Regional Transportation District chief executive and general manager recently tackled critics of metro Denver public transit, declaring that “RTD is not the ‘Agency of No.’”
Instead, she said, RTD is “the agency of what can be.”
But possibilities for the future are failing to satisfy the immediate, intensifying demands from transit advocates, lawmakers, and metro residents for higher-frequency buses and trains, with better safety and convenience, that reliably move people where they want to go faster than driving. And RTD leaders are scrambling to show progress toward their vision of a “transit-first” future.
Ridership is down nearly 40% since 2019. State lawmakers who oversee the RTD are fed up. “RTD has failed my community, and they continue to fail my community,” Sen. Kyle Mullica (D-Thornton) said in a legislative accountability hearing. “That is unacceptable.”
RTD approves record high $1.5 billion budget but faces deficit; service cuts possible
The lawmakers have begun crafting an overhaul of the RTD board based on recommendations from a panel they created to replace 10 of 15 publicly elected directors with appointees who would bring greater expertise. Meanwhile, Colorado intercity rail leaders, with backing from Gov. Jared Polis, are targeting RTD funds to help launch Front Range Passenger Rail.
'Transit-first' future
Under fire amid rising concerns about bad transit hurting "transit-oriented" apartments around bus and train hubs, Johnson and the agency's directors argue that making buses and trains faster and more frequent cannot be done by RTD alone and will require greater buy-in from the 40 municipalities across RTD's 2,345-square-mile service area, which spans eight counties.
"We need to optimize the service," Johnson said in a Denver Post interview, describing her vision of a reliable transit system -- with smarter new routes -- where "you don't have to look at your watch" because buses and trains always arrive within 15 minutes.
"Do we have dedicated lanes for all buses? Do we have transit signal priority within every municipality where we operate? When I get on a light rail vehicle now, why am I sitting at a traffic signal when cars are going by? If we really wanted to have a laser-like focus on the future of transit utilization -- and increasing that -- shouldn’t municipalities adopt a transit-first policy? The City and County of Denver does not have a transit-first policy," Johnson said.
“We will have to decide what our priorities are."
Cities' role
Denver officials say they're doing what they can. They contend they've already made Denver transit-friendly by establishing about 30 miles of bus-only lanes on downtown streets, the Broadway/Lincoln corridor, and Eighth Avenue. They'll add 5.5 miles of "Bus Rapid Transit" on East Colfax Avenue and 9.2 miles along Federal Boulevard by 2030, city spokeswoman Nancy Kuhn said. A Colorado Boulevard overhaul, still in the early planning stage, could add 7.3 miles of bus lanes, bringing the total to around 52 miles by 2031, Kuhn said. Before 2040, city officials plan to study the potential for bus lanes along Alameda, Speer-Leetsdale, 38th Avenue, and Park Avenue.
Denver has a "transit-priority" goal of creating up to 300 miles of bus lanes, she said.
However, the advocacy group questioned the city's commitment, estimating that fewer than 10% of Denver's streets are designed so buses and trains can move faster than cars. "Aside from the massive, bond-funded projects that got started well before Mayor Mike Johnston got to office, like Colfax BRT, there have been no transit speed and reliability improvements made," partnership director Jill Locantore said.
"Denver is not currently a transit-first city. The vast majority of our street space is devoted to the movement of personal vehicles, not transit," Locantore said. "All levels of government have an important role to play. ..... RTD needs more funding to be able to run those buses and trains frequently all day, every day. But it's the cities and the state that control the street space."
RTD under fire
RTD board chairman Pat O'Keefe said that, whatever restructuring lawmakers may impose, RTD directors will have to do more with municipalities to restore public trust and establish a system that moves people faster than driving."We need to be very engaged with county commissioners and city governments," O'Keefe said. "There are numerous pressures on our system, which was built to serve downtown. Of course, it is not serving people's modern lives. And that's our job."
Starting this month, RTD officials say they'll launch a to guide a potential overhaul of bus routes based on land use, mobility, and population data. Smarter routes, directors say, will help sustain the agency's rising costs and deal with an emerging budget crisis. Over the past few months, directors reviewing the agency's finances concluded they might have to reduce service starting in 2027.
"We know we have to solve this," and "we don't think the state legislature is going to be able to do it," RTD director Chris Nicholson said Monday after a weekend board retreat, where directors' posture was "resolve more than commiseration" with fewer arguments than at a previous retreat.
