Local LYNX riders may get a free surprise this month
If you cut off a LYNX bus this holiday season while driving, you might just get coal in your stocking— because Santa Claus knows if you’ve been bad or good.
He may have even been driving the bus—he was on Monday.
Santa—a.k.a. veteran LYNX bus driver Edwin Cartegena—is driving this year’s holiday-themed, decked-out bus, with a Christmas wrap outside and decorations and holiday music playing inside.
Those lucky enough to be riding his route Mondays through Saturdays through Dec. 23—the Link 18 inbound from downtown Orlando, the 10 to and from the St. Cloud Community Center and the 56 to Disney on Monday—get their rides free.
This is the 28th year that LYNX has hired Santa to swap reindeer power for horsepower around Central Florida in December. He’ll be on random routes throughout the area to spread a little holiday cheer on riders’ commutes.
Cartegena, who’s been driving for LYNX for 18 years after driving commercially in New York, said this is the third year he’s signed up to drive the special holiday routes, and the second year in a row, and hopes to continue doing it because of the smiles he gets from passengers.
“Once the surprise wears off, then they want to take pictures,” he said. “People go from being in a hurry to being able to smile and laugh. And we all need something to lift our spirits this time of year, right?”
And it hasn’t hurt that the weather of late has been more like the North Pole and less like South Beach.
“At least this sleigh has air conditioning,” Santa said.
