As the Fall semester approaches, Santa Fe College students may find it harder to catch a ride on RTS bus route 39.
RTS recently slated three primary changes which will take effect in the Fall, wrote RTS Transit Planner Matthew Muller in an email. The service will run more frequently but in a condensed window of time, and it will enter campus on a different street, he said.
The old route, which ran every 90 minutes, will begin running every 60 minutes. It previously ran until 5:45 p.m., but under the new schedule, it will terminate at 3:30 p.m. and will enter campus from Northwest 83rd Street, instead of Northwest 91st Street.
The changes are coming about because Route 39 has been funded by Santa Fe and the Florida Department of Transportation, said RTS spokesman Chip Skinner. The FDOT’s funding share has recently expired making Santa Fe the sole provider for the route, he said.
“The FDOT originally funded the route for a two-year term as a demonstration project, and Santa Fe did not want to increase their per-credit-hour tuition fee,” he said. “So in order to maintain their funding level, we had to stop the route a little earlier, but also increase the frequency. This was a sink or swim time for that particular route.”
Victoria Swander, a 21-year-old SFC anthropology junior, said she was surprised about the route change.
“That’s going to be rough on students like myself that don’t have a vehicle and depend on the bus to get to class,” she said.
Because Route 39 has not been running during this summer’s bus schedule, students and residents along the route have been forced to find commuting alternatives, said Tara Dixon, a 19-year-old SFC dental assistant sophomore.
“There are positives and negatives to the new changes,” she said. “It’s nice that the bus will be more frequently picking people up, but not very convenient if my class were to get out in the evening.”
RTS receives more than 50 percent of operation fees from UF. About 5 percent comes from Santa Fe.
A public meeting will be held in the Gainesville Regional Utilities multipurpose room July 29 at 6 p.m. to discuss other route changes going into effect, Muller said.
Although Route 39 was not failing, Skinner said the changes were needed.
“The route was performing well but not up to our expectations,” said Skinner.
