Downsizing RIPTA (continued)

BATTING’S APPEARANCE on the RIPTA board is a provocative development that mirrors Carcieri’s own role in state government. Both are former high-powered corporate executives determined to use their business expertise to tame government operations.

After his nomination in July 2003, Batting served as chairman while his confirmation was pending. But in April — following the earlier debate about service cuts — the board dumped Batting as its chair in a four-to-two vote, replacing him with Connors, the state senator from Cumberland.

In a recent interview and a letter to a reporter, Batting says he believes RIPTA’s problems come from "gross mismanagement," and complains that the agency’s budget jumped from about $48 million five years ago to more than $74 million.

RIPTA officials say many factors have increased its spending, including a federal requirement that van service be provided for disabled persons who can’t manage regular buses. In 1991, the service cost $131,000, but this year it will amount to $5.2 million, all in state dollars.

Batting thinks there still is room for savings: "I firmly believe that with the proper oversight and management, Rhode Island could field a full-service mass transit system that would meet all reasonable requirements without burdening the taxpayer." He singles out maintenance costs for 140 vans in the "RIde" program, which transports elderly and disabled persons, and for which RIPTA is paid by other state agencies, in addition to spending its own money.

RIPTA says it costs $10,926 on average to maintain each van, which can be purchased new for $65,000. That maintenance cost is part of the budget disagreement between RIPTA and the Department of Elderly Affairs.

Batting not only questions that cost, but says even if it is paid to RIPTA, the money ultimately will come out of taxpayers’ pockets. "The thinking appears to be that there is always a place at the taxpayer trough," he says.

Corinne Calise Russo, DEA’s director, says that when RIPTA began operating and servicing the vehicles for the agency’s clients under a new contract last year, DEA was caught off guard. "We were surprised and concerned with the amount of dollars it cost to maintain the vehicles, and that is what we are trying to figure out," she says. RIPTA and DEA are in negotiations over the costs, which RIPTA says is a large part of the $686,000 the authority claims it is owed by DEA.

RIPTA’s general manager, Alfred J. Moscola strenuously defends RIPTA’s maintenance program, based on his 30 years of experience, which includes serving as maintenance chief for New York City’s transit system. "When people hear about how much it costs to maintain vehicles, they try to relate it to automobiles, and you cannot," he says. The vans are driven much harder, and for longer periods, than personal vehicles, Moscola says, noting that a vigorous program is needed to head off breakdowns, which are dangerous to frail passengers and cost more than regular preventive maintenance.

Moscola says RIPTA sees two possible areas of efficiency: routinely replacing parts before breakdowns and revising some staffing patterns. He said those moves could lower annual maintenance costs by about $1325 per vehicle.

But he insists that careful maintenance is a cost that saves money in the long term, to say nothing of disrupting service on the van program and regular bus service. RIPTA says aggressive maintenance is extending the life of regular buses by four to five yeas and has improved RIPTA breakdown rate by 53 percent.

"The program is not debatable. Can you do it for less? It’s that program or nothing," Moscola says. "I developed this program. I’m confident in what I’m doing."

ONE RHODE ISLANDER who keeps an eye on transportation is Bob Votava, executive director of the group DOT Watch. Votava says Batting’s businesslike approach to RIPTA is welcome, but it’s not necessarily the last word about the transit authority’s problems. "Batting is a very astute businessman who knows how to run a business . . . to make a profit," Votava says. "The difficulty is that government generally doesn’t work that way.’

Votava says various forms of transportation depend on taxpayer support, and mass transit is no different. But, he says, highway construction and trucking industries have bigger constituencies to lobby for road building and other projects.

"RIPTA is one critical factor in keeping the state alive," Votava says, arguing that it’s far cheaper for a South County commuter to pay $2.50 for a RIPTA roundtrip ticket to Providence than buying a couple of gallons of gasoline, and then paying to park.

One reason why RIPTA doesn’t get more public backing, he says, is that, "At this point in time, we don’t have a major crisis of roads being packed for hours — we haven’t quite reached the crisis mode."

In the meantime, the bus service limps from crisis to crisis, at the very least scaring passengers like those on the Number 8 with threats to their livelihoods.

What’s needed, RIPTA officials say, is a more reliable source of funding than the current mix of federal funds, fares paid by riders, and about 6.25 cents of the state’s gasoline tax of 30 cents per gallon. They point to a 2002 report on transportation issues by the business-supported watchdog group, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council. RIPEC predicted continual budget problems for RIPTA unless its revenues are increased, and suggested increasing its gas tax share and diverting a portion of drivers’ license and registration fees to the bus service.

For the long term, RIPEC proposed a governor’s "blue ribbon commission" to chart the future of the bus system.

In fact, the General Assembly, in this year’s session, established its own 10-member "special commission to study transit service," with members to include the department of transportation director, RIPTA’s general manager, DEA’s director, as well as advocates for labor, economic development, the disabled, the environment, and business. The legislation calls for recommendations by February 25.

Further, RIPTA chairman Connors plans to convene a board meeting in late August or September solely to discuss "positive" suggestions for increasing RIPTA revenue and ridership.

He points to such steps as RIPTA’s programs with colleges, in which the institutions pay RIPTA to allow students to ride the system’s buses. The program includes Johnson & Wales University, Katharine Gibbs, Providence College, Salve University, and URI, and RIPTA says it has added 125,000 riders a month to the system and $1.2 million in revenue. Another potential revenue source would be offering its maintenance and bus-washing facilities to service other state vehicles, says Connors.

Connors says he doesn’t want a "negative" meeting, but instead, he’s hoping for a discussion resulting in ideas to expand the system and its revenues. Connors says it’s "the responsibility of the directors of the authority to be positive and come up with solutions."

Schiller, the Sierra Club spokesman, says RIPTA needs to increase its outreach to employers — including state government itself — asking them to pay for RIPTA passes for their workers, who now get free parking.

Meanwhile, the hearings on the proposed cutbacks are scheduled for September, with RIPTA saying final decisions by the board must be made by January.

It’s possible that Carcieri and the General Assembly could cover some or all of the shortfall. And other sources of money may turn up. For example, state budget officials say that if RIte Care provides another 2000 bus passes to the 20,000 clients already holding them, RIPTA might gain another $1 million. On the other hand, it’s just as possible that similar variables could provide less money.

The outcome will be watched closely by RIPTA users, including those who catch the Number 8, along with those who use the other 17 routes up for review, or who ride buses on weekend evenings and during holidays, or use the trolley system.

According to RIPTA’s figures, the annual ridership (the number of times riders board buses) for the 18 routes facing elimination is about 436,000, out of RIPTA’s total ridership of 20.3 million. For those riders, scraping any of the routes could have personal and financial consequences.

"This is the only way to get back and forth to work," says Jerry Hall, the jewelry worker, adding, "A lot of people depend on it."

Brian C. Jones can be reached at brijudy@ids.net.