The service cuts, which would go into effect in December, would eliminate or reduce service on more than 160 bus lines or sections of lines to save $9.7 million per year, and Rhode Island Public Transit Authority officials say that more cuts are likely to cover growing budget deficits. The cuts described are already large, amounting to about 10 percent of the authority’s budget for next year.
The apparently bizarre situation — the prospect of cutting bus service just when increasing ridership and rising gasoline prices suggest that more service is needed — grows out of the way the authority is financed. It relies heavily on revenue from the state gasoline tax. But as people buy less gas, that revenue stream is dropping at the same time the authority is suffering from a dramatic run-up in one of its biggest expenses, diesel fuel.
The plan largely involves three kinds of service reductions: the elimination of some routes entirely, the elimination of sections of routes, for example stopping routes that now serve the suburbs at the Providence city line, and the elimination of evening service on many routes. Some buses would also run less frequently. The authority is also looking into ending free service for some elderly and disabled persons, who would instead pay 85 cents per ride, about half fare. That would require action by the governor and General Assembly.