Latest news with #RhodeIslandPublicTransitAuthority
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
RIPTA's efficiency study is a third of the way there
A Rhode Island Public Transit Authority bus is seen parked outside the State House on April 29, 2025. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) The state's legislative leaders don't yet have the efficiency study they asked for from the cash-strapped Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA), but for the past two weeks, they've had a 19-page report. That puts the state's public transit agency a third of the way done with an overdue study lawmakers mandated RIPTA deliver to them by March 1. The efficiency study was requested by Gov. Dan McKee and the General Assembly as a condition in last year's state budget to plug the agency's deficit. RIPTA now faces a $32.6 million shortfall heading into the fiscal year beginning July 1. House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, who has made clear there is no extra money to fill RIPTA's deficit now that federal pandemic aid has dried up, confirmed Wednesday that he had received the report. 'I received an embargoed synopsis that I have not fully reviewed yet,' Shekarchi said in a statement. 'However, I look forward to hearing from RIPTA on how they plan to change their management practices.' Senate President Valarie Lawson said she too plans to review the memo sent by RIPTA. 'This is an issue that has been a top concern of many members of the Senate,' she said in a statement. 'A robust public transit system is vital to our economy and quality of life.' RIPTA's board of directors commissioned Canadian-headquartered engineering consulting firm WSP to do the efficiency study on March 27 at a cost of $412,346. The scope outlined in RIPTA's request for proposals called on the contractor to deliver a memo within 30 business days detailing best practices among public transit agencies, a performance assessment of transit operations within 45 days, and a review of the state's long-term transit strategy and its implementation within 75 days. 'We're working rapidly to get all reports coming out of the study to the General Assembly as soon as possible to inform the state budget,' agency spokesperson Cristy Raposo Perry said in an email to Rhode Island Current. 'We will update you when the next product is complete.' WSP completed the first phase on May 16, a report that looked at five other similar-sized transit agencies. The peer comparison report confirmed that RIPTA is not alone in facing a post-pandemic deficit. The other agencies were Hampton Roads Transit based out of Norfolk, Virginia; Regional Transit Service, which services Rochester, New York; Capital District Transit Authority, which serves Albany; Delaware Transit Corp.; and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority. The report found per capita spending ranged from $23 to $145 among the five while administrative cost per service hour ranged from $21 to $48. Other data points included advertising revenue and passenger trips per service hour and fare revenue per trip. But no corresponding figures for RIPTA are provided in WSP's memo. 'Recognizing the timing constraints related to the state budget process concluding in June, we have structured the scope of work to prioritize delivering critical information as quickly as possible,' Raposo Perry said. 'This includes sharing draft deliverables such as this. The final report will include those figures.' A man who answered the phone at a Connecticut number for WSP said he could not answer questions about the report and then hung up. A spokesperson for the firm in Montreal did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. 'Many agencies are facing a drop in funding due to expiring pandemic funding and rising costs due to inflation,' the WSP report states. WSP pointed to a 'novel approach' of one agency's pursuit of 'universal access agreements,' defined as partnerships where employers pay an annual fee to cover their workers' fares to commute. But the report does not specify which of the five agencies had embraced these initiatives. RIPTA has already been coordinating with area employers to boost revenue. In January, RIPTA extended its 10x and 28 routes to align with shift schedules at the new Amazon Fulfillment Center off Route 6 in Johnston. In return, Amazon agreed to pay $90,000 annually over the next decade to cover employee fares. On Wednesday, RIPTA announced that the Omni Providence Hotel First Hotel Group had agreed to partially subsidize fares for 216 employees who work at Rhode Island's largest hotel. Passes for the general public cost $70 but the pass costs $65 for participants in the 'Wave to Work' program. Raposo Perry said the hotel will pay $45 per monthly pass, while hotel employees pay the remaining $20 balance for unlimited bus rides. Legislators have proposed their own measures to close RIPTA's deficit. That includes legislation that would put a $100 million transit bond on the 2026 ballot, upping the agency's share of the gas tax, and added rideshare fees that would go directly toward funding mass transit. Transit advocates have also pointed to resolutions introduced in the House and Senate in late February that would appropriate the full $32.6 million to keep the agency afloat for another year. But the Rhode Island General Assembly is facing significant challenges with a budget deficit and potentially devastating federal funding cuts with just weeks to go before the end of the 2025 legislative session. Among them, a $17.8 million budget shortfall for the state's homelessness services and an additional $15 million to cover proposed pay raises for state troopers and correctional officers.. The state will also have to make up a $24 million shortfall in education aid to local school districts in its fiscal 2025 and 26 budgets after a correction was made to data on the number of students in poverty. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
Bike Newport encouraging residents to bike to work
NEWPORT, R.I. (WPRI) — May is National Bike Month and Bike Newport is encouraging people to choose biking as their form of transportation. The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) Commuter Resources and Bike Newport are outside Newport City Hall on Friday morning with breakfast, coffee, and free merchandise. Whether it's a habit or a new experience, their message is to 'pedal like our climate depends on it.' Rhode Islanders can help reduce carbon emissions in the state by choosing a bike instead of a car, something they say is essential in reducing our footprint on the environment. Activities will wrap up around 9 a.m., but will pick back up in the afternoon with some announcements, awards and a group ride. Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Game on, fare off. RIPTA offering free bus rides to soccer matches for $150K in courtesy ads.
