Billy Corben Instagram – Taxpayer subsidized foreign owned private company @GoBrightline announces 251% increase on ticket packages for frequent commuters — from $399 to $1,400 — starting June 1st #BecauseMiami #BecauseFlorida
Currently commuters buy 40 one-way tickets to all destinations between West Palm Beach and Miami for $399. Starting June 1, Brightline will offer packages of just 10 tickets, and are offering the first 10 for free. But after that, the 40 tickets will cost commuters $1,400— a 251% increase, according to WPTV. Brightline has the dubious distinction of being the deadliest train per mile in the U.S.
In 2023, Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Capital in the United Arab Emirates acquired 90.01% of Brightline’s parent company Fortress Investment Group.
Brightline came to be after then-Florida Governor Rick Scott, declined $2.4 BILLION in federal grants from the Obama administration in 2011 to build high-speed rail between Orlando and Tampa. Scott then invested over $3 million in Fortress which started Brightline, “the [self-proclaimed] only privately owned, operated and maintained passenger rail system in the United States,” first to run between Miami and Palm Beach, and later made an unsolicited proposal for rail service between Orlando and Tampa.
State and local taxpayers in Florida have spent HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of public dollars subsidizing the overpriced death train, in some cases paying outright to build train stations. Miami-Dade taxpayers, for example, committed $75 million just on Brightline’s Aventura station. | Posted on 06/May/2024 19:46:46
