[Colorado-Talk] Help get RTD to restore multiple stop trips for Access-on-Demand

Mon Feb 26 16:32:24 UTC 2024

Greetings:

We now have links to the agenda and Zoom registration for the RTD Board of
Directors meeting to be held on February 27 (tomorrow) at 5:30 p.m. As Nate
Trela indicated in his email last Thursday, the in-person meeting will be
held at the RTD office, 1660 Blake Street, in Denver.

If you plan to attend the meeting via Zoom, you need to register in advance.
Here is the link to register
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dfZB3qq8SNSr3XMpB1PXHw

Information about the board meeting and links to the agenda and agenda
packet can be found at this link:
https://rtd.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=3608

Kind regards,

Curtis Chong

-----Original Message-----
From: Colorado-Talk <colorado-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Nate
Trela via Colorado-Talk
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2024 8:48 AM
To: colorado-talk at nfbnet.org
Cc: Nate Trela <ntrela at gmail.com>
Subject: [Colorado-Talk] Help get RTD to restore multiple stop trips for
Access-on-Demand

Hello Federationists,

For those of you not familiar, RTD offers Access-A-Ride users a supplemental
service where you can receive 60 free trips a month (max.

value $25 each) combined across Uber, Lyft and a pair of taxi services. The
Access-on-Demand service is certainly an improvement from the agency's
previous paratransit offerings, but it has started to roll back the service
in a way that seriously impacts frequent users.

>From the program's launch, Uber riders were able to create multi-stop trips
that were covered with the same dollar limit as one-way trips.

This meant if you were dropping off a kid at school on the way to work,
picking up a grocery order, quickly running into a post office or passing
through a drive-thru, if you kept the trip under $25 it was fully covered.
You did not have to lose time waiting around, potentially in harsh weather,
for your next ride.

Late last year, however, the agency sent out notices that it would no longer
allow multi-stop trips. It claimed the ability to book such trips on Uber
was a "glitch" and they never should have been allowed.

Many riders say this prohibition never had been mentioned. And the change
can literally cost Access-a-Demand users hundreds of dollars out of pocket
every month because they run out of trips by the middle of a month.

We need to let RTD know that we're not going backwards.

We are looking for as many Access-on-Demand users as possible to attend the
next RTD board meeting, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 27 at RTD
headquarters, 1660 Blake ST. People can sign up there to speak, but even
just showing up in numbers and filling the room will help make the case.

We also need letters to go out to RTD's senior leadership making the case to
restore coverage of multiple stops. There's a sample letter at the end of
this email. All of the Letters should be sent to RTD's general manager,
Debra Johnson at Debra.Johnson at rtd-denver.com.  Every RTD board member is
also an elected official, representing a specific district, and we should be
reaching out to them as well. A complete list of Board members and an
accessible search feature can be found at
https://www.rtd-denver.com/about-rtd/board-of-directors

If you write a letter or would like to attend the meeting in person, please
drop me a line at ntrela at gmail.com so I can help organize the group. If you
need help with your letter or have other questions, please reach out as
well.

Cheers,

Nate Trela

--- Sample letter

You can use this as a template and fill in the blanks or build on it in your
own words. The important part is to convey the costs in terms of time and
money.

Hello, my name is [your name] and I am an Access-on-Demand user.

I am writing to urge RTD to restore the ability for riders to make multiple
stops on one  trip under the Access-on-Demand program.

Access-on-Demand has been a great step forward for paratransit services in
Denver, and we should work together to make it stronger.

The ability to make multiple stops on a single trip would appear to provide
savings for RTD and consumers, and it would also enable passengers to
complete trips and tasks quickly and safely.

Whether the vouchers were ever intended to cover multi-stop trips or not,
they opened up opportunities for paratransit users.

(You could add an example or story ABOUT WHAT YOU COULD DO before with
multiple trips that you cannot now and, if possible, quantify the financial
impact. Are you using more trips now because you can't do a round trip to
pick up an order at the store or drop your child off at school as you head
to work? Maybe you made a decision to live somewhere because the math worked
if you could make that extra stop.

Perhaps you had to drop an activity because you are now out of trips by the
middle of the month. Were you stuck outside in sub-freezing temperatures
waiting for the next ride when all you needed to do was run inside a school
or a store for a minute.) The arguments expressed by staff and at advisory
committee meetings against allowing multiple stop trips while limiting the
number of trips riders can take in a month do not add up. The capability to
make multiple stops existed under the old Access-a-Cab service. There were
no limits to the number of rides that could be taken under that program or
under the core Access-a-Ride service. Multiple short  trips combined into
one trip represent savings because they mean only once paying the fees
charged by ride services before your vehicle has even moved from the pickup
point. And the challenges in offering that level of service to customers
using Uber WAV should not mean the level of service should be reduced for
other consumers. Instead, RTD should be working to improve the service for
everyone.

As an RTD customer, a constituent and a blind person who has benefitted from
the level of service being provided, I implore you to help lead RTD to
restoring the ability to make multi-stop trips.

Sincerely,

(Your Name)

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