RIPTA delays fares for seniors, disabled to Feb.

The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) is facing pushback after announcing the end of its program that enables 13,000 low-income seniors or people with disabilities to ride without paying a fare.

A fare of 50 cents to board and 25 cents to transfer – a quarter of the regular fare – was supposed to have been implemented January 1 but was delayed until February 1, as post-holiday weeks “may be a difficult time to adjust for many riders.”

To qualify for the program, participants must be at least 65 years old and/or be certified as having a disability and not have an annual income in excess of 200 percent of the federal poverty level. A press release from the Coalition to Preserve No-Fare Bus Passes states that according to the Homelessness Outreach Project, many homeless people rely on the passes to get to shelters and meal sites. Without the passes, many more people would be driven to panhandling, they claim. Others on the program use their passes for things like food shopping, prescriptions, social services including food pantries, recovery support groups, senior centers and other programs, the coalition states.

"This will be a very unhappy New Year's Day indeed for 13,000 low-income disabled persons and seniors who rely on this service," said Senior Agenda Coalition Executive Director Bill Flynn in a statement. "These activities are absolutely essential to preventing them from becoming completely isolated. “It's well-established that social isolation leads to poorer health and shorter lives," he added.

Flynn, who was frustrated with getting “false and misleading” information from RIPTA, told the Beacon that the coalition spoke with and surveyed hundreds of people on whether they’d be able to afford the new fare. Many said they wouldn’t, as they take 20 to 30 trips per month, and some told the coalition they would be able to afford it only if they didn’t take as many trips, Flynn said.

The coalition agrees “[RIPTA] should get paid something and that cost of these no fare rides should be subsidized,” Flynn said, but not at the expense of those who can’t afford them.

The coalition is publicly calling on RIPTA and Governor Gina Raimondo to “provide a plan to permanently fund no-fare passes for those who need them.” Flynn said the coalition hosted a rally and that members have sent 1,000 postcards and numerous phone calls to Raimondo’s office.

Though she recognizes RIPTA’s role in being a “social service,” RIPTA Director of Public Affairs Barbara Polichetti said the program is simply not sustainable. During peak hours, Polichetti said one in four people are not paying a fare and, in non-peak hours, one in three. Passengers in the program took 5.7 million free trips on RIPTA in the 2016 fiscal year that ended June 30.

"I don't know how you can run any business with one in four non-paying customers," Polichetti said.

But there's a complicated history to the issue as well, she explained. The law, dating back to roughly 1975, required RIPTA to provide free transportation to low-income or disabled individuals. However, Polichetti said the mandate was largely unfunded with only a small portion funded through the Department of Elderly Affairs.

Polichetti detailed how RIPTA had been having conversations on how to consistently fund the program if it were to continue – the conversation got more critical in 2014 when the state brought in a private company to help manage Medicaid trips (people on Medicaid get transportation for non-emergency medical trips). Medicaid requires people to take the least expensive form of transport in order to fund the trip, which often came in the form of public transportation under the state, Polichetti said. As more than 85 percent of passengers in the no-fare program are on Medicaid, this provided RIPTA with a steady source of revenue.

However, once the third party came in, it was up to them how people got their transportation and RIPTA lost $5.8 million, Polichetti said. At the same time, enrollment in the no-fare program increased. RIPTA had less money to handle more need. There was no incentive for people to get their Medicaid trips through the company if people were riding for free, she added.

In spring of 2015, the General Assembly passed a budget amendment that allowed RIPTA to charge up to half fare for low-income seniors and persons with disability. Polichetti said RIPTA was in the middle of a fare study at the time. When the issue went to the board in December 2015, it voted not to go up to half fare but to a quarter fare, which brought them to the 50-cent fare/25-cent transfer currently slated for implementation. That measure was supposed to go into effect on July 1 of this year, but the General Assembly put extra money in the budget, enabling a delay until January 1, 2017. The February 1 delay was announced this week.

RIPTA anticipates the new fare would bring in an estimated $1.4 million in fares and transfers and, potentially, another $1.9 million in Medicaid reimbursements if people used Medicaid for medical trips, Polichetti said.

Polichetti emphasizes that RIPTA understands the social service aspect of being a transit authority and knows those who use its services have needs but that, unlike many other states who have free fare programs, there simply is no dedicated source of funding for Rhode Island's program.

"We all think having benefits for people in need is a good idea, but the question is how do we do this?" Polichetti said. "We are a transit authority and there's a huge social service, which we're trying to balance with our chartered mission," which is a tricky balancing act of providing for all Rhode Islanders without excluding a particular group, serving one at expense of others, or being insensitive to need.

In its announcement of the February 1 delay, RIPTA said, “The efforts between RIPTA and other state agencies are ongoing to balance RIPTA’s budget constraints with riders’ needs.”

Governor Raimondo seconded the sentiment of continuing efforts in a statement provided to the Beacon Wednesday.

“When it comes to our most vulnerable riders of public transit, we must make sure we are weighing all options because mobility is an important part of being able to live independently. I am grateful to the RIPTA Board of Directors for voting to defer implementation of reduced fares in order to give riders more time to adjust, especially after the holiday season,” she said. “In the meantime, we will keep working to find a solution that balances the needs of these riders with RIPTA's fiscal constraints.”

The Coalition to Preserve No-Fare Bus Passes is keeping up its work as well, stating that members vow to “continue its advocacy campaign, with the governor and General Assembly leaders, to find a permanent funding mechanism to preserve this vital service.”