bus

A failure of leadership caused the current crisis at the Regional Transportation District. Gov. Polis, members of the Colorado General Assembly and RTD's board of directors are to blame.

No other bus in Denver has a reputation like the East Colfax bus. We talked to four passengers who ride the 15 and 15L despite social problems like homelessness and crime sometimes present on the bus. But Streetsblog's editor was rattled by an experience on the bus — and says we must finally end poverty and homelessness.

The skiers and snowboarders who took the inaugural trip on Colorado’s express bus service to the Arapahoe Basin ski area faced long delays. But Snowstang officials say such problems will be rare in the future.

With more than 188 open positions for bus and train operators at RTD & Bustang, we sat down with Bustang driver Krista Dolton to learn what the job is like. “It’s a career. It’s not a job,” she said. “You're transporting precious cargo. You're transporting somebody’s mom, somebody’s dad, somebody’s brother. And that cannot be replaced like a bag of groceries."

Transportation officials launched a statewide listening tour that will give Coloradans the chance to sound off on where limited state transportation dollars should be spent. But even in the heavily car-dependent Centennial State, officials at the state’s highway agency say they want to talk about walking, biking and transit.

As fewer people ride transit — in Denver and across the country — local governments and transit agencies blame a number of factors without discussing speed of service. But slow buses, combined with other elements of poor service, are a critical factor in declining transit ridership across the country.

Yesterday's “bomb cyclone” blizzard covered Denver in at least six inches of snow. After the flakes stopped falling I toured five bus routes. But it was not a good day to be a pedestrian.

Well, you missed #GivingTuesday, but there's still time to support great local (streets) journalism!

Board members will likely raise one-way fares to help pay for low-income passes and other discount programs meant to give more people more access.