Colorado lawmakers are making another attempt at reforming RTD. Will they succeed this time?
Colorado lawmakers are making another attempt at reforming the state’s largest public transit provider.
This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
Senate Bill 161 would require the Regional Transportation District to set goals that align with the state’s own vision of greater transit use. Other measures in the sprawling 26-page bill are aimed at increasing transparency, accountability and worker retention.
The result, the measure’s sponsors hope, will be a transit agency that shakes off its lasting pandemic-era malaise and grows into a powerful part of the state’s ongoing push to reshape its cities to be less car dependent and more affordable.
“Denver’s a world-class city,” said state Rep. Meg Froelich, an Arapahoe County Democrat who chairs the House Transportation Committee and is a lead bill sponsor. “Denver deserves world-class transit.”
RTD is an independent entity funded mostly by a local sales tax and governed by a publicly elected board of directors. Colorado lawmakers and governors have for decades criticized and tinkered with the agency, though two sweeping legislative attempts to reform it both failed in recent years.
Froelich is confident the third try will succeed. Last year’s unsuccessful bill drew fierce opposition for initially proposing the elimination of many of the board’s elected seats and giving the governor more influence over the agency.
This time around, the bill eschews any explicit shifts in power away from the elected board. But it would direct RTD to more closely coordinate with state and local governments.
“We’re really trying to make ’em love each other,” Froelich said, referencing Bonnie Raitt’s 1991 classic.
The requirement for RTD to align with state goals to increase transit service and usage would complement a recent move by its board of directors, which recently gave CEO and General Manager Debra Johnson a target of increasing boardings by about 5 percent.
The bill also would add two non-voting members to the RTD board to be appointed by the Denver Regional Council of Governments and the Colorado Department of Transportation. An external RTD accountability committee would be resurrected as well; a previous iteration wrapped its work in 2021.
Julien Bouquet, chair of the RTD board, said the body will formally take a position on the bill in coming days. But he said early discussions among its members indicate a willingness to work with legislators — and to suggest some changes to it as well, especially to governance provisions in the bill.
“We’re open partners to it,” Bouquet said. “But there’s definitely … some things that we want to amend.”
Other dynamics have changed since last year, too. RTD board members have resisted past reform efforts, often saying the state contributes relatively few dollars to the agency. A new fee on oil and gas production, however, will soon pump tens of millions of dollars a year into public transit across the state and into RTD.
Froelich said the bill has the support of Gov. Jared Polis, though his office did not respond to requests for comment. Its first hearing is scheduled for next week.
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and The Colorado Sun, and shared with Rocky Mountain Community Radio and other news organizations across the state. Funding for the Alliance is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.