A committee of RTD’s board of directors voted Tuesday night to rescind a cutback in bus and light-rail service scheduled for January that were expected to save the transit agency about $663,000 next year.
In justifying the decision to retain the service, some Regional Transportation District directors cited the “windfall” in funds that RTD expects to get from the full collection of sales and use taxes.
Earlier this year, a change in state law eliminated a 3.3 percent sales-tax “service fee” that businesses could deduct from their tax obligation for the collection and remittance of sales-and-use taxes.
RTD estimates that the temporary elimination of the discount for payers of the taxes will bring the agency an extra $3 million this year, $13 million more in 2010 and an additional $7 million in 2011. The Colorado legislature eliminated the so-called “vendor’s allowance” for retailers through June 30, 2011.
If the full RTD board agrees next week to halt service reductions that had been planned for January, it means at least two controversial cuts will not occur. One was ending bus service to the Pine Junction park-n-Ride on U.S. 285 in Jefferson County. RTD had planned to terminate service on that route at the Mountain View park-n-Ride, some 5 miles to the east of the Pine Junction lot. That proposal drew strong criticism from riders in the U.S. 285 corridor.
Halting the January service reductions also will retain current 15-minute peak frequencies on a portion of bus route 205 in Boulder’s 28th Street/Gunbarrel area that had been slated to go to 30-minute frequencies.
If directors shelve the January service reductions, it will mean about two dozen other routes that had been scheduled for “service efficiencies” will remain unchanged.
In defending the move to freeze service reductions, a number of directors said RTD cannot continue to cut service and maintain its mission of providing transit options for users. Other members of the board cited the recurring deficits in RTD’s operating budget and said the agency needs to use the extra sales-tax proceeds it is retaining to help offset those deficits and meet other financial obligations.
Phil Washington, RTD’s interim general manager, reminded directors that some of the adjustments in bus and rail service are “all about doing good business.”
“If we didn’t do this two or three times a year,” Washington said of routine service adjustments, “we could have buses running around empty.”
When RTD service planners are asked to look for savings, they typically look for runs on routes where there is not enough ridership to support the service.
Also on Tuesday night, RTD directors rejected a proposal that would have allowed for the full wrapping of light-rail cars in commercial advertising.
“That is flat ugly,” director Jack O’Boyle said, after RTD staffers distributed photos of passenger rail cars in Portland, Ore., that sported the full advertising wraps. Following Portland’s example could lead RTD to become known as the “Regional Trash Display,” O’Boyle said.
RTD planners said allowing full-wrap advertising on light-rail cars could bring in an extra $3.3 million in revenue over three years, and some directors said because of the financial squeeze RTD faces, it should pursue all advertising options and worry less about the aesthetics. After debating the issue, directors asked staffers to come back to the board with a range of options for increasing advertising on light-rail cars, including those that might limit objectionable displays.
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
