The free fares for youth 19 and younger riding buses and the light rail system will start following the conclusion of the RTD’s summer free fares for everyone campaign.
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Equity in transit has been front and center for RTD this year as COVID-19 and the agency’s financial free fall have revealed the existing inequalities that affect people who depend on transit the most.
The topic of transit equity includes a range of different issues that come together to create unsafe and inaccessible transportation for specific groups of people. These issues can include affordability, safety, security and accessibility to routes. Many of the issues that RTD has been working to resolve in recent years involve equity within Denver’s transit system.
“Transit equity and social justice in transportation are sort of two sides of the same coin,” RTD District O Director Lynn Guissinger told Streetsblog Denver. “Historic inequities are being laid bare now by the disproportionately high rates of infection and death, along with disparities in health care, layoffs and economic difficulties and access to technology for remote schooling.”