[Colorado-Talk] RTD Update: Good News, Bad Arguments, and Why Tuesday Matters

[Tim Keenan]

Hey, RTD riders and transit advocates! 

Good news and important news to share as we head into Tuesday's full Board
meeting on June 23 at 5:30 PM. Let me give you the full picture.

* * * 

First, the good news -- and it's significant 

Director Karen Benker, Chair of the Finance and Planning Committee and our
strongest ally on the Board, has done something no one else has been willing
to do: she compiled her own independent budget analysis and put it in
writing for the full Board to see on Tuesday.

Her two-page presentation lays out three scenarios for closing RTD's $215
million deficit. All three include the same $119.2 million in revenue
measures -- grants, fare increases, real estate sales, corporate
sponsorships, advertising, refinancing, and more. The difference between the
three options is how much service gets cut.

Here is the part worth sitting with: even her most conservative option --
just 5 percent in service cuts -- closes the entire deficit and generates a
$6.7 million surplus. Her middle option, with 10 percent service cuts,
generates a $22.7 million surplus. The 20 percent option that management has
been pushing generates a $53.7 million surplus.

This is the first time a board member has put a comprehensive alternative
budget on paper and presented it to the full Board. It shows clearly that
the 15 to 20 percent service cuts being modeled by management are not the
only path forward -- not even close. Director Benker deserves real
recognition for this. She has been pushing back on the management narrative
since this fight began, and now she has the receipts.

There is also a significant procedural win to report. At last Thursday's
Executive Committee meeting, Director Benker successfully moved both deficit
reduction items -- the Finance Committee's and the OSSC's -- from the
Unanimous Consent section of Tuesday's agenda to Recommended Action. That
means instead of getting rubber-stamped in a block vote without discussion,
both items will receive full Board debate on Tuesday. That's exactly what we
want.

* * * 

What's actually on Tuesday's agenda 

Nothing on Tuesday's agenda will directly eliminate paratransit or
immediately cut service. Tuesday is about authorizing Staff to model
specific scenarios -- the actual decisions come later. But the direction set
Tuesday will shape everything that follows, and that is why showing up
matters.

Here is what the Board will vote on: 

The Finance Committee's recommended action authorizes modeling of
legislative reforms for additional revenue, refinancing opportunities, and
labor expense changes. Notably, fare increases were stripped out of this
motion before it left committee -- Directors Ruscha and Guissinger led that
amendment, and it passed unanimously. Director Nicholson attempted to add
fare increases back in at last Thursday's Executive Committee meeting, but
his motion was ruled out of order. That win stands.

The OSSC's recommended action authorizes modeling of a ballot measure, fare
media activation, real estate income, office space reductions, and service
hour modifications at 15%, 17.5%, and 20% scenarios.

The Board will also formally approve the June 2026 service changes that went
into effect on June 7. This is routine procedural housekeeping -- RTD
implements service changes operationally first and then brings them to the
full Board for formal authorization at the next regular meeting. But tucked
inside this vote is something genuinely meaningful for our community.

Route 53 in Broomfield is being reinstated, running seven days a week. At
the OSSC meeting two weeks ago, Kristin Placer from the Broomfield Housing
Alliance testified that RTD had denied a request to extend Access-a-Ride
service by just 750 feet to reach The Grove -- a new affordable housing
community specifically designed for people with disabilities opening in six
weeks. RTD's denial meant that restoring Route 53 was the only way those
residents would ever have paratransit eligibility. Tuesday's vote makes that
happen. It is a direct, real-world example of exactly what we have been
arguing all along: route decisions determine who can and cannot access
paratransit. In this case, restoring a route creates eligibility for an
entire community of people with disabilities. That is worth celebrating.

Also in the June service changes: the package included the Route 36 Fort
Logan schedule adjustment that RTD made specifically to better serve the
Colorado Center for the Blind's morning operating hours -- RTD named CCB by
name in their official documentation. Zero negative public responses. That
is what organized advocacy looks like.

* * * 

What we still need the Board to hear 

Even though nothing on Tuesday directly eliminates AOD, at least one board
member has already said on the record that supplemental programs like
Access-on-Demand should be "the first ones chopped." That argument is
factually wrong, and the full Board needs to hear why before any budget
decisions are locked in.

Here are the key points worth making in public comment Tuesday: 

Director Benker's budget presentation shows 5 percent service cuts close the
deficit. Before the Board authorizes modeling cuts of 15 to 20 percent, they
should answer one question: why is Director Benker's Option 1 not
sufficient?

Eliminating AOD would cost RTD more, not less. Each AOD trip costs RTD a
maximum of $20. Each Access-a-Ride boarding costs over $100. Riders pushed
off AOD don't disappear -- they go back to AAR, the more expensive system
that is already struggling with declining on-time performance. Washington
DC's WMATA pays $24 per trip through Uber versus $135 for traditional
paratransit -- more than 80 percent lower. New York's MTA saved $102.7
million in a single year by shifting eligible riders to on-demand
alternatives. The smart move is expanding AOD, not eliminating it.

Grandfather existing paratransit riders. If service cuts shrink the
ADA-mandated paratransit service area, people who are eligible today must
remain eligible. Chair O'Keefe has expressed support for this. The full
Board should commit to it explicitly on Tuesday.

Honor the intent of SB 26-150. The independent paratransit study required by
law exists precisely so the Board can make informed decisions. Our coalition
of disability organizations has already asked the Board formally to maintain
existing paratransit service levels until that study is complete. That
request stands.

Don't let the one-hour public comment cap silence our community. This is one
of the most consequential decisions in RTD's recent history. Public
participation should be expanded, not curtailed.

* * * 

The Finance Committee meeting had 32 public participants. The OSSC had 20.
Tuesday's full Board meeting needs more. Your presence matters -- not
because disaster is imminent, but because the Board is still making up its
mind, and a full room of people who depend on this system sends a message
that numbers on a spreadsheet cannot.

Please come in person to 1660 Blake Street if you can. If you cannot attend
in person, join via Zoom at
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kjqG0FnZT-C0jvmWaldBHA

Written comments can be submitted any time to RTD.Directors at rtd-denver.com
and become part of the official record. 

Tuesday, June 23. 5:30 PM. 1660 Blake Street, Denver. Be there. 

 

 

 

Tim Keenan 
State Transportation Chair 
National Federation of the Blind of Colorado 

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