<p>This might seem like a silly question, but I've never ridden a bus in my life so I'm clueless about it... It is my understanding that we don't pay as long as we carry our Gator 1 card, what do we do we it when we get on the bus? do we have to show it to the bus driver, do we have to scan it somewhere, how does that work? Also, does the bus stop at every stop or do you have to press a button or ring a bell or something to make it stop at the stop you want? </p>
<p>Is there a place where you can download all the buses' schedules? I looked everywhere on the rts website and I couldn't find it, there's only a little map but it doesn't show the actual times of the stops. I'm just trying to figure out how long it will take me to take the bus so that I know what time I need to leave my house to go to class.</p>
<p>Thanks for your response dirkslam41, Does the bus stop whether there’s people waiting at the stop or not? Also, what do you do with your GAtor1 card when you get on the bus? just show it or scan it somewhere?</p>
<p>if no one on the bus pulls the chord, and theres no one at the stop, i don’t think that the bus stops usually. i haven’t ridden the bus much though. i’ve also been at a bus stop where the bus did not stop for us despite our standing at the curb. it was really late though. tldr: i probably shouldn’t be giving advice.</p>
<p>On some of the newer buses it’s a vertical strip that you push. Works the same was as the cord. </p>
<p>The bus does not necessarily have to stop at a stop. If you are looking to get off you should pull the cord to let the driver know. If you’re looking to get on, the bus will usually stop. If the bus is full (you’ll definitely be able to tell) it won’t stop and you’ll have to wait for the next one. This is especially a problem if you live off campus and you’re like the last stop before the bus gets to campus. </p>
<p>All you have to do to get on the bus is show your ID to the driver. Make sure you have it ready as you’ll just be holding people up if you’re fumbling around for it in your bag or wallet.</p>
<p>[RTS</a> - Regional Transit System for the city of Gainesville, FL, the University of Florida and surrounding areas.](<a href=“http://www.go-rts.com%5DRTS”>http://www.go-rts.com) is especially helpful if you want to track the bus down. The buses have GPS’s and the site is fairly accurate. If you have a smart phone definitely download the app as it’s useful to have. The complete schedule is also on here downloadable as a PDF. Shouldn’t be too hard to find…</p>
<p>Riveras pretty much has it… I ride the bus a ton and they will definitely not stop unless you pull the cord if there’s no one at the stop so make sure you do that. Only exception to that is if it’s the first or last stop of the route, but still do it to be safe until you’re more familiar with the route.</p>
<p>We just toured UF, and that’s about how it worked, for us at least. We got on the bus, and drove around until our guide pulled on the cord to get off.</p>
<p>Just make sure you remember where your hands are though. My dad was pulling on the cord to stabilize himself or whatever. The bus stopped, we all sat there wondering why we had stopped, and approximately 7 minutes later, my dad realized he should let go of the cord. So yeah, don’t do that. :P</p>
<p>The app for the iPhone (and probably the other smart phones) is called TransLoc, btw. Make sure you select “University of Florida” to get the correct school (they do it for a bunch). It’s really helpful to have this on your phone, because it shows you where exactly the bus is and it’s helpful to know when to leave your apartment or whatever.</p>