Abel Collins of RI Sierra Club heads to the General Assembly today to advocate for RIPTA. From Abel: “After pouring my heart and soul into the effort to save RIPTA, I am thrilled to carry more than 5500 petition signatures to the House Finance Committee today in support of the Public Transit Investment Act. It’s a pivotal moment for RI transit and for me, and I am ready. Statehouse, here I come.” Thank you, Abel, and thanks to everyone that signed to preserve public transit in this state.

Wickford Junction and T.F. Green: $2.25 each way ($3 starting July 1, 2012)

Wickford Junction and Providence: $2.50 each way ($3.25 starting July 1, 2012)

Wickford Junction and Boston’s South Station: $9 each way ($11 starting July 1, 2012)

Half price for seniors and those with physical disabilities

Free for children age 11 and younger when accompanied by a paying adult

The extension project finished ahead of schedule and under budget, taking less than two years to complete. Let’s hope, since they built it, we will come. This is a tremendous gift from RIDOT and the state of Rhode Island, with the specific aim of reducing automobile congestion. Use the train!

As the world economy crashes against debt and resource limits, more and more countries are responding by attempting to salvage what are actually their most expendable features—corrupt, insolvent banks and bloated militaries—while leaving the majority of their people to languish in “austerity.” The result, predictably, is a global uprising. This current set of conditions and responses will lead, sooner or later, to social as well as economic upheaval—and a collapse of the support infrastructure on which billions depend for their very survival.