enver will continue investing in its goals around transportation and the climate crisis under the mayor’s 2020 budget proposal, which he revealed this morning at a press conference. But the $1.49 billion operating budget, which is a 2 percent increase over this year’s spending, also braces the city for an economic slowdown.
“We are taking assertive steps now to begin the belt tightening,” said Mayor Michael Hancock. “Because we are indeed seeing our revenues moderate and soften.”
In response to the slowing flow of cash into the city’s coffers, the mayor asked each department to make cuts without reducing services. The departments responded by making administrative changes or avoiding some new hiring. But the slower budget growth does not mean the city is cutting back on investments already planned, said the mayor.Fast growth injected new money into the city’s budget in recent years, according to Brendan Hanlon, the city’s Chief Financial Officer. And tax revenue is continuing to grow, especially from the retail and tourism industries, he says. But sales have slowed for cars, marijunana and products used in manufacturing and construction.
“This budget proposal advances the people’s priorities,” he said, citing a range of city goals, including those around the climate crisis and improving mobility options.
Transportation & Mobility
$118 million was proposed for building out Denver’s multimodal transportation system. That will grow by another $48 million when the Elevate Denver Bond issues another round of funds later this year. Kiki Turner, a spokesperson in the city’s Department of Finance, says the money would fund a range of projects, including:
$11.4 million for bike lanes
- Bikeways will be built, working toward the city’s goal of adding 125 miles in five years
$6.8 million for pedestrian crossings and sidewalks
- Pedestrian crossings will be improved citywide
- Five miles of sidewalk gaps will be filled in, especially on public property near high frequency transit stations and along high-injury network streets
$4 million for pedestrian and bike safety improvements
- $1.5 million for pedestrian detection technology at ten intersections on Federal Boulevard, which will improve traffic signal timing when it detects people on foot
- $1.2 million for Vision Zero capital improvements
- $950,000 for Safe Routes to School infrastructure and education
- $250,000 for a Safety Mobility Campaign
- Hiring two Vision Zero staff
$3 million for 18th & 19th Streets Downtown
- High-comfort bike lanes will be built on 18th from Glenarm to Wynkoop and on 19th from Wynkoop to Stout
- Transit improvements will speed up bus travel times and increase reliability on the Free MetroRide
- Pedestrian safety improvements will include crossing treatments and signal upgrades
Streetsblog asked city officials about funding related to Colfax Bus Rapid Transit and the Broadway/Lincoln Multimodal Design upgrades. We did not receive a response in time for this story.
Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency
The mayor proposed $40 million to create a new climate office that will address the crisis with measures including:
- $2 million to expand composting and recycling
- $2.9 million to purchase electric vehicles and improve charging infrastructure
- $1.3 million to offer green building incentives
General Operating Fund vs. Total Operating Budget
The mayor’s budget proposal grows to $2.2 billion when all proposed city expenditures are included.
- $1.49 billion: General Operating Fund, up 2 percent (this funds the city’s operations)
- $2.2 billion: Total Operating Budget, up 1.7 percent (this includes the airport and construction projects)
The city council will consider the mayor’s budget in hearings taking place all of next week. Deliberations will follow until the budget is passed during the second week of November. The 613-page budget proposal can be downloaded from the city’s website.
People who use RTD, rideshares like Lyft or Uber and even bikeshares and scooters will be able to plan and pay for a trip using one app called Transit.
RTD announced riders could begin purchasing tickets within that app on Monday. It’s the third app where riders can purchase an RTD ticket. The company already has its own app, and in May, users could begin purchasing tickets through Uber, too.
“RTD’s riders are already using Transit every day to plan their trips and track our buses and trains,” said RTD CEO and General Manager Dave Genova in a news release. “Offering them the ability to buy our tickets through Transit provides additional convenience, making it more intuitive for people to complete their trips as easily as possible.”
The Transit app allows users to plan and pay for public transportation on a single platform from cities all over the world. St. Catharines Transit Commission in Ontario, Canada began allowing users to use purchase tickets through Transit earlier this year. The app also gives riders real-time predictions on public transit.
The first 1,000 RTD users who purchase a Local or Regional 3-Hour Pass in the app on Tuesday between 6 and 10 a.m. will receive a free ticket in their wallet by 3 p.m.
DENVER (Sept. 9, 2019) – Starting today, the more than 35,000 people who use Transit every month across the Denver metro area will be able to purchase and activate Regional Transportation District (RTD) tickets within the company’s mobile app. This launch has been made possible through an integration with Masabi’s Justride mobile ticketing SDK (software development kit) and places the region’s riders among the first in the world to plan and pay for trips involving multiple modes of transportation on a single platform.
To celebrate, Transit is offering the first 1,000 RTD users who purchase a Local or Regional 3-Hour Pass in the app during the morning rush on Tuesday, Sept. 10 – from 6-10 a.m. – a free ticket in their wallet by 3 p.m., in time for the evening trip home that day.
