It was smooth sailing for south Lake’s inaugural commuter bus service on Tuesday.
New LakeXpress Route 50 kicked off at 5 a.m. at the Mascotte Civic Center with no delays. There were no riders, but driver Jorge Garay wasn’t fazed.
“We expected it to be slow at first,” Garay said during his 7 a.m. ride to Winter Garden. “(There) are people who’ll realize we have buses and don’t have to walk.”
Back in Mascotte, there was at least one future bus rider at the Civic Center. Stuart Herndon wasn’t looking for a ride Tuesday but said he was excited to see the service.
“It’s a miracle. It’s the best thing that’s ever happened,” he said after learning people can now take the bus to Orlando — with a transfer to Lynx in Winter Garden). “I’m going to tell everybody.”
As for the future ridership on Route 50, bus driver Ray Rangel is optimistic.
“I used to work for Lynx, and I remember Route 33 going to the Sanford airport,” Rangel said. “The first month it was really slow then it started getting super busy.”
Route 50 runs from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays. The east end of the route is at the Winter Garden Regional Shopping Center on State Road 50 near Captain D’s.
There are 50 eastbound and westbound stops with estimated arrivals times. If there’s no one at a given stop, the buses will not stop. Realistically, that means the buses will likely run ahead of schedule until ridership builds.
According to county spokesperson Elisha Pappacoda, there were “19 one way trips, with some passengers riding round trip” on Day 1.
“We obviously expect this to increase dramatically over time,” she said.
The route is a collaborative effort between Lake County and ReThink, a program within the Florida Department of Transportation.
Bus fares are $1 each way but have been waived through the end of December.