When Zefnia Durham was in daycare, his mother would catch a Regional Transit System, or RTS, bus to pick him up after her shift as a nurse at Shands Hospital.
“At that time, we didn't have the expansive transit system that we have now,” said Durham, now 57 and president of the Gainesville chapter of the Amalgamated Transit Union. He has worked as a driver, driver’s clerk and shop clerk for RTS for 17 years. “The bus only came once an hour,” he said.
But a lot has changed since Durham was in daycare.
Now, after transporting millions of passengers in its half century of service, RTS is facing some of its biggest challenges to date.
Today, RTS finds itself trying to sort out a vocal and emotional confrontation among its major constituencies: the city of Gainesville, students and the biggest employer in the region – the University of Florida.
Not only is the city facing budget cuts because of the decrease in ridership and the city of Gainesville’s compounding financial issues, like the city’s revenue from Gainesville Regional Utilities being in limbo, but it is also facing a possible reduction in funding from UF, RTS’ largest funding source.
“It’s the first time this has ever happened to be in this type of position,” said Jesus Gomez, RTS transit director. “A $6 million dollar cut in services is terrible.”
On April 9, UF proposed paying 25% of the RTS revenue, down from its current 49%. Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward said this would force the city to eliminate 11 routes and reduce service on another 11.
UF is saying this is just the start of negotiations. University officials said they want to understand why students, on average, pay more to ride RTS than non-UF students, based on UF’s transportation study and its $9.44 per credit hour transportation fee, charged to students each semester.
In a letter to Ward by UF senior vice president of construction, facilities and auxiliary, Dave Kratzer, UF wants more data transparency by RTS and the city of Gainesville. The city said it is being transparent with its data, and UF has received everything it has requested.
“There is a lot of data [publicly] available,” said Cynthia Curry, Gainesville’s city manager.
In 1998, RTS received its first funding from UF for $3.5 million, according to the city of Gainesville. This came after the state of Florida, in 1995, mandated universities to “identify future growth of campuses; assess the impact of growth on communities; and develop mitigation plans to compensate and upgrade transportation facilities.”
The first charge to UF students came in 1988, when students went from riding for free with their valid student ID cards, to being charged $0.19 per credit hour by UF. The fare has slowly increased over time. Since 2016, it has remained steady at $9.44 per credit hour.
As part of the new RTS funding proposal, UF students would be impacted, as the city would be forced to eliminate all five dedicated UF on-campus routes.
“UF doesn’t actually pay for this, the students do,” said Tyler Foerst, 34, a labor organizer and former RTS employee. “If UF were to redirect that funding, it would be as if they are stealing from their own students.”
Students are not happy with this proposal. Many came to show support for RTS and the city in a special city commission meeting discussing the RTS issue on April 11.
“They are appalled that the university would take an action to even propose an attempt to cut the funding for the regional transit system, which is what they use every day to go to class, to go home, to get groceries and necessities they need,” said Nathaniel Pelton, 20, a UF political science student and off-campus UF student government senator.
According to the University of Florida, it is early in its negotiations with RTS, and Ward is confident the negotiations will not lead to drastic cuts.
“I believe the University of Florida will make the right choice,” Ward said.
Over the last 25 years alone, RTS has been a reliable source of transportation for students and residents alike, serving more than 200 million passengers and traveling 78 million miles. UF students make up almost 70% of that ridership.
At the start of its 50-year run, RTS did not have the fleet size to accommodate that demand.
In 1974, when Alachua County purchased the private Gainesville Transit Company, there were nine buses in service, two city bus routes and six buses used as University of Florida shuttles. Now, RTS has 85 buses and serves 39 routes, including five dedicated UF on-campus routes. In 1981, RTS became a city entity.
While some see RTS as being a reliable transportation method, others complain about waiting. Harrison Scoville, who takes Route 8, could see a decrease of buses on his route if UF’s proposed funding cuts come to fruition.
“I'm waiting an hour to an hour and ten minutes for a bus to show up.” said Scoville, 37, who serves on the RTS Advisory Board.
He said he used to wait about 30 to 40 minutes for his bus. Because of route cuts tied to declines in ridership since the COVID-19 pandemic, his waiting times have gotten longer.
In 2020, RTS had more than 5 million riders, according to RTS’ fiscal year 2023 report. In 2021, that number dropped to 1.8 million riders. That number is lower than the earliest reported RTS numbers, which in fiscal year 1977-78 was 3.15 million.
In 2021, the city had 102 buses running every weekday, but reduced its fleet because of the decrease in ridership.
RTS ridership numbers have been increasing since, but it has not gotten back to pre-COVID-19 numbers. Between October and June of 2023, RTS had over 3.8 million riders.
“I worry about people like me,” Scoville said, “who don’t have a choice and have to rely on the bus system to get to doctor’s appointments and their job.”
Scoville relies on an electric wheelchair to get around and said he cannot rely on other modes of transportation, like driving a car or taking an Uber.
“One of the reasons I moved to Gainesville in the first place was because they had a decent bus system,” Scoville said, “and I could get around because I am physically unable to drive.”
University of Florida Student Government will discuss a bill on April 16 demanding that UF continue to fund RTS in the amount it is currently giving.
Mayor Ward said he will be attending the meeting and will make himself available for questions.
