[Colorado-Talk] Denver Area: RTD Management Wants Directors To Approve 20% Cuts To Routes and Services by Next Month

Sat Apr 25 03:41:54 UTC 2026

Sorry, y'all. I'll make sure future mailings have the correct link.

From: Colorado-Talk <colorado-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Curtis
Chong via Colorado-Talk
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2026 5:31 PM
To: 'NFB of Colorado Discussion List' <colorado-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Curtis Chong <chong.curtis at gmail.com>
Subject: [Colorado-Talk] Denver Area: RTD Management Wants Directors To
Approve 20% Cuts To Routes and Services by Next Month

Greetings all:

If you want to send an email about this to the RTD Board of Directors as a
whole, here is the corrected email address. The address provided by Tim
Keenan (see email below) is technically correct except that if you activate
the link instead of just copying the text of the4 email, RTD's email system
keeps rejecting the email. 

Please send your emails to RTD.Directors at rtd-denver.com
<mailto:RTD.Directors at rtd-denver.com> .

Sorry for the technical glitch.

Cordially,

Curtis Chong

  _____  

Hey, RTD riders and transit advocates!

It's me, with some more cheery news from RTD.

RTD management is putting significant pressure on the Board to enact route
and service cuts of at least 20% starting next January, and we don't even
know what they are. If you followed the Access on Demand saga, this will
feel familiar. When it came to cutting Access on Demand, management pushed
hard for draconian cuts to the number of trips and service area combined
with significant fare increases. Fortunately, the Board refused to be
rushed, and we ended up with a service that, while not perfect, is still
largely intact. I'm hoping history repeats itself here, but we need to make
our voices heard.

What's actually being proposed:

Management is recommending a 20% cut to bus and rail service starting
January 3, 2027, which they say would save roughly $62 million and help
close a $215 million structural deficit. If an anticipated $40 million state
grant doesn't come through, they're warning the Board it would need to cut
an additional 16% of service in May 2027 - bringing the total to about 36%.
To put that in plain terms, as one transit advocate quoted in the Denver
Post put it, cuts like these mean the bus goes fewer places and less often,
making transit more cumbersome or entirely impossible for those who depend
on it most.

Management has already identified $84 million in non-service cuts - contract
modifications, departmental reorganizations, vacancy eliminations, and the
like. But they're telling the Board that isn't enough, and that service cuts
are unavoidable.

Here's something that isn't in the news coverage but deserves serious
attention: management's presentation is completely silent on what these cuts
would mean for paratransit. Under the ADA, RTD is required to provide
complementary paratransit service within three-quarters of a mile of any
fixed route. Cut the fixed routes, and the paratransit service area shrinks
with them. For blind and low-vision riders and others who depend on
Access-a-Ride, this isn't just an inconvenience - it's a mobility and
independence issue. The fact that management's presentation doesn't mention
this at all is a significant omission that we should be calling out publicly
and loudly.

Is this timeline genuinely urgent?

I had real doubts about this, but having dug into the actual board meeting
packet, the short answer is: the timeline is more legitimate than it first
appears, but the process still has serious problems.

Here's why the May deadline is real: for service changes to take effect
January 3, 2027, RTD's own process requires proposed changes to be published
by September 11, public meetings to run from late September through early
November, and a board vote by December 1. To do the service planning work
that produces those September proposals, staff needs to start in June. That
means a May board decision is genuinely necessary.

Here's what's still wrong with the process: management revealed the specific
proposed cuts to the board in a closed executive session. According to board
member Karen Benker, the entire board looked stunned when they saw the scope
of what was being proposed. But you and I still don't know which specific
routes are on the chopping block. Presumably, we'll know on Tuesday, but
that doesn't give Board members or the public much time to analyze these and
formulate a response. The board is being asked to approve a 20% reduction
strategy before the public - or arguably even the board itself - fully
understands what that means for specific communities and routes. That's a
transparency problem, and it mirrors what we saw with Access on Demand.

I also want to flag something for those who remember the equity analysis
debate: RTD's policy requires a formal equity analysis when any route faces
a reduction of 25% or more in service hours. The recommended cut lands at
20% - just below that threshold. Convenient, right? That said, RTD's civil
rights policy still prohibits any service changes that disproportionately
burden protected populations, including people with disabilities, regardless
of the size of the cut. That's a lever we can and should use.

What you can do right now:

The next RTD Board meeting is this Tuesday, April 28, at 5:30 PM. You can
attend via Zoom or in person at RTD headquarters, 1660 Blake Street, Denver.
As of this writing, RTD has not yet posted the agenda or the Zoom
registration link - which is itself a little telling, but par for the course
for RTD. I'll keep checking the meeting portal at http://rtd.iqm2.com for
the link once it's posted.

