Gainesville Regional Transit System
Gainesville Regional Transit System is the local area transit corporation that serves the Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida area, the University of Florida and Santa Fe College campuses. It presently serves 40 city routes (19 on Saturdays, 16 on Sundays), 10 campus routes, and five "Later Gator" routes. Paratransit (ADA) service is also provided to anyone with a Gainesville address.
 | |
 2011 Gillig with Gator scale wrap | |
| Parent | City of Gainesville |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1974 |
| Headquarters | 34 SE 13th Rd Gainesville, FL 32601 |
| Locale | Gainesville, Florida |
| Service area | Alachua County, Florida |
| Service type | Bus service |
| Fleet | 135 |
| Daily ridership | 25,239 (2019)[1] |
| Fuel type | B20 (biodiesel) |
| Chief executive | Jesus Gomez |
| Website | Gainesville RTS website |
City routes
| No. | Description | Operates |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station to Butler Plaza RTS Transfer Station | Mon-Sun |
| 2 | Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station to NE Walmart Supercenter | Mon-Sat |
| 3 | Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station to N Main St. Post Office | Mon-Fri |
| 5 | Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station to Oaks Mall | Mon-Sun |
| 6 | Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station to North Walmart Supercenter | Mon-Sat |
| 7 | Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station to Eastwood Meadows | Mon-Fri |
| 8 | UF Health Shands Hospital to North Walmart Supercenter | Mon-Sun |
| 9 | Reitz Union to Hunters Run | Mon-Sun |
| 10 | Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station to Santa Fe College | Mon-Sat |
| 11 | Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station to Eastwood Meadows | Mon-Sun |
| 12 | Reitz Union to Butler Plaza RTS Transfer Station | Mon-Sun |
| 13 | Beaty Towers at the University of Florida to Cottage Grove Apartments | Mon-Sun |
| 15 | Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station to NW 13th St./NW 23rd Ave. | Mon-Sun |
| 16 | Beaty Towers at the University of Florida to Sugar Hill | Mon-Sun |
| 17 | Beaty Towers at the University of Florida to Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station | Mon-Fri |
| 20 | Reitz Union to Oaks Mall | Mon-Sun |
| 21 | Reitz Union to Cabana Beach Apts | Mon-Fri |
| 23 | Oaks Mall to Santa Fe College | Mon-Fri |
| 25 | UF Commuter Lot to Gainesville Regional Airport | Mon-Sun |
| 26 | Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station to Gainesville Regional Airport | Mon-Fri |
| 27 | Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station to NE Walmart Supercenter | Mon-Fri |
| 28 | The Hub to Butler Plaza RTS Transfer Station | Mon-Fri |
| 33 | Butler Plaza RTS Transfer Station to Midtown | Mon-Sun |
| 34 | The Hub to Lexington Crossing Apts | Mon-Fri |
| 35 | Reitz Union to SW 35th Place | Mon-Sun |
| 36 | The Hub to SW 34th St. Post Office (Williston Plaza) | Mon-Fri |
| 37 | Reitz Union to Butler Plaza RTS Transfer Station (via SW 35th Place) | Mon-Sun |
| 38 | The Hub to Enclave Apts | Mon-Fri |
| 40 | The Hub to Hunters Crossing | Mon-Fri |
| 43 | UF Health Shands Hospital to Santa Fe College | Mon-Fri |
| 46 | Reitz Union to Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station | Mon-Fri |
| 75 | Oaks Mall to Butler Plaza RTS Transfer Station | Mon-Sun |
| 76 | Haile Plantation to Santa Fe College | Mon-Fri |
| 78 | Butler Plaza RTS Transfer Station to Santa Fe College | Mon-Fri |
| 150 | Haile Plantation to UF Health Shands Hospital | Mon-Fri |
| 711 | Rosa Parks RTS Downtown Station to Eastwood Meadows | Mon-Fri after 8:00 p.m., all day Sat-Sun |
Campus Service
10 RTS routes operate on the University of Florida (UF) campus. These include "park and ride" and circulator routes. UF and Santa Fe College (SF) students have prepaid unlimited access to RTS services through a transportation fee attached to each credit hour for undergraduates. UF faculty, staff, spouses and retirees have unlimited prepaid access through the RTS Employee Bus Pass Program, as do SF faculty, staff and students.