To purchase a ticket with Transit, riders can tap the bar with RTD’s logo at the bottom of their screen inside the app. Transit guides users through a step-by-step process to choose a fare type, enter payment information and activate their ticket, which can then be shown to a bus operator or fare inspector for validation. Riders can also store tickets in a wallet with their Transit account and use them when they’re ready to ride RTD services.
“RTD’s riders are already using Transit every day to plan their trips and track our buses and trains,” said RTD CEO and General Manager Dave Genova. “Offering them the ability to buy our tickets through Transit provides additional convenience, making it more intuitive for people to complete their trips as easily as possible.”
The launch of Transit marks the third application – all of which are supported by Masabi – through which RTD riders can conveniently purchase tickets using their smartphones, making it even more convenient to discover and board RTD services. The transit agency’s popular Mobile Tickets app launched in the fall of 2017, and RTD began selling transit tickets within the Uber app in May 2019. RTD remains the only transit agency in the world offering riders the ability to plan trips in real-time and pay for them through Uber.
In the last month, Transit has been downloaded 10,000 times and opened 1.6 million times in Denver, with 15 percent of its users being from outside the region. Transit provides a single platform for users to access real-time, unbiased trip planning information spanning multiple public and private operators. Travelers in Denver can plan multimodal trips that combine transit, bikeshare and scooters, as well as pay for multimodal trips using Uber and Lyft within the app. With the debut of integrated ticketing today, riders can pay for RTD where they’re already planning trips and tracking rides.
RTD, along with other systems that offer ticketing in Transit, form the core of Transit accounts. This new feature – also announced today – allows Transit users to enter their payment information once to purchase transit and bikeshare passes from a broad range of operators in cities across North America, including Citi Bike in New York; Capital Bikeshare in Washington, D.C.; Bike Share Toronto; Divvy in Chicago; and BIXI in Montreal.
Colorado is the third market worldwide to debut integrated mobile ticketing in Transit, made possible through collaboration with fare payment provider Masabi. Mobile ticketing through Transit was first introduced earlier this year in Ontario, Canada, through St. Catharines Transit Commission. Ticketing in St. Catharines was an instant hit, with riders there purchasing more than 1,200 tickets in the first 10 days. After three months, passengers were activating more than 900 tickets each day with Transit. A consortium of transit systems across Ohio gained access in June, and additional transit agencies – including the RTC in Southern Nevada, Dayton RTA, and all three systems covering metro Cincinnati – will launch ticketing with Transit this fall.
“Tens of thousands of people across the Denver metro area already open Transit on their phone to plan their trip, track their ride and make connections with ridehail, bikeshare and scooter services. Adding RTD ticketing creates a complete, simplified experience for riders,” said Jake Sion, chief operating officer at Transit. “With a Transit account, users can not only purchase RTD tickets, but also pay for transit and multimodal connections in cities across North America. By making it easy for riders to purchase tickets in their favorite app, RTD is setting the tone for other transit agencies across the nation.”
“Practical mobility as a service is about delivering an integrated and intuitive journey experience across all transit types for all citizens,” said Masabi CEO Brian Zanghi. “Denver is a perfect example of how having access to public transit tickets through best-of-breed apps which people are already familiar with, increases the accessibility and discoverability of public transit services. We are in no doubt that this innovative practical approach will see increased ridership, making cities like Denver less congested and better places to live, work and visit.”
Masabi’s Justride SDK allows Transit to request fare types, make payments, and deliver visual and barcode tickets to riders through secure ticket wallets. The SDK communicates with Masabi’s servers to understand complex fare tables and manage the ticket lifecycle and security. Agencies using the SDK also have access to the Justride Hub, from which they can access a wealth of back-office data including real-time sales, usage and validation information and an extensive customer services interface.
ABOUT RTD
The Regional Transportation District celebrates 50 years of service this year. The transit agency develops, operates and maintains a public transportation system that meets the needs of close to 3 million people within an eight-county service area in the Denver Metro region. The agency’s buses, rail lines, shuttles and additional services provide 100 million annual passenger trips. For more information, visit rtd-denver.com, call 303-299-6000 and follow along on social media: www.facebook.com/RideRTD, on Twitter @Ridertd, @ridertd on Instagram and rideRTDco on YouTube.
ABOUT TRANSIT
Transit solves the urban commute in more than 200 cities worldwide. Users can easily navigate public transit with accurate real-time predictions, simple trip planning, and step-by-step navigation. The app also integrates other transport modes — bikesharing, scooters, carsharing and ridehail — so users can determine the best way to get from A to B. The company is based in Montréal, QC. Learn more by visiting www.transitapp.com.
