DENVER | Transportation Thread

[PLANSIT]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

I'm tempted to take the other side of that bet. Hmm, this potentially has all the trappings of a very entertaining High Stakes Poker Game.

I don't see that proposal coming out of the legislature so there's the possibility of two competing statewide ballot initiatives? I don't even know what that takes, to get a statewide ballot initiative qualified?

I have always asserted that voters would accept higher taxes if it's for a defined purpose that they support. But going against a no-tax increase alternative is what's concerning. If the proposal is similar to last year's (I'd assume) it would likely have more appeal to metro voters and it is the sound, smart way to do business. The (metro) voters may just appreciate the candor and wisdom... and maybe even the rest of the state's voters.

I call your bluff and double the bet. Your move.

You lost. Pay up.

[mr1138]

Originally Posted by LooksLikeForever

Does anyone have an update on either the G line testing or the A/B line approvals for the quiet zones and removal of the flaggers? It's hard to keep up on all this...

This just broke on Monday. The hearing was moved up to next week afterall. It sounds like there's no commitment on a timeline, other than that a decision definitely won't come right at the time of the hearing. And even if they get the go-ahead, RTD isn't really letting on how much more testing is needed or what their timeline would be after that. I'd sure love to see it start running this year though!

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by PLANSIT

You lost. Pay up.

Dang... I wondered later if you might misunderstand what I was wanting to say. That last statement was vague enough that you might not realize I was referring to the competing political interests and their high stakes poker game. I meant it to mean the Chamber was calling the bluff of the SB1/Caldera crowd and doubling their bet. Fair to say that since I used the personal pronoun "I" you'd have no way of knowing that was a stand-in for the Chamber talking. So any confusion would be on me, my lack of clarity/poor wording. Sorry for that.

Since the last post was interrupted by an important phone call I'll continue...

I do feel sorry for Colorado
having been spoiled by a state where the dedicated flow of transportation revenue for over 30 years has made life so much easier.

The group Fix Colorado Roads as the CP article points out is "a similar coalition of Front Range and mountain business interests, has been working on a legislative remedy to the funding issue at the Capitol." Without their support the Chamber's proposal has little chance of passing. But if the legislature fails to provide a fix then there's no reason why the two groups wouldn't join hands.

Do Republicans know what they want, Buddy?
They want something for nothing, Doobie.
You're referring to the tail then, eh?
Yup, it's been the tail that wags that dog for a decade or longer.

The issue will need substantial Republican support to be successful. The other potential problem is we could end up with a metro versus out of metro controversy depending how the referendum is structured. That may have been the reason behind the Chamber's looking at their wording?

[TakeFive]

Denver Moves - closer to the finish line

Seemingly the majority of public input is done and Denver Moves held an Executive Session on Feb 1st which reviewed and compiled the recent results of public outreach. You can read that HERE. It's largely predictable for those who have expressed interest in better public transit.

It appears from the schedule that they'll finish the gathering and interpreting process by the the first part of March. The last step then would be making decisions and recommendations. A public draft plan for review is expected to be available by early May. Pending any revisions the finished product will hopefully be available soon after.

Once the report is completed how long it sits on the shelf before the Mayor and city council come up with an action plan is anybody's guess. The lowest hanging fruit and most affordable/likely to happen will presumably be increased frequency on priority routes.

Other than for my curiosity the balance of this year will be anticipating decisions and progress on the East Colfax BRT. That is real, has partial funding in hand and worth cheering for.

[PLANSIT]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Denver Moves - closer to the finish line

Seemingly the majority of public input is done and Denver Moves held an Executive Session on Feb 1st which reviewed and compiled the recent results of public outreach. You can read that HERE. It's largely predictable for those who have expressed interest in better public transit.

It appears from the schedule that they'll finish the gathering and interpreting process by the the first part of March. The last step then would be making decisions and recommendations. A public draft plan for review is expected to be available by early May. Pending any revisions the finished product will hopefully be available soon after.

Once the report is completed how long it sits on the shelf before the Mayor and city council come up with an action plan is anybody's guess. The lowest hanging fruit and most affordable/likely to happen will presumably be increased frequency on priority routes.

Other than for my curiosity the balance of this year will be anticipating decisions and progress on the East Colfax BRT. That is real, has partial funding in hand and worth cheering for.

DM:T is in its first phase. A likely second phase would include standing up a transit program within the city, taking a deeper dive into prioritized corridors (programmatic approach to implementation), and start implementing low hanging fruit, which would be Speed + Reliability projects (bus bulbs, TSP, queue jumps, stop consolidation). Service improvements (straight buy-ups) are far more complicated. Ask Boulder.

