The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority proposed service reductions to nearly all of its bus routes on Thursday as it tries to balance a budget deficit.
The proposed cuts, which are laid out in detail on RIPTA’s website, would affect 58 routes total, 17 of which would be eliminated entirely.
In an interview after announcing the proposed changes at Thursday’s board meeting, RIPTA CEO Christopher Durand said they would result in the largest reduction to bus service in the authority’s 59-year history.
“This is absolutely devastating for bus riders,” said Liza Burkin, a Providence resident with the Save RIPTA Coalition. “This is going to leave riders stranded by the side of the road and trapped in their homes and not able to accomplish their daily lives.”
Durand said the service cuts provide a way to balance RIPTA’s budget without raising fares or laying off staff. But a press release RIPTA published later in the afternoon said a fare increase remains a possibility. The statement said the agency is facing a deficit of $17.6 million.
RIPTA’s budget crisis had been looming for years, as the Covid-19 pandemic drastically shifted commuting patterns and raised the cost of nearly everything. Federal relief funds that helped cover RIPTA’s growing budget gap have since dried up.
Cristy Raposo Perry, RIPTA’s director of communications, said the transit system is also getting less than it used to from once-reliable sources of state funding.
“RIPTA relies heavily on the state gas tax for funding, but this revenue source has not kept up with inflation and is declining as more people switch to fuel-efficient and electric vehicles,” Perry said.
Going into budget season at the State House this summer, transit advocates hoped the governor and the legislature would provide RIPTA enough funding to maintain consistent levels of bus service.
But Peter Alviti, the director of Rhode Island’s Department of Transportation, said state leaders sent back a clear message.
“The legislature and the administration provided us with a budget that is $15 million different than what we need in order to sustain the same level of service,” Alviti said in an interview on Thursday, “and we will be accomplishing the mission they put us on.”
Alviti said he is now looking at potentially flexible pools of public funding that could restore some of the proposed service cuts.
Over the next two weeks, RIPTA will hold a series of twelve public hearings around Rhode Island to solicit feedback on the proposed changes.
RIPTA’s Board of Directors will then hold a special meeting to vote on whether to approve the service reductions. They would take effect on Sept. 13 if approved, according to RIPTA’s press release.
