Press release from City of Gainesville
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The City of Gainesville Transportation Department today announced a number of changes to its Regional Transit System (RTS) bus services aimed at managing budget constraints linked to reductions in federal, state, and local funding, as well as abnormally high increases in operating costs over the past three years.
Although passenger counts are moving steadily back toward pre-pandemic levels, with Fiscal Year 2024 ridership increasing 7.3 percent compared to the previous year (5.5 million compared to 5.1 million), this is not enough to cover rising costs. As a result, RTS is among the public transit agencies nationwide seeking new revenue sources while streamlining to reduce costs.
- Holiday Service
RTS discontinued holiday service as of Oct. 1, 2024. The bus routes previously scheduled on Veterans Day, Black Friday, and Christmas Eve will not run this year.
- Paratransit Service
For eligible riders who have a disability that prevents them from making some or all of their trips on the fixed-route buses, RTS offers a shared ride door-to-door service called Paratransit. Beginning Oct. 1, 2024, this service has been scaled back to locations within three-quarters of a mile from a fixed route.