Why don't more people use RIPTA?

[damus]

PS: Remember this quote from the recent ProJo article on RIPTA? "45 percent of the respondents agreed that "there is nothing RIPTA could do to get me to ride the bus"", well, I just read a near identical poll of British citizens (who supposedly are so much more mass transit oriented than we are) and the number there was 55% of drivers who said that there was no gas price that would ever be high enough for them to use mass transit. So maybe the issue isn't the attitude of the American (or RI) public, it's just that are policymakers are giving us substandard mass transit options compared to the rest of the world.

Very interesting. Any ideas how to wake up the public and get them to think of mass-transit as an economic and environmental issue? I think all we need is a moderate, say $1 or so, increase in gas taxes per gallon with the revenues going towards transit and alternative energy and we'd see a difference relatively soon.

[JimmyGreaves]

Very interesting. Any ideas how to wake up the public and get them to think of mass-transit as an economic and environmental issue? I think all we need is a moderate, say $1 or so, increase in gas taxes per gallon with the revenues going towards transit and alternative energy and we'd see a difference relatively soon.

People who choose to take mass transit to work instead of driving should call their insurance companies and discover how much money they will save by doing so. I think that would definitely be an incentive.

[Frankie811]

RIPTA SWITCHES TO SUMMER SCHEDULE

http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20...ta15.88b58.html

[Cotuit]

The Strange History Of The Abandoned East Side Tunnel [East Side Monthly]

[mr2448]

The Strange History Of The Abandoned East Side Tunnel [East Side Monthly]

The original Fox Point Station, part of the Old Colony Railroad, is now Corliss Landing. The old main line from Boston came thru East Providence.

The Electrics (also known as the Clickity clacks) ran every 15 minutes thru E.P., Barrington and into Warren. The route then split to Fall River and Bristol on 30 minute intervals. The length of these trains was usually 2 cars, but up to 6 during commute hours. This was not light rail, but heavy rail and was the only heavy rail electric line in New England outside of the New Haven service west of New Haven.

Mark

[Frankie811]

An ozone alert has been issued for Monday so RIPTA is free, except for special services. By that I think they mean the beach buses.

[Cotuit]

An ozone alert has been issued for Monday so RIPTA is free, except for special services. By that I think they mean the beach buses.

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 18th, is an Ozone Alert Day as well. I took advantage this morning.

[Cotuit]

Garris brought his sister to the Providence Tomorrow meeting tonight, and she brought up a very good point. The summer service change on the bus route that serves her neighborhood was a problem for her (I didn't catch exactly what the problem was, but I think it has something to do with the strange inbound vs. outbound divergence in that area, where the inbound and outbound stops aren't really very near each other). Garris has shared before that his sister has special needs and depends on RIPTA for her independence in getting around. There are many special needs and elderly people who are very dependent on RIPTA for getting to doctors, shopping, social needs...

So the question is, why exactly is there a summer schedule change? Is it because of the schools and there being less bus usage during the summer? Even a small schedule change can throw a huge wrench into the routines of people who are dependent on RIPTA. These people have to change their routines around twice a year due to schedule changes. Why not just have a schedule and stick with it? It would make transit much more predictable.

[runawayjim]

i never realized they had a summer change... is this normal for cities? i've never even heard of a city doing this. i can understand holiday changes which use weekend schedules, but never a chaneg for the whole summer.

[Cotuit]

i never realized they had a summer change... is this normal for cities? i've never even heard of a city doing this. i can understand holiday changes which use weekend schedules, but never a chaneg for the whole summer.

Bus service in Boston and New York is really so reliable, that I was never really a slave to the schedule, I could just go to the bus stop and know that a bus would be there relatively soon, so I don't actually know if they do a summer schedule change. I would assume that since NYs system is so large and complex it would be very hard for them to change the schedule twice a year, the way we do here.

[runawayjim]

Bus service in Boston and New York is really so reliable, that I was never really a slave to the schedule, I could just go to the bus stop and know that a bus would be there relatively soon, so I don't actually know if they do a summer schedule change. I would assume that since NYs system is so large and complex it would be very hard for them to change the schedule twice a year, the way we do here.

in a city like providence with so many colleges spread out in different neighborhoods, i would think that the buses should run more frequently than they do...

and there might be summer vacation, but there are still a lot of college students here without cars needing to get around. as walkable as providence is.... the walk from elmhurst to downtown is not a pleasant one (especially in 80+ degree weather).

