[Colorado-Talk] Correspondence With My Local RTD Board Member

Tue May 26 22:08:05 UTC 2026

Director Larson gave a much better response than Director Nicholson

Julie Reiskin  Co Executive Director CCDC

On Tue, May 26, 2026, 3:24 PM Curtis Chong via Colorado-Talk <
colorado-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Greetings:
>
>
>
> Shown below, in chronological order, is the exchange of emails I just had
> with the RTD Board member who represents my district in Aurora.
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> Curtis Chong
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
>
> *From: *Curtis Chong <chong.curtis at gmail.com>
> *Date: *Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at 11:01 AM
> *To: *Matt Larsen <Matt.Larsen at rtd-denver.com>
> *Subject: *RTD's Proposed 20% Reduction Proposal
>
>
>
> Dear Director Larsen:
>
>
>
> My name is Curtis Chong. I am a Heather Gardens resident who also happens
> to be totally blind. I am a regular user of RTD bus and light rail
> transportation and am a fairly well-informed citizen in terms of public
> transportation services available from the Denver Regional Transportation
> District (RTD). I also serve as a member of RTD’s Advisory Committee for
> People with Disabilities (ACPD), and in that capacity, I am working to
> ensure that the electronic documents and forms which RTD makes available to
> the public are accessible to everyone--including people like me for whom
> screen reading technology is the only effective way to deal with digital
> information. As a person who cannot drive, I am what you might call a
> transit-dependent individual😀.
>
>
>
> I am writing to you to join the chorus of voices which are expressing
> concern about a possible 20% reduction in RTD’s budget to deal with what is
> undoubtedly a significant financial shortfall. As I am sure you have
> already heard from others in the community, any service reduction in light
> rail and/or bus service will have a significant and negative  impact on the
> lives of people who cannot drive. And, as I am sure you have already heard,
> reductions in fixed route service will also have a deleterious effect on
> those passengers for whom paratransit (i.e., Access-a-Ride) is the only
> alternative to get anywhere.
>
>
>
> For those of us who live in Aurora, reducing public transportation will
> have a more significant negative impact on our lives because, in Aurora,
> public transportation is less frequent, less available, and  more
> sparsely-distributed than comparable service in the city of Denver proper.
> I myself live in Heather Gardens which, as you know, is a fairly spread-out
> community. I am fortunate that for me, the 130 bus is only a five-minute
> walk from where I live. However, there are many other people who live on
> the far end of Heather Gardens where the nearest bus stop is more than a
> 35-minute walk away. Today, the 130 bus runs fairly regularly and provides
> fairly consistent thirty-minute service. To my knowledge, other blind
> people who live on the other end of Heather Gardens are not quite as
> fortunate as I am. (Of course, I did select my unit partially because it
> was relatively close to a bus stop.🙂)
>
>
>
> All of this is to ask you to please keep in mind what will happen to
> members of our blind and disability community should the RTD Board approve
> staff recommendations to reduce service simply to save money. I for one do
> not want RTD to enter into a vicious circle of decline where, as service is
> reduced, the number of riders goes down, thus forcing even more reductions
> in service and, after that, even less riders.
>
>
>
> Thank you for your kind consideration of this matter.
>
>
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
>
>
> Curtis Chong
>
> 14152 East Linvale Place
> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/14152+East+Linvale+Place+Unit+201+Aurora,+Colorado+80014?entry=gmail&source=g>
>
> Unit 201
> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/14152+East+Linvale+Place+Unit+201+Aurora,+Colorado+80014?entry=gmail&source=g>
>
> Aurora, Colorado 80014
> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/14152+East+Linvale+Place+Unit+201+Aurora,+Colorado+80014?entry=gmail&source=g>
>
> Email: chong.curtis at gmail.com
>
> Phone: 515-306-1654
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
>
> *From:* Matt Larsen Matt.Larsen at rtd-denver.com
> *Sent:* Tuesday, May 26, 2026 12:16 PM
> *To:* Curtis Chong chong.curtis at gmail.com
> *Subject:* Re: RTD's Proposed 20% Reduction Proposal
>
>
>
> I’m also hopeful we won’t have to reduce service, and I think there may be
> a way to postpone it for one more year.
>
>
>
> However, at the end of the day, we have to balance our budget every year,
> and without new revenues or an unlikely reduction in costs, I don’t think
> there is any way we will be able to avoid some kind of service reduction by
> 2028.  Our main revenue source, sales tax, is not projected to grow, even
> as virtually every category of costs is projected to increase at levels
> above inflation. The need to invest in maintenance that was deferred for
> decades also strains our budget.
>
>
>
> Everyone on the Board wants to do what we can to avoid service cuts and,
> if they are necessary, minimize the damage they do.
>
>
> Matt Larsen
> Director, RTD District E
> matt.larsen at rtd-denver.com
>
> 720.595.6325
>
>
>
>
>
>
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