“Not something we can sustain” or “major misunderstanding”?: Mayor Ward goes public with RTS funding dispute between UF and City

Mayor Harvey speaks at his press conference on April 9, with City Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut on the left

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At a press conference this morning, Mayor Harvey Ward went public with a dispute between the University of Florida (UF) and the City of Gainesville over the upcoming expiration of their contract that provides about half the funding for the City’s bus system.

The City’s Regional Transit Service (RTS) buses provide free rides to university students, staff, and faculty in exchange for payments that come from student fees. Those payments make up 48% of the funding for RTS, but that contract expires on June 30, and in a March 6 proposal “for discussion,” UF stated that the “[c]urrent model is no longer substantiable [sic] – the University is exploring other options” because student fees have not increased in several years.

The university proposed a month-to-month agreement in which the university would pay $1.50 per ride, based on average UF community ridership, while a “technology solution can be implemented to more accurately capture ridership data and/or other travel solutions are implemented.” The proposed monthly payment, $569,072, is about half what the university currently pays for RTS services. 

UF’s proposal outlines next steps that include considering other student/staff/faculty ridership models, such as incorporating UF Health into any future contract, and understanding other transit options for the UF community, such as e-bikes and scooters.

Ward: “This is not a sustainable action for the system”

At the press conference, Ward said UF is responsible for 68% of RTS ridership and pays 48% of the bill, “and what they’re asking for now is to pay 25% instead of 48% of the bill – I think you can see the problem inherent in that.”

Ward continued, “This is not a sustainable action for the system; we will not be able to offer the level of service that our community is used to because this won’t just affect University of Florida students… This will also obviously affect faculty and staff of the University of Florida, but it will disproportionately affect the remainder of the system, as well.”

Ward said he was holding the press conference “in the interest of transparency and accountability, to make sure that the entire community… are aware of where we are in this discussion… We just need to have a public conversation about where we are with all this. I believe we’re going to get to a place where we make the system whole and even more efficient and reliable than it has been for the past 50 years. That’s my role here.”

The City has published an FAQ page, including questions like “Is the City undercharging UF for bus service?” and “Which RTS routes could get eliminated as of July 1”?

The City Commission also scheduled a Special Meeting on the RTS budget with 2 days’ notice, to be held at 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 11.

Route changes

The City “expects” to eliminate 11 of its 39 routes, including all 5 campus routes and 6 city routes. 

Campus routes to be eliminated:

  • 118
  • 122
  • 125
  • 126
  • 127

City routes to be eliminated:

  • Route 17: Rosa Parks Transfer Station-Beaty Towers; 
  • Route 25: Reitz Union-Gainesville Regional Airport; 
  • Route 28: Butler Plaza Transfer Station-The Hub; 
  • Route 34: The Hub-VA Medical Center; 
  • Route 46: Reitz Union-Rosa Parks Transfer Station; 
  • Route 150: Haile Village-Reitz Union.

The City also “expects” to reduce service on 11 of its 39 current routes:

  • Route 1: Rosa Parks Transfer Station-Butler Plaza Transfer Station; 
  • Route 5: Rosa Parks Transfer Station-Oaks Mall; 
  • Route 8: North Walmart Supercenter-UF Health; 
  • Route 9: The Hub-Lexington Crossing Apartments; 
  • Route 12: Reitz Union-Butler Plaza Transfer Station; 
  • Route 16: Beaty Towers-Rosa Parks Transfer Station; 
  • Route 20: Reitz Union-Oaks Mall; 
  • Route 21: Oaks Mall to Cabana Beach Apartments; 
  • Route 33: Butler Plaza to Midtown; 
  • Route 35: Reitz Union-SW 35th Place; 
  • Route 38: The Hub-Gainesville Place

In addition, weekday bus service could end nightly at 10 p.m., instead of the current 11 p.m. or midnight, depending on the route. Changes to weekend bus service are expected as well.

Ward: “It does affect you”

Ward closed the press conference by telling residents, “If… it occurs to you, ‘Well, I don’t ride the bus,’… it does affect you.” He said that if fewer members of the UF community ride the bus, that will increase traffic and parking issues for everyone in the area. 

UF’s response

Steve Orlando, UF’s Associate Vice President for Communications, sent Alachua Chronicle the following statement: “There seems to be a major misunderstanding on the City’s part. The University of Florida has made no announcements and believed that our good faith talks were ongoing. We were surprised to learn about this press conference, because we recently asked the City to give us transparent data on their operating costs. We’re still working in good faith. This is unfortunate, but we agree with the mayor that a good outcome is possible, and we hope they share their data and come back to constructive talks as partners. We’re committed to doing what’s right for our students and the community.”

