Most of Rhode Island is suffering from public service cuts in the wake of the Governor and the Democratic Leadership’s budget.  For instance, RIPTA’s budget is  12 million in the red.  This has the RIPTA board scrambling to make up the difference through service cuts and fare hikes.  In this spurious and probably futile attempt to balance the budget only nominal attempts have been made to reach out to RIPTA riders. This had community activists up in arms at yesterday’s RIPTA board meeting:  

A group from the northwest corner of the state came to yesterday’s meeting to defend the 9 Bus, which runs from Kennedy Plaza to Zambarano Hospital in Burrillville. . . .

The board [also] heard a demand from a student group,  Students for a Democratic Society, that it drop consideration of service cuts to balance its budget and roll back a fare increase that took effect July 1, which is expected to produce $662,000 in additional revenue.

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And beer. The Department of Environmental Management has declared Saturday another Air Quality Alert Day. This means all RIPTA bus lines are free — including the beach routes (but not special services). So, you could go to the beach where they have sand and seaweed and sunburns OR you can just zip back and forth to the IndieArts Fest in Kennedy Plaza all day long.

Fest sched/1PM to 11PM/three music stages/a groovy light-show tunnel/ cute dj’s/a beer garden/a yard sale/did I mention the cute dj’s

I’ve just been informed that our beloved RIPTA has just brought Google Transit to Rhode Island (and in so doing, confounded the sites “city (comma) state” naming convention, as we are listed as “Statewide, RI”). For those not familiar with Google Transit, there’s actually no need to visit the site directly. Whenever you use Google Map’s to “get directions” for RIPTA accessible locations, you’ll be presented with a “Take Public Transit” option. Instead of driving directions, Google will show you what bus(es) to take along with their expected departure time(s). For example, suppose you’re flying into TF Green to attend tonight’s Local 121 Primary Shindig, you can do this. Public transport enthusiasts rejoice!