RTD ridership still falling as state pushes transit-oriented development: ‘We’re not moving the needle’

ENGLEWOOD Metro Denver budtender Quentin Ferguson necessities Regional Transportation District bus and trains to reach work at an Arvada dispensary from his house a trip that takes minutes each way on a good day It is pretty inconvenient Ferguson reported on a new rainy evening waiting for a nearly empty train that was eight minutes late He s not complaining however because his relatively low income and Medicaid status qualify him for a discounted RTD monthly pass That lets him save money for a car or an electric bicycle he revealed either of them offering a faster commute Then he would no longer have to ride RTD His plight reflects a core obstacle of lagging ridership that RTD directors increasingly run up against as they try to position the transit agency as the smartest way to deal with Denver Majority of other U S inhabitants transit agencies too are grappling with a version of this dilemma In Colorado state-government-driven efforts to concentrate the growing population in high-density transit-oriented expansion around bus and train stations a priority for legislators and Gov Jared Polis hinge on having a swift general system that residents ride But transit ridership has failed to rebound a year after RTD s havoc in when operators disrupted provision downtown for a million rail reconstruction followed by a systemwide crisis maintenance blitz to smooth deteriorating tracks that led to trains crawling through -mph slow zones The latest ridership numbers show an overall decline this year by at least with million fewer riders per year compared with six years ago And RTD executives newly proposed record billion budget for doesn t include funds for boosting bus and train frequency to win back riders Frustrations intensified last week What is the point of transit-oriented growth if it is just expansion explained state Rep Meg Froelich a Democrat representing Englewood who chairs the House Transportation Housing and Local Regime Committee We need reliable transit to have transit-oriented maturation We have cities that have invested key tools into their transit-oriented communities RTD is not holding up its end of the bargain At a retreat this past summer a majority of the RTD s elected board members agreed that boosting ridership is their top priority Specific who reviewed the proposed budget last week questioned the lack of spending on function improvements for riders We re not moving the needle Ridership is not going up It should be going up director Karen Benker reported in an interview Over the past meager years there s been a tremendous amount of population development There are so countless apartment complexes so much new housing put up all over Benker stated Transit has to be relied on You just cannot keep building more roads We re going to have to find tactics to get people to ride inhabitants transit Commuting trends blamed RTD Chief Executive and General Manager Debra Johnson in emailed responses to questions from The Denver Post emphasized that RTD is not unique among U S transit agencies struggling to regain ridership lost during the COVID- pandemic Johnson blamed societal shifts Commuting trends have significantly changed over the last five years she reported Return-to-work numbers in the Denver metro area which accounted for a crucial percentage of RTD s ridership prior to March remain low as companies and businesses continue to provide flexible in-office schedules for their employees In the future RTD will be changing its focus from primarily providing commuter services she stated toward enhancing its bus and services and connections to high-volume events activity centers concerts and festivals A newest survey commissioned by the agency identified exceptional customer satisfaction But agency directors are looking for a more aggressive approach to reversing the decline in ridership And specific are mulling a radical restructuring of routes Funded mostly by taxpayers across a square-mile area spanning eight counties and municipalities one of the biggest in the nation RTD operates rail lines covering miles with stations and bus routes with stops We should start from scratch mentioned RTD director Chris Nicholson advocating an overhaul of the geometry of all bus routes to align transit better with metro Denver residents current mobility patterns The key will be increasing frequency We should design the routes how we think would best serve people currently and then we could take that and modify it where absolutely necessary to avoid disruptive differences with our current trail map he revealed Then in directors should appeal to voters for increased funding to improve function funds that would be substantially controlled by municipalties to pick where they want the function to go he disclosed Reversing the RTD ridership decline may take a couple of years Nicholson declared comparing the decreases this year to customers shunning a restaurant If you re a restaurant and you poison specific guests accidentally you re gonna lose customers even after you fix the obstacle The RTD ridership numbers show an overall general transit ridership decrease by when measured over the -month period from August through July the last month for which staffers have made numbers available compared with the same period a year ago Bus ridership decreased by and light rail by over that period In a typical month RTD administrators record around million boardings around on weekdays The exigency maintenance blitz began in June when RTD agents revealed that inspectors had unveiled widespread rail burn deterioration of tracks compelling thousands of riders to seek other transportation The precautionary rail slow zones persisted for months as contractors worked on tracks delaying and diverting trains leaving transit-dependent workers in a lurch RTD driver workforce shortages limited deployment of crisis bus shuttles This year RTD ridership systemwide decreased by when measured from January through July compared with that period in The bus ridership this year has decreased by On rail lines the ridership