[Colorado-Talk] FW: Article from Denver Post News Section 2025 07 30

[maryannmigs at gmail.com]

Greetings All,

I tried to share this from the Denver Post site, but it wasn't playing nice
with my screen reader. The signs mentioned here were from our Boulder
chapter, and Chelsea is a member in Denver. 

Thank God and The National federation of the Blind for Newsline. 

Enjoy the read and another take on the protest and the RTD Board Meeting.

 

At your service,

 

Maryann Migliorelli

 

 

From: NFB-NEWSLINE Online <publications at nfbnewsline.net> 
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2025 10:01 PM
To: Maryann Migliorelli <maryannmigs at gmail.com>
Subject: Article from Denver Post News Section 2025 07 30

 

RTD punts decision on fare for disabled users of service By John
Aguilar-jaguilar at denverpost.com The Regional Transportation District Board
of Directors on Tuesday night kicked the can down the road on whether to
raise fare prices on its Access-on-Demand program, which provides
curb-to-curb transit service for people with disabilities. After four hours
of public comment and board discussion, the RTD directors voted to send the
proposal back to the Operations, Safety and Security committee to hammer out
details. A final vote on the issue is expected in September. The board had
in front of it a recommendation from RTD staff to increase the fare for
Access-on-Demand rides from no charge to $6.50. RTD subsidies per ride would
have been reduced from $25 to $20 under the plan. There would still be a 60
ride-per-month cap in place. A stream of people with disabilities took to
the microphone Tuesday evening and beseeched the RTD board to leave the
Access-on-Demand program alone, calling it 'life-changing' for those with
limited mobility. One speaker who said the service, which uses third-party
services such as Lyft and Uber to provide rides, has made grocery shopping
possible for her, and she asked the board to allow her to live the 'same
kinds of lives you live. During the course of the evening, directors
proposed lowering the $6.50 fare to $4.50, and then to $2.50. Dropping the
fare by $2 per ride would cost RTD $1.4 million in revenues. Director JoyAnn
Ruscha pushed hard to keep Access-on-Demand service free. 'People will lose
jobs; they will lose access,' Ruscha said. 'There is a human cost. Director
Chris Nicholson pointed out that cutting RTD revenues by keeping the service
free would result in financial impacts to other parts of the sprawling
transit system. A group of 50 or so people with disabilities gathered in
front of RTD's headquarters building on Blake Street on Tuesday afternoon.
One person held a sign reading: 'Our Mobility is Not Optional. Another read:
'We Can't Drive ' Don't Cut Our Rides. Dave Bahr, who is blind and lives in
Louisville, said he relies on Access-on-Demand to visit his girlfriend
Chelsea Cook, who lives in Littleton and is also blind. 'It is literally our
lifeline,' Bahr said. 'It makes my relationship with Chelsea possible. Cook,
who uses Access-on-Demand for such travel as getting to work or rock
climbing outings, said Access-on-Demand is far more convenient and efficient
than Access-a-Ride. 'You can be on that little bus for four hours,' she said
of Access-a-Ride. Bahr said being able to travel in a regular vehicle rather
than on a specially equipped bus makes him 'feel human. 'It is my lifeline
to where I go and who I see,' he said of Access-on-Demand. Disability
activists have a long history ' stretching back to the 1970s ' of fighting
for services and accommodations from RTD. In 1997, the agency added the
'paratransit' minibus service, called Access-a-Ride, for people who, because
of disabilities, cannot use buses or light rail trains. The minibuses
require day-before reservations (standard fare $4.50) and cost RTD more than
$60 per trip. Riders complain that they fail to reach their destinations on
time. The Access-a-Ride service complies with the requirements of the
Americans with Disabilities Act. Five years ago, RTD leaders launched the
Access-on-Demand, one of the first comprehensive programs in the nation to
provide taxpayer-funded commercial ride-hail service for people with
disabilities. It gives qualified riders up to 60 rides a month to locations
they choose using Uber, Lyft or Metro Taxi. RTD pays up to $25 per ride,
which typically covers riders' costs (the average ride cost is $16). Hours
and range of coverage for Access-on-Demand would 'mirror' that of
Access-a-Ride. In metro Denver, riders with disabilities have embraced
Access-On-Demand. The number of rides they took increased tenfold, from
6,250 a month in January 2021 to more than 62,750 a month, agency records
show. RTD's monthly cost for Access-on-Demand has ballooned to more than $1
million. Agency managers recently told the board of directors that the
program isn't financially sustainable. RTD projects that the recommended
changes would shave about $5.6 million off the $15 million price tag ' or
about 36% ' needed to run the program. Brian Grewe is executive director of
Atlantis Community Inc., a Denver-based nonprofit that helps people with
disabilities to live independently. He said he would like to see more
emphasis put on building out the Access-on-Demand service over the
Access-a-Ride program. 'AoD serves more people and costs less money,' Grewe
said. Inside the hearing room, Grewe told the board that $6.50 per ride
doesn't sound like much in isolation. But that cost is for just 'one ride,
one location' and that the total quickly adds up across multiple trips, he
said. In other business Tuesday, the RTD board voted unanimously to rename
Civic Center Station after Wade Blank, a disability activist who was at the
forefront of a movement in 1978 in which people with disabilities blocked
downtown Denver streets to demand greater accommodations on RTD buses. The
station will be renamed the Wade Blank Civic Center Station in January.
Blank co-founded Atlantis Community Inc. 

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