[twister244]

And...... more Friday news:

https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/n...billion-i.html

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by PLANSIT

DM:T is in its first phase. A likely second phase would include standing up a transit program within the city, taking a deeper dive into prioritized corridors (programmatic approach to implementation), and start implementing low hanging fruit, which would be Speed + Reliability projects (bus bulbs, TSP, queue jumps, stop consolidation). Service improvements (straight buy-ups) are far more complicated. Ask Boulder.

Thanks for the correction (of assumption) and feedback.

You lost me with DM:T but all I had to do was Google it to understand and see the latest Colfax BRT presentation pdf. What I'm most interested in is the Centerline or not decision.

As for your second phase stuff it's all good but have no idea the costs involved. Guess we'll find out in time.

Originally Posted by twister244

And...... more Friday news:

https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/n...billion-i.html

The remaining lawsuit concerns a wee bit as whenever you get into highly technical stuff or fine print wording you can never by sure what a judge may conclude. I don't think they have a case but it will be nice to hear that from the judge.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

How are you coming to those figures on line ridership? They seem overinflated for the R Line.

"R Line route including the H Line" (Nine Mile, Peoria and Florida ) So I fudged a little; those stations all have reported ridership numbers and all are in Aurora.

[TakeFive]

I'm delighted that this year's Colorado elections look to be dominated by transportation issues.

George Brauchler
@GeorgeBrauchler
Our roads continue to suck. Huge portions of our lives are being wasted dealing with the mismanagement of this transportation issue. #FixOurRoads #transportation #coleg

8:17 AM - Feb 13, 2018

https://twitter.com/GeorgeBrauchler/...witter-rant%2F

Tweeting AG Candidate Brauchler Says ‘Our Roads Continue To Suck’
February 13, 2018

DENVER (CBS4) – “Our roads continue to suck.”

That was what many Denverites were probably thinking during Tuesday morning’s typically slow commute, but a candidate for the state attorney general’s office took the thought a step further and went on a minor Twitter rant.

Side Note:
My early money is on Cynthia Coffman, current AG, winning the governor's race. What's interesting is that (now) deep red Arizona has already elected four female governors: two Dems and two Republicans. This could finally be Colorado's turn to elect its first female governor.

[TakeFive]

The Future Comes at You Fast, Bro


Illustration: Steph Davidson/Bloomberg

Self-Driving Cars Will Kill Things You Love (And a Few You Hate)
February 13, 2018 By Jess Shankleman/Bloomberg

Electric cars, robo taxis and self-driving trucks are coming to change the society we live in—possibly sooner than you think. In a future where anyone is able to summon a cheap driverless pod at the click of a smartphone button, the line between public and private transport would start to blur.

What are you thinking with respect to public transit?

Ride hailing services such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. are already reducing demand for public transport across the U.S., according to a study from the University of California, Davis. People use ride hailing apps instead of taking the train, driving, cycling or even walking.

Source

Today more than 90 percent of road accidents are caused by human error, so once you take people out of the equation safety will probably improve, said David Williams, technical director at insurer AXA SA. Initially, there could be two types of insurance—one for manual cars and one for autonomous—with premiums for the latter eventually falling as much as 50 percent, Williams said.

Won't this destroy our time-honored traditions?

Tailgate parties, political bumper stickers, bored teenagers cruising the byways of small towns—all these could become things of the past as cars change from prized possessions to on-demand utilities.

[jubguy3]

The dawn of ride-sharing scares me. We need to move towards less low-occupancy vehicles, not more.

[jubguy3]

On another note, rumors are strongly indicating that Aer Lingus is considering announcing Denver because of their partnership with UA and the additional capacity that A321LRs are creating (moving A330s to longer routes) but it would be operated in 2019 because summer schedules for international flying have mostly been finalized for now. Nothing has been announced yet though Aer Lingus has said it is one of two new routes it is considering.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by jubguy3

The dawn of ride-sharing scares me. We need to move towards less low-occupancy vehicles, not more.

Consider this:

Uber Quarterly Sales Rose 61% to $2 Billion Amid Heavy Loss
February 13, 2018 By Eric Newcomer/Bloomberg

Despite a turbulent year for the ride-hailing company, sales were $7.5 billion. But the company also posted a substantial loss of $4.5 billion. There are few historical precedents for the scale of its loss.

