Public Services

Senate President calls for resignation of RIPTA CEO

On Friday evening, Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio released a statement calling for Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) CEO Scott Avidisian to step down, and is submitting legislation to put the agency under the control of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) and it’s Director, Peter Alviti.

Rhode Island News: Senate President calls for resignation of RIPTA CEO

February 18, 2023, 1:43 pm

By Steve Ahlquist

Update, since going to press with story Uprise RI has received two additional statements, from RIPTA Board Chairman Normand Benoit and from which have been added to the pot below.

At 5:30pm on a Friday, Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio (Democrat, District 4, North Providence) released a statement calling for Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) CEO Scott Avidisian to step down, and is submitting legislation to put the agency under the control of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) and it’s Director, Peter Alviti.

RIPTA has been plagued by enduring challenges that have only grown more severe over the years.,” said the Senate President in his statement. “Despite federal funding that presented an unprecedented opportunity to make necessary reforms, there has been no change in direction. Foreseeable challenges, such as a driver shortage at the start of the school year, were left unaddressed until there was a crisis. There have been unacceptable management gaffes, such as the granting a no-bid lobbying contract to a political ally, apparently without the Board’s knowledge. No meaningful plan to confront the agency’s fiscal challenges has been presented to the General Assembly, and we are again faced with putting band aids on a gaping wound.

A quality, well-functioning public transit system is vital to the people of our state and our economy. It is time for wholesale reform at RIPTA.

The time has come to place the agency under the auspices of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, and I will be submitting legislation to that effect. I am asking that CEO Scott Avedisian step down immediately, and that the governor conduct a national search for someone with expertise in transit to head Rhode Island’s public transit office, under this new structure.

Finally, I have asked Chairman Mark McKenney (Democrat, District 30, Warwickt) to convene the Senate Committee on Rules, Government Ethics & Oversight to conduct an oversight hearing of the agency.

RIPTA Boardmember Patrick Crowley, who is also the Secretary-Treasurer of the RI AFLCIO, tweeted his support for the Senate President’s ideas.

Transportation advocates, like Rhode Island Transit Riders, however, are wary about putting RIPTA under Director Alviti, calling the Director “car-centric,” citing his history of not truly engaging with the public on transportation matters, and not taking climate concerns seriously. Christian Rosalund published an oped in Uprise RI, calling on the Senate to not re-confirm Director Alviti for another term running RIDOT, but given the Senate President’s enthusiastic support and his ironclad grip on the chamber, that re-confirmation is all but assured.

Scott Avidisian had spent early Friday at GrowSmart RI‘s Transit-Oriented Development forum where he was introduced by GrowSmarts’ Executive Director Scott Wolf as a”long time champion of community revitalization and expanding forms of transportation choices for all Rhode Islanders.” Wolf added that under Avidisian RIPTA has been a model on how state agencies “can and should engage with the public and with stakeholders.”

At that same GrowSmart forum Rhode Island’s Speaker of the House Joseph Shekarchi expressed friendship and support for Avidisian, saying that the being the CEO of RIPTA is “not an easy job. Everybody wants service, nobody wants to pay for it. Everybody wants free RIPTA. There’s no free. It may be free for the people who ride it but it still costs the rest of us taxpayers [Editor’s Note: Bus riders are also RI taxpayers]. Avidisian has done a good job, as best as he can. We’re going to continue to give Scott the resources he needs. We will continue to look at ways to be smart and productive regarding affordable housing, transit-oriented housing… they are not separate issues. They can all co-exist.”

Shekarchi’s comments, of course, were made hours before the Senate President issued his press release.

There is a lot at stake, and the timing of the Senate President’s statement is telling. The federal government just passed the largest investment in public transportation and infrastructure in decades, and the head of RIPTA will be instrumental in determining how those funds are spent. Whoever controls these funds will shape the course of transportation in Rhode Island for generations to come.


Statement from RIPTA Board Chairman Normand Benoit release on Saturday:

Over the last four years as RIPTA’s board chair, I have had a chance to see first-hand the progress that’s been made at the agency during Scott Avedisian’s tenure as CEO. While it’s important to acknowledge where we’ve fallen short, the record as a whole is strong.

