Why don't more people use RIPTA?

[Recchia]

Anyone know what the top 3-5 busiest bus routes in the RIPTA system are?

I know the City Line (#11 Broad St.) is the busiest. Not sure beyond that, RIPTA puts few stats on their website. If I had to guess, I'd say the #20 (Elmwood-Airport) and the #99 (North Main to Pawtucket) would possibly be in second and third.

[PVDJack]

Gas prices should just stay up. It is perfect timing that RIPTA has the new buses when they get like 13,000 ADDITIONAL customers daily(guesstimate from what I read a few days ago) due to the cost of gas.

In regards to people changing their transportation habits because of the rising price of gas, there's a frontpage article in the current PBN on commuting via bicycle:

http://www.pbn.com/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/117007

PVDJack

[Cotuit]

Boston.com had a similar article today. Apparently bike sales are near the all time high we saw during he 70s embargo.

[Recchia]

Interesting article from the Washington Post (linked from Planetizen) about how unless you get rid of your car completely, you won't save much money by switching to public transportation as opposed to driving. This I think is a major reason why a lot of people, especially those that live within 15 miles of their jobs, don't bother with RIPTA. I do like how they mention the social positives of using PT though.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...5101500181.html

[Frankie811]

http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20...29.79c00ae.html

[EPBOY]

http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20...29.79c00ae.html

Glad their finally moving the dock outside of the Hurricane Barrier. Getting through that thing has been a real squeaker! Must be nerve racking for the captain, especially since the barrier was already hit once.

I especially love this quote: "Joked board Chairman Thomas Deller, "It's fun to sit in the Hot Club making bets" on whether it can get through"

[Recchia]

http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20...29.79c00ae.html

The board approved a proposed budget for next fiscal year that includes an estimated $3.7-million deficit. The decision resumes an annual drama in which RIPTA argues that it has too little money to maintain service, approves a budget containing a deficit, and warns of service cuts. State House officials have always found money to help the agency balance its budget.

Sounds kinda pathetic.

[Cotuit]

Sounds kinda pathetic.

The board confirmed a modest cutback in trolley service in downtown Providence that it held public hearings on this month. The change, effective in January, will increase the interval between trolleys by 5 minutes, to 20 minutes.

Just get rid of the trolleys, 20 minute headways makes them completely useless, that would probably close the budget gap.

Seriously, one could walk most of the route of the trolleys in 20 minutes, I walk to work from Federal Hill to the East Side in 20 minutes. And a 5 minute reduction in headways is not modest, for someone that uses them to get to work, that's 43 hours a year. From the way the agency is run, I can imagine that everyone on the board there has 43 hours a year they can spend standing around with their thumbs up their asses, but I don't have that luxury.

Does everyone at RIPTA have a brain tumour? Has anyone there ever rode a bus?

[Frankie811]

http://www.thecowl.com/media/paper493/news...www.thecowl.com

[runawayjim]

http://www.thecowl.com/media/paper493/news...www.thecowl.com

while i haven't run into any students who personally had to deal with that, i'd say it's more the fault of PC and the providence police than ripta... if a bus couldn't make it down the street, what were they supposed to do? they have no way of notifying the college and they can't just go and stop and wait for the college to do something. there's no other cross streets that it could've made a detour down to avoid huxley, unless it skipped admiral altogether and took douglas ave to eaton st... not to mention, the cars parked on huxley were all illegally parked. there's "no parking" signs entirely down one side of the road (the side that schneider arena is on). if a bus couldn't get down, either could a fire truck or ambulance (the ambulance would've had it easier because it's shorter, but definitely no fire trucks). if the police put up signs banning parking, they need to enforce them. all those cars should've been at least ticketed, and those causing serious traffic problems towed.

i was appalled when i read that article, but it just goes to show that the providence police don't enforce the laws... like the car that's ALWAYS parked on the street overnight on my street about 10-20 feet from the end of the road maknig it a beotch to travel down there (not to mention, it only moves like once a week and only for a short period of time because it's always back int he same place).

[Cotuit]

PC Public Safety should have called Providence to have the cars removed.

[runawayjim]

PC Public Safety should have called Providence to have the cars removed.

yup, exactly... the actual print version of the article doesn't put the blame on PC until you open to the "continued" part. it was a front page article, but the beginning of the article seems to make it sound like it was ripta's fault. if i were the kid who had springsteen tickets, i'd be writing a long letter to the college complaining about that.

for once, it was not ripta's fault.

[CtownMikey]

Gas prices have pretty much dropped about $1.30-ish.. I wonder if Ripta has seen a drop in that passenger boost that it had when Katrina hit...