[TakeFive]

Source

[TakeFive]

We have details

Denver Metro Chamber Will Pitch Ballot Measures to Fund Colorado Transportation
Feb 14, 2018 by David Sachs/Streetsblog Denver

A coalition led by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce will file language next week for three ballot measures that would raise money for transportation projects by increasing the state sales tax, Chamber President and CEO Kelly Brough said Tuesday.

The three variations of the proposal each have a different sales tax increment — a half-cent, .62 cents, or a full penny. The measures would raise an estimated $500 million, $620 million, and $1 billion a year, respectively, according to a person familiar with the talks.

Of those funds, 15 percent would be for “multimodal” projects, i.e. transit, biking, and walking, 20 percent would go directly to cities, and another 20 percent would go to counties. The rest would go toward the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Similar to what the legislature came up with last year but couldn't get Republicans in the Senate to go along when they switched horses to borrow $1.9 billion against the State's real estate.

Don't you love how they copied my idea of allocating money to both cities and counties?

[TakeFive]

Final numbers are in

DIA sets passenger traffic record in 2017; up 5 percent from 2016
Feb 15, 2018 by Ben Miller - DBJ

Airport officials this week announced an official count of 61,379,396 passengers at DIA last year, up 5.3 percent from 2016's previous record of 58,266,515 passengers.

Other notable turnstyle things:

Last year, there were a record 2.59 million international travelers, which was a 12.5 percent increase over the previous year's.

Seventy-six of the airport’s top 100 busiest days ever were set in 2017.

[TakeFive]

From above:

Of those funds, 15 percent would be for “multimodal” projects, i.e. transit, biking, and walking, 20 percent would go directly to cities, and another 20 percent would go to counties. The rest would go toward the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Denver will get to double-dip since 20% goes to cities and 20% goes to counties.

Getting out my mechanical calculator, the city of Denver has about 12.5% (or 1/8) of the states population. Using the middle amount of .62 cents sales tax that is projected to raise $620 million a year. As a city and county, Denver will get 12.5% of 20% twice of the $620 million (or 25% of 40%) or $62 million a year. This assumes a pro rata distribution. Additionally CDOT has responsibility for roads like Federal, Colfax, Colo Blvd and Hampden (off the top of my head) and buses do use roads.

If we assume Denver generates 10% of the state's sales tax revenue; that would mean Denver is contributing $62 million and getting back $62 million so it would be a wash. If Denver batted closer to their weight with a 12% share of sales tax then they would contribute $74.4 million.

Cap Metro - Austin
will release plans for their first light rail, an urban line along a long-favored street/route. It will be 12 miles and cost $2.1 billion. That would be $175 million per mile which for an urban line sounds highly realistic. Nashville estimated theirs closer to $130 million per mile. Austin's plan is conceptual so funding is yet to be considered.

[CastleScott]

^ Take Five-remember you can bond from those amounts for a bit more plus those local matches could attract some cash from the Feds..

[DenverInfill]

I really doubt Denver will be able to double-dip and receive a city share and a county share, considering it is a single entity that performs both city and county functions.

[Denvergotback]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

I know nothing.

But I'm reminded that I later wondered if your parents might live in the vicinity of Grandview HS. Nice area but the transportation options would be rather limited.

I just noticed your post, sorry! Yes they live in the Arapahoe Crossings area. Yeah there isn't much options there unless you drive to nine mile. I think one thing that could help suburbanites to be more open and willing to use public transportation would to make it more convenient. Maybe start by making electronic tickets for your phone/ipad. Another thing that makes me wonder is the speed of our trains. The A-line is awesome. But its kind of disheartening that when its not rush hour, you just hop in your car and drive down the freeway and you can clearly see that your going faster than the trains... I understand that during rush hour its much easier and faster to take the trains into the city, but I have a feeling that many suburbanites don't really think about it, they think being in their car its much more convenient and faster to get to work than to ride the rail, all based upon that one time they saw that they were going faster than the trains.

I fully agree that our focus on public transportation should mainly be in the urban core areas of the city. But I also think we shouldn't forget our suburban neighbors, they can't complain if there is clearly other options of getting into the city without traffic, even though they try. We also have to try and eliminate pollution from suburbs also, even if its a losing battle, at least we are trying to slow down the process. We as a city have to figure out how to cater to everyone, and that's a hard thing to figure out. But I think by making the trains faster than the freeway speeds they follow along with, I think would have a positive impact. Kind of in a placebo affect.

(If that doesn't make any sense I completely understand, I was just kind of rambling on)