Around 50 Gainesville residents joined a Zoom town hall Wednesday to hear from Casey Willits, Gainesville’s District 3 commissioner representing southwest Gainesville.
Attendee questions were submitted through a registration form on three topics: the Regional Transit System (RTS), the Vision Zero Policy, and Streets, Stations and Strong Foundations projects. The panel consisted of Willits, four other city leaders and moderator Kristen Bryant, the city clerk.
“RTS service in relation to UF’s contribution is of high interest and concern,” Willits told WUFT News in an interview. “Additionally, residents want to know the steps being taken to reduce traffic deaths.”
Willits is a weekly RTS user himself, usually riding Route 13, and called himself a champion of safe, efficient transportation.
“I made my choice where to live in the city of Gainesville largely based on the convenience of being able to ride a bus home from work and back,” he said during the town hall.
Gainesville’s RTS was originally budgeted $13.7 million from the university, but a potential funding cut would reduce it about 50% to $6.84 million. Beginning July 1, this cut in funding would eliminate 11 of its 39 bus routes: six city routes and all five campus routes. Several routes would have reduced service, whereas at least one bus would be eliminated from each of eleven routes.
One question sent in by a Gainesville resident was about the future of Route 25, which connects the University of Florida campus to the Gainesville Regional Airport. This one would be cut, Transportation Director Jesus Gomez confirmed, because of low ridership. He explained that a route is considered to have low productivity if those buses carry less than 20 passengers per hour. Such numbers make it one of the first to be recommended for either reduction of service or elimination. Another worried attendee brought up Route 8 — from the north side of the city to UF Health Shands Hospital — which would have double the wait time because of reduced service.
Gomez said the main impact of RTS’ reduced services is that riders will have to wait longer for their bus. For example, a 40-minute frequency with two buses on a route would be increased to an 80-minute wait if one bus was eliminated.
“I encourage you to talk to the city commission about those bus routes, how important they are to your life, and also to reach out to the University of Florida,” Willits said. “I think we really have the potential to see the true value of RTS to the entire community and the value to the University of Florida.”
As for how this will impact the decisions of returning and prospective college students, Willits said that “it will harm the image of what it means to be a student in Gainesville,” as it will be harder for them to get around the city and save money on gas.
“I was oddly surprised by how much their identity of being a college student in Gainesville, about becoming a member of our community, was reliant on the RTS bus,” he said during the town hall. Willits explained how he has heard from students how important having a connection to their community is, which is strengthened by being able to explore all corners of the city. He also foresees parents thinking twice about their children’s housing options if bus routes are eliminated.
UF currently pays RTS $84 an hour to support its buses and routes, according to the city’s press release. This makes up around 48% of RTS’ transit operating costs. Taking away that large percentage of funding would cut close to 80,000 hours of RTS service, which is the worst-case scenario, Gomez said. Willits added that the data show if wait times continue to increase, residents will find another way to get to their destination, potentially resulting in more expensive or dangerous alternatives to riding the bus.
“Eliminating routes or reducing service would have a negative impact on our overall ridership levels from the system perspective,” Chief Operating Officer Andrew Persons said during the meeting. “Many of our grant funding opportunities that we highlighted during the funding discussion – roughly about $9 million in grant funding – many of those grants are dependent on ridership.” These grant funds go toward running the transit system in Gainesville through buying new buses and paying salaries.
Over 68% of bus ridership consists of UF riders, the city’s press release read. By the end of fiscal year 2024, 3.9 million RTS trips will have been taken by UF students.
For its part, UF has said the discussions about funding levels are ongoing and no final decisions have been reached. City and university leaders will continue to meet weekly to reach an agreement, a UF spokesperson said.
One of the many students who depend on Gainesville’s RTS is Riley Woodard, an 18-year-old junior studying nursing. She is a regular rider of routes one and 38, both of which will soon receive reduced service.
When she first saw a post about the cut in funding on the @UFCollegeDemocrats account on Instagram, she thought it was a joke.
“There was just no way that UF would cut something so essential to its student body,” Woodard said.
Woodard had earlier classes this semester including one at 7:25 a.m., and she is worried for what this reduced service will mean for early classes in her future, as the nursing program assigns her class times.
Another initiative that Willits discussed was Vision Zero, the city commission’s policy with the goal of eliminating traffic deaths and injury to pedestrians, cyclists and motorists by 2040. Over 22,000 vehicle crashes occurred from 2018 to 2022, Willits said, while bike and pedestrian crashes were calculated at almost 900 during the same period. The Vision Zero Policy works to improve road safety education while changing road policies, road design and infrastructure.
Vision Zero’s “most visible and potentially transformative” project, according to Persons, is transforming University Avenue into a “complete street,” adding bicycle facilities and enhancing crossings. The first stage will happen in 2026 with resurfacing and restriping the east portion of University Avenue. This project is spurred by the fact that the crash rate on University Avenue (16 fatalities over a seven-year period) is three times the statewide average and two times the county average, Willits said.
The last initiative brought up during the virtual town hall was Streets, Stations and Strong Foundations infrastructure projects, which are funded by a one-cent infrastructure surtax that voters passed in 2022. Half of these proceeds go toward road repair, land for affordable housing and public-safety buildings over the next decade. The surtax is estimated to generate $87 million over this period, Public Works Director Brian Singleton said during the meeting.
Through surtax proceeds, North Main Street was resurfaced and restriped, and bike lanes were added. Looking forward, the Northeast Ninth Street project is next, with city commission aiming to resurface the roadway, enhance bike lanes, add raised pedestrian crossings, repair sidewalks and more, including upgrading one of the state’s first roundabouts on Northeast Eighth Avenue. This project will cost between $5.2 million to $6.2 million.
“We’re really investing in the streets, and we’re using those tax dollars for their purpose: to actually give us those streets, hopefully with a real mind toward safety,” Willits said.
A public safety center is also being planned in southwest Gainesville, expected to house a new fire rescue station, police substation, community meeting room and a public works annex.
Visit the City of Gainesville’s website to watch a recording of the meeting.