[Cotuit]

Gas prices have pretty much dropped about $1.30-ish.. I wonder if Ripta has seen a drop in that passenger boost that it had when Katrina hit...

From RIPTAs Desitinations Passenger Newsletter:

Demand for RIPTA Services Continues to Grow Even As Gas Prices Decline

Last month we reported on an approximately 17% increase in RIPTA ridership between August 30th, the day after Hurricane Katrina made landfall and September 12th. As gas prices rose in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, ridership began to grow.

Now, new ridership figures, reflecting passenger growth up to September 30, 2005, show an increase in ridership of 24%.

To measure ridership, RIPTA uses the automatic passenger counting (APC) systems on its APC buses. These buses are equipped with Global Positioning Software and an electric eye on both the front and back door to give accurate ridership counts.

Across the RIPTA statewide system, this 24% increase translates to approximately 15,800 new daily riders since the hurricane alone. This rapid rise in new passengers has meant that buses already overcrowded after Katrina now face the difficult prospect of leaving riders behind.

The graph above compares the change in gas price with the change in ridership since the hurricane. It also shows that even though gas prices have begun to decline, ridership continues to climb.

[Recchia]

^ Interesting. I bet a lot of newcomers started riding after katrina, and then realized that buses aren't half as bad as everyone thinks they are, and spread the word. Either that or doesn't ridership always increase once the colleges get back in session for the fall?

[runawayjim]

^ Interesting. I bet a lot of newcomers started riding after katrina, and then realized that buses aren't half as bad as everyone thinks they are, and spread the word. Either that or doesn't ridership always increase once the colleges get back in session for the fall?

i'm willing to bet it's the latter... although it'd be nice to think that more people are simply taking the bus...

[Cotuit]

The students weren't really here until the 10th, and ridership did climb between the 30th and the 10th.

[Frankie811]

Ch 12 just reported that RIPTA's ridership is up 24% and monthly passes are up 55%. Story in tomorrow's projo.

[mr2448]

Ch 12 just reported that RIPTA's ridership is up 24% and monthly passes are up 55%. Story in tomorrow's projo.

This is great news. Perhaps metro Providence will finally enter the 21st Century when it comes to mass transit.

Unfortunately they are not printing any more monthly passes than they did 4 months ago. They have been selling out each month since August, but management has not increased the number they print.

Mark

[Recchia]

This is great news. Perhaps metro Providence will finally enter the 21st Century when it comes to mass transit.

Unfortunately they are not printing any more monthly passes than they did 4 months ago. They have been selling out each month since August, but management has not increased the number they print.

Mark

What?? Thats the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Print the damn things, they're cheap peices of paper! So what do people do that want them?

[Frankie811]

http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20...2.1cb9b2fc.html

[Frankie811]

State plans for cleaner air and less-congested highways rely, in part, on increased public transit use. The state Department of Transportation is often identified with road building, but James R. Capaldi, the DOT's director, said at a recent RIPTA board meeting that while Route 95 is getting more congested, "I have no plans to widen it." The future of ground transportation, Capaldi said, is in trains and buses.

What's it going to take to get people out of their cars in this state?

Therrien said the express bus from the Westerly park-and-ride lot to Kennedy Plaza was one of the system's most crowded lines. Last spring it was carrying about 20 passengers each way. But by September it averaged more than 75 passengers, prompting RIPTA to add a second bus.

Good grief! Why would anyone drive round trip 5 days a week from Westerly-Providence.!?

[Garris]

Good grief! Why would anyone drive round trip 5 days a week from Westerly-Providence.!?

This boggles my mind as well. Most of the nurses where I work at RIH live in Newport, Jamestown, the Kingstons, Coventry, Bristol, etc... Most have near 1 hr commutes each way. It drives me crazy on call when late at night or early AM we have emergency procedures to do, and it takes the nurse an hour to get to the hospital. I'm just sitting there twittling my thumbs. I just don't understand why many don't move closer either.

Then again, in places like the NY metro, a 1 hr commute is short for many...

- Garris

[pdxstreetcar]

Has RIPTA ever studied any sort of fixed guideway system or transit improvement?

It seems just about every comparable sized transit agency has studied to some degree some sort of transportation improvement except for RIPTA.

[Recchia]

Has RIPTA ever studied any sort of fixed guideway system or transit improvement?

It seems just about every comparable sized transit agency has studied to some degree some sort of transportation improvement except for RIPTA.

BRT down Reservoir Ave to the Pastore Center was being discussed over the summer.