Gainesville broke ground Friday on a $5.5 million RTS bus station off Hawthorne Road, its first new transfer station since 2016. Six bus bays, due late 2027.

Gainesville has started building its third bus transfer station, on the east side of the city. City officials broke ground Friday on the Regional Transit System Eastside Transfer Station on Southeast 20th Street.

The station is scheduled to open in late 2027, the city said in a release Friday. It is paid for with $5.5 million in Federal Transit Administration grants.

What is being built

The station sits on the city’s Eastside Health and Economic Development Initiative site off Hawthorne Road. The 5,210-square-foot building will include:

  • six bus bays beneath three canopies
  • a community room open to the public
  • a training room for RTS staff

The city calls it a multimodal hub connecting bus routes between east and west Gainesville.

Buses and on-demand rides in one place

The station brings fixed-route buses and the city’s Mobility on Demand service together.

“A rider can arrive on a Mobility on Demand service trip and step directly onto a fixed bus route, or the reverse,” District 1 City Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker said.

Mayor Harvey Ward said the city is “putting our time, our resources right here to benefit everybody who lives here now and a whole lot of people who don’t live here yet.”

Interim City Manager Andrew Persons said the city has “many plans and hopes” for developable parcels across the street. “This transit hub will literally be a hub for all of that activity and an anchor for everything that’s yet to come out here,” he said.

Gainesville’s bus stations

The new station is the first since 2016, the city said.

Station Where Opened
Rosa Parks Transfer Station Downtown 2007
Butler Plaza Transfer Station Butler Plaza 2016
Eastside Transfer Station Southeast 20th Street, off Hawthorne Road Late 2027 (scheduled)
A fourth station Western Gainesville In planning

The city also has $37 million in federal grants to buy 27 new fuel-efficient buses, the release said. It did not say when they will arrive.

Part of a wider east side push

The city lists the station as one of several projects in east Gainesville. They include:

  • the NE Eighth Avenue and Waldo Road redevelopment at Citizens Field, with the new Fire Station 3 next door, both under construction
  • the UF Health Urgent Care Center Eastside, which opened in 2024 with Alachua County and UF Health
  • the HUD Choice Neighborhoods grant with the Gainesville Housing Authority to rebuild Lake Terrace and Pine Meadows (our story on the grant)
  • more homes planned in the mixed-income Heartwood community

What it means for you

  • No route changes announced. The city’s release did not announce new routes or stop changes for the station.
  • If you ride from east Gainesville, the station is meant to let riders switch between Mobility on Demand trips and fixed routes in one place once it opens in late 2027.
  • Questions: City Hall’s main line is 352-334-5000, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, according to the city’s website.