Commuters Share Concerns With RTD Leadership On Telephone Town Hall

Upset RTD riders didn’t hold back their concerns on Wednesday night during a telephone town hall put on by the Regional Transportation District. Most of the issues revolved around late trains, which points to one issue: lack of people to operate them. RTD has a lot of job openings right now and not enough drivers. In the last two weeks, it has had to cancel more than 200 light rail trips.

The district is down 50 to 60 light rail operators and needs to hire another 80 bus drivers.

Commuters are feeling the impact.

“It’s really frustrating. You’d like to think you can rely on your public transit to get you places on time, that’s the whole point of it being there,” RTD rider Aaron Ball told CBS4.

Other concerns were raised about the delay to FasTracks, RTD’s multi-billion dollar plan to expand rail lines.

“I’m really annoyed that I’m paying taxes all these years and I will get no benefit for it,” one woman said during the town hall. “I’ll be dead before you get things done into Longmont.”

RTD says Wednesday night’s phone town hall is one of many opportunities for people to weigh in. The next one will take place on Monday at 6 p.m. Get more information at rtd-denver.com.