Speakers at City Commission meeting criticize UF and Ben Sasse, praise RTS

Over 30 people spoke to the City Commission on April 11 about UF’s proposal to reduce funding for RTS buses

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In a Special Meeting today, the Gainesville City Commission heard public input about the funding cuts to its bus system proposed by the University of Florida; earlier today, the university sent a letter to Mayor Harvey Ward, asking the City to come back to the negotiating table and adding, “Press conferences and threats of closure are unnecessary and unhelpful.”

Mayor Harvey Ward said he called the Special Meeting because “this is, I believe, an issue of tremendous importance to our community, as transit is a core service of the City of Gainesville.” He said he thought it was important to provide information and to “put those changes, potentially, in front of the community so that we all understand what is at stake. And as I said at our press conference on Tuesday, I believe we will get to a satisfactory point where we’ll be able to continue to offer robust service through our transit system; I believe that will happen. I know that doesn’t make everybody comfortable, but sometimes it’s important to have–a little friction helps us move the bus down the road.”

Ward also said that the public deserved to be heard on the issue. He added, “I am not here, and I hope none of us are here, to bash the University of Florida.”

Ward added that fares are usually a minor contributor to the funding of transit systems, so these systems are subsidized through taxes and fees, including the student fees at the University of Florida and Santa Fe College. He said that talking about the fare of $1.50 per ride, including questions like “Why does this person ride free?” is “kind of a red herring.”

Chief Operating Officer Andrew Person gave a presentation about the history of UF’s contributions to the bus system and the system’s funding. The City and university began collaborating to provide expanded bus system to campus in 1996, and UF started contributing funding in 1998. Since 1998, students have paid a per-credit-hour fee for bus service, which reached $9.44 in 2016 and has remained flat ever since. 

Slide from presentation that shows the sources of funding for RTS

Persons said that fares only pay about 1% of the costs of the system; the system also makes use of state and federal funding sources, and the contract with UF represents about 43.5% of RTS revenue. He also said that the UF-funded service makes up 59% of RTS’ total service hours.

Persons said that the proposed reduction in funding would require the elimination of 11 routes, including all five campus routes, and a reduction in another 11 routes.

Routes that will be eliminated
Routes that will be reduced

Ward: “I want to be clear that this is not a threat of any sort.”

Ward said about the impacts, “I want to be clear that this is not a threat of any sort. This is the reality of what happens when you take $6.9 million out of the budget… There are real-world impacts.”

Persons added that a reduction in ridership could impact federal funding eligibility, jeopardize service contracts, reduce the level of service for passengers with disabilities, violate the labor agreement, and possibly violate federal civil rights regulations.

Commissioner Bryan Eastman asked about the cost of an average ride, and Persons said it’s about $5, compared to the $1.50 paid by those who pay a per-ride fare. The City began offering free rides to riders under 19 and over 64 on October 1, 2021. 

Services could be cut as soon as July 1

In response to a question from Commissioner Casey Willits, City Manager Cynthia Curry said her office is evaluating the effects of a budget gap that would start in July if UF proceeds with the funding cut; her answer implied that the services could be cut as soon as July 1.

Willits was also concerned about Route 25, which runs from campus through downtown and then up Waldo Road to the airport and GRACE Marketplace: “I have some real concerns about… how our homeless neighbors get back into the city where they get… services.”

Curry said the funding from UF is “[leveraged] to serve the community as a whole. So we’re not working in a vacuum, right? Everything builds on the other component.”

Ward said he gets to “brag about the system” when talking to mayors in other university cities. He said, “This works in ways that those other cities and those other universities are still trying to figure out. Very often you have a campus system and a city system… Ours is seamless… It is what other communities desire to have.”

Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut said the changes will impact “the employment of the whole city.”

Chestnut asked what data UF was asking for, and Curry responded, “So we don’t have a lack of data; we have a lot of it… To my knowledge, we have… provided anything that they have requested. And if they are requesting additional data, the transparency is that if we have it, they can have it.”

