But the obstacles run deeper than recent budget problems.
Some advocates attribute Rhode Island’s current transit paralysis to a more long-standing lack of leadership from state officials. While RIPTA aspires to what Therrien calls “bigger world transit for Rhode Island,” a lack of broader support could dash RIPTA’s dreams.
On July 21, RIPTA’s board approved an 18-month study to look into light rail, bus rapid transit, and other initiatives. This is RIPTA’s first comprehensive look into long-term im-provements, which, in itself, demonstrates the lack of long-term thinking about transit in Rhode Island.
In 2006, Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline formed his Transit 2020 Working Group, a coalition of local officials and transit experts, to discuss a greater investment in public transportation.
The group’s report, “Growing Smart with Transit,” released in March 2007, touched on some intriguing possibilities, including using high-activity corridors, like Allens Ave-nue, as routes for bus rapid transit, light rail, or streetcars. The panel also backed the introduction of incentives, such as free transit passes for students at Rhode Island’s state colleges.
Governor Donald L. Carcieri, however, in July vetoed the latter concept. The governor also vetoed a bill that would have allowed bus operators to extend green lights as they ap-proached, cutting time off bus trips.
Ultimately, the low priority given to public transportation by the state is the greatest obstacle to a more effective future.
According to figures distributed by RIPTA at a recent meeting, for example, the authority receives less than half the money, on a per-capita basis, that its counterpart agencies in Delaware and New Jersey receive from their respective states. Massachusetts, on a per capita basis, invests about six times as much as Rhode Island in public transit.
Part of the problem in generating broader support may be how many RIPTA users are of modest economic means. Rhode Islanders who can afford a car may simply believe that transit is not their problem.
During a July 21 RIPTA board meeting, members of the activist group Students for a Democratic Society presented 200 comment cards from RIPTA riders, many with angry re-marks, indicating discontent and concern among existing users. But it will clearly take a much bigger and more sustained public outpouring to generate a difference.
Grow Smart RI’s Wolf sums this up bluntly. Making change, he says, is a matter of “getting the state government to prioritize [public transportation] instead of treating it like a nice little puppy whose head you pet every now and then.”
What will it take to bring change?
While Carcieri has previously backed some additional money to help RIPTA, the state’s more recent focus, reasonably enough, has been on the state’s troubled transportation in-frastructure.
As Michael Lewis, director of the state Department of Transportation, puts it, “That system [of bridges and highways] is there, it’s always going to be there. I don’t think any-body is suggesting the private automobile is going to go away.”
Meanwhile, state-backed efforts to extend commuter rail service to a new station at the airport, as well as to Wickford Junction in North Kingstown, offer another example of how even the most sensible changes come at a painfully slow pace. The former project has been in the works for more than 10 years.
Service is projected to start in 2011. The effort is making heavy use of federal money.
