Why don't more people use RIPTA?

[jencoleslaw]

i think that non profits that own buildings that they lease out to for profit (doctors, lawyers, folks not DIRECTLY in the mission of what that non profit is) have to pay taxes on those portions of the buildings. I'm sure someone will set me straight if that isn't the case. But i remember a case of a hospital that owned a building but all the tenants in the building didn't work at the hospital, and it made for a very interesting zoning discussion, on whether the building was truly part of the Izone, and whether it was in compliance with zoning. If Thom reads this, perhaps he can straighten me out on this...

[Garris]

A lot of psychiatric hospitals that were founded in the 1800s are on large campuses with lots of natural scenery. The Victorians were big believers in the therapeutic effects of nature.

Absolutely. And not just psychiatric institutions, but all hospitals were believed to benefit from close proximity to nature as that was felt to be an absolutely essential component of healing. Even look at Rhode Island Hospital. When it was founded, it too at the time was on farmland and considered to be a "campus" long before the city expanded around it.

Anyway, I don't think Butler... contributes to the tax base since they are non-profits...

Perhaps not, but I bet all of the people I know who work there and live throughout Providence certainly contribute...

- Garris

[gregw]

Perhaps not, but I bet all of the people I know who work there and live throughout Providence certainly contribute...

- Garris

This is a point that often gets lost when people criticize the non-profit sector in Providence: the huge economic and other intangible benefits that these institutions and their employees bring to the city.

[brick]

This is a point that often gets lost when people criticize the non-profit sector in Providence: the huge economic and other intangible benefits that these institutions and their employees bring to the city.

This is fine, but I am still amazed at the amount of empty green space. Because of insurance and safety, you can't exactly bring your family in there, you can't ride your bike around, etc. It is a huge plot of land, it's right on the river. Our riverfront is taken up by a monster cemetary, Butler, and an unkempt park. It's a total waste, if you ask me. Then again, I probably like water more than most.

As for the ancillary economic benefit of Butler, I think it is lower than a "regular" hospital and certainly lower than a university. Therefore, I think I can feel pretty confident in saying that any criticism that East Siders direct at Miriam or Brown (constant) sounds pretty hollow to me with the huge Butler campus sitting there off of Blackstone Blvd.

[runawayjim]

It's a total waste, if you ask me. Then again, I probably like water more than most.

oh believe me... you are definitely not alone.

[gregw]

I wouldn't be surprised if Butler eventually sells off more of its land. I agree that it's way more than they need. In fact, I think they already did this several years ago for Laurelmeade which is a huge assisted living complex.

It's too bad that the public apparently can't use the space unlike at Swan Point next door where they are completely fine with people walking, biking, birdwatching, etc. I actually consider Swan Point to be a de facto public park.

[Frankie811]

I wouldn't be surprised if Butler eventually sells off more of its land.

Well who owns the Epoch Center on Butler's land? Butler? http://www.epochsl.com/sh_blckstne_home.html

And is this property taxable?

[eman_revelc]

I actually consider Swan Point to be a de facto public park.

I wish they wouldn't lock the gates at 5PM though, especially in the summer. That aside, Swan Point is one of my favorite places in the state. Plus, I get to visit my family

[JimmyGreaves]

The governor needs to hear about the importance of funding RIPTA before the state of the state address so that, hopefully, it can be added to the list of budget priorities he speaks about during the address. Of course failing add RIPTA to the governor's list of priorities would mean that we would need to place more pressure on the General Assembly leadership and the Finance Committee in particular.

As a side note, one thing that RIPTA buses are certainly not lacking for is advertising space capacity. Everytime I ride a bus, it seems that approximately 60 of the approximately 70 feet of available advertising space goes unused. There needs to be a full-court press to get more ad space in those strips. They also need to find an organization willing to advertise on the paper transfers. Cardi's used to but stopped. I'm normally not a big proponent of advertising to fund public agencies, however, given the alternative of fare increases or service cuts and absent any additional government help, it's imperative that all options are explored.

