County directs staff to expand weekend and holiday transit service and draft interlocal with RTS

The Alachua County Commission on Feb. 9 directed staff to draft an interlocal agreement with the Regional Transit System (RTS) that preserves the existing hourly rate and expands weekend and holiday service on targeted routes to improve access for transit-dependent workers.

Jeff Hayes, transportation planning manager, said RTS proposed keeping a previously negotiated operating rate of $64.88 per hour and that staff identified Route 75 and Route 1 as priorities for expanded span of service to cover earlier morning and later evening shifts at major employers such as UF Health/Shands. Hayes said a focused package of weekend and holiday expansions would cost roughly $115,000 annually at current service assumptions.

"If we were going to look at expanding service for home-to-work trips, specifically, those would be the two routes we would look at," Hayes said, describing the Tower Road corridor and transfer connections needed to reach UF and Shands.

Commissioners discussed student versus nonstudent ridership, funding sources (including MSTU collections and potential state grants), and the timing of budget decisions. RTS staff noted fuel is a relatively small component of hourly costs and that labor and maintenance are larger line items. Commissioners asked staff to include East Side route enhancements in the manager’s preliminary budget discussions.

The board approved the staff recommendation unanimously and added direction to bring East Side route options into the upcoming budget review so the county can align capital and operating funding with service improvements.