Posted Mar. 12, 2007
Calling it vital to the future of Providence and the state, a public transit study group formed by Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline is calling for a significant investment in mass transit statewide and raising the possibility of bringing streetcars back to the capital city.
Without a dramatic expansion of regional mass transit, growth already occurring in Greater Providence will turn Interstate 95 and other roads and highways into parking lots during rush hour and hinder economic development, according to the Transit 2020 Working Group.
The group was chaired by Donna Cupelo, regional president for Verizon Communications in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and included Bank of America Rhode Island President William F. Hatfield and representatives from the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, Grow Smart Rhode Island, Providence Equity Partners, the Hospital Association of Rhode Island, the Providence Foundation, the Rhode Island Foundation, Brown University, and city officials from Warwick, East Providence and Cranston, among others.
Almost a year after first convening last April, the group is releasing a 36-page report this week, “Growing Smart with Transit,” with recommendations aimed at decreasing traffic congestion, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, increasing economic development and preserving open space in Providence and throughout the state.
“The Transit 2020 Working Group brought together a diverse array of individuals dedicated to identifying priorities and to push this issue forward,” Cupelo said in an e-mailed statement. “As a representative of a major employer in Providence, I see firsthand the need to ease congestion and to improve public transit in the metropolitan area so that the city’s dynamic economy can realize its full potential for growth.”
Highlights of the report include a call to increase funding of the R.I. Public Transportation Authority, to relocate RIPTA’s hub in Kennedy Plaza to property next to the downtown train station, and to pursue new public transit options, including streetcars.
Cities that have adopted streetcars in recent years have increased business investment, the creation of jobs, increased property values along transportation routes and surges in tourism, Cicilline told Providence Business News in advance of a March 12 press conference.
In addition, streetcars and other public transit services can be powerful anti-poverty tools, he added – enabling families to get rid of a car and save thousands of dollars per year in fuel, insurance, maintenance and parking costs.
“Streetcars is the early lead in this, as far as I’m concerned,” Cicilline said. “They’ve made a real comeback, and you look at cities like Salt Lake City and Portland, Ore. – two of the best examples – they’ve really helped to totally transform those cities.”
Many neighborhoods, including Providence’s East Side, were formed as streetcar suburbs, and some thoroughfares – including Allens Avenue, which the transit group proposes as a major new public transit route – still have rails.
The last time a streetcar operated in the city was on May 14, 1948, along Blackstone Boulevard, said Garry Bliss, director of policy for the City of Providence and a staff member of the Transit 2020.
The transit report urged the linking of bus and rail lines throughout the state and with those of other states, by creating shared transit hubs and a unified fare system.
In particular, the report calls for the creation of a shuttle-style rail service to link Providence with T.F. Green Airport and a new commuter train station being built next to the airport in Warwick.
“You want a person who flies into Rhode Island to land, use the people mover to get to the train station, get on some sort of train that will bring them to their destination – be it Providence or Pawtucket – and then when they are there, for them to have easy and timely transit options,” Bliss said.
The group also called for expanding RIPTA’s role to include management of commuter rail and other future public transit systems, and said the agency should explore becoming engaged in land development deals to increase revenue and secure land for new transit hubs.
Transit 2020 also called for replacing or adding new RIPTA board members.
And the group suggested measures that could be adopted to erase negative public perception of RIPTA by many who could easily ride to work but choose to drive. They include creating free routes or reduced fares for short travel, branding bus routes with descriptive names or a color code, creating traffic-light overrides to speed service, and installing electronic signs at bus stops to provide real-time arrival and departure information.
Additionally, incentives should be explored to reduce the number of single-occupancy auto commuters and increase public transit use, the report said.
Adoption of any of those recommendations would require a significant funding infusion for RIPTA, which currently faces a projected $7.3 million deficit that Gov. Donald L. Carcieri did not address when he drafted this year’s budget amid the state’s worst fiscal crunch in years.
“There’s not a [transit] system in the world that isn’t subsidized to an enormous level,” said Steve Durkee, chairman of the City Plan Commission and a Transit 2020 Working Group member. “I mean, Amtrak is suffering a similar fate at the federal level – they’re saying, ‘support yourself,’ and it’s not possible.”
Jeff Neal, the governor’s spokesman, said Carcieri could not comment on the report because he had not yet seen it.
“Governor Carcieri is a strong supporter of public transportation,” Neal said. “We are moving forward on a number of fronts to increase public transportation; in particular, we are building the intermodal station at T.F. Green in Warwick.”
Addressing RIPTA, Neal said the agency is operated by an independent board and is not under the control of the governor. Carcieri has a number of appointments to the RIPTA board, and he has made a number of nominations over the last several years that the state Senate has declined to approve, Neal said.
“The governor believes that before approving massive new spending increases for RIPTA, it is important that a reconstituted board examine RIPTA’s operations and chart a course for RIPTA’s future,” he said. “We can then determine the spending level that meets the plan.”
Mark Therrien, RIPTA’s assistant general manager and a member of Transit 2020, declined to comment.
But streetcars – which Bliss said cost $5 million to $10 million per mile to install – and other public transit investments in Greater Providence can be made without major funding from the state, according to Transit 2020.
Providence should pursue innovative financing models for streetcars and other mass transit investments, the report said, such as bonds, tax incremental financing and master lease deals.
Cicilline said he would work closely with Rhode Island’s congressional delegation to secure funding for streetcars through the federal New Starts program, which funds new transportation initiatives.
He also said the city would seek to partner with colleges and universities, medical centers and large companies in the region that already operate their own transit systems to bring streetcars to Providence.
“I think there will be enough resources that we can cobble together at all levels of government, with some innovative financing and with a public-private partnership to make it happen,” Cicilline said.
The Transit 2020 Working Group did not mention dollar figures in its report or make specific recommendations for ways to fund RIPTA, streetcars or any other of its transit proposals.
Transit 2020 also announced it would reach out to the private sector to join an advocacy group it has formed to continue pressing its agenda. In particular, the advocacy group hopes to influence the state’s Transportation Improvement Plan process, which approves and helps to fund local transportation projects.