  • So if UF doesn’t want to pay the fees then the individual student faculty, or staff would have to pay their own bus fare if they choose to ride the bus. My question to Mayor FatBoy is if UF doesn’t pay will RTS fold? And if the answer is yes then ifs another nail in the coffin called Gainesville. It shows the people in charge do not know how to make a city run on its own and prefer to rob Peter to save Paul.

    • Hey Bear, I resemble that remark where you called me Fat Boy. As the Back-Ward Mayor of Gainesville, I refuse to give up the mayor’s donut allowance to help fund our now broken RTS system. HANDS OFF MY DAILY DONUT ALLOWANCE!!!!!!!

          • Jizzy, sorry to disappoint, but as much as we all know you like to hang around junior high for some reason, this is not it.

          • Sorry, Mayor, but I can’t let you smear Jazzma’am like that–he is not legally allowed within 1,000 feet of children.

    • The monthly pass for RTS is much cheaper than owning a car. Students can easily afford to pay, if they wanted to forgo a car.

  • Liberal Playbook 101:
    Ward crisis acting and pandering to the court of public opinion trying to guilt UF while hosting a staged press conference at a building named after a convicted felon.

    • The problem (for the city) here is UF clearly doesn’t give a rats behind what the current City of Gainesville commissioner thinks… Those days are over…

      Ward better tone it done or UF can/will come with cheaper options to transit faculty/staff to and from home… such as running in house shuttle buses, subsidizing ride-share, etc.

  • Mayor Ward is such an embarrassment. He and the rest of the city commission are starting to panic as the unlimited funding sources from GRU and UF are drying up. No more all-you-can spend at the taxpayer buffet.

    Now the city is cutting bus routes because Ward already gave away RTS money to Grace Marketplace instead. This throws a wrench in the plan to establish Section 8 housing into the westside suburbs.

    I’m not surprised to hear that the city is refusing to share the true operating costs of RTS.

    • Hey Gainesville Dad, you better stop talking about my Trans-Parents. Now where is that last box of donuts?

    • “Now the city is cutting bus routes because Ward already gave away RTS money to Grace Marketplace instead.”

      Is this legit G-ville Dad? I’m not in the know on that info. If so, wow.

      • This $7M shortfall didn’t just pop up this week–they have been discussing for a while and Fat Harvey knew it was coming up, but he still gave Grace Marketplace $700k back just 2 months ago, on top of what they already get.

        Seems to me that you could fund several bus routes with what Grace Marketplace gets to do absolutely nothing.

  • How many free bus rides are the bums getting? Is that affecting the bottom line – aside from scaring some of the paying customers away?

    • Whenever I see non student bus routes – the vehicle is empty or carrying obvious homeless – usually from one side of town to another to panhandle.

      Get rid of free bus passes and the panhandling issue at 75 and Archer Rd. disappears.. There is a reason why you don’t see ANY at 75 and 39th Ave.

  • OK, so UF is proposing making a payment equal to $1.50 per UF ride, and UF is also still willing to negociate. So Ward decides to cut ALL campus routes in retaliation. Who has the small wiener?

  • The city has a long running practice of off-loading an inordinate share of their administrative costs onto GRU. So it is only prudent for UF to ask whether their student and staff are funding similar behavior through RTS.

    I looked at the RTS and City sites to find financial information on RTS without success. Can anyone point me to that data?

    • It’s in the same spot as the true amount they take from GRU we will never know the exact amount

  • Try this instead…. Sell RTS, it loses money every year. The evidence is clear, without UF, the Bus Department can not operate on its own revenue from ridership.

    The tax money not spent on operating RTS can be used to subsidize Uber or Lyft for low-income residents. Imagine transit-equity for low income neighbors to enjoy door-door service that ride-share provides. I see senior citizens and single Moms waiting in the hot sun, no bench, no shelter for a bus that always runs late. Wouldn’t it be nice for them to wait in the comfort of their residence for an Uber or Lyft?

    The UF community can pay their own way to get to class. The college student needs to grow-up and figure it out. Buy a bicycle, buy an eBike, use ride-share, use the scooters, buy a moped.

    UF could offer more virtual classes, then students and faculty won’t clog up the streets with eBikes, scooters, cars, ride-share, or bicycles (or busses).

