Not operating in 2010...?
March 23, 2010 - Providence, Rhode Island... The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA), announced yesterday that due to a lack of response from a recently issued Request for Proposal (RFP) to operate water ferry service from Providence to Newport, ferry service will not be available for the 2010 season in Rhode Island.
RIPTA issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a ferry service operator on January 5, 2010. Due to lack of funding to support this service, no operating subsidy for the deployment of the service was included in the RFP. Included in the RFP was supplying the selected operator with a docking facility, parking, ticketing office, trolley connections to the docking facility, rest room facilities, street signage to docking facility, and RIPTA in-house marketing services. The deadline for submitting responses to the RFP was February 17, 2010. As of the March 22, 2010 RIPTA Board Meeting, no bids had been submitted. Since there were no bids to review and vote on, the Board reached the consensus that ferry service between Providence and Newport will be unavailable for the 2010 season. No Board vote was taken.