[Colorado-talk] PROPOSED Changes to RTD Service and Schedules for January, 2018

[Gary Van Dorn]

RTD published the below proposal for changes effective in January, 2018.  These proposed changes are in the Board Packet for the Operations and Customer Service Committee Meeting for 8 August 2017.  You may find these proposals beginning on page 52.  This proposal is not available on the RTD website at this time.  I encourage everyone to review the below proposals.  Contact your member of the Board of Directors with your concerns, suggestions, or agreement with the proposal.  

BUS

Route 3 – Alameda Avenue
As part of RTD’s ongoing bus stop consolidation program, this proposal eliminates the
following stops, due to close proximity to other stops, and/or low usage:
- Alameda/Grant (westbound)
- Alameda/Logan (eastbound)
- Alameda/Humboldt (eastbound)
- Alameda/Franklin (westbound)
- University/Cedar
- University/Cherry Creek Drive (southbound)
- Alameda/Cherry
- Alameda/Elm
- Alameda/Grape28
- Alameda/Jersey
- Alameda/Leyden
- Alameda/Xenia (westbound)
- Alameda/Cedar Circle
No cost impacts are anticipated

Route 9 – West 10th Avenue
It is proposed to convert the one-way loop on Vrain St, 9th Ave, and Utica St to a bidirectional
loop operating on Tennyson St, 9th Avenue, and Winona Ct. The grades on
these streets should allow the bus to serve the community at 9th Ave & Vrain St more
consistently during snowy or icy conditions. Minor schedule adjustments are proposed to
improve on-time performance. No cost impacts are anticipated.

Route 12 – Downing St/North Washington
As part of RTD’s ongoing bus stop consolidation program, this proposal eliminates the
following stops, due to close proximity to other stops, and/or low usage:
- Washington/48th Ave
- Downing/28th Ave
- Corona/14th Ave southbound
- Corona/13th Ave southbound
- Corona/3rd Ave southbound
- Downing/14th Ave northbound
- Downing/Ellsworth
- Louisiana/Pearl eastbound
- Iowa/Emerson
- Downing/Jewell
- Hampden/Ogden westbound
- Hampden/Emerson eastbound
- Hampden/Emerson and Hampden/Pearl westbound, consolidate into new stop at
Clarkson
- Girard/Lincoln westbound
No cost impacts are anticipated

Route 16 – West Colfax
Minor schedule adjustments are proposed to improve on-time performance. Cost impacts
are anticipated to be an estimated $27,900 annualized.

Route 19 – Pecos North
Running time adjustment, weekday only, for better on-time performance and passenger
load balance. Cost impact is estimated to be $272,700 annualized.

Route 20 – 20th Avenue
As part of RTD’s ongoing bus stop consolidation program, this proposal eliminates the
following stops, due to close proximity to adjacent stops and/or low usage:
Eastbound:
- 17th Sherman
- 17th/Pearl
- 17th/Lafayette
- 17th/Race
- 17th/Gaylord
- Syracuse/22nd
Westbound
- 23rd/Roslyn
- 17th/Harrison
- 18th/Vine
- 18th/Marion
- 18th/Emerson
- 18th/Pennsylvania
No cost impacts are anticipated

Routes 28 – 28th Avenue
This proposal reroutes Route 28 westbound to operate on 19th Avenue between Clarkson
St and Broadway and on Glenarm Pl between Broadway and 15th St. Eastbound routing in
this area will be unchanged. It is also proposed to operate all trips currently operating as
Route 28B as Route 28 trips. Route 28B would be discontinued. Alternative service is
available on Routes 28 and 32. This proposal also discontinues the routing on Yates St,
Byron Pl, and Sheridan Blvd for through trips. These trips will stay on 26th Ave between
Sheridan Blvd and Yates St. Trips terminating at Sheridan Blvd will continue to utilize this
loop. No cost impacts are anticipated.

Route 32 – 32nd Avenue
It is proposed to reroute Route 32 westbound to operate on 19th Avenue between
Clarkson St and Broadway and on Glenarm Pl between Broadway and 15th St. Eastbound
routing will be unchanged. No cost impacts are anticipated.

Route 42 – Montbello via Albrook/Green Valley Ranch
Reduce weekday peak period frequency east of 40th & Airport Station through Green
Valley Ranch from every 15 to every 30 minutes. Peak period productivity through Green
Valley Ranch is 17.4 boardings/hour, versus the 25 boardings/hour needed to justify the
higher frequency. Route 42 all day productivity is 19.4 boardings/hour. Peak frequency
will remain every 15 minutes through Montbello to Central Park Station.
Cost savings are estimated to be $156,000 annualized.

Route 43 – Martin Luther King Blvd.
Running time and trip time adjustments. No cost impacts are anticipated.

