Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?

I had a passenger ask me about the rate hikes RTD was proposing.
I wasn't able to respond because I hadn't heard anything regarding this.

So I went to the RTD site and found some information.
Before I go on with my opinions about this, I want to highly recommend y'all get to know the RTD site.
Not just because you can learn when to catch your bus & train but because every penny RTD gets is from YOU, the taxpayer & the rider.
You want to know that RTD is both spending your money wisely and that it is still worth your money.

That said, let's look at some of what the proposal reads.

It reads that next year, RTD will spend $18 million more than it makes.
Translating the explaination: the economy has killed sales tax and rider/fare revenues.

Some of the proposals to make up that difference include a fare increase.
But if you go back to the reason for the deficit, it sounds like the economy can't support this increase.
Nor would it be able to afford any sales tax increase.

The proposal mentions "3rd consecutive year of no salary increases"...
Let's get real here, nobody is getting raises in Colorado right now.
The economy is in the tank.
If the Rider & taxpayer can't afford tax and fare increases, they can't afford to give raises either.

Now we get to the points I felt were key here:
"Service Reductions & Hiring Limitations"

There are so many routes RTD puts me on during the week where I drive these big long accordian buses...empty.
Take the 116X as an example.
I think it runs every 20 minutes during peak times.
Drop that to once an hour or at least once every half hour and you'd fill a bus, pay for the gas and the only imposition to the passenger is that they have to get to their stop 15 minutes earlier.
Now on the other end of the spectrum is the 120X & 122X.
Those buses are PACKED - STANDING ROOM ONLY during peak times.
But they also run off peak and we can cut that too.

I think that setting runs back to every 30 minutes during peak, 60 minutes during off peak on most routes and maybe every 20 minutes on the very busy lines like the 0, 15, etc - would go a really long way towards cutting expenses, cutting fuel costs, cutting issues like the proganda I'm about to talk about concerning "Drivers shortages" etc.
And wouldn't be a hardship for most riders.

At the moment we're hearing that we have a Driver shortage.
But the last "vote" (where Drivers get to pick their assignments for the next 4 months) saw almost every route picked.
The few open runs after the vote were the itty bitty Peak Hour runs that are only one trip, one hour, etc.
And those would probably get cut if we smartly and carefully cut back service to the 30/60 model I recall growing up here in Denver in the 80s.
Drivers are being hired right off the street, in packs of 15 & 20 and put into service Full Time to fill all the runs.
The problems that could arise from this are many but one is that they won't last long.
We have half our new Drivers quitting within their first year.
The Union treats the Driver like crap - that's all for another post.
But rush new Drivers into service under pressure and they are going to be more likely to quit.

There are other issues the Drivers & RTD need to address (getting rid of the Union!) to reduce Driver loss that would also reduce the training costs, increase customer safety & satisfaction and retard the shortage issues.

Again, RTD would want me to remind you that these are all just my opinions and as you've read them tell us, they "neither endorse nor support" anything posted on this blog.
This is just me, a Driver & passenger and a taxpayer.

I want to encourage everybody to read and get involved in how RTD spends your tax dollars and fares.
This impacts us all, both the Driver and the Passenger.

As always, "Welcome aboard, find your seats - Let's Roll!"