Bill Sowell just retired six weeks ago and he thinks he has found a new hobby.
"SunRail, I love it," Sowell said. "I really do. It’s impressive. I rode it, I couldn’t believe how smooth it was. How on time it was. The problem I had was the seven consecutive day [pass] they come up with.”
Sowell was going to buy that "7 consecutive days” pass. Then he found out that when SunRail officials say seven consecutive days, they mean it.
The trouble is, SunRail doesn't run seven consecutive days. It doesn't run on weekends.
“They’ll sell you a pass for seven consecutive days but yet they don’t run seven consecutive days, so you really get five days not seven consecutive days," Sowell said. "It’s kind of a joke in a way really.”
Sowell first thought maybe the pass meant five days one week and two days the next.
SunRail has a limited ticket option where you pay by the number of stops. However, riders can also purchase a seven consecutive days plan, a 30 consecutive days plan, and a 365 consecutive calendar days plan. The SunRail website said these means "significant savings over a single-day pass."
But if you can't ride the train for 30 days straight, are you really getting all the savings?
We reached out to Florida Dept. of Transportation. Spokesman Steve Olson gave us this explanation:
"We are using the terminology “7-consecutive days” so as to avoid customer confusion. We did consider using a “weekly” pass terminology, however, thought that customers might be confused if they purchased a ticket mid-week. Same with the five-day pass, which also was considered, but felt that customers might be confused since we don’t run on weekends."
Bill Sowell is not giving up on SunRail. He’s hoping they have weekend service soon so they can truly offer a seven-day pass. Until then his suggestion is to call it a five-day work week pass.