Strengthening the Heart of Transit

Advocating for a well-located, centralized, and fiscally responsible future for the Providence Transit Center that puts the needs of riders first.

In 2020, Rhode Island Transit Riders mobilized with a coalition against RIDOT’s flawed Multi-Hub proposal that would have broken up Kennedy Plaza into four separate mini-hubs, forcing additional transfers and increasing trip times for riders. The project was poorly planned with almost no rider input and would have devastated transit service to come.

The work of RITR and other allies was successful, leading to the permanent cancellation of the plan. In its wake, RIPTA has proposed a new centralized transit center to replace Kennedy Plaza. RITR is not opposed to the project as a concept, but will work to ensure that the new hub’s location, amenities, and financing are driven by robust public input and centers the needs of transit riders first.

RIPTA will soon be announcing its preferred site for the new transit center. In October 2024, RIPTA announced that they were no longer considering “Parcel 35”, a proposed site on I-195 District land, as a potential location for the transit center. RITR will continue to advocate for public engagement the needs of riders as the hub continues through its process.

December 2023 Statement: Riders Question the Proposed Bus Hub Location on I-195 Land

Read the Statement

The troubled efforts to move Rhode Island’s main transit hub continue, despite concerns from riders. Over the last several months RI Transit Riders has heard that state leaders were focusing their attention on yet another site to shift the Providence bus hub to. Although the transit rider community was not consulted about this latest location on a remote portion of I-195 land, the rumors were confirmed in this December 8, 2023 radio interview with Governor Daniel McKee.

From a transit perspective, this site is far from many of the most frequented downtown destinations, unlike the current hub location at Kennedy Plaza. RI Transit Riders has concerns about whether this location will be safe, central, and rider-friendly enough to be worth the expense. We will defer final comment for now, but we would need a solid case for why this location is better for riders as compared with an improved hub at Kennedy Plaza. The case for the I-195 District will need to account for factors such as the convenience of getting to/from passengers’ desired destinations, travel trip time comparisons to existing conditions in Kennedy Plaza or the previously proposed hub at Dorrance St., intermodal connectivity with rail and intercity bus, security, and transit center amenities. We would expect to engage with the Governor’s administration and other decision makers before a final determination of a site is made.

We also note that moving the hub, which was never requested by riders or approved by voters, would be highly expensive. Transit users’ main budget priority remains keeping RIPTA funded and providing funds to implement the transit service improvements outlined in the 2020 state-approved Transit Master Plan (TMP). Without hesitation, we place a much greater priority on financing the TMP than on creating a new transit hub facility. In the long run, the service improvements called for in the TMP provide the only real opportunity to increase ridership across the state, to help address our acute housing crisis, and to alleviate the worst effects of climate change.

If there is a desire to press ahead with relocating the main bus hub, we require not only a substantiated case that it would be helpful on balance for transit, but also a commitment from the state that funding to implement the TMP will be available despite the high cost of the proposed Providence hub relocation.

Patricia Raub and Amy Glidden, Co-chairs, RI Transit Riders. ritransitriders@gmail.com

The Kennedy Plaza Resilience Coalition has co-signed this statement.

June 2022 Update: New Transit Plan Unconvincing

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We at RI Transit Riders recognize that despite efforts to push forward the proposed Dorrance Street Transit Center plan, many everyday riders remain unconvinced of its merits, preferring to keep the hub in Kennedy Plaza’s more central and convenient location.

In assessing a potential relocation of the central bus hub from Kennedy Plaza to Dorrance Street, we must also acknowledge the historical context in which this proposal has been advanced. Providence has repeatedly displaced low-income residents of color against their will. Postwar urban renewal and highway construction eliminated the Lippitt Hill neighborhood, removed long-established families and businesses from Fox Point, and cut a broad swath through South Providence and Olneyville communities. Years later, the intercity bus terminal was moved to the outskirts of the city, as was Travelers’ Aid.

It is unsurprising, therefore, that many bus riders perceive the entire project as an effort to relocate them to make room for a park designed for wealthier residents, tourists, and politically connected downtown businessmen. And they are right to raise this as a problem, particularly on such a costly project.

Given this public disinvestment within primarily minority communities, the possible advantages of the proposed bus hub seem almost beside the point. Furthermore, while the concept of the Dorrance Street Transit Center does show promise, the plan is still in a largely conceptual stage and the public needs to realize that developers will have a wide latitude to make changes. The public should have ample opportunity to weigh in on revisions and developments in the plan during its implementation. RIPTA should return to the excellent former system of public engagement that it used to offer, with multiple in-person meetings held across the state and in-person outreach being conducted in Kennedy Plaza. We also call on RIPTA to follow through on its promise to establish a citizen advisory council. Any rider advisory council should be filled with riders, not insiders, and created in consultation with those who use the bus frequently, including those groups that have expressed concerns about Dorrance Street.

As a statewide advocacy group dedicated to improving public transportation in Rhode Island, RI Transit Riders will remain vigilant to ensure that this new terminal meets the needs of the state’s bus passengers and that the hub remains in Kennedy Plaza until the new terminal is operational. Meanwhile, if the State is serious about creating a transportation system that is truly more equitable, it should balance the state cost for eliminating the local car tax with the introduction of free fares for all bus riders. Tax breaks for owning a car should not be a justification for creating structural disparities between travel by car or riding a bus.

