A 4.4-acre plot of land used to host Providence's World Cup festivities next to the city's Amtrak station is the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority's choice for its state-of-the-art transit center.
On Thursday, RIPTA's board of directors voted 6-0 to direct contractor Next Wave Partners to move ahead with drafting bid specs and cost estimates for the proposed bus hub that will eventually replace operations at Kennedy Plaza.
"We need the bus hub," board member treasurer Normand Benoit said before the vote. "I don't think Kennedy Plaza does the job."
RIPTA has used the city-owned Kennedy Plaza as its centralized bus depot since the early 1980s. While the location has served the agency well over the last four decades, agency CEO Christopher Durand said the existing hub has become operationally inefficient.
"You've got buses on the main plaza, you've got buses up on Exchange Terrace," he said in an interview before the board meeting. "It's a lot of streets you've got to cross."
RIPTA's vision for the new transit center is to make it like an airport: climate-controlled and well lit with a dedicated busway outside passengers would see through a glass wall. Bus service would continue using to Kennedy Plaza as a stop if there's a new depot.
"We want to do something better for our riders," Durand told the board. "This is part of an anchor toward bigger and bolder things."
The plan to improve or create a new bus hub has been in the works for years. In 2014, Rhode Island voters approved $35 million in bonds for mass transit center infrastructure — $22 million of which went to RIPTA.
Numerous sites have been studied by the agency and Rhode Island Department of Transportation, but nothing ever stuck.
A decade later, RIPTA approved a nearly $16.9 million contract with Next Wave Partners to finally get the wheels in motion. In May 2024, RIPTA narrowed down seven possible sites — including the two near the train station.
Then last December, planners turned their attention to the empty lot west of the Amtrak station fronting Francis and Gaspee streets. The land served as the PVD FanZone during the World Cup this summer.
Durand said the agency ultimately chose the site since it had the biggest available footprint in the area for its new transit center.
A preliminary map attached to the RIPTA board's information packet shows a central passenger services area surrounded by bus bays, with the proposed transit center stretching between Francis Street, Finance Way, Gaspee Street and Railroad Street.
RIPTA planned to include residential housing on the upper floors, but Durand said the housing component no longer remains the project.
"It's really not the right time in the market," he told Rhode Island Current. "The interest rates are high. Costs are escalating."
Reducing the scope of the project also means about $10 million in savings. But Durand said no final price tag has been set yet, noting construction costs will be finalized during the design and engineering phase.
The informational packet provided to the agency's board of directors estimates the cost of the still "very preliminary" project at $70 million.
RIPTA has committed $77 million to the bus hub project, including $46 million identified in the State Transportation Improvement Program, a $25 million U.S. Department of Transportation BUILD grant awarded last month, and $6 million in state matching funds.
Transit advocates and riders have long been critical of the agency dedicating millions of dollars to a new bus hub, especially since RIPTA's board approved sweeping service cuts nearly one year ago.
The service cuts were made after Gov. Dan McKee declined to fill a $32.6 million deficit for fiscal 2026. The General Assembly eventually propped up RIPTA with nearly $15 million in annual revenue from upping the agency's share of the gas tax and highway maintenance fund. RIPTA administrators working with McKee's office found other savings, but not enough to stave off service reductions.
"Buses continue to be packed," Dylan Giles, operations manager for the Providence Streets Coalition, told the board. "Your current riders, future riders deserve a service that is dependable, reliable, and competitive with driving."
Durand too would like to see RIPTA's service grow. But restoration won't be coming anytime soon, even after the agency was provided a favorable fiscal 2027 budget from the General Assembly.
Lawmakers rejected a plan from McKee that called for a $9.3 million annual increase to RIPTA's share of the state's Highway Maintenance Account, $1 million revenue from raising fees on cruise ships visiting Newport, and reallocating $3.5 million in capital funds toward agency operations.
Instead the General Assembly chose to increase RIPTA's share of the Highway maintenance account by an additional $4.2 million beyond McKee's proposal. Those changes meant RIPTA received $553,000 more for operating expenses than it had requested, Durand confirmed.
"We're not expecting any changes to service this year," he told Rhode Island Current. "But we're but likewise, we're also not looking at reducing any further."
Durand said the agency is looking for ways to generate revenue in the future. He noted the funds for the hub cannot be used toward the agency's operating expenses.
"If we could pay for service with this, we would," he told board members and transit advocates.
McKee released a statement Thursday afternoon "heartily" supporting the board's vote.
"The new hub will help grow ridership and create new opportunities for RIPTA's future," McKee said.
Board members Bernard Georges and Heather Schey were absent from Thursday's meeting.
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