RTD is looking at tacking on an extra 25-cent “fuel-adjustment charge” to fares as well as altering the agency’s prepaid-transit-pass system because of rising fuel prices and other financial pressures, general manager Cal Marsella told legislators Tuesday.
In testimony before the Transportation Legislation Review Committee, Marsella said the Regional Transportation District’s fuel bill could reach $53 million in 2009, about $16 million higher than this year.
While the fuel bill soars, RTD’s sales-tax collections — which account for two-thirds of agency revenues — are expected to be $18 million less than anticipated for this year, he said.
“We’re considering a fare increase as we speak,” Marsella said of RTD’s effort to try to counter the financial crunch. The agency also is proposing to start a paid-parking plan next year at some of its park-n-Rides.
RTD directors are expected to consider fare-increase proposals and the parking-fee plan at a board meeting this month. The earliest a fare increase would go into effect is Jan. 1.
Marsella told legislators that RTD also is weighing three options for dealing with financial problems in the FasTracks transit-expansion program.
The price tag for FasTracks already has gone to $6.1 billion from an earlier estimate of $4.7 billion. The rising cost of building materials has led RTD to consider extending the FasTracks construction schedule beyond 2016 or building the rail lines “to budget,” which would mean “substantial” cutbacks on the lines, Marsella said.
RTD doesn’t want to take either approach, he added, so it is examining a third option — seeking out additional revenue sources.
One possibility would be to go back to the legislature for the authority to increase RTD’s sales-and-use tax in metro Denver, Marsella said. Such a tax increase could be framed to benefit both RTD’s existing “base” system as well as the FasTracks expansion.
A measure to boost RTD taxes might be paired with one that would aid the Colorado Department of Transportation, Marsella said.
