The Economic Reason To Have A Station
I am not a champion of Brightline, the company. I couldn’t care less about whether it survives or not…once Martin County has a station with a guaranteed number of stops. A passenger train stopping here is my goal.
Before the 2018 settlement, I was opposed to high-speed trains barreling down the tracks. For years, Martin County tried to have high-speed passenger trains never happen. After $6 million in legal fees, the county failed.
Because the BOCC couldn’t prevent Brightline from going through the county, I thought that having a station would be a good benefit while accepting the inevitable. When confronted with a box of lemons, you make lemonade.
The other thing I never counted on was that the Feds and Florida would be so much in favor of Brightline. They have sunk billions into the company here and in California. The plan is to provide the public with the alternative of rail instead of only auto for trips to go 500 miles or less. There is no good way to go by plane from Miami to Orlando. There probably never will be one.
No matter how cheap a gallon of gas is or how much we like the cocoon of being in our own car, traffic will only become worse in the coming years. For example, right now it is not practical for most sane people to live in Stuart and work in Fort Lauderdale. That would become a very real possibility if there was an hour train ride.
In its present iteration, Brightline is not a commuter company. That does not mean it won’t morph into one someday. But in the meantime, there are other distinct benefits to having a Brightline station. One is the often-cited convenience of using it to travel to the airports in Miami or Orlando. The last time I flew out of Miami to Europe, the black car fee was more than $350 each way. By taking Brightline, I would have saved considerably.
Martin County is one of the highest per capita counties in Florida. Based on housing values, there are 20,000 likely riders from the Stuart area. There are 33,000 riders within 30 minutes of Downtown. That is nice but not significant enough today for Brightline to build a station without government involvement. It would be very convenient for the demographic mentioned above, but that by itself would not put much more money into the local economy or Brightline’s pocket.
Today, Martin County attracts 5.5 million visitors a year. Of those, 1.1 million are coming from South Florida and 550,000 from the Orlando area. The rest are from outside Florida and from other parts within the state. If there is a station, Brightline and the county will intensify marketing for day trips, weekend getaways, and longer trips probably spent on Hutchinson Island with the guests using car sharing services.
If Brightline increases our tourism by 20%, that would result in over a million more tourists eating in our restaurants, buying in our stores, creating new opportunities for Lyft or Uber drivers, and staying in our hotels. The last time we went to Miami, we took Brightline from West Palm Beach, and for the four days we were there, we took metered cabs and car share services. People do it all the time.
That is today’s reason to build a station. A station whose cost to the county is limited to $15 million using funds that are not from ad valorem taxes but from transportation dollars that can only be used on transportation projects. The total Martin County budget for 2025 is $675 million dollars not counting the Enterprise Funds. It is less than 3% of the budget.
Tomorrow’s reason to build a station now is so that people can live here or work here and grab a train instead of being in a car. I have no doubt as traffic becomes worse Brightline will become more of a commuter rail line. This will become an important part of our future in a decade.
Even if Brightline goes belly up, the Feds or Florida will step in. Amtrack or even Tri-rail will assume Brightline’s responsibilities. Taking a train will be ingrained and the public will not want to see an end to it. Too many people will depend on it.
None of what I have outlined about today or tomorrow will occur without a built station. It is critical for today and our future economy. From a strictly business perspective, it is the way to proceed.