Ward concluded the Commission’s discussion by saying, “We know… that there are changes in the needs of ridership, and we want to address those changes. We want a better system. We want a different and improved system, but we have to work together to be able to do that.”

Public comment

31 people spoke during public comment, which lasted for about an hour and 20 minutes. The first speaker was Nathaniel Pelton, an off-campus senator for the Student Government at UF, and he said he was “appalled by the current stance of the University of Florida on this issue.” All of the speakers criticized UF’s stance on the issue, and many criticized UF President Ben Sasse. One speaker said, “Well, Mister Dr. Ben Sasse, I want to say please uncover your ears, listen to the students, and be our president and not some other politician.” Another speaker begged “UF and Sasse to put their egos and greed aside.” A third speaker said, “Ben Sasse, I’m appalled, angry, and most importantly disappointed with this decision, and I really hope we do not defund RTS.” A fourth speaker said Sasse “may be remembered as the man responsible for the unraveling of many of the things that have made UF a desirable school to go to, over the years.”

Tyler Foerst said that UF receives “over a million dollars in services, just from the Fire Department, that they do not pay the City for.” Jim Konish also said that the City needs to establish the value of the services provided to UF.

After the eighth speaker, Ward said, “Please don’t feel bad if you’ve signed up and someone has said kind of what you intended to say already. Redundancy is not a problem. Your voice is important. We need to hear it from you.”

Evelyn Foxx, President of the Alachua County NAACP, said the organization is “very, very upset with what we’ve been hearing about President Sasse. Apparently, from listening to all of these students, he doesn’t care about our community at all.”

Ron Rawls, Pastor at Greater Bethel AME Church, said, “It ain’t great to be a Gator… This city and this county is under attack by a demonic governor, a supermajority legislature, and his appointed person… over UF… Scripture in the Bible tells us that as long as we stand together, there’s nothing that we set our minds out to do can be hindered. We can accomplish anything… Don’t let those demonic forces separate us.”

Many students described how much they rely on buses to get to campus and around campus, because they don’t have a car or find it safer than biking or need the bus when the weather is bad. They spoke about the lack of parking on campus and about the great distances between classes on the large campus. 

Bus drivers from ATU, the drivers’ union, spoke about the 52 positions (42 filled) that the City says they would need to cut if UF’s proposal stands. 

Ward: “The fact that everybody spoke in exactly the same way is not an accident.”

After public comment, Ward said he’d thought people would speak to both sides of the issue, but “everybody, to my surprise, was generally on the same side of things… The fact that everybody spoke in exactly the same way is not an accident. I think that this is a pretty clear topic, and the right choice, I think, is clear.” He said he believes UF will “end up making the right choice with this, and I believe that having the public involved is the path to that.”

He then announced that no decisions would be made that day and adjourned the meeting.

UF: “We are still at the table, and we would welcome you back.”

UF Senior Vice President Dave Kratzer sent out a letter before the meeting, stating that the university has not made any public statements about RTS and adding, “We are still at the table, and we would welcome you back.”

UF’s letter repeats “the same ask we have made of the City in our meetings for months: Please provide RTS’ data so that the university and the public can understand the price our students are paying and assess whether that is a fair and equitable fee based on the size and service of the system.” The letter says that RTS charges non-UF riders a cash price of $1.50 per ride, but UF pays an average of $2.86 per ride. 

The letter concludes, “Press conferences and threats of closure are unnecessary and unhelpful. We would welcome you back to the table and hope that you will direct your team to provide this crucial data that we have not yet received.”

  • Liberal venom on full display. Who do they think really pays for their $hit after all?

    • Listen here Lou,

      I don’t care who pays for it, as long as it is not me!!!! That goes with my food stamp card, reduced utility bill, free lunches at school, free medical care, and err-thing else. Just get back to work pay your taxes, overcharge whoever you need to for bus rides just don’t charge me.

    • The face diaper is the universal sign of wokeness. Liberals virtue signaling to each other, lets other libs know they are in like minded company.

