ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Mayor Jerry Demings took the SunRail on Thursday morning as part of "Mobility Week" in Orange County.
He took the train from the Sand Lake Road Station to Church Street in Downtown Orlando.
I’m about to ride @RideSunRail with @OrangeCoFL Mayor Jerry Demings as part of mobility week. We are going to discuss how more residents can use more alternative modes of transportation to work etc.
— Ezzy Castro (@EzzyCastro) October 31, 2019
We will be downtown bound in minutes from Sand Lake Rd Station @news6wkmg pic.twitter.com/J6hqpuJxjV
During the trip, he chatted with commuters and got feedback from them about public transportation.
I was just trying to understand from them what they see as the positives and the negatives of the current system," Demings said.
Demings said the county is facing new growth, with hundreds moving into the area, which is why he's encouraging people to use SunRail and Lynx buses in order to save time, gas and money.
"The vision that I have for our county is to try and deal with some of the traffic congestion issues that we have now but also look to build a system that is robust enough that it would take care of the needs of our community maybe four or five decades from now," Demings said.
The mayor is pushing for a one-cent sales tax referendum to fully fund a transportation system, and he's hoping voters will help during elections in 2020.
"We are talking about a 1% or one penny tax. So for every dollar that you would purchase items, with some exceptions, you’d pay an additional penny," Demings said.