SunRail opens its northernmost station in Volusia County

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — SunRail riders are getting a new stop added to its latest expansion across Central Florida.

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On Friday, SunRail celebrated the grand opening of its newest station in Deland.

The station is located on Old New York Avenue neat Spring Garden Avenue and will serve as the northernmost station on the route.

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Four Central Florida counties are now connected through 17 train stations that cover 61 miles.

Mathew Richardson with SunRail believes this is only the beginning for public transportation across Central Florida, saying the more comfortable people become, the more likely they’ll chose to commute.

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“We’re on pace to surpass the amount of ridership that we had last year which was over one-million so we’re doing great numbers. That’s a 20% increase year so we’re looking forward to increasing that.”

The Deland stop is not walking distance from downtown businesses, so SunRail suggests passengers coming from the south bring a bicycle to get to their destination or use Volusia County’s VoRide service which costs $2.

A plan is in the works to get some sort of shuttle service lined up through a partnership between the city and county to eventually transport people from the station to the heart of the city.

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