PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Public Transportation Authority will receive $1.34 million in federal aid to expand its Intelligent Transportation System, bringing global positioning systems (GPS) and other technology to all its regular bus routes statewide.

The federal appropriation – announced jointly by U.S. Sen. Jack Reed and RIPTA General Manager Alfred J. Moscola – was included by Congress in the federal government’s 2008 spending bill. The third such allotment Reed has helped secure for the ITS project, it follows federal appropriations of $1.5 million apiece in fiscal 2003 and 2004.

“Thanks to Senator Reed, RIPTA will be able to add Intelligent Transportation System technology to all 240 of its fixed-route buses, bringing the RIPTA bus fleet into the 21st century,” Moscola said in his announcement yesterday at Kennedy Plaza, the hub of the RIPTA system. “This new technology, which will also include real-time information for customers at our transit centers, will result in greatly improved service for our customers. We are very grateful to the senator for securing the funding to make all this possible.”

As welcome as that money may be, however, it cannot be used toward RIPTA’s looming budget deficit.

Despite a rate hike that took effect this month, the transit agency now projects a shortfall of $7.5 million by the end of the fiscal year that started July 1: $1.8 million from the fiscal year just ended, and another $5.7 million in new debt. (READ MORE)

The primary culprit, RIPTA officials say, is the rising cost of diesel fuel – of which the agency uses about 2.5 million gallons per year. “We would have been just fine – balanced books and everything – if these fuel prices hadn’t begun to skyrocket the way they have. And there’s no end in sight,” Karen Mensel, the transit authority’s director of marketing and communications, told PBN earlier this year.

Worse yet for RIPTA, the rise in fuel prices has spurred consumers statewide to cut back on gasoline purchases, in some cases by taking the bus, Mensel noted. That has meant less income for the transit agency, which derives much of its revenue from the state gasoline tax.

So now, the agency is considering service cuts that might include eliminating the summer beach bus, a seasonal extension of service on the Route 11 line that runs between Kennedy Plaza and Colony House, and terminating “duplicative” service such as the 8, 49, 53, 61, 66 and 80 bus lines, to save an estimated $1.38 million per year; ending weekend service on nearly a dozen “low-performing” routes, to save $2.37 million; stopping some routes at the Providence city line, to save $1.67 million; and eliminating weeknight service after 7 p.m. on 27 other routes, to save $3.06 million. Correlating service mandated under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) also would be terminated, the agency said. Those changes might take effect in December, under a recent staff recommendation; estimated savings do not include .

RIPTA reportedly is eying the possibility of ending free off-peak fares for the elderly and disabled.

The agency may seek another $250,000 in savings by eliminating the north “wing” of its low-emissions trolley service in Providence: Route 91, which serves the R.I. State House and the Providence Marriott hotel on Charles Street. That change might take effect in September, under the staff proposal.

But both sets of changes are still far from reality. Public hearings across the state, such as were held for the recent rate hike, and the approval of the RIPTA board of directors both would be required before any of the proposals could take effect. “It’s early days yet,” Mensel said.

“I do think it’s good for people to be aware of the fact that Mr. Moscola has no magic button,” she told PBN in a telephone interview. The RIPTA GM “can’t change the price of clean diesel in Rhode Island,” she said. He can’t change the state gasoline tax, from which the transit agency gets 7.25 cents for every gallon sold. He can’t change the fact that gasoline sales are declining. There are only so many factors he can control.

“Everyone is feeling pain at the pump these days, including RIPTA,” Reed said yesterday. “The Bush Administration needs to work with Congress to rewrite our energy laws and crack down on market manipulation, which is contributing to artificially high gas prices. I will continue working at the federal level to reform our energy policy and bring federal dollars back to Rhode Island.”

Meanwhile, RIPTA is trying to preserve trips to hospitals and places of work, according to Planning Manager Tim McCormick, although that may not always be possible, when many riders of “low-performing” evening buses are headed to or from work.

“We are at the beginning of trying to determine what will need to be cut,” McCormick said in an e-mail interview. “Rising gas prices have produced a moving target for us in order to meet budget. So, we are still in this process.”

R.I. Public Transportation Authority information, including RIPTA bus schedules, is available by calling 728-9400 or visiting ripta.com.