RIPTA Wayfinding and Customer Information

RIPTA’s customer information had drifted out of sync with its service. Schedules, system maps, and station signage were produced separately over many years, leaving riders with inconsistent route names, outdated maps, and signs that no longer matched the network. RIPTA brought on Foursquare ITP to pull that information into a single design family. One look and feel now carries across signage, system maps, hub wayfinding, and schedules.
The work spans RIPTA’s full range of public-facing information. Kennedy Plaza, the agency’s largest and busiest transfer hub in downtown Providence, received a complete wayfinding overhaul, which required dozens of new signs, maps, and inserts: bus bay beacons, bus route flag signs, location maps, and illustrated point-of-interest listings for every route serving the hub, all featuring custom artwork that references landscapes across Rhode Island. Installation began in spring 2025. Our team updated schedules and route in step with RIPTA’s thrice-annual service changes, supported by new Adobe Illustrator and InDesign workflows that make each round faster and more consistent. A new unified system map covers the whole RIPTA network, and a new bus stop sign design is now being implemented systemwide.
The branding and wayfinding effort produced a consistent, scalable information hierarchy that RIPTA can extend to additional transfer hubs. Standardized route and point-of-interest names replaced the inconsistent naming that had confused customers. New production processes keep that information current. The results are visible across the network today, from updated schedules and stop signs to the redesigned hub at the center of Providence.