[Cotuit]

There's a private firm which handles RIPTAs advertising, and there are also special rates for non-profits. RIPTA doesn't do a very great job through it's website of getting people in touch with that firm. I'm also not sure if RIPTA has anyone who handles outdoor advertising specifically, i.e. on bus shelters. The MBTA has a company that runs all the outdoor advertising and maintains the bus shelters etc., the T collects a percentage of the revenue they generate but doesn't have to pay a workforce to maintain the outdoor equipment or sell the ads.

[JimmyGreaves]

Details of RIPTA's winter service changes.

http://www.ripta.com/content203.html

[runawayjim]

Details of RIPTA's winter service changes.

http://www.ripta.com/content203.html

it'd be nice that instead of just listing the routes that have changes and saying "consult the schedule", they'd actually put the changes there. i can't imagine that there would be that many changes. something like "all routes will take 5 min longer between stops" or "push all times back by 10 min". and after saying that then throw in the "consult the schedule for exact changes".

[bhooley]

I can tell you why I don't use RIPTA. Last saturday I wanted to go to Federal Hill and get some fresh food from Vendi to make dinner. If I had wanted to RIPTA it there I would have to:

1. Go across the street to the 99 bus - potential 10 minute wait and 5 minute ride... or walk downtown in 10-12 minutes and save a buck.

2. Get off at Kennedy Plz and either:

a) Take the 26 - which runs every 45 minutes... or I could walk there in 10-15 from Kennedy plz.

b) Take the trolley - which doesn't explicity say that it stops anywhere on Atwells - just LaSalle Sq. and Eagle Sq.

So in the end it wasn't worth it and we drove b/c it was raining out. Sad... there should be no reason for me to ever drive in this city.

[Recchia]

If I lived IN Providence proper I think I wouldn't even bother with a bus pass. I'd rather just walk everywhere and I have a high tolerance for walking so I could pretty much get anywhere in the city limits by doing just that. Using many examples, like the one above, it's probly quicker or takes almost the same amount of time to walk from one neighborhood to another than to take one bus downtown, then another outbound.

[Cotuit]

or walk downtown in 10-12 minutes and save a buck.

Actually, you would save a buck fifty.

Take the trolley - which doesn't explicitly say that it stops anywhere on Atwells - just LaSalle Sq. and Eagle Sq.

I had an elderly couple in my office today asking for a trolley map that showed the stops. I have a pile of the official RIPTA trolley maps, by the time I was done explaining where and how they could go places, it was all marked up with my pen marks. In theory, it's nice that it has the little drawings of things on it, but it makes it woefully unreadable from a geographic perspective, it's hard to know what distances are, things are mashed together. The map doesn't actually show where any stops are, just that they all cross at Kennedy Plaza. I marked where the two ends of the tunnel are for them, since they were staying here on the East Side, I marked where the train station stop was, I told them there were just random stops on the rest of the route and to pull the cord or ask the driver (you can go blocks after pulling the cord if you don't actually know where the stops are). I even had to write down the 3 different names the East Side trolley goes by so they would know how to get back from K. Plaza.

[Cotuit]

If I lived IN Providence proper I think I wouldn't even bother with a bus pass. I'd rather just walk everywhere and I have a high tolerance for walking so I could pretty much get anywhere in the city limits by doing just that.

I have a free pass through work, and I still pretty much walk everywhere (PS, remember, I don't own a car, but I still rarely use RIPTA, no car!! I don't have a car, I'm the model transit user, but I'm not a RIPTA customer, no car, no other option but my feet, and my feet are better, yoo hoo!). I called someone from RIPTA on the mat (threw them under the bus so to speak) in a meeting, saying you could not rely on the schedules, when the trolleys run every 20 minutes and your destination is a 20 minute or less walk away and the buses don't stick to the schedules, what good is it? If you're traveling in from outside the city, sure the bus helps, but once you are here and are going some place within the inner ring of neighborhoods, it's next to worthless.

What I would like to have though (if I didn't already have a free pass) is a smart card. Like the Charlie Card in Boston or MetroCard in New York, something I could throw some money on so that I always had bus fare on me. So on that day when I'm way over on Wickenden and just don't feel like walking back to Federal Hill I can get on the trolley and not have to worry about having change for the bus. I think that would bring in some more less frequent riders. When I didn't have a pass there were odd occasions when I would consider just getting on the bus, but didn't have any change so RIPTA lost my $1.50.

