ACTION ALERT: Please sign the RI Transit Riders petition to halt the breakup of the bus hub at Kennedy Plaza so that transit riders and the general public can be adequately involved in developing a plan that benefits the many, not just the few.
Background:
According to a 2016 RIPTA report, the majority of bus riders (53%) are non-white, compared with 16.1% of Rhode Islanders. And over half of all RIPTA trips are taken by travelers with annual household incomes under $15,000 per year, compared with the state median household income of $74,977.00.
So why, in the midst of a global pandemic, uprisings over systemic racial injustice, and the climate crisis, are Governor Raimondo and the Rhode Island Department of Transportation seeking to break up the central bus hub at Kennedy Plaza without public input and make public transportation harder for the people who rely on it? Their proposed plan will create more transfers, longer bus commutes, disruptions in basic amenities like bathrooms and shelter, and a much more confusing transit system for all. We are about More Safety and Less Confusion on our streets.
Why is Mayor Elorza, who claims to be a champion for environmental and transportation equity, acquiescing to the state instead of standing up for people taking the bus? Why is the City abandoning their 2018 plan which cost many thousands of dollars and had a robust public input process?
Kennedy Plaza has been a political football for far too long.
Why are transit riders bearing the brunt of it?