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

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.”

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