This comes into sharper focus in light of the fact that RIPTA outperforms similar agencies across the country in almost every key performance indicator. Despite a chronic lack of state funding, RIPTA still provides more trips, in a larger area, at a more effective cost per trip than other transit agencies that serve similar population areas or provide statewide service anywhere in America. RIPTA also outperforms its peers in total trips, fare revenues, farebox recovery and trips per capita. It is an impressive, if under-appreciated, record.

RIPTA’s pension plan is stronger than it has been in years and the agency has a balanced budget. Meanwhile, the federal government has expressed its confidence in RIPTA by investing over $45 million in federal grants. Today, as we continue to recover from the pandemic, RIPTA provides 900,000 rides per month to Rhode Islanders.

Putting DOT in charge of public transit in Rhode Island would not be sound public policy. DOT’s responsibility is to keep our state’s roads and bridges in a high state of repair. This mission is very different from RIPTA’s mission to provide transit riders with safe, reliable service.

Subordinating RIPTA to DOT was proposed, and rejected, only three years ago. Nothing has changed since then, and I am certain that I speak for our riders, and all supporters of public transit across Rhode Island when I say that making RIPTA an adjunct to DOT would be a grave error.

In fact, in a letter to Governor Raimondo when she proposed the same thing in 2020, Grow Smart RI recommended just the opposite approach, stating ‘it seems to make good sense to consider reassigning all transitoperatingfunctions that currently reside at RIDOT to RIPTA.

I look forward to appearing before the Senate Committee on Rules, Government Ethics & Oversight to answer any questions and address any concerns that any members may have. I continue to support Scott Avedisian as CEO of this organization and I am confident that he will continue to work with RIPTA’s committed staff and the Board in the best interests of the people we serve. I look forward to a constructive, informed dialogue with state leaders and our many stakeholders about how to provide RIPTA with the funding and support it needs to achieve its full potential.


RI Transit Riders  co-chairs Amy Glidden and Patricia Raub, released the following statement Monday morning:

RI Transit Riders does not support Senate President Ruggerio’s recent call for Scott Avedisian to resign and for RIDOT to take over RIPTA. 

We have not always agreed with Avedisian’s decisions, but during his administration RIPTA has been improving its performance as of late. The Agency has now raised wages for drivers and is actively recruiting additional staff in the face of a national shortage of drivers. RIPTA has improved its lost service record significantly since early fall. It has begun to implement the State’s Transit Master Plan (TMP), which will enhance public transit for people throughout the state and help Rhode Island meet its climate goals. 

If President Ruggerio is truly concerned about public transit in Rhode Island, we are surprised he did not reach out to stakeholders, including RI Transit Riders, before deciding to issue his statement. If President Ruggerio really wants to aid RIPTA, he will support legislation in this session to allocate the additional funding needed to fully realize the aims articulated in the TMP. President Ruggerio will also work with the General Assembly to provide a sustainable source of funding for RIPTA that is not dependent on the gas tax. There are lawmakers already working on the issue who can be consulted, along with riders and stakeholders like us who are eager to help. 

We urge President Ruggerio to reconsider his proposal to have RIPTA, with its focus on riders and public engagement, taken over by RIDOT, a car-centric agency with no public engagement and a long history of controversy. We note that RIDOT removed a passenger terminal from the plans for the Pawtucket Central Falls Station, an error that RIPTA is now remedying. The Multi-Hub plan, which the public overwhelmingly opposed and defeated, is one of RIDOT’S more notorious failures. RIDOT did not consult riders nor collaborate adequately with RIPTA in planning that project. This leaves us with no confidence that a RIDOT-controlled RIPTA will be in the best interests of riders. 

And in our worsening climate crisis, RIPTA has a beneficial role to play. Even RIPTA’s diesel buses are better for the climate than electric cars, and expanding and electrifying bus service will do a lot for climate goals. But what we have been seeing instead is an ongoing neglect of RIPTA. This is one of the biggest ways that the state’s climate potential is being squandered. Given RIDOT’s record, putting RIPTA under RIDOT will just prolong our neglect of climate goals. 

Wherever buses are concerned, positive change starts with listening to RIPTA’s riders, not making arbitrary decisions in consultation with outside actors. With RIDOT in charge, public transit in Rhode Island will get worse, not better. We would be glad to work on transit issues with President Ruggerio and others in the future, as long as riders are always consulted.


This is a developing story.