on the relatively popular A Line that runs from Union Station downtown to Denver International Airport was down by The E Line light rail that runs from downtown to the southeastern edge of metro Denver was down by Rail ridership on the W Line decreased by and on R Line by agency records show The annual RTD ridership has decreased by since from million to million in A Regional Transportation District light rail train moves through downtown Denver on Friday June AP Photo David Zalubowski Light rail sickness spreading The sickness on RTD light rail is spreading to other parts of the RTD system revealed James Flattum a co-founder of the Greater Denver Transit grassroots rider advocacy group who also serves on the state s RTD Accountability Committee We re seeing permanent demand destruction as a consequence of having an unreliable system This comes from a loss of trust in RTD to get you where you need to go RTD representatives have countered critics by pointing out that the light rail s on-time performance recovered this year to or better Bus on-time performance still lagged at in July agency records show The personnel also pointed to decreased protection reports made using an RTD smartphone app after deploying more police officers on buses and trains The number of stated assaults has decreased to four in September compared with in September records show Greater Denver Transit members acknowledged that safety has improved but question the agency s assertions based on app usage It may be true that the number of precaution calls went down Flattum explained but maybe the people who otherwise would have made more safety calls are no longer riding RTD RTD staffers growing the budget have focused on managing debt and maintaining operations spending at current levels They ve received forecasts that revenues from taxpayers will increase slightly It s unclear whether state and federal funds will be available Looking ahead they re also planning to take on million of debt over the next five years to buy new diesel buses instead of shifting to electric hybrid buses as planned for the future RTD directors and leaders of the Southwest Vitality Efficiency Project an environmental group are opposing the rollback of RTD s planned shift to the cleaner quieter electric hybrid buses and taking on new debt for that purpose Colorado lawmakers will push on a bunch of different fronts to prioritize better utility to boost ridership Froelich disclosed The legislature in modern years directed funds to help RTD provide free transit for riders under age Buses and trains running at least every minutes would improve both ridership and safety she explained because more riders would discourage bad behavior and riders wouldn t have to wait alone at night on often-empty platforms for up to an hour We re trying to do what we can to get people back onto the transit system Froelich stated They do it in other places and people here do ride the Bustang intercity bus system RTD just seems to lack the nimbleness required to meet the moment Denver Center for the Performing Arts stage hand Chris Grossman walks home after work in downtown Denver on Thursday Oct Photo by Andy Cross The Denver Post Riders switch modes Meanwhile riders continue to abandon general transit when it doesn t meet their requirements For Denver Center for the Performing Arts theater technician Chris Grossman ditching RTD led to a better quality of life He had to move from the Virginia Village neighborhood he loved Back in Grossman sold his ailing blue VW Golf when he moved there in the belief that RTD light rail was more or less reliable He rode nearly every day between the Colorado Station and downtown But trains became erratic as maintenance of walls along tracks caused delays It just got so bad I was burning so much money on rideshares that I apparently could have bought a car Shortly before RTD publicized the slow zones last summer he moved to an apartment closer to downtown on Capitol Hill He walks or rides scooters to work faster than taking the bus he declared Similarly Honor Morgan who came to Denver from the rural Midwest grateful for any inhabitants transit mentioned she had to move from her place east of downtown to be closer to her workplace due to RTD transit trouble Buses were late and one blew by her as she waited She had to adjust her attire when riding her Colfax Avenue trail to Union Station to manage harassment She faced regular dramas of riders with substance-use problems erupting Morgan moved to an apartment near Union Station in March allowing her to walk to work Related Articles RTD ridership fails to grow in We ve lost customers who used to trust us Bus and train ridership rose as RTD s Zero Fare for Better Air promotion expanded to months this year RTD ridership rose during free-fare promotion new evidence shows RTD ridership drops amid coronavirus outbreak but agency isn t cutting organization She still hoped to rely on RTD for concerts and nightlife and to reach DIA for work-related flights at least once a month But RTD social media posts have alerted her to enough delays on the A Line that she no longer trusts it she noted To reduce her anxiety and minimize the peril of missing her flights she shells out for rides even though these often get stuck in traffic She and her boyfriend just now tried RTD again riding a train to the th and Blake Station near the Mission Ballroom They attended an amazing concert there she reported and felt happy as they walked to the station to catch the train home A man on the platform collapsed backward hitting his head He was bleeding She called Her boyfriend and other riders gathered She ran across the street to an apartment building and grabbed paper towels RTD isn t really to blame but I just wish they had a station platform attendant or someone I do not know head-injury first aid Morgan declared The train they d been waiting for came and went An ambulance arrived They got home late the evening ruined she disclosed His head cracked open He had skin flaps hanging off his head This was stuck in my head at least for the rest of the night Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter