County asks Gainesville to pause plan to insource paratransit, seeks study of impacts for unincorporated areas

Alachua County commissioners voted Aug. 26 to ask the City of Gainesville to pause plans to cancel MV Transportation’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit contract and directed staff to report back on how the change would affect residents in the county’s unincorporated areas and small towns.

The action followed public testimony from riders and advocates who said the contract change would cut transportation to essential medical care for people who live outside city limits. “This is going to have a serious very serious ramifications for both people the people who live within the city of Gainesville and outside of Alachua County because they will no longer have access to transportation to their medical appointments, whether it be to their doctors or to dialysis, or for emergency,” said Spencer Morton, a member of the Transportation Disadvantaged Board who represents citizens with disabilities.

County commissioners said they want more detail before the city proceeds. Commissioner Ken Cornell said the county has two years remaining on the agreement and asked the county to seek a pause so staff and regional partners can study the operational and budget effects if service to unincorporated areas were reduced or stopped.

MV Transportation’s Gainesville manager, Gary Luke, told the board MV could not sustain serving the county’s outlying areas if the city insources the ADA contract. “We… would not be able to sustain ourself to do just the outskirts. It’s just not cost effective,” he said, adding MV serves dialysis and other high‑priority medical trips and has already absorbed funding reductions that forced prioritization of routes.

The board’s motion, which passed, asked three things: 1) prepare a chair’s letter requesting the City of Gainesville pause action to terminate the current paratransit contract; 2) put the issue on a forthcoming Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization (MTPO) agenda for joint consideration; and 3) direct county staff to return with an analysis of the operational impacts and options if the contract ends on the city’s planned timetable. The motion also requested that staff include an assessment of effects on medically fragile riders and emergency evacuation capability.

Advocates urged the county to press for continuity of service while a transition plan is developed. “If MV leaves the service area, we will have no provider for people who live with disabilities,” Morton said during public comment. Judith Hamilton, a citizen transportation advocate for people who are blind, said the people most affected would be residents outside Gainesville city limits who rely on paratransit for dialysis and medical care.

County staff will coordinate with the MTPO and the City of Gainesville, and return to the commission with a report and recommended next steps before the city pursues contract termination.

Ending note: Commissioners emphasized they want to avoid service gaps for people who rely on paratransit and to use the remaining contract term to pursue a regional solution if possible. The county’s requested letter and staff report are expected in the coming weeks.