Rhode Island Public Transit Authority

RIPTA Gillig #0517 picks up customers on the #51 line at Kennedy Plaza.
Slogan	Ride The Wave
Founded	1966
Headquarters	705 Elmwood Avenue Providence, Rhode Island
Locale	Rhode Island (statewide)
Service type	transit bus, paratransit, demand responsive transport, rapid transit bus (2014)
Routes	62
Hubs	3 (Kennedy Plaza, Newport Gateway Center, Pawtucket Transportation Center)
Lounge	3 (one at each hub)
Fleet	251 (fixed-route) 16 (Flex)
Daily ridership	54,735 (2013)
Fuel type	Diesel, Diesel-electric, CNG
Chief executive	Ray Studley
Website	www.ripta.com

The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) provides public transportation, primarily buses, in the state of Rhode Island. The main hub of the RIPTA system is Kennedy Plaza, a large bus terminal in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. The authority serves over 71,000 people a day, in 38 out of 39 Rhode Island communities.

RIPTA was created in 1964 by the Rhode Island General Assembly to supervise what had been previously a system of privately run bus and trolley systems. RIPTA began operating buses on July 1, 1966, inheriting services provided previously by the United Transit Company. Ridership had decreased in Rhode Island after the construction of the Interstate Highway System, and although it never returned to 1940s levels, RIPTA's ridership has increased slightly over the years as RIPTA has improved and expanded service.

RIPTA operates services in several categories. All services are operated from two garages, in Providence at 265 Melrose Street and Middletown at 350 Coddington Highway.

Most of RIPTA's fixed-route bus lines are centered around three major hubs in the cities of Providence at Kennedy Plaza, Pawtucket at the Pawtucket Transit Center, and Newport at the Gateway Center. Two routes run between Providence and Newport, and four routes between Providence and Pawtucket. Three routes run between Providence and Warwick Mall, where they connect with a Coventry-Warwick Mall route and a Warwick crosstown route. A single circulator route in Woonsocket was introduced in 2011 to allow residents - many of whom do not own cars - to reach shopping areas outside town.

The R-Line is a limited-stop "Rapid Bus" route from Cranston to Pawtucket via Providence that combines the former 11 and 99 routes. The R-Line became operational on June 21, 2014.