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This year, the RTD Board of Directors has been faced with many new challenges. In the face of the pandemic, RTD saw a 70% decrease in ridership, made service cuts, installed plexiglass on buses, and increased cleaning on all vehicles while trying to manage an already damaged budget. Now, the board will be welcoming five new board members while dealing with employee layoffs, budget cuts for 2021, and pressure to secure money for incomplete FasTrack projects.
Dealing with the impacts of COVID-19 will be the board’s biggest hurdle. The impacts of the pandemic have worsened the agency’s financial problems, with ridership down 40% and service running at 60% of pre-pandemic levels. RTD was criticized for ineffective service before the pandemic, with vehicles arriving late and having trips canceled all together due to a lack of operators. Now, buses are being told to by-pass stops if the bus is at capacity, leaving riders waiting at stops for the next scheduled bus.