RTD directors on Tuesday night approved an across-the-board transit- fare increase for Jan. 1 that will raise the local one-way cash fare to $1.75 and the one-way regional fare to $4.
The vote was 9-2 in favor of the fare hike, which a number of directors said was necessary to avoid cuts in bus and light-rail service.
“None of us want to do a fare increase, but we need to appreciate the consequences if we don’t,” said Regional Transportation District director Bill Christopher, who voted yes on the measure.
Failing to increase fares would force a $7 million cut in RTD’s budget next year, Christopher said, meaning a “reduction in service that would hurt too.”
But director Juanita Chacon, who voted against the increase, questioned whether RTD has done everything it can to increase revenue and reduce costs.
“When we go to the public, we should honestly say we’ve done as much as we can,” she said.
Chacon said RTD may have been “delinquent” in the past in ensuring that every transit rider pays a fare and the agency may not be able to afford the extra high cost of operating some long-distance bus routes when riders have the alternative of taking light rail instead for much of their trip.
RTD officials said the agency needed the fare increase primarily because of the rising cost of diesel fuel and the expense of providing special access-a-Ride transit service to disabled clients.
Such service is mandated by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, and access-a-Ride service costs have been rising 9 percent to 10 percent every year, said RTD general manager Cal Marsella.
The fare increase approved Tuesday will raise the cost of a regular local monthly transit pass to $60 from the current $54, a regular express pass to $108 from $99 and a monthly regional pass to $144 from $135.
RTD proposed limited increases to discounted monthly passes for seniors, disabled and student riders.
Marsella stressed that RTD will continue with its fare program for social- service agencies that distribute deeply discounted transit tokens to many low-income riders.
“There is a safety net out there for people who need that service,” he said.
The RTD board also unanimously approved a new financing plan for FasTracks that aims to make up for a $1.4 billion increase in the cost of the expansion project, compared with estimates three years ago.
The new plan calls for RTD to get at least $548 million in savings for FasTracks by getting private companies to finance, design, build, operate and maintain trains to Denver International Airport and Arvada/Wheat Ridge for as long as 50 years.
RTD’s financial advisers say private firms will be able to finance, build and operate the two lines more inexpensively as a package deal than RTD could do bidding them out separately.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
