Gainesville’s TransLoc transit app to soon include Uber

Bus stop a mile away? Take an Uber.

Scheduled to launch this week, an update to the bus-route tracking app TransLoc Rider will allow riders to schedule Uber pickups to and from bus stops around Gainesville, wrote Chip Skinner, the marketing and communications supervisor at Regional Transit System, in an email.

To use the new feature, riders who have the app will be prompted to enter their destinations and be shown an “optimized route, integrating public transit and Uber,” according to TransLoc Rider’s website.

Skinner said the updated app will launch today or Wednesday.

The merging of the apps, he said, would benefit those who live in areas around Gainesville and Alachua County that do not have easy access to the RTS bus system.

“It will allow people to access public transit easier,” he said, “especially those people that live outside our service area or a significant distance from a bus stop.”

Both applications are free through smartphone app stores. The price of each Uber trip will depend on the distance a rider needs to travel and how long it takes to reach a destination.

Users of TransLoc, also known as Gator Locator, do not need to sign up for Uber to use TransLoc, but they do if they want to use the Uber service.

Skinner said preparations to launch the app were not to blame for TransLoc Rider’s system crash Monday — or its omission of 11 RTS routes from the app’s display.

He said his department expects the omissions to be resolved by next week.