Mya Colón regularly uses the bus for her commute to work. She’s been doing so, she said, since high school. The 26-year-old sets her alarm to go off at 4 a.m., three and a half hours before her shift at a prosthetics and orthotics clinic in South Orlando.
It’s about a 25-mile journey that starts with a mile-plus-walk in the dark, from her Poinciana home in Osceola County to the nearest LYNX stop. She catches two buses and then embarks on a walk much shorter than the one from her home to clock in at 7:30 a.m.
Her mornings are the easiest, Colón said. It’s the trip back in the afternoons during rush hour that can be longest. If all goes well, it's a three-hour commute.
"I get home — honestly, depending on the day, and if I miss a bus or something— at like, 7:30, 8 (p.m.). And I get off at 4:30," Colón said.
The pros and cons of bus travel
That's Colón's best-case scenario. She said sometimes buses are late or just don’t show up, leaving riders to walk or wait longer. Late buses or ones that don’t come make not only time management difficult but also lead to missed appointments. Colón said improvements have been made to the LYNX system, but she’d like to see them step it up more.
MetroPlan Orlando is the organization behind the planning of a regional transportation system touching Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties. The organization found in its most recent survey that about a quarter of public transit riders reported missing at least one doctor appointment last year due to lack of transportation reliability.
Colón also said some bus stops lack covers, leaving riders exposed to harsh weather. She worries most about the people who most rely on public transit — people experience poverty or homelessness, people with disabilities, older adults, and low-wage workers.
"It’s frustrating. I don't think it's so much being mad that I don’t have a car, it’s just frustrating that you’re not in control," Colón said.
The same MetroPlan survey reported that a quarter of respondents are not satisfied with the public transit services at all, while 75% think it serves well or at least somewhat for some people.
However, when Colón was asked if she’d prefer to own a car and have the freedom to drive herself, she said “not really.” She knows the statistics of road travel in the Orlando region, including a high incidence of car crashes, and said she feels safer on the bus. Plus, she said, it gives her time to herself and she saves a lot of money.
"I think about the money that I’m saving. Right now, I’m paying two dollars to get home. If I had a car, I’d have to pay insurance and gas, and what if I get into an accident? Or what about when it breaks down?" Colón said.
Instead of a car, Colón said she wishes buses could run every 15 minutes, like they do on other routes, instead of having to wait a half hour.
Central Florida is built for cars
Eric Grimmer is the Orlando representative for the group YIMBY, which stands for “Yes, In My Backyard.” It advocates for housing and public transportation, as well as safer, cleaner roads for bikers and pedestrians.
He said decades of unplanned development have turned Central Florida into a car-dependent region, with congested and dangerous roads.
"We have based our development patterns on low-density, suburban sprawl – it does make it challenging for public transit to be effective. Everything is spread out – it makes it difficult to get around without a car. Everyone having to drive causes more cars on the road, more traffic congestion, environmental issues," Grimmer said.
Grimmer is also chair of Orange County's brand-new citizen-led board, Transportation Mobility Advisory Commission, created to assess the county's transit needs, priorities and funding.
Like most other public transit in the U.S., LYNX is funded through a combination of mainly fuel sales taxes, as well as local, state, and federal dollars. Grimmer said the number one problem with Orlando Metro’s public transit is a lack of funding.
“We are one of the few major metropolitan areas in the United States that does not have a dedicated revenue source for transportation,” Grimmer said.
Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau said the Orlando area is once again the fastest-growing large metro in the country, swelling by 2.7%, beating both the Florida state and national averages, and bringing in almost 76,000 new residents last year.
In addition, the Orlando Metro is the 20th most populous region in the country, still averaging about 1,500 new people each week.
However, the area’s infrastructure – public transit and roads have not kept up. MetroPlan Orlando reported that five people are killed and 35 others seriously injured every week due to car-and-transit-related incidents in the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The organization's short term Transit Improvement Plan uses public feedback to lay out the next five years of work on all modes of transportation. The plan aims to improve safety, pavement and bridge conditions, transit performance, traffic flow and congestion, road planning, and even air quality. It's updated annually and correlates with the board's Vision Zero, which aims to bring all traffic-related deaths to zero by 2050.