A banner advertising the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority is shown at Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket during the home opener for Rhode Island FC on May 3, 2025. (Courtesy photo from the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority) Rhode Island FC has yet to notch a home-field victory since its May 3 home opener ended in a tie at its new Pawtucket stadium, but the cash-strapped Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) is calling its new partnership with the state's only professional soccer team a win for fans and bus riders. Under an agreement signed in late April and obtained by Rhode Island Current, the bus agency will provide fare-free rides on six buses operating during home games at Centreville Bank Stadium through the end of 2027, along with other select events at the stadium. The stadium is scheduled to host 18 home games in 2025 — 15 United Soccer League regular season matches and three cup games. 'No monetary compensation will be exchanged,' states the memorandum of understanding between the team and the bus agency, now facing a projected $32.6 million budget deficit due to federal pandemic relief aid drying up. But RIPTA has confirmed it will receive $150,000 in courtesy advertising from the deal. 'Rhode Island Football Club provides a unique opportunity for RIPTA to draw new ridership,' agency spokesperson Sara Furbush said in an email. RIPTA's partnership with Rhode Island FC runs through Dec. 31, 2027, though the team has the option to opt out in 2026. But so far the team has no complaints since its May 3 home debut ended in a 0-0 draw before the soldout crowd of 10,700 spectators. Nathan Robillard, Rhode Island FC's communications specialist, said the team is happy with RIPTA's game day bus service. 'If we're asking people to park a mile away from the stadium, we want to give them a way there for free,' he said. More than 9,500 spectators attended the following home game May 7, when Rhode Island FC lost 2-1 to the New England Revolution in the U.S. Open Cup's Round of 32. The third home game on May 10 ended with a tie 2-2. A little more than 1,500 riders used the stadium route loop during the first two matches at Centreville Bank Stadium, according to RIPTA. Alec Beckett, a strategic partner at NAIL Communications in Providence, called the collaboration between RIPTA and the soccer team a 'win-win.' NAIL designed Rhode Island FC's logo. Beckett said RIPTA likely faces little overhead since it already owns its buses while the team only had to put up some signs inside the stadium — along with guaranteeing space for the occasional broadcast ad. 'It's kind of smart for both parties,' Beckett said. 'They're both giving something of value.' Under the agreement, Rhode Island FC will provide the agency with two live TV reads per local telecast on myRITV and the New England Sports Network for 17 games, along with one 30-second commercial per game. A similar arrangement for radio broadcasts is valid for 18 games. Broadcast ads are still in development, Furbush said. Digitally, the team will promote RIPTA's game day service on its website, along with banners on each of Rhode Island FC's 'Know Before You Go' emails and monthly e-newsletters. Rhode Island FC must also provide RIPTA with in-stadium signage at each home game, including three minutes of field display through an LED board, one static board, and two concourse ribbon signs. The team's partnership pamphlet boasts the newly opened Centreville Bank Stadium as the largest such outdoor venue in Rhode Island, which presents 'an incredibly unique opportunity for high-impact branding.' Rhode Island FC projects 300,000 visitors coming through the gates annually, with 85% of fans described as likely to support club advertisers. Such a prospect of new riders has public transit advocate John Flaherty excited over this new partnership for RIPTA. 'They need to be nimble like that when there are opportunities,' Flaherty, a senior adviser for GrowSmart RI, said in an interview. 'Many of the people who jump on the loop are probably people who would not otherwise have set foot on a bus, but for their desire to get to the stadium.' In return for added eyeballs on its branding, RIPTA has covered three buses in its fleet with Rhode Island FC-branded wraps, at a cost of $20,400 to create and install, Furbish said. Full bus wraps typically cost advertisers between $5,040 to $6,000 every four weeks depending on the length of a campaign, according to the 2025 rate card from Vector Media, the New York company which handles ads for RIPTA. The game day line is an extension of the existing R-Line, funded through reimbursements from the Federal Highway Administration's Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program, which connects Cranston, Providence and Pawtucket. The standard fare to ride the bus is $2. Waiving that usual fee helps make the game day service easier for RIPTA drivers to manage, Furbush said. Labor cost for the first game day service was around $2,661, Furbush said. Buses run from three hours before kickoff until one hour after postgame events end. Buses operate on an eight to 10-minute loop between stops, with the final drop-off at Ivan Perez Memorial Park, about a two-minute walk from the stadium. RIPTA CEO Christopher Durand said the partnership with Rhode Island FC is a great opportunity for growth. 'Tens of thousands of people will be trying transit for the first time, and in doing so, (be) attracted to ride in the future,' Durand said in a statement to Rhode Island Current. 'Riders will use RIPTA beyond the downtown Pawtucket route to access the game in the easiest way possible.' Rhode Island FC's next home game is scheduled May 24, when the club will host the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
