[Colorado-Talk] Denver Area: Your RTD Update, We Need You Tomorrow

[Tim Keenan]

Hey, RTD riders and transit advocates!

Two important RTD committee meetings are happening this week, and both give
us an opportunity to make our voices heard before the full board vote on
June 23. Here's what you need to know.

 

Tonight -- Tuesday, June 9 -- Finance and Planning Committee, 5:30 PM,
remote only.

I apologize for the late notice on tonight's meeting -- it starts in about
15 minutes. If you can join, please do. If not, written comments submitted
to RTD.Directors at rtd-denver.com <mailto:RTD.Directors at rtd-denver.com>
become part of the official record and are seen by every board member, so
it's never too late to make your voice heard.

Register here for tonight's meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GUBburQSTbaqy6L4GZK1nA#/registra
tion

Tonight's vote covers the financial side of the deficit reduction strategy
-- fare increases, debt refinancing, labor expense reductions, and revenue
options. No service cuts are being voted on tonight -- those are tomorrow.
But public comment tonight still matters, and the advertising revenue
discussion is worth watching: staff is recommending RTD take its on-vehicle
advertising program in-house, and reversing the board's ban on window
advertising could generate $3 to $4.5 million net annually -- real money
that reduces pressure on service cuts.

 

Tomorrow -- Wednesday, June 10 -- Operations, Safety, and Security
Committee, 5:30 PM, remote only.

This is the one we really need you for. Please make time for this meeting.

Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XkYhwwO0RGyDf76JY6OSPw#/registra
tion

Tomorrow's committee handles service delivery -- and this is where service
cuts are formally on the table. The committee is being asked to authorize
deeper modeling on "modifying service hours in alignment with geographic
considerations and utilization." That's RTD's careful language for cutting
up to $102 million in bus and rail service. It is the largest single item in
the entire deficit reduction package, and it is the one that directly
threatens paratransit coverage for blind, disabled, and elderly riders
across the Denver metro area.

Here is the hard truth buried in RTD's own documents: even the most
aggressive service cut scenario -- eliminating $102 million worth of service
-- still doesn't fully close the deficit or meet the board's own December
2025 resolution. Service cuts alone cannot solve this problem. The board
knows this. They need to hear from us that cutting service is not acceptable
as the primary solution when it doesn't even work.

We also need to push back hard on any suggestion to eliminate
Access-on-Demand. ADAPT Colorado has demonstrated through RTD's own data
that AOD is the most cost-effective paratransit option RTD offers.
Eliminating it would push riders to Access-a-Ride, which costs significantly
more per trip and is already failing on multiple performance measures. The
financial argument for eliminating AOD doesn't hold up -- and the human
argument against it is even stronger.

This committee meeting will have far fewer people than the June 23 full
board meeting. That means your voice carries more weight, not less. Three
minutes of clear, calm, specific public comment tomorrow night can genuinely
influence what recommendation goes to the full board on June 23. Please show
up.

  _____  

Key public comment points for tomorrow:

*	RTD needs to go to voters in 2028 with a healthy, reliable system --
not a diminished one. The ballot measure option needs to be treated as a
serious priority, not buried at the bottom of a list.
*	Service cuts shrink the ADA-mandated paratransit service area. The
board still has not seen a full analysis of what proposed cuts would mean
for Access-a-Ride coverage. Demand that analysis before any vote is taken.
*	Grandfather existing paratransit riders if service cuts shrink the
eligibility area. Chair O'Keefe has expressed support for this. The full
board should commit to it explicitly.
*	Do not eliminate Access-on-Demand. It is the most cost-effective
paratransit option RTD offers. Expanding it -- not eliminating it -- is the
smart financial move.
*	The $227 million in unrestricted reserves exists precisely to bridge
situations like this while a permanent revenue solution is pursued. Use it.

  _____  

Written comments can be submitted any time to RTD.Directors at rtd-denver.com
<mailto:RTD.Directors at rtd-denver.com> . Every director sees them, and they
become part of the permanent public record.

The full board vote is June 23. What happens in committee this week shapes
what goes to that vote, so please, Zoom in tomorrow night and give a public
comment. They always ask for public comment at the beginning of the meeting,
and these meetings are generally pretty sparce when it comes to public
comment, so you'll be done by 6.

 

Thanks, everyone!

 

 

 

Tim Keenan 

State Transportation Chair 

National Federation of the Blind of Colorado

  _____  

Ready to send -- just drop in the * * * section breaks manually after
pasting into Outlook since we know the markdown version renders as
"horizontal line." Go get 'em!

 

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