    The Mayor’s press conference shows that without GRU and UF, the City Commission can’t run City operations on tax revenue alone. Time for the Commission to figure out which line item in the budget is most important. Start with Fire Rescue, Law Enforcement, Streets, Public Works.

    Get back to basic government governance and strip out the fluffy expensive heart warming programs that local NGOs and Churches should support instead.

    • Having city buses is pretty basic in a college town. Unlike having downtown ambassadors or trying to feed and house every vagrant this side of the Mississippi, for example.

  • At the press conference, Ward said ______ is responsible for 68% of ______ and pays 48% of the bill, “and what they’re asking for now is to pay 25% instead of 48% of the bill – I think you can see the problem inherent in that.”

    Fill in the blanks and apply the percentages wherever you like. Under current City leadership, taxpayers are footing the bill for their ill-conceived pet projects and their “soft on crime” approach.
    Welcome to OUR world.

  • Imagine that. Ward had an impromptu press conference to throw UF under the RTS bus.

    One might conclude that UF has finally gotten a little wiser with regard to the City’s reallocation and redistribution of funds. Despite Ward’s claims, he doesn’t want transparency, it could expose him and others to the public, as well as potential government entities, who would like nothing more than taking a closer look. What is transparent is just how low he’ll go to maintain power and seek to persecute those who disagree with him.

  • UF does not owe the city anything. If UF and the city of Gainesville want to work hand in hand, and it is mutually beneficial for both parties, then that’s great. But the city of Gainesville is not ENTITLED to keep getting this funding once the contact is up. In my opinion, if UF wants to renew then they renew. If they don’t want to, then they don’t have to. It sounds like this RTS deal is becoming like lottery money- its expected and needed to make the budget work at this point.

  • Let’s see, transparency, a word that brings out negative connotations of accountability. No wonder Ward is crying foul. Put up the cost data to justify the charges to UF. It is obvious that based on past behavior by pretty much every commission and mayor of the last several decades spending restraint is nonexistent and pulling your donut holes from programs to pay for pet projects is likely with RTS’s finances.

  • UF could probably have their own bus/shuttle service and do it better and cheaper then Gainesville and RTS. students and staff would be a lot safer too.

  • Data? They just passed their audit that’s been ongoing because they can’t count. They bought gazillion dollar biomass plant. Ti think they have data? Hold your breath UF.

    • Aren’t you supporting that financial boondoggle of a Charter school takeover? Newberry already has some of the highest taxes in the county (higher than Gainesville last I checked), just raised impact fees, and now you’re doing your own biomass plant of a school takeover boondoggle.

    • Is this the official John Birch Society position, or do just always root for neighboring cities and towns to have problems?

      • No one needs to root for areas run by degenerate leftists to have problems, by voting for the degenerates, problems are inevitable! The ONLY people that benefit from leftists and their policies are those that pay ZERO taxes!

  • Maybe Mayor Back Ward could tell is how the electric buses are running, or not running. Were they realy to long to negotiate campus and roundabouts? UF needs to find another option. Without Corrine RTS cannot deliver.

  • e-bikes are making busses much more irrelevant for UF students than even 3 years ago. Think about 3 years from now.

    UF should reduce student fees but pay for vouchers/passes to students who actually do use the bus, handed out per semester.
    More fair to students who don’t use the bus they get their fees reduced, and cleaner accounting wise and more cost effective than giving the city a lump sum of money annually.

    I suspect some of UFs change in posture is the case in supreme court about UF charging student fees during covid. UF could be paying back a good chunk of money they’ve already spent.

    https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2023/07/27/florida-court-hear-whether-uf-must-refund-students-covid-era-fees/

    • A lot of students ride the buses, especially those in the SW part of town. Threatening to shut down those routes might be considered an ‘act of war’ by the UF administration.

      Have you noticed that you almost never see anyone riding the rental e-scooters that Poe and his three stooges were so excited about? That’s because they cost as much as or more than taking an Uber. Great job, guys.

  • City can’t offer the transparency UF requires. They couldn’t do it with Reichert House, GRU, credit cards, airport parking funds, etc either. If Democrats knew how to manage finances, they would not be Dems 🤡💩👹D

  • There should be not be any UF Services cut , or UF walk away. It looks like the City has been overcharging for a long, long time . Time for UF to cut the cord and let Gainesville reap what they have sown. The Hogs at the Trough have been exposed on another debacle. I think they owe UF a huge refund and that will help UF go another route without City involvment and BS.
    “However, according to a UF bus contract proposal provided to the city during contract negotiations, the university calculates that 379,000 UF-affiliated riders use the service per month, which at $1.50 per ride totals the $570,000 per month proposed.