We don't need another efficiency study for RIPTA
Two Rhode Island Public Transit Authority buses wait in Kennedy Plaza in downtown Providence. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) I watched the April 8 Senate Finance Committee hearing on Rhode Island's critically essential but chronically underfunded public transit system, which faces a $32.6 million budget deficit. Committee members hammered the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority's (RIPTA) new CEO for the agency's decision to delay a mandated efficiency study due back in March. As lawmakers hinted that the delay in conducting the study justified not providing additional funding for RIPTA, a thought circled my mind: Where is the efficiency study for the new Washington Bridge? Public transit in Rhode Island has always been held to an unfair standard compared to other public services, especially highways. Nobody proposed doing a cost/benefit analysis before funding the new Washington Bridge despite it costing $713 million. Legislators may argue that the potential for financial savings is a good reason for withholding funding from RIPTA until the efficiency study finishes, but I can make a pretty good guess as to what the results will be. RIPTA has been studied for efficiency seven other times. The Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council did so in 2002. The Acadia Consulting Group did so in 2006. Consultants Abrams-Cherwony & Associates did so in 2007. The Special Legislative Commission to Study Transit Service in the State of Rhode Island did so in 2007. Then-Gov. Don Carcieri did so in 2008. The Senate Commission on Sustainable Transportation Funding did so in 2011. And finally, RIPTA gave a presentation to the Senate Oversight Committee in March 2023, which references findings by the American Bus Benchmarking Group of RIPTA 'outperforming similar agencies across the country in almost every key performance indicator. Despite a chronic lack of funding, RIPTA provides more trips, across a larger area, at a more effective cost per trip than other transit agencies that serve similar population areas anywhere in America.' These reports didn't find inefficiencies within RIPTA that would magically fix its fiscal cliff – rather, many highlighted the need to expand transit and praised RIPTA's ability to run efficient, award-winning service despite chronic underfunding. Nearly all of these reports proposed many solutions to address the critical need for sustainable, long-term funding for RIPTA; yet two decades later, few of these solutions have ever materialized as RIPTA hobbles from one fiscal year to the next. At this point, it's challenging to see how this eighth efficiency study is anything other than an attempt to avoid funding public transit and deprive Rhode Islanders of the economic growth, traffic reduction, and mobility justice that we deserve. There is a reason we don't ask public libraries, state parks, or highway builders to do efficiency studies before giving them money: Financial efficiency is at odds with serving the public effectively. RIPTA's highest cost services are its rural routes, like the 10x that provides the only transit service to Foster and North Scituate. However, these 'inefficient' rural routes are lifelines for the riders who use them and are often the only difference between financial stability and unemployment. RIPTA is a public service, not a business, and it can't effectively serve the needs of all Rhode Islanders if it is forced to be efficient. There is a reason it's not called the 'Providence County Public Transit Authority.' At this point, it's challenging to see how this eighth efficiency study is anything other than an attempt to avoid funding public transit and deprive Rhode Islanders of the economic growth, traffic reduction, and mobility justice that we deserve. There is no more couch change to find. RIPTA was forced to do more with less when federal funding cuts plowed a $6M budget gap in 2014. Since 2010, RIPTA has slimmed and slimmed as its largest funding source has withered up, while RIDOT's budget grew one and a half times as fast. Any belt-tightening left was erased in the financially destructive COVID pandemic, as RIPTA remained one of the only transit agencies in the nation that didn't cut service. We don't need one more study to know that RIPTA is one of the most efficient transit systems in the nation, that 30,000 Rhode Islanders depend on it daily, and that hundreds to thousands would lose their jobs if service is cut. We don't need one more study to know that the state's highway system can't handle even more cars on the road, and it will be impossible to meet our state's Act on Climate mandates if RIPTA collapses. What we do need is for our state leaders to fund transit as the essential public service it is, to recognize how detrimental letting RIPTA collapse will be for household income, student outcomes, congestion, and the local economy. We don't need an eighth efficiency study to understand that for tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders, the collapse of RIPTA is like the collapse of a second Washington Bridge. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
RIPTA's finances are one hot mess. Lawmakers have four different solutions.
