PROVIDENCE – An R.I. Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) proposal to trim the Providence LINK low-emissions trolley service will go before the public next week at two downtown hearings, the agency said today.

Targeted for elimination is the north wing of the Route 91 “Gold Line” trolley, which runs from Kennedy Plaza to the state offices on Smith Street and the Providence Marriott hotel on Orms Street.

“This proposal will allow RIPTA to save approximately $250,000 annually and it will eliminate service that has a low ridership,” RIPTA General Manager Alfred J. Moscola said in a statement today.

Hearings on the plan are slated for Wednesday, July 30, from 2 to 4 p.m. and again from 6 to 8 p.m., in the first-floor auditorium of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce offices at 30 Exchange Terrace.

The Gold Line trolley is one of many “low-performing” routes targeted for cuts or elimination to help balance the transit agency’s budget, RIPTA officials acknowledged earlier this month. (READ MORE)

The rate hike that took effect July 1, at the beginning of the current fiscal year, “won’t absorb the full impact of the higher cost of fuel,” Moscola said in April. Since then, fuel prices have continued to rise – and for an agency that uses about 2.5 million gallons of diesel per year, every penny counts.

Fuel prices also are hurting RIPTA’s budget in another way: “Revenue from the gas tax is down because people are on the bus,” Karen DiMartino Mensel, the transit authority’s director of marketing and communications, told PBN in May. (READ MORE) The 7.5 cents per gallon RIPTA gets from the tax, for gasoline sold at retail outlets in Rhode Island, is a major source of operating income.

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