Faced with cash crunch, RIPTA is asked to come up with clear priorities, not grim prospects

The panel that oversees the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority has asked managers of the statewide bus system to say how much money it would need to significantly improve transit service and come with a plan for how the state should pay for it.

Rhode Island Transportation Director Peter Alviti Jr., who is also chairman of the RIPTA board, on Thursday questioned why RIPTA CEO Scott Avedisian and his staff haven't already provided a detailed plan and funding request to the public and Gov. Dan McKee.

For the last two years, Avedisian has been warning of a looming post-pandemic budget deficit at RIPTA – something facing transit agencies across the country – and asking top elected officials for help.

But he and his staff have not publicly asked for a specific amount of money or prioritized items in the 2020 Transit Master Plan for expanding the bus network. Instead, they have deferred to elected officials, who opted to maintain current transit funding as long as federal dollars kept RIPTA afloat. (Fully funding the Transit Master Plan could cost up to $200 million per year over several years, including operating and capital costs.)

Those federal dollars are expected to run out in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2024. The McKee administration is now putting together the budget for that year, which he will propose in January.

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"We have presented a whole series of possibilities to [the state Office of Management and Budget]," Avedisian said Thursday. "We have not been told which ones are being considered."

While RIPTA managers are speaking privately to McKee budget-writers about more funding, they submitted a provisional agency budget that shows how they would function and keep buses running under the status quo.

To save money, the RIPTA budget assumes that 40 positions that the agency has been trying to fill, mostly bus drivers, would remain vacant.

That idea was met with criticism from transit advocates Thursday, including the Providence Streets Coalition and Rhode Island Transit Riders, who said it would degrade service levels that already make it difficult to travel by bus.

Fiscal forecast: Growing deficit for RIPTA

Even with those positions abandoned, the $142 million RIPTA budget for the fiscal year 2024-2025 would be $18.6 million in the red. The projected budget deficit grows to $32.6 million in fiscal 2025-2026 and $45 million by fiscal 2028-2029.

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But Alviti said instead of hoping for more money, RIPTA should ask for exactly what it wants and explain what the benefit to the state will be if it gets it.

"Instead of saying, well, we know you're not going to give us the money, so we're just going to defund X number of bus driver positions ... You see where I'm going with this?" Alviti asked.

"I do," Avedisian said.

Alviti: "OK, then I'm even more confused as to why that wasn't your original strategy when you gave us this document. Well, let me ask you that. Why?"

Board member Norman Benoit jumped in: "Subject to collective bargaining, you can't just increase the pay of certain types of people at the bottom."

"So then you do that prior to making your budget request," Alviti responded. "It's a chicken and an egg. There is no egg unless you've got the money. There'll never be an egg. There won't be a Transit Master Plan. There won't be bus drivers and everything else falls apart."

Asked as he left the meeting what he would do, Avedisian said he and his team will "talk to the governor."

What about the proposed merger of RIPTA and RI DOT?

Questions about RIPTA's management came to the surface last year when Senate President Dominick Ruggerio proposed merging RIPTA into the DOT.

Alviti has declined to discuss whether he thinks his agency should assume control of RIPTA.

"It's a false question," Alviti said when asked after the meeting whether DOT would do a better job running RIPTA. "I was sitting here as RIPTA chair. All of my questions were directed to the RIPTA administration. I expect them to solve this. That's what their job is. It's not RIDOT's job to solve their problem."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Alviti asks RIPTA to draft budget that will keep agency running