Beth Perry, left, of South Kingstown and Ellen Kreutler, of North Scituate, hold up a "Put the ‘US’ Back in Bus" sign at a rally outside the State House yesterday.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

A visiting transportation guru offered a glimpse into improved public transportation for Providence, as well as examples of how some cities have moved from a mere idea to a bona fide project.

Charles Hales, a strategic planner who has helped several cities across the country develop a successful mass transit system, spoke to a small group of government officials and concerned citizens at the University of Rhode Island’s Providence campus yesterday. Hales offered insights into the changing landscape of urban living, future transportation needs and how climate change makes conscientious decisions even more pressing.

Hales’ speech was part of the daylong event, “Getting There: Transportation for a Prosperous, Sustainable Rhode Island,” hosted by Grow Smart Rhode Island, The Apeiron Institute for Environmental Living and several other organizations.

Hales said Providence is capable of supporting an extensive street-car system, which is also the chosen mode of mass transportation proposed by Mayor David N. Cicilline’s ambitious Transit 2020 plan.

Hales, who helped use street cars to revitalize a sleepy waterfront in downtown Portland, Ore., said Providence has a compactness and cultural vibrancy to develop more efficient, widespread mass transit.

Providence has also followed a nationwide trend of attracting young, creative people who embrace alternative transportation, a trend he has noted in cities such as Raleigh, N.C., and Austin, Texas.

“They have a different set of dreams than their parents,” Hales said. “They grew up watching Friends and Sex and the City, not Leave it to Beaver.”

This progressive group of urban dwellers may embrace mass transit, but financing such expensive projects will be the challenge.

While Hales offered grand plans for the future, members of two panels on transportation issues in Rhode Island that followed his speech were skeptical that money could be found to finance costly projects.

“We don’t have pots of money for these things,” said Kevin Flynn, the associate director of the state Division of Planning. “We can’t afford the government we have.”

Another panelist, assistant general manager of planning for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority Mark Therrien, said RIPTA’s bus fleet is having trouble keeping up with increased ridership, but no additional financing from the state is expected.

Therrien said about half of RIPTA’s buses are “overcrowded,” meaning buses in some areas have to sometimes pass riders by, and commuters coming into Providence have to stand.

Therrien said RIPTA needs $3.5 million to eliminate the crowding, but has received no assurances that the money is coming.

Everyone agreed that Rhode Islanders need to rethink their dependency on cars and fossil fuels and embrace buses, bikes and ridesharing to reverse patterns of clogged highways, worsening air quality, global warming and expanding waistlines.

Tom Sgouros, founder and editor of the Rhode Island Policy Reporter and moderator of the personal transportation panel, offered the unforgiving interpretation of people’s unwillingness to give up or curb their automobile use, saying “habits are how you avoid making decisions.”

Yesterday, the state Division of Planning announced it will receive $1.9 million in federal grant money to encourage children to walk and bike to school.

More than a dozen schools in 10 cities will use the Safe Routes to School money for such projects as crosswalks, traffic control, sidewalk construction and safety curriculum.

The grant, Flynn said, is supposed to “encourage obese children to walk to school.”

ngarcia@projo.com