RTD has gotten off track.
As the transit agency gears up for a headline-grabbing month of free service — Zero Fare for Better Air — it is important to remember that climate change will not be solved this August, nor will RTD's systemic failings.
With gas prices putting the squeeze on our wallets, Zero Fare for Better Air is well-timed. But it is still a new coat of paint on the lemon that is the Regional Transportation District.
That is not to say that Zero Fare for Better Air is not needed or appreciated. It is a laudable effort to reduce carbon emissions to decrease traffic congestion. But, despite the proposed August 2023 sequel, it is a one-off. And the fight against climate change does not need one-off efforts; it needs concerted, continual action — action from RTD, the government and all of us.
So, while it may not be any sort of solution, Zero Fare for Better Air is a prime opportunity for RTD to begin reinventing itself. Because as it stands, RTD is in rough shape. In its recently released draft Mobility Plan for the Future, the agency admits as much itself: "Debt obligations, rising operation and capital costs, and staffing shortages — all combined with declining ridership — have hurt the agency's reputation and bottom line." On top of all that are the pandemic-enforced service cuts; service levels currently sit at 70% of their pre-pandemic levels.
Here in Boulder, the cuts have led a group that includes the city and the County Board of Commissioners to send a letter to RTD decrying the reductions and calling the agency's proposed long-term cuts a "serious concern."
The local ill will for the agency doesn't stop there. FasTracks, which was voter-approved way back in 2004, laid out plans for a rail connection between Denver and Longmont. But it was only this year that RTD even got around to selecting a consulting firm to complete a feasibility study on the proposal — some 18 years late. Though one thing RTD did manage to do in those 18 years was collect taxes for the project: From 2005 through 2020, FasTracks taxes collected in Boulder County totaled more than $269 million.
Putting aside broken promises, many will likely point to the pandemic as a root cause for RTD's woes. Across the country, public transit ridership plummeted, and services had to be slashed. RTD's fate was no different — but we can't let the very real damage done by the pandemic cover up the fact that many of the agency's worst problems predate COVID-19.
Again, RTD recognizes this. "It's really easy to get caught sort of looking at your feet, slogging forward," RTD Director Vince Buzek said recently. "RTD has been stuck in this scenario where we have so much going on today, we haven't been able to think about tomorrow."
The solution to RTD's slog is meant to be found in the upcoming Mobility Plan for the Future. The document lays out three scenarios, ranging from very "fiscally constrained" to "aspirational." The "aspirational" plan calls for $35 billion in new investment to help transform RTD into the transit system the Front Range needs to earnestly combat climate change by 2050 by increasing ridership, expanding services and investing in new technologies.
That all sounds well and good for 2050. But what about now? For now, RTD's goals include increasing services back to 85% of pre-pandemic levels by 2027. Put another way, in five years' time RTD is aiming to provide 15% less than it did in 2019. It's hard not to see that as more "slogging forward."
It is, of course, complicated. And it is what RTD believes it can do considering its bleak financial situation, staffing shortages and decreasing ridership. But under the circumstances — blistering heat waves, devastating fires and drying riverbeds — it is not enough.
As we negotiate our way toward a future of limited carbon emissions, RTD must be a daily commuting option for as many people as possible. This means we need the "aspirational" plan: the increased ridership, expanded services and investments in new technologies. But we need this aspiration — as much as we can get of it — today.
The onus for this aspiration is not solely on RTD. We too must do our part to ensure RTD is fully funded and financially situated to meet our needs. It is admittedly hard to trust an agency that so often fails to live up to its promises, but at the moment we don't have many options. We need public transit to fight climate change — and we need it now. So, it is imperative that we — the voters and elected officials and government employees who live in the Front Range — work together to ensure RTD has the leadership and infrastructure to make good use of being fully funded.
Zero Fare for Better Air is a necessary coat of fresh paint that will hopefully help repair RTD's tarnished reputation. But the agency must capitalize on the goodwill it earns. We do not need a 15% reduction in services by 2027. We don't need an "aspirational" 2050 plan. RTD — and all of us — must aspire toward more. We need fully funded, fully functioning mass transit for all, and we need it today. We can't afford to wait.
— Gary Garrison for the Camera Editorial Board
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