips using public transit, Citibikes, scooters, shuttles and chauffeured vehicles. Brightline is also working on partnering with local public transportation agencies to integrate connectivity between both transportation modes in the near future.

Brightline currently serves Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, with expansion stations in Aventura and Boca Raton opening in 2022. Construction to Orlando is on track to be complete by the end of 2022. Moreover, discussions with local stakeholders remain underway regarding expansion to Disney and Tampa. Brightline projects over nine million annual passengers once all Florida stations are completed. The future expansion of MiamiCentral includes a Miami-Dade commuter rail system with stations in Wynwood, the Design District, El Portal, North Miami and FIU’s Biscayne Bay Campus.

Touchless and safe travel

Among its new safety measures, Brightline will require all staff member s to be fully vaccinated prior to the reintroduction of service. The company has identified and will implement a series of COVID-19 protocols in-station and on-board, including an almost touchless transportation system. Safety measures include increased cleaning, pre-packaged foods, touchless bathrooms, cashless payment and electronic tickets. Per the existing federal mandate, staff members and guests will be required to wear masks in stations and on-board all trains. Brightline features reserved seating, and the private four-person table configurations within each coach have plexiglass dividers, providing increased privacy and distancing.

Twenty-five per cent of the air in Brightline’s coaches comes from fresh air intake ducts and gets filtered before being mixed with recirculated air, unlike airplanes where air is entirely recirculated. Brightline will also utilise a Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization (NPBI) system developed by Siemens, the manufacturer of the trainsets. Ozone-Free NPBI artificially creates millions of positive and negative ions and releases them into the forced-air circulation of an HVAC system. The ions, or charged particles, neutralise pathogens, viruses and bacteria.