The Regional Transportation District will soon sound out residents throughout its eight-county metropolitan Denver service area about a package of bus and light-rail fare increases being proposed by the transit agency’s staff.
Proposed RTD fare hikes
Local bus service: A one-way trip on a local bus route, such as within the city of Boulder, would increase from $2.25 to $2.60. A monthly pass would increase from $79 to $104.
Express bus service: A one-way trip on a route such as the Bolt Route between Longmont and Boulder would increase from $4 to $4.50. A monthly pass would increase from $140 to $180.
Regional bus service: A one-way trip on the BX, BMX or BV routes between Boulder and Denver, or on the various versions of the L Route between Longmont and Denver, would increase from $5 to $5.50. A monthly pass would increase from $176 to $220.
Discounted fares would continue to be available for all seniors age 65 and older, individuals with disabilities, Medicare recipients and students ages 6 to 19 in elementary, middle and high schools.
In a set of public hearings tentatively scheduled to start the week of March 23 and conclude on April 8, RTD will seek people’s reactions to recommendations for charging more for riding buses or trains on local, express and regional trips.
The one-way cash fare for riding a local bus within a community — such as taking a trip from one point to another inside the city of Boulder — would go from $2.25 to $2.60, for example.
Even if a higher local-route cash fare were to be charged elsewhere within the RTD late this year or at the start of 2016, however, it wouldn’t immediately apply to rides on local routes within Longmont.
Because of subsidies from Boulder County and the city of Longmont, people have been able to ride local routes within Longmont at no charge since July 2014, under an agreement with the RTD that county and city officials said they now expect to continue through at least the end of June 2016.
Another RTD staff proposal would raise the fare for an express bus trip, such as traveling from Longmont to Boulder, to $4.50, up from the current $4 charge.
The regional-fare cost of a longer inter-city trip, such as from downtown Boulder to Denver’s Union Station, or from Longmont to Denver, would increase from $5 to $5.50.
Those and other aspects of the RTD staff’s recommendations, presented to the transit agency board on Feb. 10, “have not yet been voted on. They’re just proposals,” District I Board member Judy Lubow of Longmont emphasized on Wednesday.
“They’re not set in stone” and still subject to adjustment by the agency’s staff and board, said Lubow, whose board seat represents an area extending from Broomfield north through eastern Boulder County and includes Lafayette, the Weld and Boulder County portions of Erie and much of Longmont.
Lubow said the RTD staff’s recommendations amount to “a decent proposal” for increasing fare revenues and avoiding service cutbacks in order to keep the agency’s budget in balance, but she said she considers them “a starting point for more public discussion.”
Lubow said she’s interested in how a new fare system can be structured in a way that it’s “fair for low-income people,” particularly those dependent on transit for such necessary trips as getting to and from work or school or medical appointments.
The RTD staff is recommending creation of a new form of “day pass” that would allow people to make multiple trips during a day’s time after paying the cost of a round-trip fare. A local route day pass, for example, would cost $5.20 and its buyer could use it for three or more trips on the day it is purchased, rather than paying $2.60 for each trip.
The agency staff expected to reevaluate its fare recommendations after the March and April public hearings and present a possibly adjusted package to the agency board later this spring or summer. The board is then expected to decide whether to amend its staff proposals and whether to adopt changes that would take effect in January 2016 — the first across-the-board hike in RTD fares since January 2011.
The package of recommendations also includes structural changes to a distance-based fare system that now can sometimes be confusing to riders because of zoned fares that now carry higher charges for longer trips on the same light-rail or bus route.
The RTD staff has recommended simplifying what Scott Reed, the agency’s assistant general manager, said is now “a very, very complicated rate structure.”
The dates, times and locations of the public hearings — at least one in each of the 15 board members’ districts — haven’t yet been firmed up but are expected to be announced within the next two weeks, the agency’s staff said on Wednesday.
John Fryar: 303-684-5211, jfryar@times-call.com or twitter.com/jfryartc
