Proposed cuts in bus service brought hundreds of people to a two-week series of public hearings held by the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) in locations statewide. Rhode Islanders turned out to voice their opposition, with members of the Coalition for Transportation Choices (CTC) ever-present to testify and report back on the sentiments of Rhode Islanders.

The hearings began in Newport on July 26 and took place from Aquidneck Island to Chepachet, Warwick to Bristol.   

At every stop the voices were singing the same song:  Service cuts will hit hardest at people trying to get to work, students going to school, senior citizens trying to maintain independence, and disabled people for whom riding the bus is their lifeline to the world outside their homes.

This same outcry was heard at a well-attended rally led by RIPTA riders group and Sierra Club in Providence's Kennedy Plaza, the hub of city and state bus service prior to the RIPTA hearing that evening.

Much of the blame was not targeted at the officials who run RIPTA. Most riders, RIPTA employees and union heads say they believe that RIPTA leadership is doing everything they can to run an efficient system. The speakers at the rally know -- as CTC has been pointing out for two years -- that the transit system cannot be sustained if it has to rely upon revenue from the gas tax that is shrinking every year.

Many fingers were pointed at the General Assembly for not taking the initiative and responsibility for giving RIPTA the funding it needs. As talk at the State House focuses on the state's economy and the need for jobs, too little is heard about the fact that more than half of RIPTA riders use the bus to get to work.  

RIPTA Director Charles Odimgbe ended his speech at the end of every hearing by saying that RIPTA needs the apublic to press their state senators and representatives for action, often with some of the politicians in attendance. (You can click here to add your name to the Sierra Club's petition to save RIPTA.)   

The General Assembly had the opportunity to take a big first step toward reforming transportation in the last session, but legislators failed to act.  

A bill sponsored in both chambers of the Legislature this year and supported by the 47-member CTC -- The Transportation Investment and Debt Reduction Act of 2011 -- would have allowed Rhode Island to take bold but economically sound steps to help stabilize funding for roads, bridges (state and local) and transit while reducing the state's reliance on costly borrowing for transportation repairs and improvements.

The proposed transportation act supported by CTC and others would have created a Transportation Trust Fund to support the Department of Transportation (RIDOT), RIPTA and to help repair local roads.  Importantly, half of all new revenues to RIDOT would have been dedicated to reducing future borrowing to meet federal match requirements. But in the end, the General Assembly opted to implement a more modest increase in user fees, delay the phase-in of those fees until FY 2014 and dedicate all the resulting revenues to reducing RIDOT's future borrowing -- without addressing RIPTA's funding needs at all.  

This leaves both RIPTA and RIDOT struggling without the necessary resources to meet operational obligations.  RIPTA is proceeding with proposed service cuts, while it is unclear how RIDOT will reconcile its operational budget deficit. 

CTC stressed its major arguments at every hearing:

* Mass transit is a much more vital part of Rhode Island's economy than many people think. Investing in transportation doesn't just mean roads and bridges.

* More than 60% of RIPTA riders are using the bus to get to and home from work or school.

* Mass transit is helping Rhode Island families to lower their household transportation costs at a time when it's most needed.

* Forcing RIPTA to institute deep service cuts is a false economy -- it's the wrong direction to go if we're serious about stabilizing and growing our economy.

* Despite having among the highest fares in the U.S., RIPTA ridership continues to grow.

The state's political leaders and RIPTA will either find a way to avert drastic service cuts and establish a more reliable and stable funding mechanism, or we will all witness firsthand what happens when scores of Rhode Islanders lose access to jobs and employers lose access to employees.

In the final hearing, Odimgbe expanded upon his closing remarks to further encourage attendees to contact their state legislators, hinting that if they will address the funding issue in January he may be able to hold off on some cuts.  

CTC is pushing to have the funding issue with a solution in hand in the form of the Transportation Investment and Debt Reduction Act of 2011 addressed at the special session of the General Assembly due to convene in October to deal with the state's pension issues. 

Immediate action is needed because an efficient, properly funded and well-managed transit system that gets its working public to their jobs, and makes life workable on a daily basis, is an integral part of any economic recovery Rhode Island hopes to achieve.

Please contact your state senator and representative and urge them to take action to address transit and reform RIPTA's fiunding system in the special session this fall. Rhode Islanders have waited too long already.