Scott Wolf/Laurie White: Efficient mass transit can boost local economy

Via ecoRI News

To have a successful mass-transit system you have to correctly answer a simple question: Does it get people where they need to go, when they need to get there, conveniently, safely and affordably?

Right now, Rhode Islanders’ answer to that question is largely “No.” Many people still can’t easily rely on mass transit to get to work, go to school, visit their doctor, go shopping or just see a friend when they’re ready to go.  This results in Rhode Island not taking advantage of the economic benefits that an inviting and user-friendly mass transit system offers.

While the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) has taken steps to maximize passenger mobility with extremely limited resources, achieving and sustaining a robust transit system requires substantial investments in both infrastructure and operations. Among Northeast Corridor states, Rhode Island ranks last in annual per-capita public investment in transit, averaging just $50.53 per person, compared with the regional average of $202.45 per person, according to a 2014 study by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

It isn’t as though Rhode Island lacks the public will to upgrade its mass transit. In 2014, Rhode Island voters handily approved a $35 million first-ever transit-only bond to create a multi-modal transit hub at the Providence train station.

And Rhode Island already has many other pieces in place to succeed.  Notably small, it’s the second-most urbanized state, with more than 75 percent of its residents living within a 10-minute walk of a transit stop. Still, less than 3 percent of the state's population uses transit regularly.

Having a robust and user-friendly transit system is increasingly seen by the business community as an important component to a vibrant economy.  This is demonstrated in part by a sustained trend across the country of companies moving to walkable, transit-accessible locations in and around downtowns, big and small.

The Millennial generation, which will soon dominate the workforce, and about whom we hear a constant lament from businesses that young, skilled labor is leaving the state, prefer using public transit to get around.  Together with aging Baby Boomers, they’re driving ridership growth around the country. There's no reason why we can’t leverage strategic investments in transit to make Rhode Island more attractive to millennials and grow our economy in ways that further revitalize our urban and town centers.

The recent “Next Stop: Making Transit Work for Rhode Island” forum in Providence demonstrated how we can achieve a transit system that generates a positive return on investment for Rhode Island’s economy and quality of place. Following a “lessons learned” presentation by officials and transit experts from Minneapolis, Denver and Hartford, Rhode Island officials engaged in a lively discussion about the challenges and opportunities for achieving a transit system that really works for more residents and businesses.

With continued leadership from the governor's office and House and Senate leaders to make public transit a priority this year, we’re confident that Rhode Island can reap the many economic and quality-of-life benefits of a more convenient and effective transit system.

Investing in a smarter transportation system is becoming easier with the recent approval of the new federal transportation act — the FAST Act — that modestly increased federal investment for roads and bridges and also for local mass transit. Also boosted were public and private incentives for transit projects that best deliver on mobility, and economic, environmental and social gains.

Still, Rhode Island must do even more to focus and leverage its limited resources to unleash the many co-benefits of improved mass transit. This includes a serious pursuit of public-private partnerships that have proven to work elsewhere, particularly for transit stations and transit-oriented development.

That simple question — “Does the public transit system take people where they need to go, when they need to go, conveniently, safely and affordably?” — may not yet yield the answer we all want. But by taking steps now to plan and invest wisely, we can get the correct response that Rhode Islanders and the state’s economy are looking for.

Scott Wolf is the executive director of Grow Smart RI, which co-leads the Coalition for Transportation Choices. Laurie White is president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce.

Of cheap fares and Christmas card quandaries

There’s been pushback to the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority’s plan to make some low-income elderly and/or disabled people who have been riding for free  pay 50 cents a ride.

With those tiny fares, taking public transportation will still be much cheaper for them than owning/driving a car. Further, at least most low-income old people have Social Security and Medicare, unlike younger working-class folks unprotected by AARP lobbyists.

When many people ride for free or at very low fares, it dangerously drains RIPTA’s  fiscal ability to provide the frequent and predictable service that could draw many more paying customers; that added revenue could be used to improve the service and, in a virtuous circle, get new riders and revenue. Many riders would happily pay fares more commensurate with the real cost of service if service were better.

The Providence Journal reported that RIPTA “spends about $4.20 per ride on fixed-route buses, and the average fare paid by riders is $1.50….’’ That is absurdly low but helps explain (along with bad labor contracts and inadequate state support) why RIPTA service is so inadequate: It never has enough money to really improve.

Special-interest politics keep undermining sound public policy in Rhode Island, whose dense population would seem readymade for mass transit. The MBTA has plenty of problems, but Greater Boston’s great prosperity can be attributed in part to that system’s dense network and frequent service.

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There are always lessons from holiday seasons, if only to reinforce what you already knew, such as needing to appreciate how much time seems to accelerate as you get older and thus to savor each day as it speeds past.  You look up from your morning coffee and it’s Christmas again!

And how fragile we are! Consider the annual casualty list as expressed by Christmas cards that don’t arrive because the senders are dead or too sick or enfeebled by age to write.  Or sometimes it’s that the absent senders are newly divorced.  Send the latter a “Happy New Year’’ card!  (But maybe happiness is overrated:  An article in The Lancet, the British medical journal,  says that research suggests that unhappy people don’t die earlier than happy ones

Those lazy -- perhaps  modern is a better word – e-mail cards: I respect any efforts to keep in touch but something on a screen doesn’t measure up to something tactile. It’s just too easy to push “send’’  to multitudes who get exactly the same message, like an ad.  We’re much more grateful getting a physical card with a few words written with a pen by someone mentally and physically trying to maintain or restore a connection with one or a few individuals.

Meanwhile, deciding to whom to send cards can become a rather ruthless exercise. You’ve accumulated a lot of acquaintances but how many are really friends? You’re tempted to start culling the list even faster than death does.

Then you get a surprise card from someone you knew slightly  years before but  always wished that you knew better. Sending back a card might be a way to start establishing a real friendship, though that’s rare: You’ve moved on too far.

Another funny thing that happens as the Christmases roll by is that not only do you selfishly not want the bother and expense of buying Christmas presents but maybe you don’t want to get them either – it’s just more stuff to store or, at best, “regift.’’  Except, of course, for cash….

A lot of these thoughts are simply about getting older, which speaks to newspaper readers’ demographics. Anyway, if you maintain a clinical curiosity leavened with some humor aging can sometimes be pleasant.

And an observation from this past Yule shopping season: While some small neighborhood shops will keep thriving as people seek convenience, community and quirkiness,  Amazon, et al., may soon kill most big department stores. Prepare for a post-retail Providence Place. Textile factory? Dorms?

Robert Whitcomb (rwhitcomb51@gmail.com) is a Providence-based editor and writer and the overseer of New England Diary.