MIAMI — Beginning Oct. 6, Brightline is making sweeping changes that adjust schedules, capacity, and pricing to capture ridership and revenue for both its Miami-West Palm Beach and South Florida-Orlando clientele.
Hourly round trips between Miami and Orlando will be reduced from the current 15 to 10, departing about every two hours, while short-distance frequencies between Miami and West Palm Beach jump to 18 each way including the Orlando trains. Depending on the time of day and destination, consists will initially vary between four cars for the locals and eight cars for Miami-Orlando service. Additionally, fares within South Florida are being revised to fixed commuter-style “peak” and “off-peak” amounts according to trip length, rather than rising or falling based on percentage of capacity sold, as Miami-Orlando pricing will continue to do. The additional capacity means ticket costs will likely become more affordable.
What prompted the changes
From its inception in 2018 and expansion to Orlando in September 2023, the company maintained an hourly departure model that has offered up to 16 round trips each day. To make that schedule work with the equipment on hand, three Smart coaches and one Premium coach were initially assigned to each train, with more cars and locomotives arriving from Siemens prior to the Orlando ramp-up.
There had been some schedule tweaking after the longer-distance trains began running, but the main impact was to eliminate bargain passes and sharply raise fares between South Florida destinations — even blocking sales on some rush hour trains — to make sure there were enough seats for higher-value Orlando-bound travelers. [See “Brightline drops monthly passes …,” Trains.com, May 13, 2024]. Without sufficient capacity to accommodate commuters who had initially provided a dependable revenue stream, high fares drove much of that business away while long-distance patronage continued to grow.
The arrival of more Smart coaches beginning in late 2024 allowed Brightline to start assembling longer trains, even if it meant temporarily reducing frequencies. The additional seats not only permitted company strategists to reintroduce pass deals to lure back short-distance riders, but to see how different pricing keyed to demand and distance traveled — now with fewer capacity constraints —could boost revenue in both segments.
Early returns utilizing hourly departures revealed that the dual-pronged approach was beginning to work in a Trains.com analysis of May ridership and revenue as concerns mounted about the company’s cash flow. [See “Brightline seeks private activity bonds …,” Trains.com, July 14, 2025.] An August snapshot provided for investors confirms renewed short-distance pricing enticements, coupled with more capacity, is paying off.
Compared with the same month in 2024, Miami-West Palm Beach August ridership is up 34% and Orlando trips rose 15%, despite the fact there were 29 fewer departures during the month. More Smart class seats and a 20% reduction in the average Miami-West Palm Beach fare — reflecting increasing pass use in that territory — triggered a 10% ticket revenue rise in short-distance trips and a 34% gain for South Florida-Orlando journeys.
Premium expansion
It also confirmed that Premium class long-distance riders help drive revenue. Their average fare — including separate boarding lounges, onboard food and alcoholic beverages, wider seats, and additional legroom — commands nearly twice what Smart customers pay. With only one coach on each train and 3% fewer departures, Premium dragged down August gains. The new strategic model permits that shortcoming to be addressed.
Michael Lefevre, Brightline’s VP of operations, tells Trains.com the new schedules will soon allow “eight-car trains to be expanded to nine-car trains by integrating the latest Premium cars that were recently delivered.” He says that as more of these cars arrive, Miami-Orlando service will expand to 10 cars with three Premium coaches. Meanwhile, the more frequent Miami-West Palm trains will usually be assigned one Premium and three Smart coaches.
Additional Premium class enhancements to be introduced Oct. 6 include pre-boarding at Orlando Airport and MiamiCentral terminals, complimentary checking of a standard or large bag that will become available before other checked bags when retrieved at baggage claim, plus exclusive guest services and turnstile access. A currently offered Uber credit is being withdrawn because less than 50% of passengers have been utilizing the perk.
Varied schedules
Having experimented with 10-car trains in August and evaluating demand throughout the day for the last several months, the revised mix of long- and short-distance trains of different lengths to be introduced next month will offer five rush hour trips serving downtown Miami commuters and four trips for those commuting to West Palm or Boca Raton, arriving approximately between 6:30-9:30 a.m. and 3:30-6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Those times also include Brightline trains to or from Orlando, which are spaced no more than two hours apart. There are exceptions based on historical demand: Orlando departures leave Miami at 2:05 p.m. and 2:45 p.m., less than an hour apart, and midday from Orlando three trains depart at 12:20 p.m., 1:25 p.m., and 2:25 p.m. on the new schedule. A scorecard for the new service pattern would be helpful, but the company hasn’t published a grid timetable, so travelers will need to visit Brightline’s booking website https://www.gobrightline.com/ for times and pricing. Boca Raton is also a big winner, with fewer trains skipping the stop beginning October 6.
Lefevre says, “The new data-driven schedule creates harmony between the south Florida audience and travelers headed to and from central Florida. It enables us to optimize the system for all guests, including corporations, small businesses and individual commuters doing business along the corridor that satisfies demand during core commute times.”
Peak and off peak
The pricing grid below shows the two classes of fares between all south Florida destinations. However, a Trains.com analysis of online pricing during the first week of service shows that off-peak fares were being offered for some Orlando trains during peak times, presumably based on the number of available seats that day in their expanded consists.
The company continues to offer one-month, 40-ride passes, but at $399 between Miami and West Palm Beach or Boca Raton, commuters are now better off with “by-the-ride” fares, which they know won’t fluctuate and may be lower for trips they want to take.
Future growth delayed
With more capacity now available, Brightline could receive a significant ridership bump as soon as two “in-fill” Treasure Coast stations north of West Palm Beach at Stuart and east of Orlando at Cocoa, Fla., are constructed. Unfortunately, Martin County’s $45 million federal grant application for a $60 million station at Stuart was denied by the Federal Railroad Administration, which cancelled the funding opportunity developed by the Biden Administration.
As reported by WPEC-TV and other outlets, the application will have to be resubmitted by Jan 7, 2026, to compete for more than $5 billion to be made available in a 2024-2025 Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Program for projects not located on the Northeast Corridor. The reconstituted grant program includes an additional $2.4 billion clawed back from rail projects the FRA believes are linked to California High Speed Rail expansion.
Martin County assistant administrator George Stokus told WPEC-TV that assuming the grant is approved, the county will be able to secure $15 million in matching funds to build a Stuart station by 2028. Further north, Cocoa officials are also seeking grants for a stop near the busy Port Canaveral cruise port. The stations will bring more public mobility to a region trains now speed through, though at least it appears Brightline will have sufficient capacity to handle more passengers whenever they are completed.