    • You anti-mask buffoons are triggered worse by masks than Trump is by E. Jean Carroll. Why do you care?

      • Mask are just dumb especially when riding alone in a car. And have been proven not to work. At least invest in a N95 mask.

      • Hey Slow Joe…show us the scientific data that shows a cloth mask, or even a paper mask, prevents the spread of viruses. Please, show us. We’ll wait.

        • And that’s assuming there was a brand new & constantly replicating virus that caused the illness known as Covid-19…
          Let’s not forget the deadly hospital and nursing home protocols. Or the high number of cycles allowed for PCR test which essentially rendered the test worthless for diagnostics. Let’s not forget the intentional lack of flu tests and the glaring lack of diagnosed flu cases. Let’s not forget arrows and dots on the supermarket floor. Let’s really not forget how it was a long planned military operation directed at all of us… scream ‘conspiracy theorist’ all you want but that won’t change the fact of the matter. It was an operation, not a pandemic.

        • 99.98% survival rate rounds up to what? 100% survival rate! Oh! People are dying!

          Why is she wearing the diaper?
          Social justice flag.

    • What do you care if she wears a mask, a hat, a bracelet, etc….

      Who in the name of personal freedom gives a flying f*ck?

      • Because masking was forced on many, many healthy people against their will 3-4 years ago under the guise of saving the world from “Covid”. The same people who still wear these marks are the very same folks that did everything possible to force mask wearing and injections on everyone a couple of years ago.

        I’d say comments like above are more about holding certain people and groups accountable and not about actual personal freedoms. Nobody truly cares if you wear the mask now but if you still chose to wear it just know we all know what it symbolizes. Many will never forget how the vax zealots, mask Karens, and social distance enforcers treated their fellow citizens just a few years back

        • Exactly! I will also add that those who are actually worried about being immunocompromised do not wear cloth or surgical masks (like pictured) while speaking at a podium. There isn’t a single person near her. She is obviously obstructing her face with the cap, glasses, and oversized mask. What a joke! I hope she realizes nobody takes her remotely serious.

      • It’s meant to scare people to stay away. It’s where social distancing came from. Chinese psyop. We can’t communicate effectively without seeing face. Don’t force your BS mask on me or your shot. My body, my choice. You forced it on the children = child abuse.

        • Yes, except it was an American psyop, not Chinese. Don’t give the US government a pass. The US government & military did this to their own citizens, not some foreign nation. Sure, other nations did similar horrible acts to their citizens but that’s a different conversation.

          • Exactly – I don’t remember Chairman Xi or Comrade Putin or Supreme Leader Khamenei directing American policy a few years ago during the fabricated health pandemic. Foreign nations aren’t the problem…our problem is homegrown and it’s running wild. Partisanship only divides the already divided populous and the leaders know this. Divide and conquer at its finest

    • Maybe if she/it lost a little weight she wouldn’t have to worry about getting sick!

  • Where did these lunatics learn how to negotiate? Devry??

    It’s truly bizarre. They have no leverage….

  • It’s funny that all they people complained about the university and Sasse but there is a lot blame sitting right in front of them behind the half circle. What happens when UF goes another way in student and staff transportation. I guess that 2.86 fare will have to be passed onto Gainesville residents riding the bus. UF has looked at it’s own Fire Department and EMS in years past. Gainesville be careful what you wish for.

    • Buses on the UF student routes run with a lot higher passenger density than most of the RTS network. UF might be able to run circulators on weekdays a lot cheaper than RTS is charging.

      • Whether it’s cheaper or not would be interesting info. It will however keep their funding stream for the transport internal and give them more flexibility down the road. Technology is changing super fast and being flexible is going to be key to staying viable imo

    • Ron Rawls and the Greater Bethel AME Church are a complete front for Christianity. Any decent person would be ashamed to act like him. Crooked churches are a big time money maker though

  • Hey you little whinny, diaper wearing trust fund babies, get your parent to take the bus fair out of life support account. You peasants of society will probably never be adult enough even to own or manage the responsibility of an EV, let alone an ICE vehicle. So nows a good time for you to start learning to manage riding a bus for the rest of your lives.