| No. | Description | Operates |
|---|---|---|
| 117 | Reitz Union to Park-N Ride 2 (SW 34th Street) | Mon-Fri |
| 118 | The Hub to Park-N Ride 1 (UF Cultural Plaza) | Mon-Fri |
| 119 | The Hub to Family Housing at the University of Florida | Mon-Fri |
| 120 | The Hub to University of Florida West Circulator (Fraternity Row) | Mon-Fri |
| 121 | The Hub to UF Commuter Lot | Mon-Fri |
| 122 | University of Florida North/South Circulator | Mon-Fri |
| 125 | The Hub to Lakeside | Mon-Fri |
| 126 | Sorority Row to Lakeside | Mon-Fri |
| 127 | University of Florida East Circulator (Sorority Row) | Mon-Fri |
| 128 | Reitz Union to Lake Wauberg | Saturdays during spring and the first half of summer |
Later Gator
Later Gator is a late night service that provides safe, late night service for students between campus, downtown, the Oaks Mall and southwest Gainesville through five routes.[2][3] This service has been cancelled with no clear future plans to return service to the routes.
| Route Letter | Description | Operates |
|---|---|---|
| A | Sorority Row to and from Downtown Station | 8:30 pm – 3:20 am Wednesday-Saturday |
| B | SW Gainesville to and from Downtown Station | 8:50 pm – 3:13 am Thursday-Saturday |
| C | Oaks Mall to and from Downtown Station | 8:30 pm – 3:14 am Thursday-Saturday |
| D | Cottage Grove Apts. to and from Downtown Station | 8:00 pm – 2:30 am Saturday Only |
| F | Butler Plaza to and from Downtown Station | 8:30 pm – 3:18 am Saturday Only |
Gator Aider
Gator Aider is a shuttle service provided to transport fans to and from University of Florida Gators home football games. Service is available at five park-n-ride locations around the Greater Gainesville area including the Town of Tioga, the Oaks Mall, Haile Plantation, the UF Hilton Conference Center and the City of Gainesville Downtown Parking Garage.
Bus Tracking
In 2008, RTS equipped their fleet with a GPS capability called TransLoc. This enables riders to see if their bus is running on time.[4] TransLoc Rider, a mobile phone app that incorporates the TransLoc GPS capability, is also available for riders.[5]
Fleet
Since 1974, Gainesville has had a diverse fleet of buses bought from Transit Authorities in state and manufacturers such as GMC, Orion Bus Industries, Blue Bird, Nova Bus, Flexible, Gillig Corporation. All RTS buses are equipped with bicycle racks and wheelchair lifts. While many were purchased new, others were acquired second-hand from other operators in the state, including 30 that were acquired from Lynx and 11 from Palm Tran. RTS acquired five new Gillig hybrid electric buses (two in early 2012 and three more in 2013).
Active Fleet
Retired Fleet
References
- "Gainesville-RTS Passenger Productivity by Month and Fiscal Year" (PDF). Gainesville Regional Transit System. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
- http://go-rts.com/files/33692-late-night-kiosks.pdf
- "RTS - Regional Transit System for the city of Gainesville, FL, the University of Florida and surrounding areas". Archived from the original on 2013-11-27. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
- http://ufl.transloc.com/
- Vassolo, Martin (August 24, 2016). "Gainesville's TransLoc transit app to soon include Uber". The Independent Florida Alligator. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
- "Gainesville Regional Transit System 501-515 - CPTDB Wiki". cptdb.ca. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
