The changes to the bus schedules don't seem like much with eight bus lines seeing service reductions, 10 with service improvements four with what RTD calls "adjustments." The latter are not significant, mostly just adding school bus routes and reworking a few lines.
The reductions however do have an impact on users, particularly those of us who actually may use transit at night at all. The 38 bus, which traverses north Denver along 38th avenue will lose all of its late night service on the weekends after 2 am. RTD claims that riders can take the 31 bus on north Federal Boulevard at night, but this negates a simple fact about these lines: that one goes north and the other west. The 38 bus currently is a convenient way to access north Denver and Wheat Ridge all the way to Applewood. Since Federal only continues north, passengers trying to go anywhere west late at night will be out of luck. RTD says they are discontinuing the late night busses because of low ridership, but late night busses connecting downtown to the outer reaches of our city are rare and should be an affordable option for those of us who prefer not to drink and drive. Except for the 16 on Colfax (23 blocks or three miles south of 38th Avenue) and the aforementioned 31, there are no other north Denver options for late night travel. I have taken this bus after bars close at 2 and while not packed, there are always a handful of riders. And I am certain we can all appreciate that those handful of riders, likely coming back from a night of partying in downtown, are sobering up in a bus instead of behind the wheel of their cars.
RTD is also discontinuing trips on routes 5X, 9, 24, 323, 324 and DD, and completely eliminating the 51LTD bus route that ran from the Evans light rail station to south Sheridan Boulevard. I understand the need for RTD to evaluate the use of its routes to improve efficiency, but this seems unfair when RTD is asking for fare increases and (possibly) increased taxes. I am not as familiar with the other routes, but the cuts on 9 seem especially harsh as that route has seen similar cuts in recent years. The 9 and 10 routes were at one point tied together, providing an important link between east and west Denver along 10th and 12th avenues (especially since the Colfax bus doesn't go through all the way). Since RTD severed these buses, the 10 in wealthier east Denver has seen healthy expansion, running from early morning to late night and with 15 minute increments during the middle of the day. The 9 meanwhile runs at best only every half hour (despite often very full busses) and only until 8 p.m. at the latest. It looks like they are now cutting early morning schedules as well, another blow for transit commuters in the lower income west Denver and Lakewood communities. Maybe RTD is simply anticipating their inability to afford the increased fares.
To RTD's credit, they are also increasing service to some routes. The ever-popular 16 and 30 buses are increasing the number of rides and times of service. The 16LTD will start service on Sunday and west Colfax will see more buses in the middle of the day and later into the night. I suppose this partially makes up for the cuts to the 9 which is only five blocks south. The 30 bus on south Federal Boulevard will also see increases in bus traffic pushed earlier in the morning and later into the evening. A weekday rush-hour trip will now continue the full route to Wadsworth and Hampton instead of stranding passengers to wait for another bus at Federal and Evans as was the custom. The 14 bus along west Florida Avenue and the B bus from Downtown Denver to Boulder will increase its frequency to every half hour on Saturday. I rarely take the 14, but I am glad RTD is increasing frequency on the B on Saturdays, which have often been packed to the brim with college students and others coming down to Denver for the weekend. This change should hopefully provide some much needed relief to that route. Minor improvements (mostly additional morning or evening trips) are also being added to the 0ltd, 86X, 122X, 130, DM, and HX routes.
The 0 on Broadway is undergoing some bizarre changes that basically screw over anyone who uses the bus south of the I-25/Broadway light rail station. RTD is discontinuing a bunch of early morning and evening/night buses from Highlands Ranch, Littleton Boulevard and Evans RTD is basically running many more routes just from Downtown to the I-25/Broadway light rail station, perhaps assuming people are more inclined to take light rail for points further south. I've already noticed RTD increasing this tactic, which has been a personal pain for me whenever I try to catch a bus to see a concert at the Gothic Theatre in Englewood, only to find that it only goes to I-25 (or Evans) and I have to wait for another bus to take me the full way. Since Broadway is such a major north/south thoroughfare and the 0 is among the most popular bus lines, I am not sure why RTD is doing this. I suppose it increases efficiency from the barely four and a half mile Downtown to I-25 segment, but if people wanted to take light rail to points south, they can already do that downtown, so what is the point? What we're left with is decreasing service (it's barely at a half hour midday now) for the vast majority (it's more than 13 miles to Highlands Ranch from I-25/Broadway) of one of Denver's major streets. Certainly the south light rail service helps with that, but it doesn't help the riders who want to go actually travel to places on Broadway itself. I guess half-decent service on one of Denver's most used streets is just too much to ask from RTD.
Six paragraphs and I only covered the changes to the bus routes. But ooh boy, did North America's "number one" transit agency plan a number for a beloved and convenient light rail service in 2009 (let's just say it definitely won't be as convenient and probably not as beloved after you experience the changes for yourself. Stay tuned for my little exploration of that in the next post.
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