Boulder County Asks for Binding Agreement From RTD for More Transit Service

Colorado's Boulder County is asking the Regional Transportation District (RTD) for a binding contract to provide more transit service to the area, reports Nathaniel Minor. "The Boulder County commission sent RTD leaders a letter last week expressing frustration over the lack of service to the area despite the transit agency’s receipt of more than $700 million in federal stimulus money."

According to the letter, the county is "not seeing any results from that money" even as commuters return to work. "RTD executives said recently that they are offering about 70 percent of its pre-pandemic service levels but don’t have enough employees to restore more. They are also facing a long-term financial squeeze between a $300 million maintenance backlog, massive debt payments, and continued political pressure — from places like Boulder — to keep expanding its rail network." 

The county is asking for "an inter-governmental agreement between local governments, RTD and the state Department of Transportation that would guide some of the federal bailout money to Boulder County transit service." Some of the funding would go toward "'high priority' RTD services like the Flatiron Flyer rapid bus line between Denver and Boulder" as well as "non-RTD transit services in smaller communities like Gunbarrel and Lafayette."

In a statement, Colorado Department of Transportation executive director Shoshana Lew said "it's 'especially critical' that small urbanized areas like Boulder quickly see the benefits of the federal money." However, "the state legislature and governor have also declined to give RTD any dedicated new revenue. RTD is an independent agency mostly funded through sales taxes and, to a lesser extent, fare revenue."