These plans include modes for which people like Grimmer are advocating, including safer, bikeable and walkable areas, as well as microtransit, electric bikes and other modes of transportation for short distances.
"Studies show us, when you make a road safer for people biking and walking, you make that road safer for everybody," he said. "There are people in this community who are trying to get us there, who are actively trying to make it safer for every one of those roadways. I'm proud to be one of those people."
The push for transit-oriented developments
Metroplan Orlando combines all these goals and establishes a larger vision for the region. The 2045 plan had to be scrapped after COVID and, after a new public feedback survey in 2024, the organization developed the 2050 Metropolitan Transportation Plan.
These plans, however, will require billions of dollars in investment, not counting the present need to fund public transit, in this case the LYNX bus system.
LYNX ridership is down 28% from where it was before COVID hit in 2020. The public bus system covers 2,500 square miles — from Volusia to Polk counties, including service to Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Lake — with just over 400 buses. The three largest counties in the metro make up the biggest sources of funding for LYNX.
Seminole County officials in April said theywill be moving away from LYNX in favor of a rideshare system citing the number of people using the buses as the reason for the change. On the busiest routes, Seminole leaders said they will continue with the buses, but if they cut services, LYNX could lose millions in revenue each year.
Commissioner Amy Lockhart said the county is aware of the potential loss for LYNX, but the move comes from an angle that puts riders first, saving them “invaluable time.” She said this will help the most vulnerable and transit-reliant, especially people experiencing homelessness or poverty and parents who need the bus to buy groceries or pick up their children from school.
"We're changing from being a route-focused mode of transportation to rider-focused. Rather than telling people where the routes will go and that they have to make it to a stop, we will come to them, and they will not be exposed to the elements," Lockhart said. "So, they will not be confined to a route. It's going to be rider-specific and, on top of that, we think this might save us some money along the way."
LYNX does offer alternatives, including their NeighborLink program, which serves areas that lack fixed routes providing on-demand paratransit options for Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties. In November last year, the company rolled out a new app, so riders can manage their NeighborLink rides from their devices.
In 2022, Orange County tried passing a penny tax to fund public transit, but residents voted it down. The following year, the county began the Accelerated Transportation Safety Program, providing $100 million for transportation over the next five years. The county reported that the one-cent tax proposal was projected to bring in $600 million every year for 20 years.
Yet, according to the results of MetroPlan Orlando’s 2024 survey, a majority of people —62% — agree on increasing fees and taxes to improve public transit and traffic conditions.
Bob O’Malley, senior vice-president of government affairs for the Orlando Economic Partnership or OEP, said the means to expand public buses are just not there.
"We’re not trying to run LYNX buses everywhere because we can’t afford to, as a community," he said.
OEP focuses on economic development and prosperity for the region.OEP’s goals are laid out in its 2045 Regional Vision, which correlates with Orange County's own Vision 2050 plan.
O'Malley said the goals for public transit must go hand-in-hand with the goals for more housing, affordable housing, and safer, faster, more efficient and cleaner transportation and roads. He said it's all connected.
“Affordability isn’t just transit, isn't just housing. You can’t look at affordability in silos," O'Malley said. "You need a job, you need housing, but you need a way to get from the housing to the job, and a place to go home to after work. So, it’s a three legged stool: housing, employment, and transportation."
O'Malley sees the successes and shortcomings of the region as opportunities. Multiple surveys from MetroPlan and OEP to plan for a future vision of Orlando Metro have yielded data leading to a push for transit-oriented developments, or TODs.
“It’s about helping dense development occur around transit systems. We can’t run transit everywhere because we can’t afford it. It's about encouraging dev around the transit investments, so the development follows the transit, not vice versa," O'Malley said.
These types of developments would aim to urbanize the Orlando Metro region into a truly high-density, mixed-use, multi-family area with walkable streets, commerce options, and a variety of transit modalities.
“We can become a top Innovation Hub. We can become the number one place in America to live. We can become a region of 15-minute cities,” O'Malley said.
A15-minute-city is one where – regardless of the mobility mode used – ideally, the diversity and ubiquity of public transit options make it so that no one takes longer than 15 minutes getting from Point A to Point B.
