Plan to boost ridership doesn’t make sense

The Progressive plan to boost public transit ridership? Double service frequency at a cost of about $4.2 billion in operating costs over 10 years. Let’s admit this ridership tanked largely through the germophobic malaise brought on by COVID and isn’t likely to return.

A brief history lesson: RTD’s original Board of Directors was empaneled on the 1972 Bond vote, which was sold on the notion of building an advanced, elevated, computerized transit system. The U.S. government built a facility east of Pueblo, since taken over by the railroads, as a transit experiment center.

In 1978, after buying the still profitable Denver Tramway Company, RTD deployed buses and never looked back. In the 1990’s, antecedent to the debate over FasTracks, I started a company to compete with the 100 year old light rail technology, PRT Associates, LLC, and we went head to head against Warren Buffet and Anschutz until the FasTracks bond vote (supposed to cost $4.2 billion, same as the new amount for doubling the service intervals.)

Ultimately FasTracks capital costs went over $14 billion and there was still no rail service to Boulder and Longmont, although that may change now Boulder has landed the Sundance Film Festival

Regardless, all this public transportation discussion could be settled by admitting the 95% of single passenger vehicles out there have extra seats to sell, given an incentive. Single passenger Uber trips can be taken over with anybody stopping for passengers. Doubling the average ridership on private vehicles could reduce congestion by 75%.

Can the government refrain from building yet larger bureaucracies and dependencies? It’s doubtful, but someone should point out how anti-green it is to mandate running 60 passenger vehicles used by four people.

— Thomas Anthony, Longmont