Even the passive local media consumer has probably heard the word “Brightline” a solid 18 million times over the last couple of years. The planned high-speed Florida passenger train had grand ambitions: to provide a quicker-than-ever train route connecting Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville. It’s not done yet, but this weekend Brightline finally adds the highly anticipated Miami stop to its route.
This Saturday, May 19, you’ll be able to take the Brightline from downtown’s MiamiCentral station (600 NW 1st Avenue) to Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach. The trip to Fort Lauderdale will take just over a half hour. And you won’t have to spend your commute dodging cars Mad Max-style.
Fares will be pretty affordable to start off. For the grand opening on May 19 and May 20, tickets will go for $3 to $5. After that, it’ll be $10 to $25 depending on if you want to ride smart coach or select coach. Children under 12 get half off and active military, veterans and seniors 65 or older get 10 percent off. Brightline has said fares will likely rise after a while.
You can buy tickets and see a schedule of departing trains over at gobrightline.com. And now your excuses for not visiting your Broward friends are dwindling.
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