Transportation
UF has made great strides in eliminating the need for single occupancy vehicle travel to, from, and around campus. There are many affordable alternative transportation options for students, staff, and faculty.
UF continues to improve transportation by working towards the following goals:
- In collaboration with the City of Gainesville, increasing the Regional Transit System (RTS) system to accommodate more locations and service times to move faculty and staff to and from the UF campus.
- Increasing the number and quality of bikeways around the campus and improve the bicycling infrastructure to include bicycle parking and other facilities for bicyclists.
- In cooperation with the City of Gainesville, creating safe and comfortable areas to bicycle and walk on and near campus.
Bicycling
UF provides bicycle lanes on heavily traveled roads and many bike racks for parking throughout campus. UPD offers (bicycle registration) in order to aid in recovery in the case of bicycle theft. Student Government offers free (bike repair) on campus. You can check out the campus map for bike facility locations.
Bus
UF students, faculty, and staff can ride RTS fare free with a UF ID. Buses run 7 days a week with routes on campus and throughout the city of Gainesville. Many routes serving campus have buses that come every ten minutes or less. Several bus routes offer service after 5:00 PM, and “Later Gator” routes provide service in select areas beyond midnight. Many buses have bicycle racks so riders can take their bikes with them.
Since 1998 when the unlimited bus pass for UF students became available, RTS ridership has risen from less than a million people per year to 8.6 million. Ridership continues to grow and is up 5% from the record 2006 level. The RTS bus system is the third largest in Florida based on annual ridership levels. UF students make up 75 percent of the riding population, and this makes the partnership with UF worthwhile. The operational budget this year is $17.6 million, approximately 41% of which comes from UF funding. In support of sustainability, many students ride the bus, resulting in decreased driving and decreased environmental hazards caused by car exhaust.
Carpool Program
The new carpool program encourages eligible University of Florida and Shands faculty and staff members to share the ride to and from campus. Carpooling helps improve air quality and conserve energy; reduce traffic and relieve parking congestion; cut wear and tear on your vehicle, gasoline and insurance costs; and allows you to make new friends, reduce the stress of commuting alone and enjoy preferred parking at a nominal cost. Registered carpool members purchase their own annual carpool decals at about one half the cost of an Orange or Blue faculty/staff decal.
GreenRide
UF GreenRide helps you find carpool partners by searching for other employees who live near you and have similar schedules and lifestyle preferences. It's fast, friendly and offers anonymity until you decide to make your contacts formal. You can use your UF or Shands email address to create an account, but for even more anonymity, simply utilize a private email service, such as Yahoo or Hotmail. You'll even get to see a map of the general area showing potential carpoolers near you.
Flexcar
Eight low-emission vehicles, including 3 hybrids, are available for use by anyone in the UF community. Flexcar members just pay $5.50 an hour or $55 a day for the vehicle, gas, insurance, maintenance, a reserved parking space, 150 free miles per trip, roadside assistance and 24-hour customer service.
UF Campus Cab (Taxi) Service
PPD will provide point-to-point transportation on the Main campus to UF facilities
in Alachua County for selected segments of IFAS and the Gainesville Airport.
The taxi service is available at no cost to UF faculty and staff, Monday- Friday,
7:45 AM- 4:45 PM. Reservations are taken from 7:15 AM- 4:15 PM, at least 60
minutes before requested pick-up time. Call PPD Work Management at 392-1121
to reserve your ride.
Give Us Your Feedback
The Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee is responsible for advising the University on transportation issues.