  • Hopefully an agreement is reached on this. Going forward, the city needs to consider making a few changes to RTS. For starters, downsizing the majority of the buses (on city routes) to shuttles would save on fuel and make the buses much more flexible on route. Restructuring the routes with smaller vehicles would allow for better logistical and more cost-effective routes that could potentially deliver a more precise transit service. The ridership on city routes is down due to rideshare programs for seniors and young people using ebikes and scooters.

    • Some good ideas here about downsizing the buses and better logistics. Also i would gladly pay a higher fare. Riding the bus is still cheaper than operating a car which i do not have. Fareed, i hope you communicate your ideas to the city, uf, and county. Thank you.

  • Once again, the takers of society, who contribute nothing yet demand everything, gather in their echo chamber to pleasure one another while crying through their masks.

    • You hit it square on the head. That sentence really could sum up most all COG and AC commission meetings.

      Seriously, well done.

  • So Pastor Rawls says our Governor is Demonic?
    Maybe he should read ALL the Bible.
    Especially the parable about people who live in glass houses!

    • Pastor should be made to work and pay taxes. I wonder what he drives?

    • There is no parable in the Bible about glass houses. That idiomatic expression came from one of Geoffrey Chaucer’s epic poems in the late 1300s, more than one thousand years after the Bible had been pieced together as the old and new testaments. In the New Testament, Jesus is recorded as having challenged anyone without sin to be the first to begin the legally sanctioned stoning to death of a woman found guilty of the sin of adultery, highlighting the hypocrisy of human law and judgment. Chaucer’s metaphor was an exaggeration for effect. I agree that it’s important to know what is written in the Bible and to quote it accurately, because naysayers are quick to point out perceived discrepancies and dismiss the wisdom therein.

  • Maybe the city should NOT have taxed UF the Fire Assessment Fee? How much does UF pay that, a recent new tax on UF?

    Fact is the city has a broken business model. And nobody in power understands finances.

  • Regardless of how anyone feels about UF, they have very deep pockets.

    Gainesville needs UF. UF does not need Gainesville.

  • The City has been ripping off UF and UF students by charging them almost double the normal fare. UF routes are the only routes that are actually heavily used and efficient.

    Sleazy Mayor Ward says brags about RTS to other cities, about how RTS just works where other cities fail? Yeah anything can be made to work when you steal from a public university and its students.

    This guy belongs in jail.

  • The speaking portions of these city meetings have just become little pep rallies. Most people are working at these times, anyways. Stepping to the podium and saying your piece is fine, but if the city wants to really know how people feel about different items then they should put a poll on their website about every topic they bring up. Then they can get a better gage of how people really feel.

    • Exactly. Why aren’t these commission meetings starting at 7pm?

      Because us conservatives are WORKING and have a JOB.

  • RTS has a very lopsided funding model. Seems to be supported by everyone except the riders.

    UF has no obligation to provide a bus service to the whole of Gainesville.

    • “Seems to be supported by everyone except the riders.”

      I ‘lol’ ed at that one. What a time to be alive.

  • The fact that students, and liberals at large, are blaming Sasse is laughable. These are the same ‘useful idiots’ that can’t do basic math. If a non-student fare is $1.50 and RTS charges UF a fare of $2.86, why wouldn’t ANYONE challenge that??! Oh yeah, because it’s not the liberal mindset to be fiscally responsible. It’s always ‘somebody else’s money’. What a bunch of narrow-minded buffoons. UF makes up almost HALF of RTS’s annual income. Seems to me that they FINALLY got their hands caught in the cookie jar. Maybe there will finally be a reckoning…

  • It’s revealing that there’s no parallel discussion about reducing the costs of the transit systems, or making them more adaptable.

