After more than two years of waiting, a new bus for Little Compton's seniors may be coming in the near future.

With no public transportation bus route through Little Compton, and no senior citizen bus since 2020, some seniors who spoke at a recent town council meeting said they have felt stranded, relying on each other to make their way around. According to town officials, the town's old bus was “unreliable” and needed new parts and maintenance, primarily to the air conditioning and heating system. It was was sold to the city of Cranston for $13,500 in early 2020, right before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Though there was talk at the time of replacing it, Little Compton Town Administrator Tony Teixeira said the town is working to acquire one.

“I know how important it is to our seniors, and we’re definitely trying to work on this as soon as possible,” Teixeira said last week. “We’ve been working on this, we know the urgency. Right now, I’m trying to say that within a month’s time, we should have a bus.”

After speaking with RIPTA officials and the person in charge of purchasing new RIPTA buses, he was told that a new bus could take upwards of a year to procure. To avoid the wait, Teixeira said the town is looking for a used bus that can be refurbished and reconditioned. He is currently waiting on an estimate regarding the cost of repairs, he said, adding that he's not sure exactly how much the acquisition will cost the town.

At the recent council meeting, president Robert Mushen said the decision to sell two years ago might not have been the best.

“In hindsight, we ought not have sold the bus when we did,” he said. “However, the bus was a constant material problem… so, had we had to do it over again, I think I still would have agreed that we should sell the bus because it was not reliable.”