Joined: Feb 21, 2006 Posts: 4196 Location: Sanford, Fl
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:21 am Post subject: Disney Grants Extends Lynx Coverage
Quote:
Deals could put Lynx on road to a new Disney express
Lynx, DOT and Disney announce a new deal that could expand service for workers.
Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
April 25, 2008
A new express-commuter bus linking Poinciana with Walt Disney World might result from a new deal involving Lynx, the state Department of Transportation and Disney.
Florida DOT District 5 Secretary Noranne Downs announced Thursday that, at Disney's request, the state has agreed to give Lynx $4.86 million of the $7.1 million in fees that the state has charged Disney World in recent years. Those fees were collected under Florida's growth-management laws, to make up for the giant resort's effect on area roads and highways.
Disney also announced that it will give the Central Florida bus agency grants of $250,000 a year for five years.
The new Disney grants follow the $470,000 in grants the company gave the bus agency last year to help pay for extended routes and extended, late-night service between Disney World and several neighborhoods that are home to many Disney employees. The state's pledge of growth management money and the new Disney grant allow Lynx to continue full service on those routes for another five years and will help pay for more bus service to Disney World or elsewhere.
Lynx plans to use the Disney contributions first as seed money to seek federal matching grants. As a result, Lynx hopes to wind up with as much as $7.36 million from the deals.
Lynx's board has not decided exactly where it wants to spend the money; officials said it could go to bus routes anywhere in Central Florida.
Among the possibilities: a new Poinciana-Disney World express bus (called Link 326) that could cut the commute time from two hours each way to one hour; and an increase in the frequency of buses on busy, existing routes between downtown Orlando and Disney World (Link 50) or U.S. Highway 192 and Disney World (Link 56). Lynx also is mulling a new bus line (Link 111) to connect Orlando International Airport, the proposed Central Florida commuter rail line and Disney World. But that route alone could cost more than $7 million.
With 62,000 workers, Disney World is Central Florida's largest employer and is thought to be the biggest single-site employer in the country.
Lynx Chief Executive Officer Linda Watson said of the new deals: "I have never won the lottery, but I suspect if I did it would feel like I do today."
It likely will take more than a year for the new deals to lead to any new bus service, as Lynx follows bureaucratic steps needed to seek the federal dollars.
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