  • Ward added that fares are usually a minor contributor to the funding of transit systems.
    Except in the case of Gainesville’s RTS fees to UF. In that case, it’s the major contributor. That’s why they’re afraid of losing it.

    Ward’s a fat-arsed child…he gave the lunatics a platform to bash the UF President as well as the Governor, that’s all he wanted. In times past, whenever someone criticized city leaders, they’ve shut them down or had them escorted from the building.

    I’d like all the liberal lunatics to offer rides to their friends, as well as driving out to get downtown and other major traffic points to panhandle. Save the environment and help out a little.

    Just want to make sure everyone caught this, Ward also said, “I know that doesn’t make everybody comfortable, but sometimes it’s important to have–a little friction.” That’s something he knows far too well.

  • Just have the students buy a ticket each time they ride the bus – like any normal adult. It’s still cheaper than gas and a car payment.

    Get out of the pass business all together. Problem solved.

    But that won’t work… then who will pay for the BUMS (which right now are students and their passes) to ride from one side of the town to another?? That folks is the problem.

    As far as bus drivers losing jobs… life sucks. Find another job like the rest of us have to from time to time.

  • U.F. seems to be trying to run as a business and possibly finding alternative ways to transport students. Unlike Gainesville and Alachua County Commissioner’s, just spend money on projects that feel good. I wonder how many commissioners ride the bus with the Pastor Rawls?

  • Hopefully God will curse that false pastor and sweep away him and his, Old Testament style.

  • So UF made a simple proposal which appears to be fiscally responsible with the tax dollars from the entire state. Immediately the fiscally irresponsible Mr. Ward and city commissioners rallied their cry and declared that definitive route eliminations, service and route reductions, and job eliminations for RTS are imminent. This, before any time was spent to contemplate any logical response of simple reductions of routes on campus alone. Instead, they try to manipulate the narrative to villainize the University and state government in an obvious threatening manner despite how Mr. Ward and other commissioners try to back tract and cover their words.
    This is a shameful response and actions by the mayor and commissioners! All this from a simple proposal ahead of the expiration of the existing contract as part of routine negotiations. Appalling!

  • A pastor, of all people, should know that the Bible does NOT teach that “might makes right” – that God will do what you want if you simply gather enough people to agree with you.

    The Bible teaches throughout that the first question must be whether what you want aligns with His will.

    Many “community leaders” attend this man’s church, but he doesn’t seem to be a man of God at all. He is a man of politics.

  • And people wonder why those whiny, privileged kids need the government to forgive their loans.
    Time to stop.

  • LOL, I love the Pause shown where Willits had to choose their words carefully, and direct their worry at the route from Grace to Downtown, where Homeless get their … Services. I thought 1 of the main intentions behind Grace was to have Services centered there? but we know the homeless come downtown or camp downtown for other reasons than “Services”

  • It appears UF’s David Kratzer wandered into the financial fog that baffles seekers of Gainesville’s spending such as Florida’s Auditor General, local accountants, competitive bidders, residents and a former Gainesville Mayor. But Kratzer’s request for data got special treatment; a defensive press conference called by the current Mayor who generates fog on local TV and defensive ink from a candidate for the city commission who appears to stand up for poor folks without ever questioning the special city charges and costs collected from the poorest residents and massive diversion of city funds to special interests.

    Weather Report : Gainesville Florida City Hall, very foggy between and during press conferences.

  • Not only does the City overcharge UF for the bus fare, they fail to mention or take into account that since this program started there’s been an explosion of scooters, e-bikes and motorized skateboards that the students use to get around town. Now many of them don’t need to waste half their life waiting for buses that take circuitous routes when they can get there in much less time on their own.

    • Do you free loading liberals feel any remorse when you see people actually working?

    • Do you think masks are sexy and cool? Do you watch videos of women wearing masks?

  • Most students aren’t rich, contrary to the woke self-guilt narrative. Many patents cannot afford to send them much, and they must file for housing subsidies even in the newer apts. as a result.
    UF shouldn’t charge them double. The extra fee charges could be used for student meal subsidies instead.

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