Too busy running or managing your own business to pay attention to the public debate over $10 million in proposed budget cuts to the R.I. Public Transit Authority?
While understandable, Patrick Crowley, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and RIPTA board secretary, says it’s time to speak up – now.
“We need the business community’s voice to be heard loud and clear,” he said, ahead of a planned Aug. 7 vote on proposed cuts affecting 58 of RIPTA’s 67 service routes.
The vote ended up being postponed after Gov. Daniel J. McKee surprised the RIPTA board by calling for a new plan that “relies less heavily on across-the-board reductions to routes.”
The delay offers a reprieve to business leaders unaware of how dependent some of their workers are on bus service.
According to RIPTA data, about 40% of all bus rides are work-related.
That’s too big a number not to weigh in on potential cuts to routes that could affect your business.
“We need more business leaders to speak up, and we need them to speak up now,” Crowley said.
State hospitality and manufacturers associations both got the message, issuing strong statements opposing service cuts.
In an Aug. 12 letter to RIPTA CEO Chris Durand, Rhode Island Manufacturers Association Executive Director David Chenevert said many manufacturers are concerned about their employees’ ability to continue getting bus rides to work.
Other industries – including countless small businesses – also have bus-dependent workers.
Are you ready or able to subsidize alternate transportation?