In early January, the city of Gainesville Regional Transit System will discontinue Route 25, one of two buses that goes to the local homeless shelter, Grace Marketplace.
According to a University of Florida public release made in late October, the changes will go into effect on Jan. 3. The decision was discussed during a Gainesville City Commission meeting in October. The city voted to support the planned service changes to RTS.
Route 26 will be the only remaining bus that goes to the airport and Grace Marketplace, but its route and schedule is very different from bus 25’s. Reactions to the change from those who ride Route 25 were mostly negative.
“Well, I just think it’s wrong,” said Michael Jones, a Gainesville local. “They run 25 all week, you know, seven days a week, and 26 they don’t. So that’s going to affect a lot of people at Grace.”
Route 26 is about half the length of Route 25, does not run along Waldo Road and does not run on weekends.
Wyatt Nathaniel Tapp, who is new to Gainesville but has been staying at Grace Marketplace, said bus 26 only takes you to the outskirts of town instead of the heart of it like 25.
“I think 25 definitely should be used and definitely should not be cut off the scene,” Tapp said.
Both routes are frequently used by people at Grace Marketplace, but this does not mean one can substitute the other.
When asked to comment on the change, Grace Marketplace leadership did not respond to emails or calls. Its website has not yet been updated to account for the change in routes.
RTS has not announced any adjustments to Route 26 that could make it more accessible. Representatives from RTS were also unavailable for comment because they were preparing for a parade.
The loss of Route 25 has been one of many changes affecting homeless people in Gainesville.
In October, House Bill 1365 went into effect, prohibiting camping and sleeping in public spaces throughout Florida. The law requires cities and counties to provide shelter for homeless people.
On Nov. 21, the Gainesville City Commission localized this law by passing an ordinance that bans sleeping and camping in city right-of-ways.
This puts more pressure on local homeless shelters to accommodate the entire homeless population. According to its website, Grace has a little over 100 beds.
The end of Route 25 limits the transportation to the homeless shelters people are now required to go to.
But the changes to RTS will not only affect homeless people.
“I definitely would have to alter my schedule,” said Lauren Devarona, a student at UF. “Like times I need to wake up, times I need to go home.”
Devarona is not alone in this. Despite the route being shut down due to low student ridership, many people rely on it to go to work, home or school.
Route 25 had 62,671 passengers from Oct. 1, 2023 to Sept. 30, 2024, according to a report on RTS’s fiscal year 2024 ridership by route. This is about 170 passengers per day.
Although Route 25 is known as the bus to the airport, it is much more than that.
According to Isaiah Smith, bus driver for Route 25, he picks up about 100 people per day from campus and the east side of Gainesville.
“I’ve been driving this route for like eight or nine years, but it’ll affect a lot of people that ride it,” Smith said. “I understand they say they got to cut back, but it’s up to them.”