Bill Would End Contract with Firm Engaged in Study of New Bus Hub
Legislation would 'save money by ultimately canceling a very expensive and unaffordable bus project'
May 30, 2025
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PROVIDENCE — Whether the state will move its bus hub out of Kennedy Plaza has been an ongoing debate for years, with the latest plans to build a new transit center near the train station.
But a bill currently before the General Assembly would put a halt to that project, canceling the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority’s contract with Next Wave, the agency’s private partner on the hub project.
If passed, the bill (H6096) would prevent RIPTA from using any state or bond funding on the project after Sept. 1.
Next Wave is currently in the second phase the project, the site search, and has narrowed the new bus hub location to two parcels near the train station.
The overall contract with Next Wave is about $17 million, but that money is paid to the company only as it completes project tasks. As of last October, RIPTA CEO Chris Durand said Next Wave had received about $4 million from the contract.
Rep. Enrique Sanchez, D-Providence, the bill’s sponsor, said, at a recent House Finance Committee hearing, the legislation would “push to save money by ultimately canceling a very expensive and unaffordable bus project.”
Sanchez noted the bill would force RIPTA to use an off-ramp clause in the contract with Next Wave to stop spending money on the project.
Several bus riders and advocates spoke or wrote in favor of the bill at the May 21 hearing.
The bill “does not close the door to relocating the bus hub, but it does require RIPTA to exercise its option to terminate the current contract with Next Wave, a contract which was supposed to cover robust public engagement followed by initial design for a new hub,” wrote longtime transit advocate and Rhode Island Transit Riders member Barry Schiller. “We have not seen enough public engagement, and there has been no serious effort in this contract to decide whether relocating the hub is even better than staying in Kennedy Plaza.”
Central Falls resident Daisy Paz wrote that the possible locations for a new transit hub would be more difficult to access because they are on a hill. “Rather than spending the money to relocate the bus hub, I urge you to invest in improving and modernizing Kennedy Plaza,” she wrote.
Randall Rose, of the Kennedy Plaza Resilience Coalition, has been one of the loudest critics of the possible hub move and the Next Wave contract.
“There have been many proposals to move the bus hub out of Kennedy Plaza, and what they have in common is [there] are none that makes sense from a public transit point of view,” he told ecoRI News.
Rose said he isn’t strictly against a bus hub near the train station.
“The train station is not the craziest location they’ve proposed,” he said, “and they’ve proposed basically just about any site where they think they can find vacant real estate to move the hub to. It’s not that the Kennedy Plaza Resilience Coalition is opposed to any kind of move of the bus hub, it’s just we would only support it if it actually was an improvement.”
Rose said the proposed parcels are smaller than Kennedy Plaza’s current footprint, even though overcrowding has been one of the arguments for moving the hub. He also agreed with Schiller that there hasn’t been enough public input on the project so far.
RIPTA held public meetings about the project last summer but delayed a final decision on the site location, which was originally supposed to be announced in the fall.
“Over the past year we have solicited feedback from thousands of Rhode Islanders and completed an analysis of several possible sites for a new transit center,” RIPTA spokesperson Cristy Raposo Perry wrote in a statement to ecoRI News. “Rhode Islanders overwhelmingly expressed support for a transit center with multi-modal transportation options, in addition to a location near the train station.
“While we are confident that a modern transit center can improve ridership, the downtown area and the rider experience, we are going to take our time to analyze the most viable options and the cost associated given the agency’s current budget gap.”
The committee voted to hold the bill for further study.
Kennedy Plaza sure seems the right place–as it has seemed over all these years–to have the bus hub. Whatever the motivation for moving it, the suggestion that the city and state “invest in improving and modernizing Kennedy Plaza” makes as much sense now as it did when this whole process began.
thanks for covering this issue, significant for the future of transit in RI.
I believe RIPTA’s Cristy Raposa Perry’s comment that RIers “overwhelmingly” preferred a train station location is somewhat misleading – they were not given a choice of staying in Kennedy Plaza as alternative . That said, they did prefer a train station site to other KP alternatives, and I can see the appeal of that. However, relatively few passengers transfer between buses and trains, and there is already extensive service to the train station on lines R, 3, 4, 50, 51, 55, 56, 57, 58, 66. The KP area, not the train station is where most passengers actually want to go.
Kennedy Plaza does have problems including the perception it is not safe. But for far less cost than moving to new hub, KP can be improved with enhanced security, better signage, lighting, shelters, real time information, and landscaping, as well as refreshing the terminal building.
I think there is a real possibility this may happen despite the wishes of some politically connected downtown realtors and their allies who want the passengers gone. It is just too expensive to move, there is no magic developer who will pay for it, there will be no Federal largesse from the Trump regime, and there is no netter alternative location that makes sense and would be accepted.
I agree with the above comments, thanks for testifying Barry S. RIPTA keeps saying that KP does not allow for multimodal use-but many take advantage of the bike racks on all busses. And multimodal also includes walking, so KP is an ideal location for both multimodal options.
I filled out one of the public surveys, but I had to note that KP was not listed among the choices-so a bogus survey!
Thank you, Barry! The voiceof reason! Yes, we were not given the option of retaining and improving the KP site. I appreciate all your points.