City, university back at the bargaining table in RTS dispute

Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The City of Gainesville and the University of Florida (UF) met this morning as part of a series of meetings intended to negotiate how much the university will pay the City for bus service and which routes the City will retain.
About two weeks ago, Gainesville Mayor Harvey went public with the dispute, resulting in a statement from UF that said they were “surprised” at Ward’s actions and still believed they were in “good faith talks.”
The City issued a press release before this morning’s meeting, which is reprinted in full below.
Steve Orlando, UF Associate Vice President for Communications, issued a brief statement after this morning’s meeting: “Today’s talks with RTS were productive, and everyone wants an outcome that’s good for our students and the community. The City now understands better the university’s responsibility to assure our students that the rate being charged is fair. The City promised to provide a breakdown of the $84-an-hour rate per bus so that we can evaluate it and then explain the amount to our students. We need to understand if this is an optimized cost. Everyone at the table agreed both to continue talks on a weekly basis and to keep details at the negotiating table as we work through these important conversations together.”
Full press release from the City:
“Gainesville City Manager Cynthia W. Curry and a contingent of city leaders are meeting with top administrators at the University of Florida (UF) this morning. The two sides will continue good faith negotiations in the wake of a UF proposal that would lower the university’s total annual financial contribution to the city’s Regional Transit System (RTS) from this year’s budgeted $13.7 million to $6.8 million.
“The 50-percent reduction in funding would mark a substantial shift in a working partnership that for 26 years has served both the City of Gainesville and UF’s students, faculty, and staff. Since 1998, RTS has provided expanded transportation for the university community through UF’s prepaid bus fare program, a service funded by the transportation fee UF charges as part of student tuition.
“UF Senior Vice President David Kratzer, in a recent letter to Gainesville Mayor Harvey L. Ward, has questioned whether UF is receiving fair value for those fees, noting that a one-way fare on an RTS bus costs $1.50 for non-student passengers while UF students pay $2.86. In response, the City shared transit operations data including historical and current totals for UF and non-UF-related ridership and the cost allocation model used by RTS to determine the hourly cost of transit service.
“Why does RTS currently charge non-UF riders a cash price of $1.50 per ride but charges UF students an average of $2.86 per ride?
“While the University of Florida did not provide information concerning how the $2.86 per ride figure was calculated, City staff believes that UF took the contract amount paid so far this year and divided it by the number of UF passengers to date.
“But this is not the way public transit systems operate, nor is it how a fare is determined. RTS calculates a fee by the service hour, not by individual passengers served. Additionally, using UF’s fare-based approach, the average cost per UF passenger (based on a 22-year average, including FY 2019, the last pre-COVID year) is $1.31 per ride.
“Although ridership dropped during the pandemic (starting in FY 2020), it has rebounded since and continues to climb toward pre-pandemic levels. For the RTS-UF partnership, based on UF’s calculation, this means the cost per passenger for UF has steadily decreased since 2021 as more students, faculty, and staff have resumed riding the bus.
“What is the true cost of providing transit services for the University of Florida?
“The University of Florida currently pays RTS $84 an hour to operate the buses and routes that support its campus, students, faculty, and staff. UF’s $84-an-hour funding is a negotiated rate that offsets some of what it costs RTS to provide transportation from one place to another.
“The capital expenses to provide this service—such as paying to buy or lease buses, construct and maintain buildings, and other fixed costs—are not contributed to by UF. Those costs are covered by the City with help from state and federal grants.
“In FY 2024, the full cost of providing transit service—including those capital expenses—is $138.62 per hour. UF’s current negotiated per-hour rate is approximately 40% below the current full cost of transit service.
“How much has UF benefited from not paying the full cost allocation for the duration of this 26-year partnership?
“Of its total 39 routes, RTS has 20 routes that were created or expanded to serve UF students, faculty, and staff. These include five on-campus routes. For all intents and purposes, these routes and their service frequency exist as a concierge bus service dedicated exclusively to the needs of the university.
