[NOTE: The Newport hearings, moved twice to accomodate larger crowds, now are set for the Newport Public Library; their date has been changed to Tuesday, Oct. 7.]
PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Public Transit Authority’s plans to slash service, to help cope with its looming budget deficit, will go before the public late this month and early next month at hearings across the state.
The planned cuts would affect 50 regular bus routes; eliminate “Flex Service” in Narragansett, Tiverton and West Warwick; and end service to eight Park n’ Ride lots, RIPTA said. The agency would eliminate service on some routes or route segments; reduce service frequency on others; and end service at 7 p.m. on many routes.
The RIde program’s service for the disabled also would be reduced wherever RIPTA eliminated a bus route or segment, the agency said. The Americans with Disablities Act (ADA) requires that such “paratransit” service be offered within a three-quarter-mile corridor surrounding any fixed-route service.
“Six years ago, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC) reported that the existing transit system couldn’t be sustained over time because the principal means of funding transit in Rhode Island – the state gas tax – doesn’t grow and keep pace with inflation,” RIPTA General Manager Alfred J. Moscola noted in a statement today. A recent study by the local Sierra Club and the New Public Transit Alliance, a coalition of businesses, bus riders and labor, health and environmental advocates, came to a similar conclusion. (READ MORE)
“Now, RIPTA’s revenue from the state gas tax is down because people are driving less,” Moscola said. “But fuel and other costs affected by the price of fuel are up, so we are facing a significant shortfall.
“To sustain the current system, we need more than one funding source or a fund dedicated to transit, which is what other transit agencies have,” he continued. “We want to be able to continue to create a first-class transit system for Rhode Island, but that’s not possible with our current funding stream. Transit agencies across the country that depend on only one revenue source … are experiencing the same problem.”
Even after a fare hike that took effect July 1 (READ MORE), at the beginning of the new fiscal year, the agency initially faced a projected FY 2009 shortfall of $12.2 million, Moscola said. It has has pared that to $10.8 million by deferring maintenance and capital expenditures and leaving staff vacancies unfilled – but “none of these help improve the system,” he said. “Worse, after all the internal cost-cutting we still have an almost $11 million shortfall, so now we’re forced to cut service. And we don’t want to do that.
“We want to improve and expand the system to better serve the people of our state as well as tourists,” Moscola said. “We need a first-class transit system if we want economic development in Rhode Island. Unfortunately, after years of cost-cutting, we’ve run out of options.”
The proposed cuts – first announced in early July (READ MORE) – focus “on preserving as many Monday through Friday daytime trips to the workplace as possible,” Moscola added.
Two hearings are planned at each of six locations, including at least one site in each of the state’s five counties. The dates and locations are:
• Narragansett Town Hall, Assembly Room, 25 Fifth Ave., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., Friday, Sept. 26.
• Warwick City Hall, Council Chambers, 3275 Post Road, 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., Monday, Sept. 29.
• Barrington Public Library, second-floor auditorium, 281 County Road, 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 30.
• Smithfield Senior Center, cafeteria room, One William J. Hawkins Jr. Trail, 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 1.
• The DaVinci Community Center, central room, 470 Charles St., Providence, 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 2.
• Newport Public Library, program room, 300 Spring St., at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 7. (These sessions originally were slated to have been held Sept. 30 at Newport City Hall; changes of venue "to more comfortably accommodate a large number of people" were announced by RIPTA on Sept. 4 and again on Sept. 8; their date was changed on Sept. 22 to avoid a conflict with the Jewish holy day of Rosh Hashanah.)
Persons with sensory impairments who need auxiliary aids must request the service at least 72 hours in advance by calling RIPTA’s ADA coordinator at 401-784-9553 (TDD) or 800-745-5555 (RI Relay TDD).
Additional information from the R.I. Public Transportation Authority, including RIPTA bus schedules and a trip-planning utility, is available by visiting ripta.com.
Attachments
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The full R.I. Public Transit Authority announcement, released today, detailing the routes that would be affected by the agency’s planned service cuts.
Microsoft Word Document, 130 KB
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