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Transportation department touts RTS gains, micro-mobility stability and parking revenue growth
Summary
City transportation staff reported ridership and fleet improvements, cost savings from bringing paratransit (RTS Plus) in-house, micro-mobility usage trends, and a growth in downtown paid-parking transactions; commissioners pressed for continued outreach and for advancing planned transfer stations and infrastructure.
City transportation officials gave the Gainesville City Commission a broad update on April 16 covering planning priorities, parking changes, fleet management and transit accomplishments.
Jesus Gomez, transportation director, summarized department goals (Vision Zero, multimodal access and equity) and described upcoming projects including an Eastside transfer station groundbreaking this October and design work for additional ADA-compliant bus stops. The presentation said the department manages roughly 284 full-time positions and a departmental budget near $37.3 million across divisions.
Planners highlighted a multi-year program to retrofit curb ramps and transit stops (58 curb-ramp retrofits implemented this year so far) and the department's coordination with FDOT and the University of Florida on corridor improvements. Parking staff reported increased downtown paid-parking transactions since the program launched in August 2024 and described multiple ways to pay (app, web, kiosk, text or voice); officials said downtown paid-parking has generated hundreds of thousands of dollars to date and the city is distributing guidance to businesses on validation options.
Jason Garrett, assistant director for City Fleet Management, described operational improvements: higher uptime, reduced operational cost per unit ($4,111), and a 16.6% reduction in gasoline consumption through vehicle specification changes. Fleet asked the commission to note $14.6 million in federal charging-infrastructure grant awards that are pending final approvals.
RTS staff reported service and efficiency metrics: Gainesville ranks first in the state per capita for service hours, second for passengers per revenue hour, and continues to modernize its fleet with 27 new buses joining in 2026 (including hybrids and electric buses). The commission heard that RTS had added RTS Plus paratransit service in March and achieved about a 40% increase in trips with an average per-trip cost of roughly $37 (down from $65 under the previous vendor), producing immediate month-one savings.
Commissioners praised staff for performance and pressed for continued outreach on parking kiosks, micro-mobility educational efforts and the new Eastside station. Several asked staff to continue providing finer-grained metrics on citations, parking revenue and program equity.
Staff said it will circulate a memo with more detailed service and cost data and will return to relevant committee meetings on fee updates and implementation timelines.
