UF, Gainesville leaders discuss RTS negotiations, say they will reach deal before June 30
University of Florida administrators and Gainesville leaders met Monday morning to discuss ongoing negotiations related to the Regional Transit System, according to a city press release. The discussions come after UF received backlash from students and community members for its proposal that showed the university reducing its funding of RTS by 50%
Earlier in April, city leaders announced at a press conference that half of its RTS budget is at risk of being lost if UF were to move forward with a proposal to scale back its prepaid bus fare program. The program, responsible for nearly $13.7 million of RTS’ $28 million budget this year, may be greatly reduced at the beginning of July, according to a press release from the city.
A few days later, David Kratzer, UF’s senior vice president of construction, facilities and auxiliary, penned a letter to Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward asking the city to provide data about RTS costs and return to the negotiating table rather than making “threats.”
“The university will always take a data-driven approach to ensure that we are correctly serving our students. Press conferences and threats of closures are unnecessary and unhelpful,” he wrote. “We would welcome you back to the table and hope that you will direct your team to provide this crucial data that we have not yet received.”
According to a Monday press release, both parties are back at the negotiating table and are hoping to reach a good-faith deal.
“The Gainesville City Commission and city leaders are hopeful the ongoing negotiations will lead to a full contract renewal before the June 30 deadline, and that UF over the coming year will conduct research to analyze the traffic, safety and environmental impacts that could be expected citywide if major changes are made to the RTS-UF partnership,” the release said.
More: UF, City say appropriate RTS deal can be reached, return to negotiating table
More: UF letter to mayor asks for RTS cost data, calls threats of closures unhelpful
A portion of Kratzer’s letter insinuated UF was being unfairly charged for bus fare, stating that RTS charges non-UF riders $1.50 per ride and UF students $2.86 per ride.
City staff is unsure how UF calculated that figure, but believes they divided the amount of money paid to RTS and divided it by the total number of riders. This calculation is misleading, the press release said, because RTS charges are based on service hours, not individual passengers served.
In fact, the release explains, UF’s current negotiated price is around 40% below the current full cost of transit service, $132.68 per hour.
The city held a meeting earlier this month where dozens of UF students, RTS employees and community members spoke out against UF’s proposal. The changes, Ward explained, would force RTS to eliminate Routes 17, 25, 28, 34, 46 and 150 in July and reduce Routes 1, 5, 8, 9, 12, 16, 20, 21, 33, 35, and 38.
“When we talk about these impacts, I want to be clear that this is not a threat of any sort,” he said. “This is the reality of what happens when you take $6.9 million out of the budget. It doesn't just float away and evaporate. There are real world impacts.”
Another complication with UF pulling funding is the fact that it will dramatically reduce overall ridership with RTS. As the release explains, numerous funding and grant sources from entities other than UF are based on ridership volume. If those sources were to be impacted, RTS would have to further scale back routes and services.
According to Steve Orlando, the associate vice president for communications at UF, Monday’s negotiation was productive and both parties have agreed to continue talks.
"Today’s talks with RTS were productive, and everyone wants an outcome that’s good for our students and the community. The city now understands better the university’s responsibility to assure our students that the rate being charged is fair,” Orlando said in a statement to the Gainesville Sun. “The city promised to provide a breakdown of the $84 an hour rate per bus so that we can evaluate it and then explain the amount to our students. We need to understand if this is an optimized cost. Everyone at the table agreed both to continue talks on a weekly basis and to keep details at the negotiating table as we work through these important conversations together."
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: UF administration, city leaders continue RTS negotiations