[PCGrad02]

At least the bus runs thru PC now, when I was there, you had to go out to smith or douglas to catch the bus, I always wanted them to run a trolley up into the neighborhood via smith, it would make the school feel less isolated.

[runawayjim]

At least the bus runs thru PC now, when I was there, you had to go out to smith or douglas to catch the bus, I always wanted them to run a trolley up into the neighborhood via smith, it would make the school feel less isolated.

there wasn't an admiral st bus that just went straight up admiral by schneider? i think that's what the bus that goes through campus now did originally, but i could be wrong... i thought they just added the "PC service" by having it go down huxley to eaton and back up river to admiral. i didn't start working there until december 2003, so i don't really know what anything was like before then.

[mr2448]

there wasn't an admiral st bus that just went straight up admiral by schneider? i think that's what the bus that goes through campus now did originally, but i could be wrong... i thought they just added the "PC service" by having it go down huxley to eaton and back up river to admiral. i didn't start working there until december 2003, so i don't really know what anything was like before then.

The Admiral Street, # 55, is relatively new. It came into being when P.C. signed an agreement with Ripta for student passes. The P.C. students have really increased their usage. As it has been stated the only previous service was #56/Smith and #50 Douglas which came down Admiral St past P.C toward the city only. There had been an Admiral bus that was combined with the Branch#52 bus but it didn't pass P.C..

Most mid-sized cities have seasonal service. Pax numbers are usually down during the summer. This also allows mid sized companies to more easily cover prime time summer vacations when there are a reduced number of drivers available for service.

Mark

[Cotuit]

I came across this photo in a post on StreetsBlog. It is a street in Paris, the center lanes are reserved for buses, taxis, and bicycles with the outer lanes being for all other traffic. (StreetsBlog speaks more about Paris' traffic reduction program in this post). Paris and Providence are obviously not an apple-to-apple comparison, but it is an old city that has to work transit initiatives into the street system it has, as Providence does. I was just struck by this not-so-wide street being put to such good use. This could maybe be Broadway or Broad Street if you used your imagination well enough.

[runawayjim]

I came across this photo in a post on StreetsBlog. It is a street in Paris, the center lanes are reserved for buses, taxis, and bicycles with the outer lanes being for all other traffic. (StreetsBlog speaks more about Paris' traffic reduction program in this post). Paris and Providence are obviously not an apple-to-apple comparison, but it is an old city that has to work transit initiatives into the street system it has, as Providence does. I was just struck by this not-so-wide street being put to such good use. This could maybe be Broadway or Broad Street if you used your imagination well enough.

or north main and maybe even smith once you get north of oakland and remove all street parking.

philly has some roads like that (girard ave i think), although people drive in teh trolley lane all the time. and most of philly's center city roads have "bus lanes" on the right, but people use them for turning right and for passing slow people who are in the left lane, defeating the purpose of the bus lane.

[matt]

I came across this photo in a post on StreetsBlog. It is a street in Paris, the center lanes are reserved for buses, taxis, and bicycles with the outer lanes being for all other traffic. (StreetsBlog speaks more about Paris' traffic reduction program in this post). Paris and Providence are obviously not an apple-to-apple comparison, but it is an old city that has to work transit initiatives into the street system it has, as Providence does. I was just struck by this not-so-wide street being put to such good use. This could maybe be Broadway or Broad Street if you used your imagination well enough.

I don't think Paris streets are anything to model. I spent a few days riding the bus in Paris last year and saw some scary things.

There is a lot of two-way traffic on streets that really should be one-way. I saw a lot of bicycles and scooters sharing the road with busses going the opposite direction.

There were traffic islands that seemed to mean nothing; that is, two lanes of traffic going the same direction, with an island between them.

I was so amazed with the mayhem, I actually broke out the camcorder to shoot from the bus window.

[Cotuit]

I don't think Paris streets are anything to model. I spent a few days riding the bus in Paris last year and saw some scary things.

There is a lot of two-way traffic on streets that really should be one-way. I saw a lot of bicycles and scooters sharing the road with busses going the opposite direction.

There were traffic islands that seemed to mean nothing; that is, two lanes of traffic going the same direction, with an island between them.

Sounds like Providence to me.

[Frankie811]

RIPTA changes to it's Fall schedule starting tomorrow.

