Jenny Whary is out of school and was able to take SunRail from Lake Mary to Winter Park on a Tuesday to do some shopping with her family.  But she says she’d like to take the same trip on a weekend when she’s back in school in the fall.

“For stuff like this that we just did, and even Disney, and to go to downtown,” said Whary.

Whary is not alone. There’s now even an online push on Change.org urging lawmakers and local leaders to expand SunRail service to weekends, and late nights. Petitions more than doubled during the day on Tuesday to more than 600 SunRail riders signing the online petition at last check.

A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Transportation, the agency that currently operates SunRail, said the decision is ultimately up to county and city leaders who will eventually take over day to day operations.

County and city leaders on the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission meet Monday, and are expected to talk about night and weekend SunRail service.

Seminole County Commission Chairman Bob Dallari said he’d like to see an expansion, if the expanded service can pay for itself.

“If the ridership is there, if it’s cost-effective, then I think the board would look at additional nights and weekends.  But we have to make sure that the ridership is there to support it,” said Chairman Dallari.

FDOT spokesman Steve Olson said SunRail ridership is trending upward, and there’s even a spike in riders on Fridays.

“It could be something where folks are looking at it as a three-day weekend, it could be that we’re seeing some more leisure riders that day,” said Olson.

And that increase in leisure riders on Friday is something county leaders will be looking at as they try to figure out whether to expand service to nights and weekends.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington D.C. are still working on passing a bill that would continue funding for the Highway Trust Fund. The fund helps pay for commuter trains across the country, including SunRail. 

The house passed the bill Tuesday to keep the fund going until May 2015. A similar bill is pending in the Senate.

Representative John Mica, R-Winter Park, said even if that funding isn’t secured for that before Congress goes into August recess, day to day SunRail operations should still continue without interruption. 

Without congressional action, the fund will no longer have enough money to cover promised aid to states by the first week in August.

Olson said FDOT has about six months of money secured for day to day funding, so daily service would not be affected if there’s a delay in funding appropriation.