Rhode Island Public Transit Authority CEO Christopher Durand, center, stands inside the Senate Committee on Finance hearing room on April 8, 2025. He had just wrapped up a presentation on his agency's financial outlook for fiscal year 2026. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) A bill by Sen. Sam Zurier offers one way to plug the $32.6 million hole in the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority's upcoming budget: increasing the bus agency's share of the gas tax. The Providence Democrat's bill — one of four proposals seeking to solve the cash-strapped bus network's funding woes — would increase RIPTA's share of the state's tax on gasoline from 26% to 30%. It's a funding strategy that's garnered support from transit advocates and the agency's leader. 'With a $32 million shortfall, that's helpful,' RIPTA CEO Christopher Durand told the Senate Committee on Finance at a hearing on Tuesday. But the chairman of RIPTA's board of directors is opposed to the idea, arguing Zurier's gas tax shift would take away from the state department he leads. 'It would result in an annual loss of approximately $7 million, significantly impacting our capital program,' Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti Jr., who the state mandated to steer RIPTA's board in 2023, wrote to the committee. Alviti did not attend Tuesday's three-hour hearing. Zurier argued Alviti's stance goes against RIPTA's board-supported goal of finding a sustainable funding source — which the gas tax has become less stable as more drivers shift to more fuel-efficient and electric vehicles. RIPTA now gets about $40 million in annual gasoline tax revenues, based on its existing allocation of 9.75 cents per gallon. That revenue is projected to drop over $1 million when fiscal year 2026 starts July 1, according to projections from the Rhode Island Department of Revenue. 'This would only restore the share RIPTA had,' Zurier said. 'It's very common sense.' Three other proposals were heard by the committee: A bill by Sen. Meghan Kallman, a Providence Democrat, would add a 75-cent fee to each fare collected by rideshare companies in order to fund mass transit. A bill by Sen. Robert Britto, an East Providence Democrat, would earmark the state's existing tax on rideshare trips toward mass transit. A resolution by Sen. Mark McKenney, a Warwick Democrat, would allocate $32.6 million from the general fund to fill RIPTA's latest budget gap. All four bills were held for further study by the committee as is standard procedure for an initial vetting by a legislative panel. Realistically, Durand said RIPTA can only cut around $10 million from its deficit because most of the expenses in the agency's $154 million spending plan are funded with federal money or tied into existing operations. 'There really isn't a whole lot to trim,' Durand said. The agency projects about 300 employees losing their jobs if lawmakers don't provide any new funding. There are ways RIPTA can try to generate revenue. A presentation Durand gave the committee floated a 5% fare increase, which the agency projects would bring in $470,871 annually. But such a change could decrease ridership by 100,000 trips, according to RIPTA's presentation. Durand had promised the agency's board of directors last December that raising fares would not be on the table. Another potential source could be by courting more businesses to buy ad spots on sheltered stops, which the agency projects would bring in $440,000 annually. Committee Chairman Lou DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, suggested RIPTA could take over non-emergency medical transportation for Medicaid enrollees, something the agency used to provide until the service was privatized some years ago. State leaders are still waiting on RIPTA to submit an independent efficiency study of its operations, as mandated in the state's fiscal 2025 budget. The study was supposed to be done March 1, but the agency's board of directors delayed the bid process last year until it could find a permanent CEO Durand, who was the interim CEO for seven months, took over the agency permanently last November. RIPTA's board finally awarded a contract to do the efficiency study on March 27 to Canadian engineering consulting firm WSP, which likely won't have a final report complete until the summer — after the General Assembly likely wraps up this year's legislative session. Durand provided lawmakers with a two-page memo from WSP detailing how transit agencies nationwide are dealing with ridership and workforce challenges following the pandemic. DiPalma called the lack of a final study at this point 'extremely disappointing.' 'We need facts and data,' he said. 'This is not going to satisfy what we need for the budget.' But DiPalma did not blame Durand for RIPTA's latest financial crisis, instead placing it on Gov. Dan McKee for leaving it unaddressed in his recommended budget and passing the buck to the General Assembly. 'That's categorically what happened — we're given the charge to figure it out, and we're going to figure it out,' DiPalma said. 'Rhode Islanders expect to have a public transit authority that serves their needs — in an efficient and effective manner.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