Lawmakers' proposed overhaul would lead to "a board the governor will control," Nicholson said. The current directors agree on a vision for better public transit, he said. "The question is: How do you pay for it? And there are varying degrees of enthusiasm around significantly raising taxes and the willingness to take the risk of asking voters to do that."
Leadership, funding
RTD directors also plan to consider agency leadership. Johnson's contract ends in May 2027, in the middle of a period state leaders see as pivotal for addressing the vehicle congestion around metro Denver.
Widely seen as a public transit whiz more attuned to operational nuances than politics, Johnson stands out among agency leaders around the nation because she serves as both chief executive and general manager. Unlike all but two other U.S. transit agencies, RTD is run by a publicly elected board.
She and the directors control a record-high $1.5 billion annual budget but face deficits from $100 million to $400 million a year due to insufficient sales tax revenues and heavy maintenance costs.
“We've made some great strides. Also, I recognize there’s always a need for the right leader at the right time. I was the right leader at the right time when I came in at the height of COVID," Johnson said. "I pride myself on being a transit practitioner. I understand the nuances of delivering transit services."
She has refused to set a ridership target, insisting "customer experience" matters more.
"Whether the leader is Debra Johnson or not, you will need somebody who is well-versed in transit, a practitioner. You don’t necessarily need a politician," she said.
Johnson was hired as the first outside professional in 30 years to run RTD and made difficult decisions, such as eliminating mandatory overtime for bus and train drivers, part of efforts to boost recruitment and retention, and addressing deferred maintenance along light rail tracks. In 2024, inspections revealed widespread deterioration, which forced RTD managers to impose emergency safety slow zones. Light rail trains crawled at 10 miles per hour for six months as contractors made repairs.
RTD directors will “take a hard look” at whether to re-extend Johnson's contract if she's interested, said O’Keefe, a business management consultant. “She’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever worked with in any industry. She has brought serious discipline to the organization.”
RTD's next chief executive must work closely and possibly lead a ballot measure appeal to voters for funds to expand public transit, O’Keefe added. “We will need an enthusiastic CEO.”
Rising demands
Among state lawmakers, Rep. Meg Froelich, a Democrat representing Englewood who chairs the , said unreliable public transit no longer will be acceptable. “It is disappointing if the narrative out of RTD is scarcity of resources and an inability to deliver high-quality services because of that scarcity,” Froelich said.
“Front Range Passenger Rail absolutely has to happen. Itap going to be incredibly beneficial to our transportation system. People want this. We want to be connected to Fort Collins, to Colorado Springs. It's all mapped out. And it is hanging on RTD,” she said.
Public transit in metro Denver requires "a higher level of nimbleness and responsiveness to changing circumstances," Froelich said. The RTD chief must “see a way to connect the service to the new realities. We're going to have a new Broncos stadium and a new women's soccer stadium. Nimbleness and innovation are required. It's exciting."
Intercity trains
Gov. Polis is driving state efforts to tap RTD's revenues to fund intercity rail. For years, Polis has highlighted RTD's failure to launch the voter-approved FasTracks project, including a train linking Denver with Boulder, for which RTD since 2004 has been collecting tax revenues. polls show RTD's failure has hurt Colorado voters' trust that intercity passenger rail can be done. Polis administration officials set up a joint service agreement to launch the Boulder-Denver train as part of an intercity rail "starter service" along Colorado's northern Front Range by 2029 -- but only if RTD commits to funding.
Johnson serves on the state's three-member team negotiating with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, which owns Front Range tracks and right-of-way, for a crucial track-sharing deal. She supports "ample mobility options" as essential for metro Denver to thrive, she said. "You cannot be heavily reliant on single-occupant vehicles, because that's where the roads get clogged."
For the millions of metro Denver residents frustrated with that traffic, viable transit alternatives are still a matter of waiting, said James Flattum, co-founder of the Greater Denver Transit advocacy group. RTD directors' recent consideration of cutting services to balance the agency's budget, possibly reducing bus and train frequencies, would accelerate the declines in ridership, Flattum said.
"Cuts to service are unacceptable. We want more transit in the future," he said. "Will RTD management rise to the occasion and make some big changes with the system, with the pieces they control? RTD needs to make it work better for riders within the next couple of years. We need to restore trust."
