Fast, walkable transit for metro Denver would cost $420 million a year for a decade, study says

The Alliance to Transform Transportation has a vision for Denver metro transit in 2035. It wants 2 million people to be within walking distance of buses running so frequently there would be no need to check the schedule.

Their vision would cost $420 million a year. Where that investment will come from? Unknown. But they say the investment is needed to make transit convenient enough to actually get people out of their cars.

“All the data indicates that is really the big thing we can do to entice more people to use transit and to ensure those people who are using it, it’s a quality, convenient choice,” Danny Katz, executive director of CoPIRG, one of the alliance members, said Tuesday at an event held at RTD’s I-25 and Broadway station. More transit use, he said, is necessary to reduce pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and traffic congestion.

The nonprofit focused on public health and safety statewide laid out a framework for the vision, calling for $4.2 billion to be spent over a decade. Of that, $1.7 billion would go towards capital projects to improve the speed and reliability of buses. Some of the money could go directly to several bus rapid transit projects the Colorado Department of Transportation is developing. 

Another $2.1 billion would go toward increasing the percentage of people in the Regional Transportation District’s boundaries within a 10-minute walk of a frequent bus to 65% from 35%. In 2026, RTD plans to have 34 bus lines running at a frequency of every 15 minutes or less. The alliance wants to bring that to 83. 

The remaining $400 million would go toward upgrading half of RTD’s 8,000 bus stops, workforce development and microtransit services. The report recommends one specific microtransit project: a bus circulating between Denver Union Station and Red Rocks Amphitheatre during concert season. The route would make 20 trips, including stops at the Federal Center Station in Lakewood, per event at a cost of $11,000 per show. 

The iconic venue is not accessible via public transit, with the closest transit stops a regional bus stop in Morrison and the W-Line to Jefferson County Government Center in Golden.

Return to near pre-pandemic service level is “a down payment”

Not all the $420 million a year will need to come from new sources. State legislators last year put fees on oil and gas producers, and those will raise $138 million a year, with 80% going to transit. This year, RTD increased its operating budget by $160 million and has begun restoring routes with a goal of reaching 85% of its pre-pandemic levels. Katz calls that a “down payment.” 

But the group has not identified funding sources that would reach their $420 million a year goal.

“We don’t have a clear plan yet of where all those dollars will come from,” Katz said. “That’s something that we hope the community will come together to figure out, assuming that we have the support for this vision.”

The alliance is made up of 11 community organizations including the Denver Streets Partnership, Servicios de la Raza, transit workers union ATU 1001 and Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition. Greater Denver Transit, which is a member of Denver Streets Partnership but not directly involved in the alliance, does support the report overall but has one issue with it: the lack of rail.

In the past decade, transportation planners across Colorado have favored improvements to bus service over new rail projects. RTD still has several rail extensions from its 2004 FasTracks ballot measure unfinished. CoPIRG’s report does not mention any funding allocation to finish those or restore service cut during the pandemic. (RTD permanently shut down the C-Line from Union Station to Littleton and the F-Line from the Central Business Loop to Lone Tree in December 2022.) 

“The intentional de-emphasis of rail in this plan is concerning, as rail serves as the backbone of RTD’s network,” Greater Denver Transit co-founder James Flattum said. “RTD’s 10 rail lines make up 6% of RTD’s routes, but transport one-third of passengers with a comparable operational cost per rider to that of buses.” 

Executing the vision plan also will require recruiting enough bus operators to staff the increase in service. 

Since the pandemic, RTD has faced an operator shortage that has hindered its ability to return service to its 2019 levels. The agency wants to have 1,169 bus and rail operators this year. Its currently short of that number by 50. It hired 140 more bus and light rail operators than quit in 2024, but for every five new bus operators hired, three operators left. The transit workers union thinks RTD needs to serve its employees better if it wants to meet the goals of the report. 

“Treat them with respect to make sure that they have safe and secure working conditions. That is what RTD needs to do, as well as pay them a wage that they can live in this area,” said Dennis Hawkins, who’s been a light rail operator for 10 years and spoke on behalf of ATU 1001 Tuesday.

RTD spokesperson Tara Broghammer said in a statement the agency has focused on recruiting and retention, which has led to service increases in September and January with more proposed to start in May.

The alliance report does see workforce as a key factor for success. It suggests that new funding could be used to boost pay but does not address other issues, such as violence, that operators say they face.