Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) CEO Christopher Durand after the agency’s Nov. 21, 2024 board of directors meeting. The board Thursday voted 7-0 during pending contract negations. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) has its pick for permanent CEO — the same man who has led the statewide bus agency on an interim basis for the past seven months.
RIPTA’s board of directors voted 7-0 at its monthly meeting Thursday to enter contract negotiations with Christopher Durand to lead agency operations. Board member Heather Schey was not present.
Durand, who was the agency’s chief financial officer before being tapped for the interim position, thanked the board members for their unanimous backing.
“RIPTA’s my home,” Durand told the board. “It’s something special.”
Durand has led the agency since then-CEO Scott Avedisian resigned in April after being accused of leaving the scene of an accident.
Avedisian pleaded no contest to the charge in May.
RIPTA’s board of directors in June awarded a $60,000 contract to Florida-based Merraine Group to conduct a national search for a permanent CEO. Three finalists — including Durand — were selected and interviewed, Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti, Jr. told reporters after Thursday’s meeting.
He did not disclose the names nor where the other finalists worked, aside that they were “from large municipal kinds of agencies” from across the country.
“The folks we interviewed all showed a great range as potential candidates, but Chris has the potential kind of skills that are necessary I think at this point in the success of RIPTA,” Alviti said.
Alviti pointed to Durand’s ability to collaborate with RIPTA’s board of directors and his positive relationship with riders and staff.
Randall Rose, a member of the Kennedy Plaza Resilience Coalition and RI Transit Riders, told Rhode Island Current he believes Durand will make choices that will improve the statewide transit system and be smart with the agency’s finances.
“Bus riders and advocacy groups were calling for a long time for him to be chosen as the current CEO and I think our voices made a difference and an improvement here,” he said.
And Durand is banking on those connections as he steers the agency into an uncertain future. The agency faces a $30 million budget shortfall heading into fiscal year 2026, Durand said in an interview.
RIPTA’s fiscal year 2025 budget included $143.7 million in state and federal funding, including money for 873 full-time employees. The spending package initially saw a $18.1 million budget deficit that was mostly plugged by state leaders reallocating $15 million in unspent COVID aid.
“We’ve got some things to figure out,” Durand said in an interview. “But we can make the most of our resources.”
The agency is also finalizing plans to construct its new downtown transit hub to replace Kennedy Plaza. As of October, the agency has redirected its attention to two locations close to the Providence Amtrak train station next to the State House.
Last January, the board approved a nearly $16.9 million contract with Next Wave Partners to start design work for a mixed-use bus hub. The new building would offer a number of amenities not offered where buses pick up and drop off passengers at Kennedy Plaza such as larger indoor waiting areas, expanded restrooms, digital screens to track bus arrivals and departures, and WiFi.
A final recommendation is expected to be made to the board of directors some time in December, Durand told Rhode Island Current.
RIPTA’s board will next negotiate Durand’s contract, which Alviti said he expects will be finalized by the panel’s Dec. 19 meeting.
Before he resigned from RIPTA, Avedisian’s salary was $181,795.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.