Route 44 – 44th Avenue
Reroute via 48th Avenue to Colorado Blvd and 40th & Colorado Station. Present routing via
Clayton/46th/Steele/43rd/Clayton is very awkward and time consuming, with multiple
railroad crossings, and operating under Interstate 70, which will be torn down for
reconstruction as early as 2018. East 48th Avenue between Columbine and Vasquez Blvd.
is presently served by Route 48, and has existing bus stops. No cost is anticipated for
this change.

Route 45 – Montbello via 51st/Green Valley Ranch
Reduce weekday peak period frequency from every 15 to every 30 minutes, over entire
route. Peak period productivity is 19.5 boardings/hour, versus the minimum productivity
standard of 25 boardings/hour needed to justify the higher frequency. Route 45 all day
productivity is 17.0 boardings/hour.
Cost saving are estimated to be $584,000 annualized.

Route 83D/83L – Parker/Leetsdale Limited
Add Route 83D trips via Dayton and Quebec Way at 9:15am and 11:17am eastbound
from downtown, and 10:09am and 12:09pm westbound from Nine Mile Station. Provides
consistent hourly midday service on 83D routing, extends periods of 15 minute frequency
during the midday to the trunk route on Leetsdale Drive and Speer Boulevard through
Cherry Creek. Additionally, due to insufficient recovery and lengthening running times, add
bus for adequate recovery at Nine Mile Station between 11:00am and 1:30pm.
Cost impacts are estimated to be $78,000 annualized.

Route 89 – Stapleton/Anschutz Campus
Discontinue route, due to very low ridership. Currently ridership averages 115 boardings
per day, 3 boardings/trip, and 9.7 boardings/in-service hour.
Cost savings are estimated to be $312,000 annualized.

Route 90L – US36 & Sheridan Limited
Route name change to ‘FF7, which would more explicitly incorporate this route into the
Flatiron Flyer service plan. No cost is anticipated for this change.

Route 104X – Commerce City/ Denver
Shift trip leave time for last northbound trip from Union Station to 5:28pm in order to
allow for better local and regional connections. No cost is anticipated for this change.

Route 153 – Chambers Road
Running time and trip time adjustments. No cost is anticipated for this change.

Route 205/205T – 28th Street/Gunbarrel/Heatherwood
Running time adjustments, weekday only, block 5 & 11 specific to further improve on-time
performance. Cost impacts are estimated to be $155,900 annualized.

Route 323 – Skyline Crosstown
Running time adjustments, weekday only, for better on-time performance. No cost is
anticipated for this change.

Route BOLT – Longmont/Boulder
Weekend running time and schedule adjustments. No cost is anticipated for this change.

Route BOUND – 30th Street
This proposal reduces the current 10-minute frequency to a 15-minute frequency on
Route BOUND within Boulder unless an agreement to buy up the level of service is made
between RTD and the City of Boulder and/or Boulder County. It should be noted that
sufficient capacity exists with the 15-minute level of service, should the buy up agreement
not be signed. Cost savings result in a neutral impact.

Route CV/CS/CX – Pine Junction/Conifer/Denver
It is proposed to shift the CV trip currently beginning at Pine Junction at 6:28am to
instead begin at 6:10am, arriving to Civic Center at 7:20am. No cost impact is anticipated
for this change.

Route EV/ES/EX – Evergreen/Denver
It is proposed to discontinue service on the Frontage Road between Lewis Ridge Road and Chestnut
Drive. Cost impacts are anticipated to be $15,500 annualized.

Route FF4 – Boulder/Civic Center
Shift block 74 trip leave at BJDS from 15:20 to 15:30 for even headways. No costs are
anticipated for this change.

Route JUMP– Boulder/Lafayette via Arapahoe
This proposal reduces the current 10-minute frequency to a 15-minute frequency on
Route JUMP, within Boulder, unless an agreement to buy up the level of service is made
between RTD and the City of Boulder and/or Boulder County. In addition, it is proposed to
discontinue the current ‘west-end loop’ between Arapahoe/14th St, 9th St, Canyon Blvd
due to very low ridership and instead operate the west-end of the route via 14th Street
between Arapahoe and Canyon Blvd. This will allow for better on-time performance and
operations of the route without any additional resources, which otherwise would be
required. Route HOP is available along 9th Street and routes 205 and N provide additional
service along Canyon Blvd, between 9th St and Downtown Boulder Station. No cost
impacts are anticipated with this change.

