RIPTA TO ACCOMMODATE DOWNTOWN JINGLE 5K

In fabulous fashion for the holiday season, runners (and walkers) will take to the streets of Providence on Sunday, December 2, 2012 for the annual Downtown Jingle 5K run. RIPTA will detour 15 routes to accommodate this road race. Click here for details. Interested in running (or walking)? Visit http://www.downtownjinglebell5k.com/ for more information on the race.

RIPTA HONORS ROSA PARKS

Friday, December 1st - the date Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat to a white male passenger - is Rosa Parks Human Rights Day. RIPTA salutes her by placing beautiful art signage commemorating her courage on buses as a reminder of who she was and what she represents.

The Rosa Parks Human Rights Day Committee will hold their 7th annual event commemorating Parks’ December 1, 1955, refusal to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. For more information on the day’s events, click here.

RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE DEDICATES NEW BUS SHELTER

On Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 11AM, Rhode Island College held a ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony in celebration of their new bus shelter. The shelter was named The Keefe Transportation Center, after the deceased mother of John Smith, Class of 63, past president of the RIC Foundation, and major donor of this project.

The shelter, designed by New England Institute of Technology (NEIT) students, truly is a collaborative work of art. RIC’s Capital Projects Group, headed by interim director Kevin Fitta, took over construction, which began in June 2012.

“Because the shelter would be situated at the entry way to the college,” RIC President Nancy Carriuolo said, “I felt it should reflect the college rather than be the standard RIPTA shelter.”
For more details on this story, click here. Visit our Facebook page to see more photos from the ceremony and of the shelter!

SPEAK UP! RIPTA WANTS YOUR OPINION!

The Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA) being conducted by RIPTA includes detailed Route Evaluations of each of RIPTA’s 58 bus routes, as well as our eight Flex zones. These evaluations are intended to identify where our system is performing well, and where changes might possibly be made to better serve our riders.
Click here to see a summary of the ideas being considered for that service and to post a comment letting us know which ideas you like, or to add a suggestion of your own!

Keep in mind that these are not final recommendations, but simply ideas that have been proposed and are under consideration. Also keep in mind that we are looking to identify changes that can be made within our existing budget. Any increase in service on one RIPTA route would need to be offset by a reduction during a different time of day or on another route (e.g. add more evening service, but reduce weekend service).

For more information about the route evaluation process, click here: Route Evaluation Overview.

LOST AND FOUND POLICY

The Lost and Found Office, located at 705 Elmwood Avenue in Providence, is the central repository for items lost and found on RIPTA property. Our system allows you to report a lost item to help facilitate recovery of your belongings. RIPTA’s Lost and Found Office employee, Tom Morin, recently suggested improvements to the Lost and Found Policy. We adopted his constructive suggestions and revised the policy. The revised policy is much more efficient and clear. Kudos to Tom for taking the initiative to improve our policy! To read our new and improved Lost and Found policy click here.

Did you lose an item on RIPTA property? Call RIPTA’s Lost and Found Office at 401-781-9400, x 133.

MEET OUR FALL RIPTA RIDER CONTEST WINNERS

OCTOBER WINNER

Meet John, our October RIPTA Rider of the Month! John is a budding filmmaker and college student; although, not a “student filmmaker”, as he likes to say; who lives in Warwick and rides RIPTA to school, as well as, all across our great State of Rhode Island to shoot footage for his movies. John saves so much money riding RIPTA that he says all students should “Ride the RIPTA” and leave the car at home. Click here to view John’s winning video!

NOVEMBER WINNER

Meet Sonya and Will who are from Resources for Human Development Rhode Island, our November RIPTA Rider Contest Winner of the Month! Sonya is the Rhode Island School Services Client Services Coordinator at RHDRI and Will is one of her clients! RHDRI is a program for people with special needs that teach their clients, through an arts-based curriculum, the life skills necessary to live and travel independently. Teaching their clients how to ride RIPTA is a big part of their program; one that Will has taken advantage of for years! Will so enjoys riding RIPTA that he and his counselor, Henry, wrote an original RIPTA song and entered their video for the contest. Click here to view Henry and Will’s winning video and all of the RIPTA Rider Contest video submissions.

Make sure to check back here next month to meet our December RIPTA Rider of the Month!

IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO WIN!

RIPTA is now accepting submissions for its first social media video contest, the “RIPTA Rider Contest.”

The contest, which runs through March 31, 2013, asks riders to create a video describing their favorite RIPTA story or best reason to ride. Entries can address topics such as their favorite memory of riding on a RIPTA bus or trolley; what RIPTA means to you; and why someone should ride RIPTA.

RIPTA will pick nine (9) winning entries from the videos submitted.

Winners receive the following:
• The chance to tell their story and tell their stories in TV & Radio Commercials
• One annual RIPTA bus pass valid for travel on any RIPTA bus for 365 days from the date of issue
• One winner will get the chance to star in a RIPTA TV commercial

For more information on this contest or to submit your video, visit RIPTA’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RideRIPTA. A full listing of rules and guidelines is available there. Once submitted, your video will then have to be approved by a RIPTA representative. Once approved by RIPTA, your video will be live for all to view on RIPTA’s Facebook page.

The video contest, sponsored by the College Bound Fund, is the latest step by RIPTA to publicize and promote transit.

For more information, please call 781-9400 or visit https://www.facebook.com/RideRIPTA.

RIPTA IN THE COMMUNITY

STUFF A BUS

Help RIPTA and 92 PRO FM “Stuff a Bus” on Sunday, December 2, 2012 from 12PM-3PM at Benny’s located at 5600 Post Road in East Greenwich. Our goal is to stuff a RIPTA bus chock full of new toys that will be donated to Hasbro Children’s Hospital of RI. Give back this holiday season by bringing an unwrapped new toy to this event.