The Providence Journal has a great editorial today about mass transit issues in Rhode Island. RIPTA, the public transit system (buses) in the state, is going through a financial crisis, one seemingly worse than their annual crisis. Unfortunately, the governor, Donald Carcieri, is basically a complete idiot and doesn’t really listen to anyone who actually lives in the state, with maybe the exception of the rich white folks in the suburbs who don’t give a crap about and don’t need public transit as they drive around in their SUVs.
RIPTA is now saying that they will likely need to cut some routes to save money because of high gas prices. If the governor and the general assembly were smart, they’d allocate more money for RIPTA rather than depend solely on the guys in Washington to get us some money. We pay a gas tax, but where does that go? It’s most likely going right into the general fund. Perhaps they should raise the gas tax and give all (or at least most, RIPTA does need the roads to be improved and the bridges to be repaired) of the money to RIPTA.
The longer I stay here, the more I understand just why the people in Rhode Island are so bitter. The government goes ’round and ’round and never gets anything done. They work for themselves and not for the people who elected them. It’s actually pretty sad. If you have ever even considered running for office in RI, please do. We needs new bodies, not more of the same old corrupt politics that have brought this state into the problems that exist. Dump the state employee unions, they’re great and all helping the people who belong to them, but the state employees aren’t really in too much danger of losing benefits of getting poor wages. Force them to pay a higher percentage for their medical coverage and dental coverage, something more in line with what people in the private sector pay (something around 15-20%). They’ll be all up in arms and the unions will threaten strikes, but stick to your guns. Working for the state should not make you any more special than working in the private sector. That’ll give the state more money to deal with the state budget crisis, prevent fewer cuts, and allow the state to give more money to RIPTA, even though Carcieri would probably love to see RIPTA stop running. He won’t even give a boost to it by allowing the state colleges to have a U-Pass (a program that allows college students free or discounted bus rides by swiping their IDs).
Anyway, public transit is the way to go here. There’s no reason RIPTA should have to reduce the number of routes and increase the headways so that the bus becomes basically unuseable for most people, especially those who rely on it to get to and from work. If anything RIPTA should be increasing the number of routes and decreasing headways so that more people find it useful.
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