[TakeFive]

It's looking more and more like my common-sense predictions may just happen

These 4 Maps Show How RTD’s Bus Service Could Change (And Shrink) Next Year
July 1, 2020 By Nathaniel Minor - CPR

“I’ll be frank, not everybody is going to like the tradeoffs,” Bill Sirois, RTD’s senior manager of transit-oriented communities, told the board earlier this year. “There will be winners; there will be losers.”

Each scenario takes into account an 8 percent cut from pre-pandemic service levels. The final product will almost certainly include greater cuts...

Hardly a surprise.

It’s entirely possible that the board will choose none of the above. In a brief discussion after the presentation, some board members said they wanted to see hybrids of them.

Now this sounds a whole lot like what I had suggested.

And an informal poll by the board showed clear support for prioritizing a regional transit backbone while supporting partnerships where communities pay for and operate local service — at least in the more immediate future when RTD’s budget is tightest.

That would mark a significant change for the way metro transit has worked since RTD’s formation about 50 years ago. It’s been the dominant provider since then.

"It's pretty obvious to all of us that we are not able to do the kind of service that we have done in the past, and that we need to look at ways to partner to provide service to areas that need it,” said Denver board member Kate Williams.

Kate Williams is assuming that City of Denver is more than willing to support transit within the city. She may be right and that's how it should be.

My gratitude to the Pandemic

Instead of a painfully slow process of a decade or longer, the Pandemic has forced the Board to think in terms of a whole new reality. There is this obvious potential problem:

But that could be politically difficult unless RTD sends some of its own money to local governments, said board member Natalie Menten of Lakewood. “The taxpayers may view this as double taxation,” she said.

It’s also possible that some areas that lose service could leave RTD and subsequently stop paying the agency’s 1 percent sales tax like Castle Rock did in 2005.

I disagree with that last sentence. AFAIK, those counties and areas that voted for .4 tenths sales tax increase in FasTracks - I assume are obligated by that vote, especially since all counties are now served by light or commuter rail (or BRT). As to other .6 tenths that is likely an entirely different question.