RAIL

C, D, and L Line proposal:
Previous efforts to improve on time performance on the D Line involved both signal and station
changes along the Welton Street segment, resulting in a 3% improvement in on-time performance.
However, the on-time performance standard for rail remains higher than that achieved by the D
Line service. As a part of further efforts to improve the on-time performance of the Southwest and
Central corridors and as a means of optimizing passenger capacity on both corridors, the following
changes are proposed:

L Line
It is proposed to separate the operation of the D Line into two lines, the D Line and the “L Line”.
The D Line would operate as it does today between Mineral Station and downtown, with all trains
turning at 19th Street. The Welton Street segment would operate as its own service, the L Line,
as previously proposed in the Central Rail Extension Mobility Study. The L Line would operate
between downtown and 30th & Downing Station, with all trains turning at 14th Street. This allows
service to be better tailored to the two different service area segments and will increase reliability
of service along Welton Street, especially in the northbound direction.

C Line
It is proposed to increase the weekday peak service frequency from 30 minutes to 15 minutes and
also run later at night, similar to the E Line. This would serve the growing demand for service
during special events in the Central Platte Valley Corridor. Vehicle consists will be a mix of 2- and
3-car trains, similar to the W Line. It is also proposed to operate the C Line on weekend and holiday
evenings and late nights instead of the D Line; frequencies and span of service on the C Line would
be similar to the existing D Line.

D Line
It is proposed to reduce weekday peak service frequency from an average of 10 minutes to 15
minutes and increase train size from three cars to four cars. The lower frequency during the
weekday peak periods would be replaced by the increase in C Line service and new L Line service.
It is proposed to reduce weekday midday service from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. Weekday midday
service on the Southwest corridor would have a combined 15-minute frequency between the C and
D, similar to the E and F on the Southeast. It is also proposed to reduce evening and late night
service and cover this service with C Line and L Line trips. This proposal responds to ridership
trends, especially on evenings and weekends, for service to the Union Station area, including airport
connections, and helps with event service in the Central Platte Valley. This keeps service on the
Southwest Corridor at the same frequencies as now at all times of the day.
This proposal has savings in both operating hours and vehicle miles. Total annual car hours saved:
5,100 (approximately 1,800 annual operator hours); total annual car miles saved: 493,400.

E, F, and H Lines: Minor running time adjustments are proposed for the Southeast Lines on all
service days. This will not alter the trips and the same service will be provided. No changes in
hours are anticipated.
Cost savings are anticipated to be an estimated $333,000 annualized

D, E, H, and W Line
It is proposed to reduce late night service Sunday through Thursday nights. The last trips would
depart from downtown Denver after 12:00 AM instead of just after 1:00 AM as they do now.
This impacts one trip on each of these lines for a total average daily boardings of 218 (46 D Line,
49 E Line, 64 H Line, 59 W Line) for Sunday nights and 249 (51 D Line, 57 E Line, 77 H Line, 64
W Line) for Monday-Thursday nights. Total hours saved: 6 Sundays-Thursdays, 1,530 total annual.
Cost savings are anticipated to be an estimated $283,000 annualized.

R Line
It is proposed to reduce service in the off-peak south of the Florida Station. R Line service would
run south of Florida Station approximately between 5-9 AM and 3-6 PM on weekdays only. This
proposal keeps 15-minute service through central Aurora all day, where the maximum per trip
passenger volumes currently occur during the off-peak hours. Denver Tech Center passengers
would still have R Line service in the peak hours and could transfer at Southmoor Station in the
off-peak. This proposal will help increase efficiency (boardings per hour) on the R Line, which
currently averages 41 passengers per hour on weekdays, which is the lowest of all rail lines. Total
hours saved: 15,387 annual hours. Cost savings are anticipated to be estimated $2,830,000
annualized.

W Line
It is proposed to reduce the frequency of service between Jefferson County Government Center-
Golden Station and Federal Center Station during the off-peak from 15-minutes to 30-minutes.
These trips currently run every 15 minutes and are not currently meeting service standards. They
have lower boardings per hour (by about half) when compared to the outer ends of the other four
light rail corridors in the off-peak. This would reduce the frequency between 9:00 AM-3:00 PM
and 6:00 PM-9:00 PM Mondays through Fridays and all day on Saturdays and Sundays. During
these times, westbound trains would alternate between terminating at Golden or Federal Center
and eastbound trains would alternate between starting at Golden or Federal Center.
The proposed change effects approximately 362 weekday passengers and approximately 838
weekend passengers that would need to a take a train 15 minutes earlier or later. Total hours saved:
7 Mondays-Fridays and 14.75 Saturdays and Sundays, 3,407 total annual. Cost savings are
estimated to be $477,000 annualized.

RTD plans on holding eight public hearings on these proposed changes.  The packet states RTD will conduct these meetings between 18 September and 2 October 2017.  

My plan is to send another E-mail to Colorado Talk once this proposal is online at the RTD website.  

Chapter and Division Presidents, please discuss the changes which impact your memberships.