The City of Gainesville is looking for ways to further develop its communities east of downtown. That includes creating a potential new bus station across from the new Eastside Urgent Care.
To see what it's like to travel to and from east Gainesville, two WUFT reporters had a race. WUFT’s Aileyahu Shanes took the bus and WUFT's Sofia Dinka drove her car. They set off from the urgent care on their way to Butler Plaza. Listen above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
AILEYAHU SHANES: Alright, here comes the bus. You’re gonna start heading your way?
SOFIA DINKA: Yep!
SHANES: Alright, good luck! I'll see you on the finish line!
DINKA: We just got to my car. And we are about to start on our way.
SHANES: We're about eight minutes out, I would say, to Rosa Parks. We're treading along. We picked up a few more people.
DINKA: I just breezed through downtown and now I'm pulling up right near campus and I'm about to turn onto Southwest 13th.
SHANES: And, you know, as RTS has grown, so has its ridership. According to RTS, over the past 25 years they actually served over 200 million passengers. And I talked to one of them when I took this route earlier. His name is Richard Curry and he was heading to school.
RICHARD CURRY: I have to take it almost every day.
SHANES: Really?
CURRY: Unless I wanna walk.
SHANES: For school?
CURRY: Yes.
SHANES: And what's your experience with it?
CURRY: Sometimes I wish it could go faster.
SHANES: Yeah? Why do you say that?
CURRY: Because every time I get to school, I get there late.
SHANES: Really?
CURRY: Yeah.
SHANES: But they’re [The City of Gainesville] thinking of adding a new station in east Gainesville, how do you think that would affect your life?
CURRY: Man, it would make my life better.
DINKA: We're on Southwest 13th, turning onto Archer right now. So, east Gainesville has traditionally been a little underserved when it comes to public transit, but the city of Gainesville has been trying to change that in recent years. In 2019, they made an effort to bring micro transit to the people of east Gainesville with the first mile last mile program, which would bus people to their nearest RTS bus stop to make the bus system accessible to them. And that has been continued this year.
SHANES: I kind of see Butler Plaza pulling up into the distance. We're a few stops away, so I should be there pretty shortly. Alright, here we go. Pressing the stop request button right now. Alright, we are out. We're just at the edge of Butler Plaza right now. And I think I see you.
DINKA: Yep. I'm looking for you. I'm getting a little blinded by the sun though. Oh, and I think I see you coming.
SHANES: Alright, Sofia it looks like you beat me. Congratulations.
DINKA: I got you something too: coffee.
SHANES: Well, I guess the journey was worth it. How long did it take you to get here?
DINKA: It took me about 15 minutes, not factoring in the time that I was sitting in a Coffee line. While I was sitting there, I was feeling a little bit like it was perhaps the story of the tortoise and the hare, but I still managed to get here first. How was your journey? How long do you think it took you overall?
SHANES: You know, it was a smooth journey. We left at about 7:45 a.m.. It's 8:38 a.m. right now, so that's just under an hour. Honestly, not too bad. Smooth, comfortable ride. When you're sitting on the bus, you have time to check your email, you have time to do some stuff on your phone. But, a lot more convenient and a lot quicker if you're taking a car like yourself.
DINKA: Agreed.
SHANES: All right, well, Sophia, great game. It was great playing this race with you. Congratulations for your win. For WUFT News, I'm Ailee Shanes.
DINKA: And I'm Sofia Dinka.