Summers in Gainesville are hot and humid. Sweat beads on the brow, and the heat feels heavy. Then there’s the high possibility of being caught in the torrential downpour of an afternoon thunderstorm.
Anya Joshi, an 18-year-old UF biology sophomore, chose to spend her summer in Gainesville, where she does research with the Department of Pharmacogenomics. Her lab is located in the heel of campus within UF Health Shands Hospital.
It’s a 20-minute walk from her apartment to Shands, Joshi said, but she saves time by taking the bus.
“In the summer, I prefer taking the bus because it’s either really hot or really rainy, and there’s no in-between,” Joshi said. “It’s not fun to walk 25 minutes with a backpack when it’s 90 degrees outside.”
Since she doesn’t have a car, Joshi said “it’s just harder” to get around Gainesville. She relies on the Gainesville Regional Transit System, which has fewer bus routes than it used to and isn’t always on time, she said.
“I’ve had instances where I’m waiting on a bus and it doesn’t come for 20 minutes, but it's pouring, so how am I supposed to get home?” Joshi said.
A small bus stop between Shands and UF campus offers meager shelter at the foot of a steep hill. Joshi clutched her phone to her chest. The humidity was sticky; the rain had just stopped. She checked her device for the bus’s location when it drove past her.
She was on the wrong side for pickup. Another look at her phone confirmed the next bus wasn’t for a while. Forced to give in, she started the trek uphill to head home.
Since April 2024, RTS has negotiated with the university about its funding.
Despite recent schedule changes made in the name of efficiency, riders find themselves adjusting their schedules to catch the bus on time.
The cuts decreased RTS's budget from $12.7 million to $9.8 million per year.
Orlando’s Lynx bus system has an annual operating budget of $208,132,943. While Orlando is a larger city, the Lynx reports it served 19,621,469 passenger trips in 2024, and RTS was responsible for more than 5 million passenger trips in 2023.
RTS currently has 39 routes. In 2021, 102 buses ran during the weekdays, but Gainesville decreased the fleet due to a decline in bus riders.
Most recent changes
Jimmy Shennett, a 57-year-old Gainesville resident, regularly visits the Malcom Randall Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center to “get ahead” of his health. He is a veteran of the United States Coast Guard. Shennett lives near Oaks Mall and uses Bus 1 to get to his appointments.
He discovered the route change in July when the bus made a turn earlier than he was accustomed to. While Shennett read there were going to be changes, he hadn’t “focused in on it,” he said.
He was surprised when the bus turned onto UF’s campus. When Shennett figured his route was affected by the changes, he got off the bus to walk through campus to get to the hospital.
“You do what you have to do, but it’s inconvenient,” Shennett said.
The new schedule began with the start of UF’s Summer B semester on June 30.
Route 1 was one of 11 buses that faced major schedule adjustments. Nine routes had minor changes. Four were eliminated, and one was added. Only two routes remained the same. During Summer B, routes 21, 28, 46, 76, 78, 118, 122 and 127 have no service.
A lack of reliability
Carly Ginn, a 21-year-old UF nursing senior, isn’t working at Shands this summer, but when she did for 11 months, her boyfriend dropped her off. Sometimes, she took the RTS.
Having access to the bus was helpful because she could take it in case her boyfriend couldn’t pick her up, Ginn said. Shands employees can ride the bus for free, and it would show up within five to 10 minutes of when it was scheduled.
“When they started to defund RTS, especially because I still use the bus to get to the College of Nursing, it’s definitely way less reliable now,” Ginn said.
Ginn noticed there are only three buses for the routes she takes from where she lives near Butler Plaza, limiting where and when she can catch them.
“If you need to get to campus, and it’s on campus and not near you, then you’re out of luck,” she said.
Sometimes the bus will be full at every stop, so she’s forced to walk to the next one. There were times she had to walk to campus instead, she said.
She wants to know why RTS funding is being cut. While options like Park & Ride offer one of the cheapest parking passes, it’s “still kind of crazy,” she said.
“You’re paying to take the bus,” Ginn said. “But the bus, when I tried [Park & Ride] out, happened to be the same bus that I would’ve had to take from my apartment anyway.”
Ginn is the president of Nurses Leading Charge, an organization dedicated to reducing health disparities and bettering nursing as a whole. She said it promotes positive change through efforts like community service.
A consistently changing public transportation system can be a problem for patients, she said.
“That’s an issue because transportation is what helps people get to their appointment,” Ginn said. “It’s crucial that people can get to their appointments, or what if you had an emergency and that was the only way to get to the hospital?”
Alan Mondragon, a 25-year-old Shands registered nurse, drives to work because he works the night shift. While he would consider taking a bus, he doesn’t want to risk being late to work, he said.
Nurses are expected to be on time for the “continuity of care,” Mondragon said, which requires health care workers to provide constant attention to patients.
“Nurses are just making sure you know that the patients have someone that’s going to come take after the previous nurse to make sure they’re still getting care after one nurse goes home,” Mondragon said.
An entire floor would struggle if a nurse were late to their shift, Mondragon said.
It’s also important for patients to be on time. Late patients can face fees and other consequences, Mondragon said.
Mondragon often considers taking public transport because it would save him gas money and be better for the environment, he said.
“The issue is not knowing exactly where the routes are or if there’s any changes,” Mondragon said. “That could be an issue for me.”
The costs of convenience
Michael Feely, a 41-year-old Shands physician, thinks taking the bus to work would be impossible because of the extra stops he needs to make. Each day, he drops his children off at school, goes to work and brings his children to their activities afterward.
Parking fees are deducted directly from Feely’s paycheck. A gold parking permit, the most expensive option, can cost a UF staff member $504 per semester.
Parking at a garage next to Shands costs $20 for non-patients and those without a visitor voucher.
Shands should further promote the buses to employees because a majority live off of Archer Road, which he said has a direct route to the hospital. It can be a resource for hospital trainees trying to be careful with the small amount of money they are paid, he added.
“No one really talks about it much, at least in the hospital,” Feely said. “I think it’s also underutilized."
RTS did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.
Contact Alanna Robbert at arobbert@alligator.org. Follow her on X @alannafitzr.
Alanna Robbert is a journalism senior and a general assignment reporter for the Metro Desk in Summer 2025. In her free time, she enjoys reading and going to the gym.