Finally, a new hub must come with the long-overdue investments to improve transit as outlined in the Transit Master Plan.

Statement drafted by Patricia Raub and Amy Glidden

January 2022 Update: Where Does the Downtown Bus Hub Belong?

Read the Update

The fate of the downtown Providence bus hub, which has long anchored Kennedy Plaza, has sparked considerable controversy. Rhode Islanders who ride the bus have been angry and distressed that the hub might be moved to a worse location. But now there’s a chance things may be moving in a better direction. RIDOT, which has driven efforts to push the hub further away, now says they will present three bus hub options for feedback in a series of planned public hearings. Gov. Daniel J. McKee, for his part, has stressed the importance of public input in the process.

RI Transit Riders (RITR), long an advocate of improving transit for Rhode Islanders and involving transit users in the decision-making process, is pleased that after more than a year and half since RIDOT unveiled its Providence Multi-Hub Bus Project, there will finally be public hearings. The question is how best to use the transit funds approved by Rhode Island voters in 2014.

RIDOT proposes three options:

Option 1, the Multi-Hub, is the RIDOT plan widely rejected by transit advocates and riders that would inconveniently divide the main bus hub at Kennedy Plaza into three hubs (see below for more information). RITR is dismayed that this option is still being discussed and questions why RIDOT hasn’t dropped it.

We appreciate, then, that the state is once again considering an option of keeping and improving the Kennedy Plaza bus hub (Option 2). This economical approach is currently our preferred option, though we suggest using some of the money saved by this option to enhance the terminal building and improve lighting, signs, landscaping, and street signals.

Kennedy Plaza is the ideal bus hub location because it’s near downtown destinations where passengers want to go (City Hall, URI, hotels, the Post Office, banks, the mall, etc.) In fact, in 2018 the City of Providence completed an extensive public hearing process that yielded a widely accepted plan that is still a good model to follow. It improved safety and vehicle circulation around the Plaza, kept the buses in KP and created extra public space near the skating rink–all for only about $3.2 million. This means that, unlike all RIDOT’s other options that would exhaust and overrun the funds provided in RI’s 2014 transit bond, money from that 2014 bond would still be available for its stated purpose of funding other transit system improvements around the State.

As far as we know, the only people who did not like this plan were wealthy downtown real estate owners determined to evict as many transit riders as possible from Kennedy Plaza in a misguided attempt to rid the public space of people experiencing poverty, homelessness, and substance use disorders. We want to be clear: simply moving transit operations, at huge taxpayer expense, will not solve these deeply challenging social problems. Only investment in affordable housing, mental health, harm reduction, and other wrap-around supportive programs will.

RIDOT is adding one more option –– on Dorrance Street (Option 3), described as a single hub in a five-story building with ground-floor retail, an indoor parking garage, and a top floor of moderately priced apartments. Its proponents tout it as a complement to the adjacent I-195 Redevelopment District –– but it comes with a $77 million price tag.

Many vital questions about the project funding, features, management, timeline, and public engagement process remain for Option 3 –– and with them, our uncertainty. We hope to get some answers at the upcoming public hearings.

RI Transit Riders wants this process to be collaborative so that it genuinely improves transit and environmental sustainability, and centers equity in transportation in keeping with the state-approved Transit Master Plan. Let us make sure that our collective decision regarding the central bus hub in Providence contributes to these goals.

Statement drafted by the RI Transit Riders Steering Committee and submitted by Patricia Raub, Co-coordinator of RI Transit Riders on January 4, 2022

2020-2022: Multi-Hub Plan

Read our original webpage opposing the Multi-Hub plan

Gina Raimondo and her administration wanted to break up Kennedy Plaza, and Governor McKee has continued entertaining the idea. Their plan throws RIPTA riders under the bus, and would permanently harm RI’s bus system. But when riders speak up, we can save this essential service!

What does Raimondo’s broken “multi-hub” plan do?

Moves ALL buses out of Kennedy Plaza to one of 4 outlying locations: the train station, Dorrance St, the downtown post office and a cramped site on Dyer St that’s deserted at night.
Instead of traveling to KP, your bus would go to one of these 4 mini-hubs.

What’s wrong with this?

Most buses would be moved further from where people want to go.
It creates a permanent hassle for people who have to change buses — without buses meeting in KP, you’d have to wait for an extra transfer from one mini-hub to another.
They call this a “multi-hub” plan, but it’s really a no-hub plan! There would be no central place to change buses.
Riders were not consulted. RIPTA never asked for this hub breakup. People who don’t ride the bus are trying to push this through.
Disabled people, essential workers and others need a bus system that works better than this. Does the Raimondo administration not care?
Raimondo’s KP breakup plan wastes millions of dollars that voters approved for improving the bus system and for building transit centers outside of Providence.
We don’t need another misguided project like the ones that affected KP in 2009 and 2014-15.
The public doesn’t want this. The only people this plan serves are a few wealthy downtown building owners who don’t want bus riders near their property!

What Can You Do To Help?

Join our protests!

Sign our petition to #SaveKennedyPlaza

Tell Governor McKee to cancel the multi-hub plan: Tweet your public #NoMultiHubPVD message to @GovDanMckee if you can. Or if you can’t tweet, call the governor’s office at 401-222-2080.

Follow RI Transit Riders on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates!