RTD plans to restore some lost bus routes

Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Squeaky wheels are getting greased at RTD, and not only by mechanics in the bus barns overnight.

Unending complaints from riders who lost their fast and comfortable bus commutes when the T-REX light rail line opened in November paid off: RTD is restoring some of the canceled service.

Many riders of the former routes P, T, W and 6X said RTD's attempt to force them onto light rail along Interstate 25 made them spend an additional hour or more each day riding to work.

The RTD board voted Tuesday night to bring back service as soon as the schedules are worked out. It is expected to cost nearly $600,000 a year.

While some service is being restored, it won't be all that it used to be.

Route P from Franktown and Parker to downtown Denver used to have 13 trips in the morning and 13 in the evening. The renewed service will have five trips each way.

Route T went from Boulder to the Denver Tech Center. When T-REX opened, riders were told to use the Boulder route to Denver Union Station, take light rail to the Tech Center then use local buses to get to their workplaces. The renewed service will have three trips each in the morning and afternoon instead of five.

Route W, from Wagon road in Thornton to the Tech Center, will be partially replaced with two morning and afternoon feeder buses to the I-25/Broadway light rail station, bypassing Union Station. More trains leave from Broadway, so riders can expect better commute times.

And the 6X, which used to go from Ward Road in Wheat Ridge to the Tech Center, was cut off so that it goes only between Cold Spring in Lakewood and the Broadway light rail station. RTD will extend two morning and two afternoon trips back to Ward Road.

In other matters, RTD General Manager Cal Marsella got board approval for his suggestion that the agency work with other governmental organizations to lobby for extension of sales taxes to online purchases.

Marsella said the agency is losing part of its revenue base to online sales. While some Internet-based vendors collect sales taxes in certain instances, it is not uniform.