Denver County Local Coordinating Council – July 15th, 2020

Reimagine RTD – Bill Sirois, RTD

  • Key element of Reimagine RTD: Evaluate current system and determine what RTD can afford.
  • Seek your input on priorities and draft system optimization plan (SOP) (Fall 2020)
    • Outreach period through October:
      • July 24th – online survey
      • September/October – release SOP with outreach
    • Implement system optimization plan (starting in 2021)
    • Create mobility plan for the future (Summer 2021)
  • What should RTD’s priorities be and why? Bolded items were discussed by participants:

    1. Long service hours
    2. Fast Trips
    3. Convenient stop locations
    4. Reliable service
    5. Easy transit connections
    6. Frequent service
    7. Equitable access
    8. Geographical access
    9. High ridership=based services
    10. Resource efficiency

  • Discussion about RTD’s priorities included:
    • Service that allows for aging in place, equitable access; access to service, prevents feeling isolated.
    • Geographical access – rural areas are in need with people aging in place
    • Is equity looked at across all items or just the one bucket? Looking at geographical access, Montbello had high bus ridership, but since opening of A-line, bus routes cuts and now have to travel much further to bus stops. Additionally, because the way Montbello is designed, it makes it hard to access bus stops for older populations. An idea is to have a shuttle to pick up passengers to bring to larger transit centers.
    • RTD to collect all travel data from cell phone locations
    • Tradeoff for geographic equity and efficiency – they are fundamental opposites. RTD one of has the largest transit geographic service area in the country.
    • Pipeline of college pass users to eco pass users to lifetime transit users
    • Will RTD work with human service providers if service is cut (therefore cutting Access-a-Ride)?
    • Access-a-Ride is tied to fixed route service, so changes affect both and may have unintended consequences; what is the impact to Access-a-Ride due to the current policy? There is room for more partnerships, use local service providers.

Making transit safe and attractive for the youth in Sun Valley-

  • Will start working in subcommittees next meeting. These include:
    • Stakeholder Outreach and Education
    • Safety (working with RTD Transit Police)
    • Data Analysis (including looking at current youth transit trends)

Next meeting:
August 19, 2020; 9-10 AM
Zoom Meeting