The Regional Transportation District is considering eliminating the Parker and Highlands Ranch Call-n-Ride services due to low ridership.
The district has proposed the elimination of the Parker on-demand shuttle service every year for the past few years, angering people like Gary Lasater, RTD board member for District G, representing Parker. RTD’s board will vote on the fate of the services Oct. 21. Changes would be effective Jan. 4.
RTD spokeswoman Lisa Trujillo said the Parker and Highlands Ranch Call-n-Ride services are getting two riders per hour when the district requires three people per hour.
“That’s garbage, because you’re only short one person per hour average and revenue-wise that’s pittance for what they’re asking for,” Lasater said.
Lasater and Parker Mayor Mike Waid said Parker has paid millions of dollars to RTD for the Call-n-Ride service over the past few years despite getting only hundreds of thousands in services.
Currently Call-n-Ride only covers a 5-mile radius in central Parker.
Lasater, a former Parker mayor and councilman, is asking the town to pitch in a little more to get east to west service from Parker to Lone Tree and Highlands Ranch from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. He said he thinks that will boost RTD ridership overall in the area. This comes at a time when and seniors will need these services more and more.
“Not all services can be performed here at Parker Adventist (Hospital), so they’ve got to go through their health care provider — or lack of having that, professional service available here in Parker,” Lasater said. “So they’ve got to go to Sky Ridge
or Kaiser to get that service, and there’s no midday service between 9-3.”
Waid said transportation is a key issue as public transportation is the only way for some residents to get to doctor’s appointments and other important destinations.
“I believe that many of our citizens are not aware that this service is available,” Waid said. “If this RTD program was promoted, then I am sure ridership would increase. In addition, if the service was expanded to serve all of Parker, I am confident that more people would use it.”
Lasater said residents in Parker and Highlands Ranch are their own worst enemy because not enough of them use public transportation.
“There’s not the demand, so RTD doesn’t provide the service,” Lasater said. “That’s the conundrum we have.”
Parker resident Sheron Vasquez, 69, has used the Parker Call-n-Ride service since it started in 2005 and agreed with Lasater that residents and users are part of the problem. She said Call-n-Ride users are often not outside their homes or destinations when the driver has come to pick them up.
She’s collecting signatures of Parker Call-n-Ride users for a letter she plans to send to the town to ask for to provide transportation services if RTD can’t help.
Meeting
What: RTD meeting on proposed cancellation of Parker Call-n-Ride
Where: Parker Fieldhouse, 18700 E. Plaza Drive
When: 6 p.m. Oct. 9
Parker Call-n-Ride hours will be extended for the meeting.
