RTD looking to lower fares, attract more riders

BY LUKE ZARZECKI LZARZECKI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

RTD is in the process of lowering and simplifying costs, with new, lower fares a possibility by the rst quarter of 2024 and if approved by the board.

It came out of their Fare Study and Equity Analysis the RTD Board reviewed and released to the public on Feb. 14 e report also acknowledges the increase can’t only be attributed to the free rides.

“...customers expressed a strong preference for simplifying the existing fare structure. e design was also modi ed to include lower Local fares in response to customer feedback and to align with equity goals,” a news release from RTD reads.

According to Brandon Figliolino, a spokesperson for RTD, the Board of Directors is looking at a plan to combine local and regional fares, and lower the airport fare. A threehour pass would cost $2.75, a day pass $5.50 a monthly pass $88 and the airport fare would be $10, under a modi ed version of that plan.

“In April, RTD sta will ask the Board to release the draft recommended fare structure, policies and programs and draft fare equity analysis to the public. roughout the month of May, members of the public will be able to attend fare study information sessions and provide comments on the proposal,” Figliolino wrote in an email.

It may be one way to get more riders. RTD saw an increase in ridership during its Zero Fare for Better Air period in August 2022, when services were free. According to a nal report on the program, overall ridership increased by 22% compared from July 2022 to August 2022, and average weekday daily ridership increased by 19.9% in August compared to July.

“...transit trends and data are in uenced by seasonal factors, such as vacations and the resumption of the school year, in addition to persisting pandemic impacts and large scheduled events.” the report reads.

State Representatives Jennifer Bacon and Stephanie Vigil and State Senator Faith Winter introduced a bill this year that will allow that same grant to be used for any month that a transit agency designates as its “ozone season.”

Additionally, even with higher costs of driving, data provided by RTD shows that gas prices do not change ridership.

Laurie Hu , a spokesperson for RTD, wrote in an email that many factors a ect ridership, such as seasonality, weather, service levels and the opening of new lines.

She noted an increase in ridership in 2008 coincided with higher gas prices. However, ridership remained the same in 2014 when gas prices fell.

“RTD has been unable to attribute a direct correlation between gas prices and ridership (but) has seen just the opposite in some cases. On a longer-term basis, gas prices have risen but overall ridership for transit agencies has trended downward,” she wrote.

One strong correlation they found is employment rates: as unemployment rises, ridership goes down, and vice versa.

Getting more riders, and money If people live near transit and it’s accessible, they’re more likely to take it. According to Brian Welch, RTD’s acting assistant general manager of planning, the pandemic disproportionately impacted the use of public transportation.

“If you look at air travel, vehicle miles traveled, freight, even I think ocean cruises, almost everybody has gotten back to where they were before the global pandemic. Public transportation remains one of the outliers, so we’re still feeling the effects of this disruption,” he said.

One of those reasons is due to teleworking. Not as many people are taking long trips to work. Even before the pandemic, increases in ridership weren’t proportional to increases in population.

“If we have all these people moving into the Denver Metro area, ostensibly we’ve got people moving in who don’t want to drive,” he said. “We don’t seem to be attracting those people as frequently as we’d like to.” e price of transit is inelastic regarding incremental increases.

For public transportation to be attractive, people need incentives to take it.

Welch said expensive parking charges, congestion, safety and competitive travel times up the value. Even so, there are people who won’t do it — they love their car, Welch said.

“In North America, in the places where we have for 50, 75 years made it really attractive to drive, that makes transit tougher, to provide a value proposition and a good alternative for people,” he said.

To make transit an attractive option, it needs to be there and needs to be of quality, safe and frequent.

“Doesn’t matter if it’s free, because it still doesn’t help them (if it’s not of value),” he said.

However, for those on the margin, high fares play a role.

“If you could get to the airport cheaper by driving and parking than you could by taking one of our airport services, then yeah, the price is an issue,” Welch said.

Connecting the suburbs

Welch said that circumferential transit – public transportation options that circle a downtown area, connecting the outlying areas – has not worked well in the United States. Hub and spoke-type networks, from the suburbs to downtown, attract people from concentration to concentration in the U.S. ose inter-suburban connections may grow naturally if the suburbs continue to grow, b e ectively becoming hubs themselves, he said. But that does not answer the age-old question: how do we get people to ride transit? at’s because 20% of RTD’s operating budget comes from fares, which is typical for a transportation agency. What’s not typical is the rest comes mostly from the federal government and sales tax – with no revenue coming from the state government.

“It generally takes you too long to get all the way to where you need to go,” he said.

He said it’s a real challenge for those living in suburbs trying to get to other suburbs, such as Westminster to Brighton or ornton to Lone Tree.

Most success for RTD has come from connecting Denver, the tech center and Boulder. Each contain services that attract people and virtually guarantee ridership: colleges, hospitals, o ce buildings and commercial centers.

RTD’s largest limitation is hiring employees, Welch said, and another will be funds. Welch said right now, RTD is in a good position with recent money coming from the federal government, such as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act.) In the future, it won’t be so smooth.

In 2021, RTD’s total revenue and grants and contributions were $1.17 billion. Of that, about 7% came from operating revenues, about 64% from sales tax and about 26% from grant operating assistance.

RTD’s operating revenues also were cut in half from 2019 to 2021. In 2019, operating revenues came in at $160.9 million but were slashed to $82.5 million in 2020 and reduced again to $83.1 million in 2021.

State Senator Winter said RTD needs a more reliable source of funding moving into the future to continue the boost it received from 2022’s Zero Fare for Better Air days promotion.

“We need to build on that success, continue that success, and make that success permanent,” Winter said.

To receive funding from municipalities and the state, Welch said RTD is working on showing people it’s worth it, with a lot of focus on safety and security.

“How can we be ready for them so that they instantly come back on transit and don’t start driving again?” Welch said.