The state Senate has formed a commission to scrutinize the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority’s service and performance, but other proposed legislation would prevent lawmakers from adding to RIPTA’s responsibilities without also increasing its state subsidy. The author of the legislation that created the study commission, Sen. Patrick McDonald, has complained of poor bus service in his district of Narragansett and South Kingstown.
RIPTA cut an underperforming bus route linking south Narragansett to Kingston last September. The bus authority is planning to replace the scheduled bus runs with so-called “flex service,” in which riders call ahead to arrange for transportation.
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”That’s no way to run public transportation, and I just want to look at the whole system in light of the auditor general’s report and all the abuse in purchasing, the wasted resources,” said McDonald, a Democrat. “I was very concerned that they cut a route because they said they can’t afford it, and yet they have all this waste.”
State Auditor General Ernest Amonte criticized RIPTA for, among other problems, failing to adhere to basic purchasing rules in a 50-page audit report released in November.
In a memo distributed to the bus authority’s employees at the time, RIPTA General Manager Beverly Scott wrote, “It is quite evident that over the years, employees have become indifferent to the procurement rules/regulations and a certain air of laxity has prevailed regarding RIPTA’s procurement practices.”
Scott said in an interview last month that the authority had resolved the purchasing and bidding missteps identified by the state auditors.
RIPTA spokesman Lee Beliveau characterized the Senate commission as a political move by McDonald.
”He’s just trying to get a route reinstated in his district,” Beliveau said. “We put $3 million worth of service in that area and the ridership wasn’t there.”
Beliveau said the Galilee-Kingston route was RIPTA’s worst-performing bus line, costing more than $18 per passenger to operate. The average cost per passenger for all routes is less than $2.
”We look at it on two scales, not just on whether the line is making money, but also if it has ridership,” he said. “This one was below the line on both issues.”
Not all the members of the Senate commission had been selected by press time, but the seven member panel will include three senators, Scott, Director of the Department of Elderly Affairs Barbara Rayner and two members of the general public. The commission should report its findings and recommendations to the Senate by next February.
Beliveau said RIPTA simply cannot add any new bus service without more money to pay for it, which is why the authority is backing a Senate bill that would require the Legislature to pay for any new service it mandates.
The legislation was introduced by Sen. Charles Walton, a Providence Democrat and a member of RIPTA’s board of directors, and Sen. Daniel DaPonte, an East Providence Democrat.
DaPonte called the legislation a “precautionary measure” against any requirements that RIPTA provide new or expanded service.
”In order to be able to do that, they’re going to have to have adequate funding, whether it be additional funding coming from the gasoline tax or other allocations made in the budget process,” DaPonte said.
RIPTA currently pockets five-and-a-half cents of the state gas tax. The subsidy was increased by a half-cent last year and two cents the previous year. The state has had to pick up a larger share of RIPTA’s expenses as federal subsidies dried up in recent years.
Passenger fares represented less than a quarter of RIPTA’s revenue in fiscal 1999, according to the auditor general’s report.