To submit written comment that becomes part of the official record, email
RTD.Directors at rtd-denver.com <mailto:RTD.Directors at rtd-denver.com> . If you
get your comment in a few hours before the meeting starts, it will be
printed and placed in front of every director.

Some things worth mentioning in your comments:

Management's proposal is completely silent on paratransit impacts, and that
silence is unacceptable. The Board should require management to explicitly
address how these cuts would affect the ADA complementary paratransit
service area before any vote is taken.

A 20% systemwide service reduction, combined with cuts already made during
and after COVID, risks pushing RTD into a ridership death spiral that makes
the financial situation worse, not better.

The Board should insist on full public transparency about which specific
routes and services are under consideration before approving any reduction
strategy.

Bottom Line: I don't want to needlessly alarm anyone, but cuts are coming in
some form. The financial situation is real - but the shape and severity of
those cuts is absolutely still up for debate, and public pressure worked
last time. Let's make sure it works again.

I'll share more as things develop. In the meantime, here's the full Denver
Post article for those who want the details without fighting through a
screen-reader obstacle course.

  _____  

RTD management wants directors to cut public transit by at least 20% 

Decisions on metro Denver bus, train service reductions due in May for
balancing RTD's $1.5 billion budget 

By Bruce Finley | bfinley at denverpost.com <mailto:bfinley at denverpost.com>  |
The Denver Post 

Published: April 21, 2026

At least a fifth of the Regional Transportation District's bus and train
service would be cut next year under agency managers' recommendations to
directors, who are considering eliminating entire routes and slashing
thousands of public transit trips across metro Denver.

If an anticipated state grant for $40 million doesn't come through, RTD
directors must cut "another 16% of services," according to a document
presented to directors before meetings Tuesday night.

Directors haven't decided which routes to cut.

"It's like signing your own death warrant," Director JoyAnn Ruscha said.

A 20% service cut would reduce overall spending by about $62 million,
helping balance RTD's $1.5 billion annual budget, RTD general manager Debra
Johnson and Kelly Mackey, the chief financial officer, said in a
presentation to directors. Cutting service by 36% "is totally in your
purview," Johnson told directors, warning that if they don't correct RTD's
budget deficit next year "we will be putting ourselves in a very precarious
position."

The cuts almost certainly will complicate efforts to reverse RTD's declining
ridership, down by nearly 40% since 2019 across RTD's 2,345-square-mile
service area, which spans eight counties.

RTD managers also recommended that directors pursue a ballot measure in 2028
to ask voters for funding to shore up public transit finances. The
15-member, publicly elected board of directors must make decisions by the
end of May, managers added, warning that a delay would hurt the development
of a balanced 2027 budget.

But Director Karen Benker, who leads RTD's finance committee, is challenging
the cuts. Benker has proposed fare increases to raise revenue, furlough days
for managers, ending overtime pay for bus and train operators, corporate
sponsorships, debt refinancing, and a tougher crackdown on bus and train
riders who don't pay fares by installing turnstiles at Denver International
Airport.

"Cutting service by 20% is crazy. Combined with the reductions already made
during COVID, these proposed cuts risk pushing RTD into a downward spiral,"
Benker said in an emailed response. "I cannot support the level of cuts
currently being proposed by management. RTD needs to get to work - dig in,
tighten up the numbers, and identify the funding required to avoid severe
service cuts. Customers come first."

At a recent, closed executive session, agency managers revealed the scope of
the service cuts they recommend, and "the entire board looked stunned,"
Benker said.

RTD Director Patrick O'Keefe, chairman of the board, said no final decisions
have been made but that directors know the agency faces a fundamental
financial problem. "Without spending less or bringing in more money, we will
be forced into far more significant impacts in the near future," O'Keefe
said.

Director Chris Nicholson said cuts in bus and train service along suburban
as well as central urban routes must be considered. The smartest approach is
"to cut the service people do not use," Nicholson said. "We know how many
people board each train and bus. Those passenger counts should drive our
decisions."

RTD financial planners have warned that an annual $215 million budget
deficit must be corrected by 2027 to prevent credit agencies from
downgrading RTD's status. Agency planners already have worked out
"non-service" cuts from departmental realignments, layoffs, and contract
changes for about $84 million in savings.

Johnson told directors that measures such as raising fares won't be
sufficient, and Mackey said corrective action to balance the budget is
essential for the "viability" of public transit.

For metro-Denver residents, service cuts will mean "the bus goes fewer
places and less often," said Saigopal Rangaraj, co-leader of Greater Denver
Transit, a public transportation advocacy group. "It makes journeys on
transit more cumbersome or entirely impossible. We will see more traffic as
people who can afford to will choose to drive. . People who can't afford to
buy a car will be left using a less-useful system."

  _____  

That's the complete version. The only thing I'd flag is that you may want to
do a quick read-through to make sure the voice sounds like you throughout -
I tried to preserve your style, but you know better than I do where it
drifts. Good luck Tuesday!

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