    The city’s website states the budget cuts may result in the elimination of more than 50 staffed positions, reduction or elimination of 22 bus routes, reduction of the bus fleet by 36 buses, and reduction of RTS service by more than 30 percent. These reductions would include eliminating all five on-campus routes as well as six student-oriented routes.”

  • In the 1990’s I paid to ride the bus as a UF student. There were no freebies… Paid to park at UF too although decals were much cheaper than today from what I’m hearing. While they are at it maybe the city can tell UF to get it’s own fire and ems departments and stop soaking the city for all of those false alarm, scraped knee and drunk freshman calls!

  • It seems all the buses pictured now have the city of Gainesville artwork on the outside.. Remove that mess and go back to ads on the buses and bring that Advertising income up from 2%. also on all bus stops.

    • I could be completely wrong but I just assumed they are all available to be rented out, but there’s little demand from businesses to spend their advertising dollars this way any longer.

      • I’m not so sure about that. seems it may be because some people spoke up about not wanting Lawyer ads on all the buses, and apparently someone listened. I’d like to see the Advertising income amount over the past few years for RTS.

  • Mayor Ward: Eliminate the free bus passes given to Grace Marketplace vagrants is a good beginning. also, can you make sure ALL bus stops have a garbage can? Those bus riders drop their litter when they get on & off the bus and I’m tired of picking up their trash & bio-hazzard face masks!

    • giving them1-way greyhound bus passes would probably be a better use of the money. 😉

  • Reduce the size of RTS! Pay the posted fare when you get on and no one rides for free!

    With all those empty bike lanes the city has, students riding their bikes to school will be great exercise and has a lower carbon footprint and will prevent climate change…

    with all the new high rise apartments built next to UF, students can just walk to class…GNV should be a walkable city! Fix the potholes & sidewalks!

  • RTS used to have all data available online-not the case anymore! I bet UF percentage is higher than stated as they have paid or contributed for portions of routes, full routes, real-time tracking apps, pilot projects such as WiFi on buses, purchasing buses (City never put in place a mechanism to replace aging buses), paying for advertising, etc.

    The bus system has relied on UF and Fed grants (awarded through ridership numbers) to make up for the lackluster funding from the City and County. UF was actually responsible for over 60% of the operating budget around 2012!

    UF also pushed for the autonomous buses, electric/hybrid buses, football game day shuttles (that never made money),use of bio-diesel and other projects (unrelated to RTS – narrowing University Avenue to a single lane from Gale Lemerand to Main Street to make it more pedestrian friendly).

    So when you take all of this with the new construction around campus and other available modes of transportation, bloated City salaries, etc., I do not blame UF for wanting to negotiate. But to call a press conference to apply pressure to UF before negotiations is absurd! Mayor Ward had one thing right…things are unsustainable when you rely on others to fund what you should have funded properly for years!

    Wonder if Feds and State will take note. Will that extra transfer station be built with reduction in services? Could be the next domino to fall for this disfunctional group of commissioners.!

  • Why don’t all you haters leave? You don’t understand the issues and just jump in on whatever side you think is against either commission. The UF/RTS agreement has been a model of cooperation – which by the way, both parties now say will almost certainly continue – which has made our county have the highest transit ridership per capita in the state and has been beneficial for both parties. If any of you have ever lived where public transportation was good – I have – you might get the benefits to not having to own a car, as well as the benefits to the community of having less cars on the street. You don’t GAF, you just think there’s blood in the water and so you’re out of control hatred for the mayor – hey, real creative with the fat jokes, but let’s not talk about the MAGA leadership or local US Rep – has you in yet another frenzy.

    Sorry dudes, but the partnership will continue, and no, Gainesville is not “on the ropes”. Why you wish it was says more about you . How about GTF out! It’s a free country and you can live in Lake city if you want to.

    • You’ve been everywhere, done everything, and apparently know just about everything.
      Maybe the idiots should hire you as a consultant.

      That probably wouldn’t be a good hire either.

    • It sounds like UF has been getting shafted, but simple math must be beyond the scope of Jazzman’s “superpowers.”

      • Jizzy is Dizzy with denial that his manloves had failed and been fired. He evidently failed Anger Management.

    • No doubt an agreement will be reached of some sort. Seems UF was blindsided by this press conference per UF VP of Comms comments though. I guess Mayot did it to get ahead of inevitable cuts coming and do a bit of blame placing?
      I rode mass transit for 15 years, subsidized to me directly through my employer for the last few years of it fwiw.

