[Colorado-Talk] FW: Latest RTD News from ADAPT 2/22/26 - Wins, Asks, and Data....

Mon Feb 23 17:20:17 UTC 2026

The numbers are ridiculous (why is it that whenever I use/type that word, ‘ridiculous’, I think of Harry Potter… if you know, you know lol) and no matter what the board says the added barriers and unenrollment of on-demand users was definitely by design. I mean, no one has to look further than the ridership numbers from last year compared to this year. It’s shameful.

Ryan

From: Colorado-Talk <colorado-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Paul Sandoval via Colorado-Talk
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2026 7:49 PM
To: 'NFB of Colorado Discussion List' <colorado-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: paulsandoval75 at gmail.com
Subject: [Colorado-Talk] FW: Latest RTD News from ADAPT 2/22/26 - Wins, Asks, and Data....

Just making sure you all see this.

Pay special attention to the section titled The numbers are in. 

These numbers are astounding!

Begin forwarded message:

From: ADAPT Colorado <adapt.colorado at gmail.com <mailto:adapt.colorado at gmail.com> >
Date: February 22, 2026 at 4:43:48 PM MST
To: ADAPT Colorado <adapt.colorado at gmail.com <mailto:adapt.colorado at gmail.com> >
Subject: Latest RTD News from ADAPT 2/22/26 - Wins, Asks, and Data....

So much has happened since our last update! Let’s start with the wins. 

Civic Center Station renaming / Rev. Wade Blank 

A planned celebration of Civic Center Station’s renaming has been indefinitely paused due to advocacy by ADAPT and a request from Wade’s daughter, Caitlin. Although we fully support honoring Rev. Wade Blank’s legacy, the timing —amidst the drastic cuts to paratransit—was wrong. It would have portrayed RTD as supporting our community while actively harming it. Although RTD says the renaming has already happened (on paper), there is no new sign on the building– and ADAPT will protest any attempt to raise it prior to meaningful paratransit reform.

RTD meeting with ADAPT

RTD board chair Patrick O’Keefe has engaged in dialogue with ADAPT. A team of ADAPT members sat down with Patrick this week. We presented our concerns, hard data, and requests for immediate action. Ongoing meetings will continue. While much focus has been on AoD, we have not left behind AAR riders or wheelchair users—WAV on Demand issues persist, and we’re working on that, too! 

Yet, there’s still more to do…

Board meeting — 30-second spots

Yes, we’re asking, AGAIN. Although hundreds of comments and hours of testimony have been ignored by the RTD board and management, it IS IMPORTANT for potential legal recourse to create a body of evidence in the public record that documents harm.

You do not need to prepare a well-crafted 3-minute speech or a lengthy email. Think of this as a 30-second advertisement. Just state the harm…

“Because of the AOD [fare increase, subsidy reduction, re-enrollment requirement] I have not been able to get to [work, school, medical appointments]. This has caused irreparable harm and undue burden on [me, the person I care for, the person I represent].”

RTD Board meeting

Tuesday, February 24th, 5:30pm

1660 Blake St, Denver 80202

→ Email your comments to:  <mailto:rtd.boardoffice at rtd-denver.com> rtd.boardoffice at rtd-denver.com 

→ Attend the meeting virtually: To join the meeting,  <https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iY-C2UnWTaKJnxALwKSPkg#/registration> Register Here. 

→ Show up in person: We need to keep our faces in front of the board.

The numbers are in…and they are shocking!

AOD riders dropped: On 1/1/26, 3,300 AOD riders (58%) were disenrolled from the program because RTD created an arbitrary barrier to access by requiring re-enrollment in AOD even though riders had already met eligibility requirements. As of 1/31/26, more than 1,000 riders (36%) continued to be disenrolled.

Trips fell off a cliff: As a result of increased fares, reduced subsidies, and disenrollment, the AOD trips dropped 42% from Dec 2025 (~70,000 trips) to Jan 2026 (~40,000 trips). 

Riders are paying too much: The LIVE low-income discount program has been poorly communicated and is difficult to access. Of the 14,500 paratransit eligible riders (Access-a-Ride and AOD) only 1,200 (8%) are enrolled in the LIVE program. 

Access-a-Ride is failing: In 2025, over 2,000 rides were missed—either riders were never picked up– leaving them stranded, or their ride showed up so late that riders missed work, appointments, or were unable to get to where they were supposed to be that day. This is a systemic failure of an ADA-mandated program and is an unacceptable level of on-time performance by Federal Transit Administration (FTA) standards. ADAPT has filed a formal complaint with the FTA Office of Civil Rights. 

Continued lack of independent analysis/study and oversight of RTD

SB25-161

Last year the state legislature passed  <https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb25-161> Senate Bill 161 which created an RTD Accountability Committee with one of the objectives being to review paratransit. We had hoped this would bring meaningful oversight; however, ADAPT is disappointed in the process (that excluded meaningful stakeholder input) and the outcome (that recommended RTD conduct its own analysis of paratransit).  <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GrjnZl1Td7ooKCwooOfQ4uhZyHfE2GnH/view> Accountability Committee Report

ADAPT’s demands:

*	Reinstate and re-enroll all AoD riders 
*	Enroll all paratransit riders in LIVE program
*	Conduct an Independent impact study

ADAPT Colorado

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20260223/9edbe9e6/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 184509 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20260223/9edbe9e6/attachment-0001.jpg>