Gainesville Needs a Bus Route Spanning West 34th Street

Florida's State Route 121 is a pretty interesting stretch of road.  For one, its name transcends state lines: as you go north on it into Georgia, you find yourself driving down Georgia State Route 121.  Then, as you keep going on, across the Georgia/South Carolina state line, you're then on South Carolina State Route 121.  It finally ends just a few miles south of the North Carolina border, not far from Charlotte.  Usually, the numbers of state routes change from state to state, but SR 121 goes through three of them.  It also goes straight through my home town of Gainesville, Florida, with the more commonly used name of West 34th Street. 

I live just a couple of blocks from Northwest 34th Street, in far northern Gainesville.  My workplace is on the far southern fringe of Gainesville, but on the same street: Southwest 34th Street (SR 121).  This is a very important, heavily traveled road that connects the northern to the southern part of the city.  Yet in the 37 years I have lived here, my city bus service has deliberately avoided servicing a giant area surrounding the middle part of this crucial traffic artery.  Instead of there being a route that goes straight up and down West 34th Street, one has to plot a very circuitous route to get from the north to the south (or the reverse) on it.  For example, were I to take the city bus from near my home to where I work, both of which lie on the same street, I would end up taking an hour and a half to cover the 7.5 miles on the bus.  Simply driving my car, though, is about a 20-minute proposition.  Guess which choice I make?  Even when I ride my bicycle, it only takes about 40-45 minutes max, and I own a very cheap, ramshackle bicycle!  But wait...even if I ran down 34th Street to my destination, I'd still beat out the bus!

My city bus service goes out of its way to cater to the University of Florida student needs...I don't mind that because they pay for it up front with their fees.  But permanent Gainesville residents should have a say in the route and schedule creation process as well.  Were there a route that just ran up and down West 34th Street, I would make liberal use of it, to the point where I would definitely purchase a long-term pass.  With the current situation, nobody wins...