[runawayjim]

i was down in newport today. we did teh whole cliff walk. i parked on memorial somewhere between bellevue and the start of the cliff walk. we did the whole thing, came out at ledge road and walked up to bellevue. the cliff walk website says taht you can catch a bus on bellevue. as we walked along, there were ripta trolley stops, but they said that the service all the way down ended on friday. we ahd to catch teh trolley at marble house, which was about a mile walk from ledge rd. we took the trolley (it was free for me with my PC ID card, which was nice) to the intersection with memorial and walked to my car. as we were walking, i noticed signs for the trolley route down there. they said that the beach service ended on friday as well. what's up with that? did ripta arbitrarily decide that the summer was over? are they forgetting one of the biggest weekends of the summer next weekend? it's all just a matter of extending the routes a little bit, taking 5 minutes longer. i thought it was ridiculous that they don't have beach service or cliff walk service in newport for the remaining week and biggest weekend of the end of the summer...

at least we got to the marble house stop about 5 minutes before the trolley showed up as it was the last trolley of the day.

EDIT: i just realized that the post above was in reference to this weekend... does their fall service not include beach or cliff walk service? i would think on those 2 routes, they could leave that service in place for another week...

[Gusterfell]

^ Yup. Service to the end of Bellevue Ave. has always ended with the change to fall schedule. I never realized the beach trolleys end as well though. I agree that both should be extended through at least next weekend, and I'd like to see the Cliff Walk service extend through Columbus Day. The fall is one of the best times to walk Cliff Walk, and it is popular throughout the season. The walk from Ledge Rd. to Marble House isn't unbearable, but it can certainly feel that way after taclking the Rough Point section of Cliff walk.

[runawayjim]

^ Yup. Service to the end of Bellevue Ave. has always ended with the change to fall schedule. I never realized the beach trolleys end as well though. I agree that both should be extended through at least next weekend, and I'd like to see the Cliff Walk service extend through Columbus Day. The fall is one of the best times to walk Cliff Walk, and it is popular throughout the season. The walk from Ledge Rd. to Marble House isn't unbearable, but it can certainly feel that way after taclking the Rough Point section of Cliff walk.

after doing the entire cliff walk... the walk to marble house is not fun... although it is a lot easier.

and what's up with dirt sidewalks on bellevue while the road is concrete?

[JimmyGreaves]

http://rhodeisland.cox.net/cci/newslocal/l...validatearticle

Here we go again. Thom Deller is talking about RIPTA raising fares next year to close a $3.4 million deficit. Every year it's the same thing. RIPTA announces possible cuts or fare increases, the state finds the money to prevent or lessen the blow, and it repeats all over again after much gnashing of teeth. How many times are we going to deal with this before a long-term solution is found? It's not like they've had at least 6 years to figure it out, right?

In analyzing the minutes from the RIPTA board meetings, two main issues seem to be fuel and the renewal of the union contract. Yesterday RIPTA presented its preliminary FY08 budget to the board, and, in my opinion, since the impact both items remain largely unknown, they're estimating the cost on the high which is probably driving the negative variance. The good news is that the minutes also show that FY06 will probably end with RIPTA being under their operating budget, and FY07 got off to a decent start with RIPTA able to balance their budget.

So what's the point of this? Uncertainty for next year breeds anxiety for Rhode Island transit riders. RIPTA could lessen the uncertainty by locking in a diesel price for the year (which for whatever reason they don't do). Can they close the budget gap without impacting riders? Time will tell, but it is possible given recent history. Meanwhile, as usual, the riders will need to lobby their state officials to ensure the transit system is preserved and/or expanded long-term. The Transit 2020 project that's in progress is a step in the right direction, but there's much more that needs to be done in order to prevent people from marking the annual RIPTA budget "crisis" on their calendars.

[Mij]

http://rhodeisland.cox.net/cci/newslocal/l...validatearticle

In analyzing the minutes from the RIPTA board meetings, two main issues seem to be fuel and the renewal of the union contract.

Do you have a link for the minutes?

[Cotuit]

Meanwhile, as usual, the riders will need to lobby their state officials to ensure the transit system is preserved and/or expanded long-term.

I wonder how much money is wasted having hearings on a budget that is always somehow saved in the end anyway. I wonder if the Newport Bridge fell down if the state would be able to find money to rebuild it. I'm imagining funds would be found somehow.