Kingston's under renovation now for high platforms and 3rd track. I think they'll be done by end of 2013. Westerly needs its grant application approved, but Amtrak is plucking the stations it owns one by one so that is next in the queue after Kingston. I bet that gets funded next year and starts in '14 because they already know what they're going to do and the expense is comparable with Kingston. At some point after that they'll keep pushing west to take care of Mystic and close out renovations of the last stop east of NYC that they own outright.
RIDOT is targeting 2018-20 for initiation of service. I would bet on the latter just because that's usually how it goes. Probably will be limited service at the start because intermediate stops like Cranston and Davisville will be infilled later. The key piece of infrastructure needed is Pawtucket station and the reconfiguration and upgrade of all the freight track Providence-north. All of that is in final design and will certainly be done within 4-5 years because it serves the Providence Line, but Pawtucket would be RIDOT's turnback and layover for the service. They'd also have to add northbound-side platforms at T.F. Green and Wickford + the requisite crossover work, but those are cheap and easy jobs because the stations are pre-prepped to just drop the new platforms in-place. Really not too much construction work to do to get the NEC totally ready on the existing stops for starter service. It mainly hinges on Pawtucket happening on-time, which seems likely.
Vehicle procurements are going to be interesting. If they buy new that's usually 4 years from bid to build unless they do what Shore Line East did and just bought secondhand diesel equipment for starters. And also depends a lot on how they set up the operator bids. If Amtrak runs it they definitely have to do like SLE and buy their own equipment. If the T runs it they can do pool service with the existing Providence Line fleet since they already have an ownership stake, and the T would procure expansion equipment to flesh out the pool. It times exactly when they have to procure new locomotives to replace the 1988-era F40's and the last half of the GP40 fleet remaining after the current new order...and the dilemma on whether they finally go electric or be bullheaded (and piss off Amtrak) about clinging to their diesels.
They also have to figure out what they're doing for fare collection. Tether off the MBCR fare structure or go homegrown with something integrated to RIPTA?
Well,
here's what a full-build RIDOT line looks like Westerly to Woonsocket if they crib the MBCR fare structure and figure ~10 miles = 1 zone.
Lines up surprisingly well for a future Franklin Line extension to (Zone 7) Blackstone as well. Extending to Worcester would require rezoning but that's too far in the future to seriously impact considerations on Day 1 service.
It costs $2 for a single seat ride on any RIPTA bus. One transfer is $2.50. Extending the MBCR fare tables gets us $2.50 Pawtucket-Olneyville, Cranston-East Greenwich, or Woonsocket - Lincoln; and $3 Woonsocket-Providence or Providence-Airport. Interlining fares isn't that difficult - you take a $.50 transfer off the bus with you and use that for your Interzone 1 fare, or use that and pay another $.50 on the train for Interzone 2. ($.75 for Interzone 3.) Coming from the other direction, a punched ticket or receipt from the train should be accepted as valid payment to board a bus - it's that simple.
The thrust of what I'm trying to put together is that even at current build (five stations only), we're not only failing to capitalize on our rail infrastructure, we're actively squandering it:
- 62 buses daily stop at the Route 102&2 Park 'n' Ride, 1/2 a mile from Wickford Junction. 4 out of those 62 also stop at Wickford Junction. The park 'n' ride is free, but don't worry, the 1/2 mile walk to Wickford is extremely unfriendly to pedestrians.
- 55 buses daily stop at Kingston Station - 36 #66 buses pass through, and 19 #64 buses either originate or terminate here. Of these, maybe five at most are actually timed to facilitate transfers to or from any of the 18 daily Amtrak arrivals at Kingston.
- Westerly isn't even afforded a real fixed bus route. The #90 Park 'n' Rides bus originates and terminates from Westerly Station (two originating in the morning, two terminating in the evening - four total), but other than that, Westerly's only service is an awful Flex Route. (Westerly's surrounding towns feature no transit whatsoever.)
Now, I get that start-up service is going to be limited. It certainly has to be. That's no reason NOT to start growing some of the demand now, and it's certainly no reason to continue actively shooting Wickford Junction in the foot.
Yes, Wickford is overbuilt. No, it probably wasn't the best choice of which station to build. But it's there, now, and our future successes rely on that station being the best damn station it can possibly be or else we're never getting the approval for anything else. We're up to about 40 daily boardings there. That's completely pathetic.
It would cost us nothing to eliminate 102&2 Park 'n' Ride as a stop on the 66, and send all 62 of those buses to Wickford instead. It would cost us nothing to adjust the 64's schedule with Amtrak trains in mind, and then have the 64 be Newport's link to the Amtrak services.
It would cost us only political willpower to set up bus transfer + $0.75 boarding fares for Wickford - Providence or vice versa, and free rides on the 66 with a valid Interzone 3 ticket or pass.
Westerly, like most things in Rhode Island, isn't terribly big. You can cover the entire city in a single fixed bus route between the train station and Watch Hill - no flex bus required.
Using the infrastructure in place for the terrible Park 'n' Rides bus, we could put in a fixed bus route Westerly Station - Ashaway - Richmond - Kingston Station - URI, and anticipate that most people riding that bus and transferring to the 66 are going to be people riding RIDOT's train once it's up and running.
Kingston Station isn't walkable to/from URI. The 66, 64 and whatever Westerly - URI bus gets put in are going to be the primary non-driving way to get between the two. Those schedules can all be consolidated, the same way the 50/55/56/57 are at the Amtrak Station in Providence, to have a bus departing for URI every 20 minutes. That's a big fucking deal.
None of these things are particularly outlandish, and none of them cost you more than a handful of new buses and knocking some heads together. It's NOT THAT HARD to fix the problems that RIPTA has.