ABOUT MASABI
Masabi is bringing Fare Payments-as-a-Service to public transit agencies of all sizes around the globe. Through our Fare Payments platform, Justride, agencies can sign up to mobile ticketing services, enable Mobility as a Service (MaaS), or deploy an account-based system using contactless bank cards, mobile devices and smartcards.
With over 60 clients across 10 countries, Justride is the world’s leading Fare Payments platform, serving the largest transit agency in the US to local bus operators. Masabi has offices in New York, Denver, London and Cluj, and investors include Mastercard and Keolis. For more information, visit www.masabi.com.
Considering how vehicles bearing the businesses’ distinctive logos seem to be everywhere in Denver these days, it’s almost hard to believe ride-hailing services Lyft and Uber only got started in the Mile High City six years ago. The competitors both debuted in September 2013 before being legally authorized by the state legislature the following spring.
For some, the app-based services have become an indispensable part of the metro area’s transportation fabric, whether it’s for enjoying a night on the town without worrying about driving while impaired or getting to an appointment in a hurry without having to sweat finding parking.
Denver, in turn, has become highly valuable to the companies as well. Not simply because of its demographics — as a hot spot for millennials, the city is heavy on Lyft and Uber’s favored demo — but also as a testing ground for new services, programs and promotions.
Take it from Gabe Cohen, the Denver native who for the last three and half years has overseen Lyft’s operations in Colorado and now serves as manager of its four-state Rockies region.
“We love firsts here,” Cohen said during an interview at the company’s driver-support and operations center in the Sun Valley neighborhood last month. “We’ve done a lot of launches and a lot of trial and tests here.”
Over the past four years, the company’s list of “firsts” that it launched in Denver looks like this:
2016
- The company debuts its “express drive” vehicle rental program for drivers.
- It partners with the city of Centennial on a first-mile/last-mile transit pilot program that Cohen says has since “been replicated and built upon all over the country.”
2017
- The company debuts its “ski rack mode” for riders in mountain towns looking to transport gear to the slopes.
2018
- Denver becomes Lyft’s first market for its e-scooter business.
- Denver joins San Jose as launch markets for Lyft’s “shared saver” program that offers riders discounts if they will walk to nearby pickup locations or wait a little longer to be picked up and share their ride with other passengers.
This list doesn’t account for partnerships and deals the company has struck in the Denver area, such as becoming the exclusive ride-hailing partner of the Pepsi Center in 2016, an arrangement Cohen described as the company’s “first and most comprehensive and operational marketing deal with a large venue.” Showgoers at City of Denver-owned Red Rocks Amphitheater are likely familiar with the company’s campsite theme pickup and drop-off area there. Lyft is also the official ride-share partner of Denver Arts & Venues.
Uber has been plenty busy adding new services and programs of its own to its Denver-area offerings since that 2013 launch date. That includes online food order and delivery business, Uber Eats, launched in October 2016, and Jump e-bike service, added in August 2018, company officials say.
When it comes to Denver as a test market, Uber debuted what could be a landscape-changing effort this year. In January, it launched it “Uber Transit” service in Denver, providing users with real-time data on RTD bus and train schedules with the aims of spurring more mass-transit rides. In May, it added RTD ticket sales directly through its app. While other cities such as London, Boston and Sydney also have the journey planning service, the ticket sales are just available in Denver for now.
“This is particularly exciting because Denver really was the first place where we launched this is the world,” Uber’s head of Western U.S. operations Danielle Sipf said. “Denver is a very import market to us because we have a really strong rider base that really uses the entire suite of options we offer.”
As of the end of July, Uber users had purchased 3,592 RTD tickets through the Denver app, Uber officials said. Sipf said the company intends to continue launching new services in Denver.
The two ride-hailing firms both had initial public offerings earlier this year. This came despite questions about the long-term profitability of their business model. On Tuesday, Uber, which has 150 full-time non-driver employees in Colorado — including a large team of engineers in Boulder — announced it was cutting 400 jobs across its engineering and product arms of its business. Company leaders said those wings were bloated. It’s unclear if those cuts touched Boulder.
Alejandro Henao is a mobility researcher with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory who questions if Uber and Lyft as positive forces in the urban transit landscape. While studying for his doctorate in civil engineering at the University of Colorado Denver, Henao drove for both Uber and Lyft and collected data for a study in conjunction with the school’s Center for Transportation Research. His efforts, highlighted in a recent YouTube video, found that 41% of time he was driving around with no passengers, and for every 100 miles of driving he did with a fare, he did another 69 miles of driving with no one else in the car, adding to congestion instead of combating it.
While he sees positives to what Lyft and Uber offer — reducing the need for big parking lots, providing energy-efficient e-scooters and bikes — he believes they have a long way to go particularly when it comes to supporting mass-transit.
“I think the idea of integrating different systems into one app is good, and it is moving in the right direction,” he said. “But when you are really looking at the big, overall transit use, more people are taking the Uber instead of the transit.”
Read the Latest Extra Dose!
