Metro Denver residents with disabilities who rely on paratransit face tougher times as Regional Transportation District officials curb spending to reduce a $215 million deficit and balance the agency’s $1.5 billion budget — among them, future residents of the in Broomfield.
The Broomfield Housing Alliance had been pressing RTD to provide Access-a-Ride mini-bus service at this nearly completed 40-unit affordable housing complex for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. But RTD officials on March 31 rejected BHA’s appeal, refusing to grant an exception to extend their service area boundary by 1,800 feet to reach that housing.
The decision will discourage move-ins and tempt residents to hike more than a mile to a regular RTD bus stop, which can be risky, especially in severe weather, BHA executive director Kristin Hyser said. “This population has historically and continues to be disproportionately impacted by these kinds of decisions. They’re impacting the most vulnerable people.”
It followed RTD’s decision to impose a base fare of $4.50 ($9 round-trip) and lower per-trip allotments from $25 to $20 for people with disabilities who ride the agency’s other paratransit service – Access-on-Demand. Launched in 2021, Access-on-Demand gave thousands of blind and other disabled residents low-cost rideshare (Uber/Lyft) and taxi service. But RTD’s annual bill ballooned to more than $12 million. When agency managers began pushing for cuts to make the service financially sustainable, RTD received hundreds of complaints from people with disabilities.
With the Jan. 1 change, Access-on-Demand’s growth reversed. Ridership decreased to 43,000 in January 2026, down by 31% from 62,000 in January 2025, according to agency data obtained through the Colorado Open Records Act.
Now RTD officials need to cut costs more and find new sources of revenue to correct the annual deficit of $215 million. The agency’s chief financial officer, Kelly Mackey, recently told directors they must balance RTD’s 2027 budget to prevent credit agencies from downgrading RTD’s due to elevated expenses.
Directors exploring how best to cut costs while preserving core services say they are looking again at Access-on-Demand, or a restructuring to meld it with Access-a-Ride, which is required under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, along with other options.
Other options listed in a document for a recent directors’ study session included fare hikes for all riders, leasing or selling RTD properties for housing development, selling more space for advertising on buses and trains, seeking corporate sponsors for transit stops, and eliminating low-traffic routes.
“We are working on many options,” said RTD Director Karen Benker, who chairs the agency’s finance committee and has experience balancing state government budgets. “We cannot balance the budget with just one thing. We’re looking at over 40 options. Some are very small, and some are larger.”
Benker doubted that a majority of directors would approve the elimination of Access-On-Demand, she said. “What would be helpful is if we could combine services with Access-a-Ride and FlexRide, to find efficiencies – especially when it comes to arranging the ride,” she said. “Do we need dispatch services? Or should they be a smaller part of the program? It seems like an Uber-type app could be developed.”
RTD Director Patrick O’Keefe, who chairs the 15-member elected board, voted against the imposition of base fares for Access-on-Demand. “Paratransit programs are the last place we should look for reductions,” O’Keefe said this week. “However, RTD’s budget challenges are very real. The longer we go without a change in our financial reality, the more impactful and broader those impacts will be on all of our riders.”
RTD’s budget deficit surfaced in December, surprising directors, after previous leaders had declared RTD financially healthy. The directors have been struggling to manage higher-than-expected rail maintenance costs and promote ridership. Revenues come mainly from sales taxes paid by residents in eight counties around metro Denver. RTD’s overall annual ridership has decreased by nearly 40% from 105.8 million boardings in 2019 to around 65 million, according to agency records.
“We have to scale the agency to the amount of revenue we have,” Director Chris Nicholson said, warning that this will force difficult decisions, including service cuts. “Everything is on the table,” Nicholson said.
“We have made a commitment to the entire community to provide transit service. The worst thing we could do is make major decisions out of fear of political blowback,” he said.
State lawmakers who have introduced legislation to reform RTD governance included a requirement for an independent study of the agency’s paratransit programs. Disability rights groups have been advocating for a comprehensive review for more than a year. A peer review commissioned by RTD managers recommended base fares and other measures to make Access-on-Demand financially sustainable.
“We’ve heard concerns from the disability community about RTD conducting its own paratransit study,” said State Sen. Matt Ball, D-Denver. Whether to cut or reduce paratransit for disabled residents to help balance RTD’s budget “is a decision that RTD will ultimately have to make,” Ball said. “We’re just interested in making sure the study is done right and given the attention it deserves.”
People with disabilities represent a small but growing group of riders, many of them low-income residents who otherwise cannot easily leave their homes, accounting for roughly 100,000 paratransit trips a month in addition to trips on fixed-route buses and trains, which are equipped to accommodate wheelchairs.
“It would not be wise for RTD to cut systems like paratransit because of the positive ridership numbers,” said Jaime Lewis, transit advisor for the (CCDC) and a former RTD director.
Access-on-Demand riders “already put skin in the game” of cutting costs as fees were imposed, and “any further cuts to this program, or a rise in costs to riders, would render it useless for most riders,” said Lewis, who had urged his former RTD colleagues to make an exception and extend Access-a-Ride service to the housing complex in Broomfield.
RTD directors should focus on other ways of reducing the deficit, including a hiring freeze, postponing non-essential construction projects, an 18-month freeze on wages, reassessing low-use routes, reducing out-of-town training, and cutting the frequency of RTD’s 16th Street FreeRide mall buses from five minutes to 10 minutes, Lewis said.
“RTD is denying people with developmental disabilities an opportunity to use a transit service that most others have access to. This is a perfect example of RTD forgetting its mission, which is moving more people,” he said. CCDC will “fight any changes to paratransit fares or subsidies.”
Denver residents have a history of standing up for disability rights. In 1978, a “Gang of 19” blocked RTD buses downtown at Colfax and Broadway — protests that helped launch a nationwide movement that led to the passage of the ADA in 1990 and the installation of wheelchair lifts. Disability rights groups in Denver, including the Atlantis Community, American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT), the cross-disability coalition, and the National Federation of the Blind, continue to monitor transit agencies for ADA compliance.
Funding for paratransit “should be off the table” in RTD budget-balancing, said Joe Beaver, a quadraplegic retired accountant who lives in an apartment off West Colfax Avenue and relies on RTD to reach friends, doctors and downtown activities.
“We fought 50 years ago to have access to public transportation,” Beaver said, arguing that fees on RTD’s 16th Street FreeRide should come before cuts to services for people with disabilities. “Imagine if you couldn’t drive a car. You could, basically, be stranded.”
