<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"></div><div dir="ltr">Hello again, friends,</div><div dir="ltr">This morning, perhaps like many of you, I received a press release from RTD announcing increase service hours of 27,000 to take affect on the fixed route beginning this Sunday, May 25. I would encourage each of you to read this thoroughly. Well, at the same time, they talk about increasing service hours and even free metro rides along with the free 16th St. shuttle, they talk about reduction in service of paratransit. So I thought it would be time for us to have a deeper discussion on what this means and how this appears especially through the lens of equity. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">First, let me give everyone some clarity on what RTD is and who it actually serves, overall. The district called the regional transportation district encompasses 2400 mi.² and includes 3.1 million citizens. All of them have a right to vote for their elected official to sit on the governing board of RTD. The seats rotate every two years with each individual serving for years with a term limit of two terms. Of the 3.1 million people in the district, 97% do not, will not and have not used RTD. Yet every person in the district and even those who are visiting pay sales tax. Sales tax revenue accounts for 40% of , the RTD annual operating budget formula. Another 40% comes from farebox revenue and the final 20% from federal funding. So who\u2019s using RTD? Just 3% of the 3.1 million people and yet is paying for it. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">So let\u2019s talk about the budget and funding for one moment. Well, we know that the annual operating budget for RTD is $1.32 billion and that does not include any capital cost for things like new trains or new bus lines. Also, and may interest you to know that RTD Has a surplus in their savings account of $800 million. I know this because Mr. Doug McLeod the former CFO has made that perfectly clear to the entire board of directors and staff. It\u2019s hard to see where the financial hardship is and why when increasing service hours For fixed routes, they want to shrink our overall participation in the public transit system. And by the way, during my tenure on the regional transportation district board of directors, every May there were service changes. And they were always, reduction due to summer and school being out of session. in the fall, service hours are increased to support student transportation. I am wondering myself why then are we increasing service hours? </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Thinking in the spirit of equity, it would make sense to increase service for all pair of transit services commensurate with the increase in service for everybody else. A deep concern of mine is that people with disabilities at RTD, have always, and continue to be sidelined as another, other. What would make more sense for everyone is to be included in the entire conversation. It\u2019s not just the transportation, though, it\u2019s access to information and an ability for everyone to use the website. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">For a moment, let\u2019s go back to the 3% of the three-point 1 million people in the district who use RTD. For folks that are not disabled, that proportion dropped because of the pandemic. I can\u2019t be confident about this number, but I do think it\u2019s about 60% lower lower and writer. Maybe RTD believes that if they increase service hours that they increase ridership. All in all, I think they\u2019re missing the boat. In order to increase ridership they can just look at what they did with access on demand people need to be met where they are. In today\u2019s world with the advancements of technology, we can do just that. I suggest that we come together with all of our allies and demand more service, not less and tell all of the board of directors and staff that none of these recommendations are acceptable, and it needs to be enhanced and improved. Can\u2019t RTD apply the access on demand model to the access model and save $82 of boarding. Furthermore, the current subsidy for the general population to ride the fixed route is $19 per boarding and that\u2019s an average across the entire system where as, for access on demand it is $16 and for Access ride $100. Now we can argue over dollars and cents here but I think we all get the drift. No equity here. Maybe even no para here. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Kind regards, Claudia</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On May 21, 2025, at 7:39\u202fPM, Claudia Folska, PhD <cfolska@yahoo.com> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">\ufeff<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"></div><div dir="ltr">Hi Sue, I\u2019m unaware of that reduction of service anywhere else in the system. In fact, I understand that they are expanding service for everybody else. Kind regards, Claudia.</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On May 21, 2025, at 7:01\u202fPM, Sue <sue@teamspirit.net> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">\ufeff<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">I feel your input Claudia is really accurate and helpful. Where else is RTD trying to cut cost other than Access on demand?<br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On May 21, 2025, at 6:51\u202fPM, Claudia Folska, PhD via Colorado-Talk <colorado-talk@nfbnet.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">\ufeff<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"></div><div dir="ltr">Dear Curtis,</div><div dir="ltr">Thank you very much for distilling this confusing information. I have a couple of takeaways that I would like to share with you and the group at large.</div><div dir="ltr">1 equity many of you will recall that there was a program supported by the state called free fare for clean air I believe beginning August 1, 2023. Those of us enrolled in access on demand will recall that we had a generous subsidy of $350 per day for the entire month. That was implemented for equity. I think we need to consider what equity actually means to us given that we are 20 to 25% of the population. The current annual operating budget of RTD is $1.32 billion a year. 20% of that would amount to roughly $264 million. I do not believe that the budget for paratransit services gets anywhere close to that. I find it personally offensive that they are struggling to reduce the money they spend from 15 million down to 10 or even even lower. We should be asking and frankly demanding more service. </div><div dir="ltr">2 given our current climate of people with disabilities being under siege from so many different angles this is even more troubling. we are anticipating an increase in the cost of living and buying the necessary things for living. Our day-to-day lives. Increasing our affairs above what is actually legal double what the fixed route fair is, add salt into the wound.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">3 I strongly believe and encourage everyone to reject either proposal and demand more service with no caps at all. We know how to increase writer ship by making convenient where we are. We need to stop accepting whatever crumbs are thrown our way and expect that public services actually meet the needs of the public. if anything what we have learned with this access on demand service is that it does just that and perhaps all writers would appreciate on demand service. I think that\u2019s where we might be headed. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Those are my thoughts, and I would love to hear what others think about these proposals. For me, they are dead on arrival.</div><div dir="ltr">Kind regards,</div><div dir="ltr">Claudia</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On May 21, 2025, at 3:54\u202fPM, Curtis Chong via Colorado-Talk <colorado-talk@nfbnet.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">\ufeff<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style>@font-face { font-family: Wingdings; }
