City to eliminate 30 Church Street parking spots for new Lymmo service

ORLANDO, Fla. — Finding parking in downtown Orlando is already a challenge, especially on nights and weekends, but it's going to get a lot worse, Channel 9's Kenneth Craig found.

The city is taking away nearly three dozen parking spaces along Church Street from Magnolia to Summerlin avenues to make room for a bus line expansion.

A new promotional video by Lynx paints its Lymmo bus expansion to be amazing, with two new routes, more stops and free rides.

But drivers parking along Church Street will feel the impact, because 30 parking spots are being eliminated, most between Eola Drive and Lake Avenue.

Residents said spots in those areas are in high demand and they're not looking forward to the changes.

"It's pretty hard to find parking as it is, so it kind of stinks if they got rid of all that," said resident Chris Tsanadis.

Channel 9 went to the high-traffic area and found that during the day it took nearly an hour for a spot to finally open up.

But city officials said the new line alone will transport 4,500 people a day, many more than the amount of spots eliminated.

Tsanadis told Channel 9 he supports the expansion but he'd rather see the city add more spots elsewhere to make up for the ones that will be leaving.

The two new routes are expected to open in the spring and summer.

WFTV