For low-income RIPTA riders, new fare policy means basic services are out of reach

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PROVIDENCE — It’s 10 o’clock on a Tuesday morning and Julia Delgado is trying to catch a bus. The 42-year-old Providence resident needs to make her way to Kennedy Plaza for an eye doctor appointment, a two-and-a-half mile journey from McAuley House, the Elmwood Avenue day shelter she visits regularly for meals. The problem is that Delgado, who told Rhode Island Catholic she spends most of her income on rent, doesn’t have the fare.

“Today I have three appointments back to back and I have no RIPTIKS, no bus pass, I don’t know what to do,” she said.

Delgado is one of thousands of Rhode Island residents impacted by a recent change to the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority’s no-fare pass program for low-income elderly and disabled riders. After much public debate, the program, which has existed for more than 40 years and allowed qualifying residents to ride the bus for free, was eliminated and replaced with a reduced-fare pass program beginning February 1. Now residents like Delgado, who qualifies for disability benefits, pay 50 cents per ride and 25 cents per transfer, or one-fourth of the standard RIPTA fee.

While 50 cents may not sound like much to ride the bus, the quarters add up. RIPTA spokesperson Barbara Polichetti said the policy change will generate an additional $3.3 million per year to support the RIPTA budget, while those who depend on the program say the new reduced fare is beyond their ability to pay. Public debate about the future of the program continues on Smith Hill, where no-fare pass proponents held another rally this week to request its return.

Meanwhile, social service providers say the effects are already visible less than three months after the policy change. Many soup kitchens are reporting a drop in numbers, some by as much as 42 percent, as clients struggle to access daily services they once traveled to by bus. And while the impact varies by region, with areas more dependent on RIPTA transportation more greatly affected, those who work with the state’s low-income elderly and disabled population agree that it goes beyond a 50-cent fee as individuals are forced to rethink their basic needs and alter the patterns of daily life.

“It’s not even about the amount of meals we serve,” said Ann Wiard, director of Good Neighbors in East Providence. “A lot of these guys you get to know really well and are people you care about and worry about.”

Wiard has served as director of the soup kitchen and food pantry for seven years, including the last three years in the former school building of St. Brendan’s Church. Like McAuley House, Good Neighbors also serves as a day shelter, allowing visitors to stay between mealtimes to do laundry or use the computer. Because there are no homeless shelters in East Providence, many of the organization’s clients take the bus from Providence or Cranston in the morning and remain until the office closes in the afternoon.

As February 1 approached, some of these clients told Wiard not to expect them as often, as they would be cutting down on their bus trips to East Providence. Even with the warning, she was surprised at the extent of the change when she went to tally the numbers at the end of February, a month that usually sees an increase in visitors. From January to February, the number of meals served at Good Neighbors dropped from 2,595 to 1,500, a decrease of almost half.

“I had to actually do the numbers three times because I didn’t think it was possible,” she said.

In Pawtucket, Executive Director Adrienne Marchetti reported a similar situation at the Pawtucket Soup Kitchen — which operates out of the basement of St. Joseph Church — where the number of meals served decreased by 28 percent from January to February. Because the kitchen closes between breakfast and dinner, many clients must travel twice a day by bus to access services, doubling the daily fare. Marchetti said clients have come to her after an absence reporting they haven’t eaten in several days.

“It’s awful. I mean, these poor people,” she said. “And I don’t think they realized what the impact would be when they made these decisions at the State House level. Unfortunately they were just overlooking the human impact of this.”

Providence agencies have also seen an impact, with McAuley House serving 150–200 fewer meals per week and the Providence In-Town Churches Association reporting a decrease of one-third. In other parts of the state, however, where low-income individuals are less dependent on RIPTA bus routes to access services, the impact has been minimal.

“We haven’t seen a lot of changes because we are in an area that is compromised to begin with with transportation,” said Russ Partridge, executive director of Westerly Area Rest Meals. “It’s something certainly for folks in other parts of the state. It’s a big concern for people who are struggling with poverty.”