TODs are not new to Central Florida. Creative Village, in Downtown Orlando, which is nearing completion, and Weston 4 Hundred, in Kissimmee, are just two examples. There are dozens of others; most of them located near the SunRail trail.
Affordable housing as TOD — it's possible
One builder leading the way in TODs and affordable housing is Wendover Group, the company that developed Weston 4.
Chief Operating Officer Ryan von Weller said developing affordable housing as TODs is part of Wendover’s mission, but it’s becoming harder to do. More roads and transit investments tend to lead to a rise in property values.
“Land throughout Central Florida has become more expensive, and buildable land that doesn't have some kind of challenge to it has become very difficult to find. Those are effectively all gone," he said.
In fact, the only reason, von Weller said, that Wendover was able to get behind its latest affordable housing T-O-D project is because the land owner, Universal Destinations and Experiences, which owns Universal Studios, actually donated the 20 acres with a 99-year lease. This saved Wendover upwards of $35 million, making their most recent project, Catchlight Crossings, a feasible endeavor.
Wendover also had the help of Orange County officials and several other public and private partners to make Catchlight work. Von Weller said this is the sort of support that will be needed if the area wants to see more affordable TODs, and everyone needs to be on board.
“We need to have more major employers donating property. We need elected officials to take an interest in what has to happen. We can't build a unit and then charge affordable rents without the state agency, the federal government or the locals participating in some form or fashion," he said.
Catchlight is slated to bring 1,000 new affordable and workforce housing units near International Drive and the Orange County Convention Center by 2026.
Dubbed a “first-of-its-kind” project, with its own UCF building, medical clinic, preschool and retails stores, its infrastructure will provide access to the nearby LYNX/SunRail station, as the complex will be located across from where SunRail’s new Sunshine Corridor connection is planned to be.
“There will also be a transit plaza right in front that will have transport for employees, rideshare, and a variety of opportunities for people to catch other modes of transit other than their personal vehicle," von Weller said.
What could possibly go wrong?
However, financial barriers and land acquisition are not the only challenges when it comes to TODs. Developers and local officials will also need public support from existing residents to approve large densities of people.
Other issues include ensuring existing infrastructure keeps up and anticipating upgrades, so denser populations don’t strain the area’s framework. As well as knowing that, eventually, the land surrounding transit will run out. At this point, to address both concerns, von Weller said he expects areas will see more repurposed building projects, when old, unused spaces are redesigned and turned into adaptive reuse homes.
Studies also show TODs have the potential of pricing out long-time residents. Growth and investments in transit and housing lead to more expensive neighborhoods, taxes and lifestyles, potentially leading to gentrification, especially in urban areas and underserved, marginalized neighborhoods.
In 2013, Parramore residents took to the streets and mobilized against Creative Village, fearing such results. Several reports have researched the benefits and challenges of TODs, as well as areas that need more study.
O'Malley said that, when done well, TODs can help lift communities via higher wage jobs and equitable, planned growth. Orlando's, OEP's, and MPO's vision all have noted they have kept the needs of these historic communities in mind when planning for the future to avoid leaving them out.
Hundreds of studies and research show that while TODs have been the answer for progress.
Back with Mya Colón, just after 7 p.m., her second and last LYNX bus dropped her off in Poinciana with her last stretch ahead — a 30-minute walk home in the same shoes she's been wearing for at least 14 hours.
Instead of being eager to get home, Colón is enjoying herself. She pointed out the birds flocking, the crisp spring air, and the "kiss" of the sun, as it sets during the golden hour.
"I soak it all in," she said.
At a mid-point park, where she stopped a while, she took in all the activity — bikers, skaters, picnics, children playing, music blaring. She said she feels connected to her community and that she doesn't think she would without public transit. Getting a car it's nowhere on her to-do list.
"Honestly, I probably could have gotten a car by now, but I’m glad I haven’t. I would have missed out on these kids being here, this breeze. I'm grateful," she said. "It's humbling, that's what it is. It's very humbling."
Colón continues her walk as the dusk makes it almost completely dark out. A walk that could, one day, become a 15-minute walk, instead of the 30 it is now, if 15-minute cities really are the future of Central Florida.
Lillian Hernández Caraballo is a Report for America corps member.
