February 25, 2015

The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) will provide its last run of special bus service on Thursday, February 26, 2015, to assist commuters affected by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) decision to suspend commuter rail service south of Providence.   Peter Pan Bus Lines will provide special afternoon and evening bus service on Thursday, February 26 to assist those commuters.  Beginning Friday, February 27, 2015, RIPTA will no longer provide this special bus service; Peter Pan Bus Lines will be covering all morning, afternoon and evening trips. 

Last week, RIPTA implemented special morning and afternoon bus service to transport MBTA passengers from Providence to commuter rail stations to the south. The two stations south of Providence are the intermodal center on Jefferson Boulevard (which is connected by skywalk to T.F. Green Airport) in Warwick and the Wickford Junction train station in North Kingstown. RIPTA coordinated its emergency bus service to coincide as closely as possible with the times that trains would normally be connecting Warwick and Wickford to Providence, where the MBTA service is still running to Boston.

“RIPTA was able to quickly mobilize and assist commuters affected by the MBTA rail service suspension,” said Barbara Polichetti, Director of Public Affairs for the transit authority.  “However, as RIPTA must meet regularly scheduled service demands, we’re unable to provide this auxiliary service long-term.  We look forward to helping commuters transition to Peter Pan Bus Lines for their afternoon and evening trips.”

RIPTA encourages passengers to contact Peter Pan Bus Lines or the MBTA for updates.

Passengers can view the MBTA schedule at www.mbta.com/winter.  In order to figure out the temporary bus schedule, riders can look for their usual train numbers and adjust for the fact that any departures or arrivals to or from Warwick and Wickford will be covered by a RIPTA bus rather than the train. They should also take into account that travel times may be a few minutes longer due to traffic.  

On Thursday, February 26, 2015, RIPTA will provide special bus service for the following MBTA train times:

Northbound from Wickford to Providence:

• Bus leaves Wickford Junction at 4:50 a.m.; leaves intermodal station at T.F. Green at 5:05 a.m. and arrives in Providence at 5:20 a.m. (Train 802)
• Bus leaves Wickford Junction at 5:48 a.m.; leaves intermodal station at T.F. Green at 6:03 a.m. and arrives in Providence at 6:28 a.m. (Train 806)
• Bus leaves Wickford Junction at 6:27 a.m.; leaves intermodal station at T.F. Green at 6:42 a.m. and arrives in Providence at 7:07 a.m. (Train 808)
• Bus leaves Wickford Junction at 7:32 a.m.; leaves intermodal station at T.F. Green at 7:49 a.m. and arrives in Providence at 8:14 a.m. (Train 812)
• Bus leaves Wickford Junction at 9:00 a.m.; leaves intermodal station at T.F. Green at 9:15 a.m. and arrives in Providence at 9:40 a.m. (Train 814)
• Bus leaves Wickford Junction at 1:00 p.m.; leaves intermodal station at T.F. Green at 1:15 p.m. and arrives in Providence at 1:40 p.m. (Train 818)

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