Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward called the Regional Transit System’s (RTS) recent $26.4 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) a “win, after win, after win,” during a press conference at the RTS headquarters on Friday. 

Ward said the grant will not only help replace 15 to 20 diesel buses with electric or hybrid ones, but a little over $4 million will go towards building a solar plant in the RTS employee parking lot. The solar plant will shade the lot while supplying the energy needed to charge the buses. 

“This is what the people of Gainesville expect of us, and the federal government is finally giving us the opportunity to act on it,” Ward said. “Once we get these in service, I’ll be surprised if there’s any other transit system in Florida that has a more fuel-efficient fleet than we do.” 

Ward credited RTS’s “tremendous grant writers” and staff who traveled with him to Washington, D.C., to cultivate personal relationships with lawmakers for attaining nearly 2% of the Biden administration’s 1.5 billion investment in modernizing U.S. bus systems. 

He also credited Gainesville’s size in the transportation “ecosystem” as a mutual benefit to the Biden Administration’s initiatives for lowering emissions nationwide. 

“Gainesville in general is the right size for a lot of what the Biden administration is trying to get done,” Ward said. “We’re big enough that you can prove things on a large scale and make sure that it works well, and small enough that you don’t have to make a billion-dollar investment in one system for it to work.” 

In 2019, the city of Gainesville set a goal to reach zero emissions for city operations by 2045. A $10.6 million grant from the FTA in 2022 helped kickstart diesel replacements in the roughly 115-sized bus fleet.  

The price tag for one electric bus can reach over $1 million, and manufacturing times can take around 18 months. But Ward said the pricey and timely investment upfront balances out and will be better in the long run. 

“It’s a lot more money to buy a fully electric bus, but the cost goes way down because the maintenance and fuel costs are nil,” Ward said. “When we charge an electric bus, we’re buying it from ourselves. We’re buying that fuel from GRU (Gainesville Regional Utilities). And now, by installing with federal dollars a solar powering site here on the RTS campus, there’s almost no cost of fuel for those buses.” 

For RTS drivers, Ward said it might take some practice getting used to the new electric buses. Each one carries six 1,100-pound batteries on the roof which recalibrates the weight differential from older buses with gas or diesel tanks. 

The new buses will feature hard seats and drains that make them easier to clean and, without the diesel-powered engines, the vehicles will run quieter and not produce gas-fume aromas. Ward said the new vehicles create a better experience for everyone. 

Even with the upgrades, Ward doesn’t believe the RTS staffing shortage is likely to go anywhere soon. RTS careers do provide free CDL training and benefits, such as pension, insurance and unionization. But transit systems struggle to compete with the higher hourly wages that delivery services such as Amazon offer. 

Gainesville is a small enough city that the logistics of buses coming back to the RTS headquarters to charge won’t disrupt the “art and science” of restructuring routes, something that already happens naturally with seasonal population fluctuations, according to Ward.  

Route restructuring also isn’t a factor in the ongoing transportation negotiations between RTS and the University of Florida. In April, UF proposed cutting half of its funding to the transportation service—around 25% of RTS’s total budget.  

The two entities held weekly meetings and agreed on a new contract before the June 30 deadline. They finalized a six-month extension and will seek long-term solutions in 2025.  

Ward said at Friday’s press conference that while it will take several months to craft a new contract “methodically” and “intentionally,” he’s encouraged by the progress.  

“A very responsive, very good new contract. That’s what I’m looking forward to,” he said. “Our staff and their staff meet regularly. It was a tough couple of weeks back in late winter, early spring, and now we’re at the table and all the professionals are working together…the work is getting done.” 

Ward hopes to collaborate with UF in the future on developing Gainesville’s hydrogen industry, a resource encouraged by the Biden administration. 

At Friday’s press conference, Ward also shared plans for revitalizing the 96-year-old Florida Theater on W. University Avenue. The mayor met with those who have an “emotional and potential stake” in the entertainment venue on Thursday to discuss putting together the funds necessary for getting it up and running again. 

“That’s a missing piece of our local music ecosystem, and it can be a really great catalyst for moving downtown forward as well,” Ward said. 

The mayor expressed that while Gov. Ron DeSantis’s recent funding cut to statewide arts and culture programs was felt by many organizations, such as the Hippodrome, it hasn’t affected the Florida Theater. Thursday’s meeting laid out plans to move forward with fixing up the theater’s facade and historical marquee.  

Ward also referenced news released later on Friday in a press release regarding the city’s bond rating. Fitch upgraded the previous AA- rating to AA, a mark of confidence in Gainesville’s ability to address budgetary concerns involving Gainesville Regional Utilities.