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City presents 2026 transit development priorities; MTPO asks for RTS budget briefing
Summary
The City of Gainesville presented a 2026 Transit Development Plan update and listed capital and service priorities; the board asked RTS to provide an operations/budget presentation at the next MTPO meeting after staff noted recent cuts in service hours and falling ridership.
Chris Ochia, representing the City of Gainesville, gave an informational briefing on the city's 2026 Transit Development Plan (TDP) update submitted to FDOT. Ochia said the TDP lists capital and service priorities for coordination with the MTPO's Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) and the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).
Ochia said the system has lost service hours recently — he cited a recent loss of roughly 3,000 hours and an earlier fiscal reference of about 37,000 hours in prior periods — and warned declining service hours and ridership reduce federal and state funding. "We lost about over 3,000 hours of service," Ochia said; he added that such reductions matter because service levels affect FTA and FDOT allocations.
Board members discussed the ridership decline and local contributions. Several commissioners noted the city had increased local general revenue support for RTS in the prior year to stabilize service. Commissioner Cornell asked for a clear breakdown of funding shares; staff and Ochia provided a summary share table for FY26 projections (for example, UF contribution reduced; city and county shares increased modestly in FY26, per the presentation).
Following the presentation the MTPO requested a dedicated RTS operations and budget presentation at the next MTPO meeting so board members could review service trends, fund balance and prospects for restoring lost hours.
