With the price of gas bouncing around $4 a gallon, many commuters are parking their cars — either at home or outlying park-n-Rides — and turning to public transit instead.
Ridership on Regional Transportation District buses and trains was up about 10 percent January through April compared with the same period a year ago.
The same trend is occurring nationally.
Light-rail ridership across the country jumped 10.3 percent in the first quarter while commuter rail use rose 5.7 percent, and heavy, subway-style train ridership was up 4.4 percent, according to the American Public Transportation Association.
Meanwhile, road use is flat or declining in Colorado and much of the country, Federal Highway Administration statistics show.
Nationally, vehicle miles traveled were down about 2 percent through April compared with the same period in 2007.
Another measure of increased transit use is how often RTD’s parking lots fill up.
A recent agency survey found nearly all lots on the southwest rail line were filling each weekday, as were seven lots on the southeast line — Belleview, Colorado, Dayton, Dry Creek, Nine Mile, Orchard and Yale.
Local bus routes in Aurora that feed the Nine Mile station saw ridership jumps of between 14.7 percent and 40.6 percent in April when compared with a year ago, said Bill Porter, RTD’s manager of service planning and scheduling.
Ridership on the bus route that links Highlands Ranch with the Mineral and County Line rail stations was up 28 percent in April, Porter said.
Ridership increases everywhere
Bus ridership from north metro Denver also has grown as well. Boardings on the 120X and 122X express buses that serve both the Wagon Road and Thornton park-n-Rides were up 13.6 percent and 25 percent, respectively, in April.
The downside of all the transit growth is trains and buses fill faster and force some commuters to stand longer.
Rick Banks, of south Jefferson County, is a longtime RTD rail commuter who notices the influx of new riders.
“I was cheap long before high gas prices,” said Banks, of the five years he’s been riding the D line from Mineral station to his job with Johns-Manville in downtown Denver.
“The trains are a little more crowded, especially going home,” he said. Yet Banks will stick with rail. “It’s either that or get stuck in traffic.”
RTD grapples with “paradox”
One challenge for RTD is to retain customers — old and new — as it deals with what agency officials call the “transit paradox.”
It refers to the increased demand for service at a time RTD is paying far more for diesel fuel and collecting fewer sales-tax receipts, which RTD relies on for operating the bulk of its system.
“We’re struggling to optimize service with our available resources,” said RTD General Manager Cal Marsella.
RTD staffers are assessing options for dealing with the financial crisis including more cuts in transit service and possible fuel surcharges or other forms of fare increase.
Last week, the U.S. House passed a bill that will funnel $1.7 billion to transit agencies to expand services and help keep fares down. The money will allow agencies to offer incentives for commuters who choose transit.
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