“Those buses, like all RTS buses, are retired after approximately 12 years in service. Over the duration of the 26-year RTS-UF partnership, the city has spent more than $60 million on bus replacement. Out of that total, UF contributed $3.5 million toward new buses in 2011.
“Does UF benefit from any of the grant funding the high volume of student passengers is bringing into RTS?
“The replacement of retired campus buses with new ones is paid for by funding provided through state and federal grants.
“How does the partnership with UF help RTS obtain the millions of dollars in grant funding needed to continue serving the Gainesville community?
“Ridership volume associated with the RTS-UF partnership is necessary to qualify for the state and federal funding and matching grants that support transit-related projects. With a significantly reduced contract expected to impact ridership levels, it is possible the City would qualify for less grant funding. This would lead to elimination and cutbacks to routes, fewer buses in service, and less staff to operate the transit system.
“’We are currently operating with 102 buses, an expanding fleet of electric buses, and 266 employees,’ said City Manager Cynthia W. Curry. ‘The City’s public transit service supports a population of more than 200,000 residents. If we do not reach an agreement, and routes are impacted, it could alter the ability of RTS to serve the community for years to come.’
“A change in the contract also could alter the experience of drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians in areas surrounding campus and along major thoroughfares. For more than two decades, the RTS-UF prepaid fare partnership has helped students get safely to their destinations and, by keeping additional cars off the road, has helped control the environmental, traffic, and infrastructure impacts that would have been expected without a strong public transit system.
“The Gainesville City Commission and City leaders are hopeful the ongoing negotiations will lead to a full contract renewal before the June 30 deadline and that UF over the coming year will conduct research to analyze the traffic, safety, and environmental impacts that could be expected city-wide if major changes are made to the RTS-UF partnership.
“The data presented to university leaders has been published on the City of Gainesville website.”
The city also noted that they have an average of 30 passengers per hour. That means a total mismanagement of bus usage versus routes. That is less than one rider per bus per hour. Something is wrong with RTS, besides Ward and his equally inept Democrat commissioners.
RTS says it costs $134 per hour to operate a bus. UF pays $86 per hour to use an RTS bus.
Uber offers a per hour rate of $50. UF should contract with Ride Share companies and pay less.
https://www.uber.com/newsroom/hourly-booking/
Uber, That did cross my mind also as a thought experiment.
It’s $134 per hour to operate a bus (which will only increase with personnel wages and benefits) and also “The replacement of retired campus buses with new ones is paid for by funding provided through state and federal grants.” This means we are paying for the buses also as grants are only “free” to those receiving them.
If Uber was contracted out to run the same 5 campus routes as the busses would that not be the most cost efficient? I don’t know the answer but an interesting thought.
What would it cost UF to run their own 12 Pax vans for the 5 campus routes? Dunno, but would it be $134 per hour?
I’m guessing they are, or should, be looking at these as options also. Every organization private or public should be constantly doing this, nice to see UF being fiscally responsible in this regard.
The total annual ridership on campus routes in FY 2016 was 1.5 million rides. 12 passenger vans is really unfeasible for that volume.
Written by a true liberal university professor.
Hmmm. According to my calculations, it would necessitate an interesting thought experiment!
So doctor (phd, not medical) What is your solution?
I don’t want to support RTS, I don’t use it. Let the people that use pay for it.
There is so much Fat in the COG entities , it makes Humpty the Dumbty look slim. Uber all the way for those that can do the math.
I wish UF and RTS would do more to advertise the fact that anyone with a Gator 1 card (students, faculty, employees) can ride fare-free on any bus route anywhere. I have met several students and professors who thought that they could only ride the bus if they got on the bus on campus, but if they used it off campus they’d have to pay the fare. Nope, UF has already paid, just flash your Gator 1 card and ride anywhere.