[bhooley]

I have a free pass through work, and I still pretty much walk everywhere (PS, remember, I don't own a car, but I still rarely use RIPTA, no car!! I don't have a car, I'm the model transit user, but I'm not a RIPTA customer, no car, no other option but my feet, and my feet are better, yoo hoo!). I called someone from RIPTA on the mat (threw them under the bus so to speak) in a meeting, saying you could not rely on the schedules, when the trolleys run every 20 minutes and your destination is a 20 minute or less walk away and the buses don't stick to the schedules, what good is it? If you're traveling in from outside the city, sure the bus helps, but once you are here and are going some place within the inner ring of neighborhoods, it's next to worthless.

What I would like to have though (if I didn't already have a free pass) is a smart card. Like the Charlie Card in Boston or MetroCard in New York, something I could throw some money on so that I always had bus fare on me. So on that day when I'm way over on Wickenden and just don't feel like walking back to Federal Hill I can get on the trolley and not have to worry about having change for the bus. I think that would bring in some more less frequent riders. When I didn't have a pass there were odd occasions when I would consider just getting on the bus, but didn't have any change so RIPTA lost my $1.50.

Absolutely - a smart card would definitely encourage me to just hop on the trolley or bus if I'm walking and get tired (read: lazy).

So did the person from RIPTA have a response for you?

It's so frustrating how public transit sucks. Anyone remember the band-aid, destined for failure Night Owl in Boston? They designed it to fail. It's almost like Provi designed RIPTA to fail so they could pump more money into Arterial Highways. Ugh... Let's move people, not cars.

[Cotuit]

So did the person from RIPTA have a response for you?

He was annoyed with me. Later I did relent and say it was a good service to bring people from the suburbs into the city, but if you looking to move people distances of a few miles, it falls flat.

[CtownMikey]

some good news?

http://www.pbn.com/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/124882

[JJK5]

some good news?

http://www.pbn.com/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/124882

If I read that right, $5 one way on weekends? That's cheap than the commuter rail and certainly cheaper than gassing up and driving up there. And I can walk to the Bonanza terminal from here! Very exciting.

[CtownMikey]

now its cheaper?!?? even less people will be coming back and forth between the cities! Providence is doomed.. capital cove is doomed...

honestly..

[Cotuit]

I'll still take the train personally even if it is more expensive, but that's good news for those going on to Logan. They should through-route those buses to T.F. Green as well.

[jencoleslaw]

If I read that right, $5 one way on weekends? That's cheap than the commuter rail and certainly cheaper than gassing up and driving up there. And I can walk to the Bonanza terminal from here! Very exciting.

i had to commute to boston several times a month for my last job and i always preferred the bus to the train. generally i like train travel but too many times i was late after taking either mbta or amtrak and i was never late taking the bus. if i needed to be in boston for the entire day i might have taken the train but usually i was just running in and out for a meeting and a sweep through filenes basement.

[pdxstreetcar]

Fung Wah bus

"Coming soon! Rhode Island (Providence ) to New York City. We'll announce the service date at our website, please come back for more information"

http://www.fungwahbus.com/

Interesting. I have heard numerous horror stories about this bus line but it looks like the chaos will be coming to Providence. Since Providence doesnt have a Chinatown I wonder where it will depart from.

[runawayjim]

Fung Wah bus

"Coming soon! Rhode Island (Providence ) to New York City. We'll announce the service date at our website, please come back for more information"

http://www.fungwahbus.com/

Interesting. I have heard numerous horror stories about this bus line but it looks like the chaos will be coming to Providence. Since Providence doesnt have a Chinatown I wonder where it will depart from.

one of the chinatown buses used to stop at the chinese place on federal hill (chef ho's i think?). i've actually never heard anything but praise about the chinatown bus. i don't know what the rates are now, but it used to be $20 new york to boston, and with minimal stops that's an awesome deal. sure, you gotta get on and off in chinatown, but it's not that bad.