Of the 11 social service agencies and representatives Rhode Island Catholic contacted for this article, seven reported a change in the number of clients not typical for this time of year, while three indicated clients rarely traveled to them by bus even before February 1. Only one location, St. Martin de Porres Center in Providence’s West End, reported visitors continued to access the center regularly by bus. However, Linda Loxley, a case manager at St. Martin de Porres, said she was well aware of the issue. Loxley also works one day per week at The DaVinci Center, which she said has seen a recent increase in participation in its meal program as residents of nearby Charles Place, an affordable housing community for seniors and disabled individuals, seek a closer alternative to meal sites they once accessed by bus.

“The concern is that if they’re not coming in for the meal sites, they’re not eating,” she said.

Loxley also expressed concern that the new fare will force individuals to cut down on doctor’s appointments, as some have reported doing, though responsibility for low-income medical travel does not lie solely with RIPTA. According to Polichetti, about two-thirds of people enrolled in the reduced-fare program receive Medicaid, making them eligible for federal and state-funded transportation to non-emergency medical appointments. Rhode Island’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services contracts with a private vendor called LogistiCare to oversee the program, which uses a combination of private ride services and RIPTA vouchers to provide transportation.

Medicaid-eligible passengers who could previously hop on a bus with their no-fare pass still receive free transport to the doctor’s office, but now they must register in advance with LogistiCare, which then reimburses RIPTA for any vouchers it provides. In this way, RIPTA expects to reclaim slightly more than $1.5 million in public healthcare funds, relieving the strain on its budget while still providing free medical travel to a majority of those in its reduced-fare program.

Many of those interviewed who use LogistiCare, however, reported the service is unreliable and not an adequate replacement for the no-fare pass they used previously. Passengers complain of late pick-ups for doctor’s appointments and long waits that force them to register for transportation up to three weeks in advance. Mary Beth Blaetz, a Medicaid-eligible Pawtucket resident, shared a story of a friend who was picked up 45 minutes late for a recent appointment for back surgery.

“I do use the LogistiCare system and it’s very helpful, but it can be very undependable,” she said.

Social service providers also said the program is poorly publicized, with many of their clients unaware that it exists. In absence of a more dependable transportation method, many elderly and disabled individuals continue to rely on pocket change to access medical services.

“Now they have to make a choice to go to doctor’s appointments, go to a medical appointment, go to emotional health,” said Mary Moore, administrator at McAuley House.

In response to the outcry from social service providers and individuals, the state Division of Elderly Affairs and Office of Veterans Affairs have begun distributing $5 RIPTA fare cards at locations that serve low-income elderly and disabled individuals, announcing in January that they plan to invest $150,000 in the program through the end of the fiscal year.

Private organizations have also contributed vouchers, including the Diocese of Providence, which donated $2,000 in fare cards for distribution at meal sites earlier this year. While social service providers are grateful for the extra assistance, they emphasized the vouchers offer a brief respite to their clients, most of whom take far more than the 10 bus rides covered by the vouchers.

“It’s a short-term solution, it’s not a long-term solution,” said Marchetti.

According to Polichetti, in order to reinstate the no-fare pass program, state officials would need to develop a way to ensure RIPTA receives reimbursement for federally-funded medical travel as well as establish a dedicated source of funding. She pointed to Philadelphia and San Francisco as examples of cities that have successfully implemented a no-fare public transit program for elderly or disabled riders. Both cities, she said, have a dedicated revenue source to offset the costs of the program, a possibility Rhode Island lawmakers should consider if they hope to make the program sustainable long-term.

“To have a free bus pass program is extremely rare. It’s not unheard of,” she said. “Rhode Island has never had a dedicated reliable revenue stream to absorb this program, so we have absorbed all the costs.”

As the debate over the no-fare pass program moves from what services should be provided to who should pay the cost, advocates for elderly and disabled individuals call upon state legislators to reinstate the program during an upcoming fiscal year. In the meantime, for Rhode Island’s most vulnerable population, the cost to ride the bus may remain just out of reach.

“If I show you my feet right now, you wouldn’t believe all the calluses I have from walking,” said Delgado back at McAuley House. “We’ve got to speak up. We have to speak up. No matter how much we’re trying, we just keep hitting walls.”