MAITLAND, Fla. — A service meant to take people to and from Maitland's SunRail station to the city's largest business base could disappear after its first year if funding runs out.
Taxpayers are being asked to foot the bill to keep it running even though few people are using it.
More than 15,000 people work at Maitland Center, but on average, fewer than five per hour use the shuttle service to and from the city's SunRail station.
Maitland's SunRail station has fallen to some of the lowest ridership of any of the stops on the tracks.
After a push by the city of Maitland, the Neighborlink 652 shuttle was put in place last December to take employees to and from Maitland Center.
"I've never heard of it, so maybe a lot of people haven't," resident Alyssa Dill said.
But most employees with whom Channel 9 spoke with also knew nothing about it.
"I know the SunRail is there, but I didn't know it would bring it to work," resident Marcus Barton said.
The daily boarding average last month was 29.
That's over two hours in the morning and three hours at night.
"They don't talk about it, so I don't know that anybody really knows the service is out there. If they knew about it, they would use it," Barton said.
Maitland city leaders sent a letter to the Florida Department of Transportation and Orange County to request nearly $80,000 to keep the service running, leaving some to question whether taxpayers should be subsidizing something that only a few people use.
"If no one is going to use it, it doesn't really make sense. I don't want to pay for something no one is using," Dill said.
A Lynx spokesperson said that if no one steps up to pay for the service, the shuttle will be discontinued.