RIPTA enters into $16.9-million contract for its new bus hub. But where will it go?

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority on Tuesday hired a private consortium to plan a central bus hub and commercial development somewhere in Providence, the cost of which is yet to be determined.

The Next Wave Rhode Island Partners consortium, which includes Gilbane and Marsella Development, would make $16.9 million under the contract approved unanimously by the RIPTA Board of Directors.

Rhode Island elected officials have been trying to move RIPTA's central hub out of Kennedy Plaza since at least 2014, when voters approved $35 million for transit infrastructure, but a series of plans to make it happen have collapsed due to cost and lack of public support. The contract with Next Wave would come out of the $35 million, of which around $415,000 has been spent.

What will this consortium do?

The tasks included in the contract include identifying where within downtown Providence to put the hub development, holding community events about it, getting it permitted, lining up financing and finishing 60% of the design work. Once all of that is complete, RIPTA would then enter into a separate contract, which has already been negotiated, with the consortium to finish the design, build and operate the complex.

The contract breaks up the consortium's planning work into six phases, estimated to take 650 days, nearly two years, to complete. After it completes each task, the consortium would be due a defined payment if RIPTA were to walk away from the deal without going further.

For example, "project kickoff and visioning" is worth $1.4 million. Delivering three conceptual options for the project gets the consortium another $2 million. It's after that second task, after around six months, when RIPTA will decide on a site, RIPTA CEO Scott Avedisian said.

The agency could theoretically walk away then, but it would have sunk at least $3.4 million into the project.

What will the bus hub look like?

The new hub, which would probably be on the ground floor of a multi-story, mixed use building, would include indoor bus berths, an air-conditioned waiting area, public restrooms, a ticket counter and a break area for RIPTA employees.

The rest of the envisioned building, and most of its floor space, would include shops, restaurants and upper-floor apartments. At least 40% of any apartments in the building would be reserved for tenants making no more than 120% of the area median income.

While supporters of the project have touted the benefit for riders of having a comfortable place to wait for the bus, it is unclear whether the new hub will improve bus service or make it less convenient.

Where will the bus hub go? That's undetermined

Gov. Dan McKee last year said he is looking at building the bus hub on a parcel of vacant former highway land near Interstate 95, but RIPTA CEO Scott Avedisian Tuesday said all potential sites remain on the table.

Since 2014, the state has explored putting the new hub in a parking garage near the Garrahy courthouse, next to the Providence train station, on Dyer Street and most recently on Dorrance Street.

RIPTA at the end of 2022 estimated that building the bus hub-apartment building on Dorrance Street would cost between $200 million and $250 million.

More: Where will RI store its treasures? Two sites have emerged for proposed archives museum.

Advocates opposed to moving the bus hub, but officials approve

At least so far, transit advocates are opposed to the current strategy, which comes as RIPTA faces a severe budget deficit and impending service cuts.

"When RIPTA is facing imminent service cuts, unable to pay enough to attract bus drivers, and expecting an even worse fiscal cliff in the next two years, it is financially irresponsible to undertake an expensive move to a new bus hub in a clearly worse location than the current one," RI Transit Riders said in a statement after the vote.

GrowSmart RI, which backed initial Dorrance Street plans, cited several reasons for opposing the Next Wave contract, including "the severe service cuts that are now projected and the continued lack of urgency to address the funding and driver shortage crisis as well as implementation of the state's adopted Transit Master Plan."

"It's clear that riders place a much higher value on the importance of increased service frequency and hours of operation than on a new transit hub facility," GrowSmart's John Flaherty wrote in a news release.

Before the vote multiple RIPTA board members and members of the agency staff made the point that since the 2014 transit bond has to be used on infrastructure, not operating expenses, spending the money won't make the deficits any worse.

RIPTA officials Tuesday said they hoped the commercial pieces of the development could offset much of the cost of building the hub.

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley, who has been quiet about moving the RIPTA bus hub out of Kennedy Plaza, backs the contract with Next Wave.

"This new transit hub promises to deliver modern facilities for riders and drivers,” Smiley said in a RIPTA news release. “I am looking forward to collaborating with RIPTA to ensure that this new transit hub fully meets the modern transportation needs of the many residents, workers, students and visitors that use our bus hub every day.”

Although the contract approved Tuesday does not require RIPTA to move ahead to construction, it sets many of the terms of a deal to do so. They include mark-ups of 5% on the cost of building and operating the project and 13% after tax "return on equity."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: New RIPTA bus hub moves forward, but no word on where it will go