A committee of Regional Transportation District leaders voted Wednesday to recommend a 10% cut to bus and light-rail service to save the agency $31 million as the organization faces a steep budget deficit heading into the next fiscal year.
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RTD leaders this week also took a step back from a list of possible service cuts, including the 16th Street FreeRide and several light-rail lines, compiled by agency staffers after the Board of Directors asked for cost-saving scenarios to solve the $200 million shortfall.
That list caused several Front Range residents to speak up during public comment at the agency’s operations committee meeting Wednesday night. The meeting was held virtually.
Doug Tisdale, leader of the Denver Downtown Development Authority and a former RTD director, spoke with disbelief at the idea that the agency would ever cut FreeRide, calling it “an exercise in magical thinking.”
“For decades it’s been the economic and logistical lifeline of downtown Denver,” Tisdale said. “We didn’t just endure a massive, multiyear rebuild of the 16th Street transit way to abandon it now.”
Agency leaders repeatedly emphasized that the cuts detailed in the public documents are hypothetical. General manager and chief executive Debra Johnson described them as “just for illustrative purposes.”
“The board is not approving any cuts to any service at this time. Any service reductions will be proposed formally in the future and will be subject to public review,” Director Ian Harwick said, adding that what was compiled by staffers and what will be approved will be “very different.”
The committee’s recommendation will be passed on to the full RTD board, which is set to meet at the end of the month.
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Even if the RTD board approves service cuts, directors won’t decide which specific lines and services to eliminate until a later time, likely September.
The 5-2 vote from RTD’s operations committee stands in contrast to the finance committee’s occasionally contentious meeting Tuesday night, where directors rejected a proposed recommendation for $20 million in service cuts and instead voted for zero cuts.
The finance committee also directed agency staffers to find ways to generate up to $12 million more in revenue through fare increases.
Several directors on the operations committee on Wednesday said they also support zero service cuts because they hope voters will pass a ballot measure to increase funding and solve the deficit while the agency could take on more debt or spend down reserves in the meantime.
But that did not convince a majority of the committee.
Director Chris Nicholson said the only thing worse than making cuts now would be running out of money or making cuts while asking voters to approve a funding measure.
“I’m not willing to play Russian roulette with the agency’s finances under the assumption that we pass a ballot measure in 2028,” he said.
RTD’s Board of Directors is scheduled for a hybrid virtual and in-person meeting at 5:30 p.m. July 28 at agency headquarters, 1660 Blake St. in Denver.
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