      Seems intuitively a better model for UF than taxing all students and lump summing $ to RTS imo, certainly could be mistaken though. Reality though seems to be with all the new student housing going up right outside uf and cost dropping dramatically on exiles and such that ridership will be going down for uf students regardless, dunno

    • You seem to be getting a bit angrier in your posts lately.

      Perhaps deep down inside you know where things are headed…

      I couldn’t be more ecstatic myself….

    • Its somewhat difficult to understand the issues when financial information is not available.

      That aside, it seems the rapid increase in the number and range of the electric scooters is a big disruption to the RTS student-centered business model, much bigger than the gas scooters ever were.

    • You then think that Ward and Chesnut popped off about nothing. Why would they publicly do that unless there was some type of shake down attempt. The next thing I will mention is on the County Commission story you ranted about making thing political and really really mean but here you are on the woke offensive. I know you are frustrated because it may be the end of liberal and woke things in general. Maybe UF is sending a message to Gainesville and its liberal ideology. They did get rid of the DEI waste at UF and now the RTS dilemma. Maybe things are changing for the better.

    • The UF/COG has been a model of cooperation as long as UF (spell that State of FL taxpayers) haven’t sought to save $$$!

      UF Leadership seeks to be good stewards with FL Taxpayers money (unlike COG) and the COG A$$Wipes scream! Similar to the annual COG of taxpayer $$$ theft from GRU! Trot out the typical interest group leadership who are slaves to the Dem playbook!

      What a typical Dem A$$hole you are!

      Vote for Kennedy! FU Repubs and Demos!

  • It’s just another unsustainable failure as a result of how Gainesville has been run into the ground by political agendas. It does not speak well nor will it end well of the City leaders continue to play ” Bully” . While they inherited GRU issues , RTS issues , and many other mis managed COG departments , they have been run into the ground by their cronies regime for over 2 decades , so pity is not appropriate. Whether it’s the Mayor or Commisioners they are reaping what has been sown. The citzens are the ones that will be punished the most. You get what you vote for. It will sure be interesting when the next elections comes around and the list of Candiates that would somehow want to be dealing with such a conundrum of disasters and problems. Jake , we could use a little humor anbout now!

  • Ward is such a puppet! And 2 of the 3 people behind him in this picture are the ones pulling the strings.

  • I had only a bicycle for transportation for my first 2 years at UF. The kind you have to pedal. In my more than 50 years in Gainesville, I can count the number of times I’ve used the city busses on 1 finger. That was one time too many. UF holds the cards here and they know it. Suggestion: take a look at what kind of money is spent on workers comp settlements for Gainesville RTA employees.

  • The only way to stop the insane liberal spending is to cut off the flow of taxes & GRU ratepayer theft. They simply can’t stop squandering our money on progressive BS.

  • Does anyone know WTF they are talking about before they spew their silly venom and rage?

    UF students agreed to raise their own activity and service (transportation) fees to pay for the access to the bus system. There is no “FREE” bus service. It is paid for by students when they pay their tuition and fees.

    It is to our county’s advantage to have students ride buses than be in their cars making traffic even worse.

    We all get it, you hate the ivory tower, spoiled nerds, but at least get your facts right before you express your rage.

    • I’ve double checked and I may have missed them, but I didn’t see anyone saying uf students were getting “free” rides. I thought it was fairly clear that student fees pay the city to ride. The issue is how much $ should rts get, relative to student load. Your takeaway from the comments is that folks are saying uf students get to ride busses for free?

    • You have completely missed the issue. No one is saying UF students get free bus rides. The issue is that the city is grossly overcharging UF according to a ridership study UF conducted.

      They are proposing a smaller payment that more accurately reflects the revenue the city would collect at $1.50 per fare.

      The fact that the city relies on that overcharge is not UF’s problem. The city can retaliate by cutting all student routes like they are proposing, but then the entire public transport system will die because there is not enough ridership otherwise to support more than a few routes, if that.

  • Seems weird that they classify routes 17,25,28,34,46 and 150 as city routes, I think I would classify them mostly as UF routes.

  • Cog Commission has to fund the homeless services, and Jesus ain’t got enough money.
    So without UF’s contribution, or financial cuts thereto on behalf of UF, COG Commission is feeling the burn.
    But Ward don’t ride RTS.
    He just dictates the money.
    It’s gonna be time to elect another mass debater soon folks 🤣

  • When are we going to implement a travel system similar to the Wedgeway people mover in tomorrowland of Disney World? I’d be riding that b1tch all day.

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