Florida’s newest form of rapid transportation is gaining momentum but fell short of its early aspirations. Earlier this week, Brightline, a privately-owned high-speed rail service reported a net loss of more than $116 million in the first three months of 2024. It ended 2023 with a net loss of $192 million between January 1 and September 30, 2023, compared to a net loss of $201 million during the same period in 2022. Despite the rise in long-distance trips, short-distance ridership decreased by 27% in January 2024 compared to January 2023.
A silver lining for Brightline was the Orlando station extension, which led to a 250% boost in January ridership and an $8.8 million increase in revenue compared to January 2023. The report also noted that 52% of the ridership for the Orlando service was from long-distance trips.
Brightline initially estimated it would transport 7 million riders to Orlando in 2024 but has since revised this figure to 5.5 million, reflecting a 21% reduction. The train service completes the journey in 3 hours and 30 minutes, reaching speeds of up to 125 miles per hour.
To address its financial situation, the owner of Brightline, Fortress Investment Group, plans to refinance approximately $4 billion in debt to lower borrowing costs. The company remains optimistic about increasing long-distance bookings, which have risen consistently from approximately 2,800 daily bookings in October 2023 to over 4,200 in January 2024.
The company also noted an increase in repeat bookings from long-distance customers, with approximately 10,000 additional rides each month. Furthermore, the trend of increasing bookings from new customers is expected to support long-term growth. In February, the average daily long-distance bookings for the first half of the month exceeded 4,600.
