Elimination of Gainesville bus routes causes concern for those who use them most

Jessi Aaron relies heavily on Gainesville’s bus system to get to and from work each week. It’s also how the single mother gets her 5-year-old son to school and makes it to necessary doctor appointments.

She would drive herself if not born a quadriplegic.

In July, members of the Gainesville City Commission voted to eliminate five routes as part of an updated Regional Transit System fall schedule due to a driver shortage and low ridership numbers. One of those routes was Aaron’s Route 40, which ran from the front of her home through the heart of the University of Florida campus.

“I’m really concerned about my ability to get to my job safely,” said Aaron, an associate Spanish linguistics professor at UF.

She isn’t alone.

There were nearly 3 million passenger trips on RTS during the 2022-23 fiscal year. About 386,000 passenger trips were along UF campus routes, according to UF's Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS).

One of those riders is Adam Wojtulewski, who uses Route 40 more frequently after being hit by a car while riding his bike during his freshman year. Though he wasn’t seriously injured, he frets traveling safely along Gainesville's busiest intersections.

“It’ll be in my head the entire time,” he said, as he prepares to begin riding his bike to campus again. “If some driver who is super tired or is just completely inexperienced, and they don’t see me, then it could be a more severe accident the next time around.”

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Why was it discontinued?

RTS officials say Route 40, along with the others was one of the worst-performing campus routes, averaging only 8 riders per hour − half the recommended amount.

The route takes riders from the Hunter’s Crossing apartment complex, along Northwest 43rd Street, up and down Northwest 34th Street and before heading east toward The Hub near UF’s campus.

One of the stops is about 200 feet from Aaron’s home. She said it was one of the added perks of buying her Greenbriar home in 2016.

But neither Aaron nor anyone else spoke out against the changes when the item was placed on the consent agenda for the July 20 City Commission meeting. Few knew even about it. The city also held two public outreach events prior to the vote but received little feedback, said Thomas Idoyaga, an RTS community service specialist.

When Aaron finally was able to reach someone to complain, she was told it was UF’s decision to eliminate it.

“It’s just disappointing that they didn’t consult more with us before making decisions about our transport options, because some of us don’t have other options,” the 44-year-old diabetic said.

Other voices

Analiz Casas, a graduate student in UF’s Spanish department lives off Northwest 34th Street. A bicycle is her only form of transportation and said Route 40 has been pivotal for her getting to campus daily.

“The bus starts very early, so I can count on that bus to get on time over there, to get my class ready,” Casas said. “I don’t have to worry that I have to bike, which probably takes 25-30 minutes to get to the classroom, melting, hyperventilating.”

Since Route 40 doesn’t run during summer months, she has been walking nearly 20 minutes to an alternative route that drops her off about 10 minutes from where she teaches.

She said she wrote a letter to the president of Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) at UF to explain her situation and how removing the route negatively impacts students in the area.

Traffic safety is a major issue for pedestrians who travel along some of the most dangerous roads in Gainesville. Wojtulewski said he understands it more than most after his biking accident.

“It’s not necessarily the safest thing for people to be either, you know, walking the entire way to school or biking there,” he said. “It’s endangering a lot of people and overall it’s a very, very negative thing to eliminate this route.”

Ridership options

There is still hope though, as some route eliminations have been reinstated, especially when new complexes are built or when there’s an increase in ridership.

The other discontinued and low-performing routes are 2, 36, 119 and 121. RTS also added Route 53, which runs from Jonesville to UF Health along Center Drive.

An alternative to bus route 40 is route 43, which stretches from near Santa Fe College to the north end of UF and Shands Hospital. The city also offers the “Last Mile, First Mile” service around Route 2 and the Rosa Parks Transfer Station, though its hours are limited.

Anyone wanting to express a concern can call RTS customer service at 352-334-2600. Workers document which routes are of most interest to community members.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Gainesville residents concerned over elimination of campus RTS routes