Virgin Rail Service Surpasses 1MM Riders

After about only a year and a half in service, Virgin Trains recently surpassed one-million riders.

With stops in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, Virgin Trains USA, formerly Brightline,  began service in January 2018 and initiated full service between all three stations in May 2018, then this past June eclipsed the one million mark.

The one million rides “delivered a positive, sustainable environmental and economic impact to the communities where Virgin Trains currently operates.” Virgin noted that the rides roughly translated to:

• 400,000 fewer car trips on the road (average party size of 2.5 passengers).
• The reduction of 15 million pounds of CO2 emissions.
• 750,000 fewer fuel gallons on the road, representing roughly $2 million in savings.
• Cumulative time-savings of 76 years (each passenger saved an average of 40 minutes by choosing rail over highway).

“This milestone shows the demand for new ways to travel and the need for greater connectivity in South Florida and other areas of the country.” said Virgin Trains President Patrick Goddard. “While we’re still in the adoption phase, our inaugural year showed great promise and tremendous opportunity to reinvent passenger rail in America.”