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Greetings:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">While Access-on-Demand was not actually discussed during the May 14 meeting of RTD's Operations, Safety, and Security Committee, there was a PowerPoint document incorporated into the online agenda which I was able to extract and have analyzed by perplexity.ai./ The analysis document was somewhat convoluted in its format, but I was able to extract the following useful information for those of you interested in knowing what RTD staff is currently considering for Access-on-Demand.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><Begin Excerpt><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Current Access-on-Demand Program</span></b><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Subsidized curb-to-curb taxi and ride-share service for certified paratransit customers.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">RTD pays the first $25 of each trip; the customer pays any amount above that.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Customers may take up to 60 trips per month.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Available within the entire RTD service area, 24/7.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">No customer fare (i.e., $0 base fare).<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Annual operating cost: $15.3 million; 685,402 customer trips in 2024.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Initial Recommendations (November 2024)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in">Customer Fare<br>Current Program: $0 (base), $0 (LiVE)<br>Initial Recommendation: $4.50 (base), $2.25 (LiVE)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in">Trip Cap<br>Current Program: 60 per month<br>Initial Recommendation: 40 per month<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in">Subsidy per Trip<br>Current Program: $25<br>Initial Recommendation: $20<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in">Service Area<br>Current Program: Entire District<br>Initial Recommendation: Mirrors ADA service area<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in">Service Hours<br>Current Program: 24/7<br>Initial Recommendation: Mirrors current service hours<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Estimated annual cost reduction: $5.86 million (38.2% decrease)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Revised Recommendations<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Scenario 1: Increased Trip Cap Approach<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">\u2022 Trip Cap: 50 trips per month (higher than initial recommendation but lower than current).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">\u2022 Fare: $6.50 per trip (base), $3.25 per trip (LiVE discount).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">\u2022 Subsidy: $20 per trip.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">\u2022 Service Area/Hours: Mirrors current ADA service area and hours.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">\u2022 Estimated annual cost reduction: $6.17 million (40.2% decrease)1.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Financial Impacts:</span></b><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo2"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Increased fare generates more revenue.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo2"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Trip cap reduction and subsidy decrease save costs.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo2"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Projected yearly spend: $9.16 million (down from $15.33 million).<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Scenario 2: Tiered Approach<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l4 level1 lfo3"><b><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Trip Cap:</span></b><span style="mso-ligatures:none"> Up to 60 trips per month.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l4 level1 lfo3"><b><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Tiered Fare Structure:</span></b><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></li><ul type="circle"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l4 level2 lfo3"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Trips 1\u201330: $4.50 (base), $2.25 (LiVE)<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l4 level2 lfo3"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Trips 31\u201350: $5.50 (base), $2.75 (LiVE)<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l4 level2 lfo3"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Trips 51\u201360: $6.50 (base), $3.25 (LiVE)<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l4 level1 lfo3"><b><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Subsidy:</span></b><span style="mso-ligatures:none"> $20 per trip.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l4 level1 lfo3"><b><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Service Area/Hours:</span></b><span style="mso-ligatures:none"> Mirrors current ADA service area and hours.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l4 level1 lfo3"><b><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Estimated annual cost reduction:</span></b><span style="mso-ligatures:none"> $5.04 million (32.9% decrease)1.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Operational Considerations:</span></b><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo4"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Requires significant staff oversight and additional headcount (4 FTEs).<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo4"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Customers must track their trips to know their fare each time, potentially causing confusion.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo4"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Projected yearly spend: $10.29 million.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Summary of Options<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo5"><b><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Scenario 1 (Increased Trip Cap):</span></b><span style="mso-ligatures:none"> Reduces trip cap to 50/month and increases fare, maximizing cost savings and revenue while maintaining a relatively high trip allowance.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo5"><b><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Scenario 2 (Tiered):</span></b><span style="mso-ligatures:none"> Maintains the current 60-trip cap but introduces a tiered fare structure, increasing the fare as usage rises. This option preserves flexibility for high-frequency users but adds administrative complexity and potential customer confusion.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><End Excerpt><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Cordially,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Curtis Chong<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Colorado-Talk mailing list</span><br><span>Colorado-Talk@nfbnet.org</span><br><span>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org</span><br><span>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Colorado-Talk:</span><br><span>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org/cfolska%40yahoo.com</span><br><span>List archives can be found at <http://www.nfbnet.org/pipermail/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org></span><br></div></blockquote><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Colorado-Talk mailing list</span><br><span>Colorado-Talk@nfbnet.org</span><br><span>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org</span><br><span>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Colorado-Talk:</span><br><span>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org/sue%40teamspirit.net</span><br><span>List archives can be found at <http://www.nfbnet.org/pipermail/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org></span><br></div></blockquote></div></blockquote><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Colorado-Talk mailing list</span><br><span>Colorado-Talk@nfbnet.org</span><br><span>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org</span><br><span>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Colorado-Talk:</span><br><span>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org/cfolska%40yahoo.com</span><br><span>List archives can be found at <http://www.nfbnet.org/pipermail/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org></span><br></div></blockquote></body></html>