Unless you take Route 95 late at night, chances are the Route 195 relocation hasn’t affected you so far. But as the project gains momentum, the state Department of Transportation predicts, it’s going to start increasing congestion in the Jewelry District and hospital area.
For occasional visitors, it may not be a big deal. For the thousands of people who work in the area, however – who already face regular backups on Point and Eddy streets – the construction for the next three years could be a real headache, officials say.
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To reduce the congestion, the DOT and Rhode Island Public Transit Authority are launching an ambitious public transit promotion targeting workers within a half-mile radius of Eddy and Dudley streets. It’s a local example of a national trend of trying to reduce the demand on roads to solve traffic problems.
About 10,000 cars go into the area every day for the hospitals, the Community College of Rhode Island, and offices in the Jewelry District, said Tim McCormick, planning manager for RIPTA. The project’s aim is to reduce traffic by 2,200 cars.
For cash-strapped RIPTA, it’s a chance to increase ridership in a busy part of the city. And for the DOT, which is trying to minimize the impact of the Route 195 project, “anywhere we can get cars off is going to be useful,” said Chief Engineer Edmund T. Parker.
RIPTA service is already strong in the area. Two buses go to the front door of Rhode Island Hospital – the Warwick Avenue line, and the Eddy Street bus, which goes all the way to Hope Street, then up to Benefit Street in Pawtucket, McCormick said. In addition, CCRI and the entrance to Women & Infants’ Hospital are served by the Gold Line trolley.
About 250 people ride those buses now each day, McCormick said, meaning that RIPTA and the DOT need to increase ridership nearly ninefold to meet their goal. To do that, they’re cutting prices in half: Starting July 1, and for the next three years, area workers will be able to get unlimited monthly passes for $22.50, or 40 individual-ride RIPTIKS for $27.
In addition, RIPTA’s Express Travel staff will work with employers to further enhance the program, McCormick said, encouraging them to subsidize passes by another $5, or promote carpooling by setting aside prime parking spots for participants; or support cyclists by installing bike racks and providing bike shop discounts.
“We’re going to look at any way to get people out of their cars,” McCormick said.
The DOT is covering the cost of the program, estimated at $2.2 million, McCormick said. RIPTA, for its part, is providing the manpower, advertising, promotional materials and special resources such as a computerized carpooling program. It’s also streamlining the bus schedule as needed, McCormick said, and effective Aug. 25, it will also extend bus routes from all over the state to provide transfer-free service to the area.
“It’s a great example of inter-agency cooperation,” said McCormick. “Rather than put out orange cones and signs that say ‘Expect Delays,’ (DOT officials) are actually putting their money where their mouth is to get cars off the road, so you don’t have to expect delays.”
This is not the first time the DOT and RIPTA have collaborated to reduce congestion. When the George Washington Bridge on Route 195 was repaired, RIPTA also offered discounted bus passes and many Rhode Islanders took advantage of the offer, McCormick said. But the program wasn’t targeted enough, he said, so the impact on the bridge area was minimal.
This time around, the agencies decided to target only motorists around Eddy and Dudley streets, “which is really ground zero of the project.” It helps that, unlike the George Washington Bridge motorists, the drivers in this area are, to a great extent, people who work in the district, according to Parker. Officials looked at covering a one-mile radius, McCormick said, but that stretched into downtown, affecting people who don’t go through the target area.
The program officially begins June 1. RIPTA will be putting up big signs in the area and doing public outreach, McCormick said, and it’s scheduling 10 promotional events each month through the summer, starting June 6, visiting local restaurants at lunchtime, for example.
The agency is also sending mailings to 400 employers in the area asking them to put up a poster describing the program and, even better, allow RIPTA to set up a table in their building where workers can get bus passes and personalized bus route information.
Two major local employers, CCRI and Lifespan – which alone accounts for about 5,000 of the area’s workers – already have good relationships with RIPTA, McCormick said. The more employers participate in the bus promotion as well as carpooling and other programs, he said, the likelier the Route 195 program will be to succeed.
For more information about RIPTA’s Express Travel program, which helps employers throughout the state to provide bus passes, promote carpooling, etc., go to www.ripta.com.
