Providence-Newport Water Ferry, Providence

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.

Went down there today and was told the service is not running!!!! Whats up with that. This is a great concepts but otherwise whats the point if they people down only to be told to turn around there is no ferry.

IT was awesome you can sit on top or bottom i would not recommend siting on top it hurts your ears the bottom you can see the water splash the windows and quieter in providence theres not much to do but theres this five level mall it was awesome

Saves 20 mins off the bus ride. No stops, and cheap. Handcapped friendly 100%, I am a quadriplegic and used it many times this summer to come and go to the island, get there by the bay is the way,I must say.