Introducing Reimagine RTD
Reimagine RTD is a two-year effort to evaluate and forecast the changing transportation needs of our region and involve you, our customers and stakeholders, in the conversation. We want to understand what is important to you as we look to the future and move past the COVID-19 crisis. The key to this effort will be open, transparent dialogue about how to balance our priorities with limited resources.
When complete, Reimagine RTD will identify comprehensive, forward-thinking strategies to better connect people to the places they want and need to go. We’ll review best practices from other transit agencies and technology innovators, build upon existing capital investments in the District, and incorporate stakeholder and community feedback on how to allocate RTD’s resources.
Key elements of Reimagine RTD
We’re exploring ways to revamp our services to meet the future needs of our growing District. Aided by your input and ideas, we’ll answer the question of “what’s next” for RTD.
This effort will focus on the following specific areas to create a roadmap for the future of transportation across our region.
Seeking your input
Your voice will be important as we look to the future. We plan to reach out to our communities throughout this effort to listen and learn how we can better serve our region’s mobility needs. We’ll also collaborate with our regional partners to learn how we can better work together to integrate new services with traditional transportation options as we look at transit priorities.
Assessing resources and capacity
The COVID-19 pandemic, population growth, advancements in transportation technologies and limits in funding are driving RTD’s comprehensive look at future service needs and investments. We’re committed to developing models to address financial sustainability, optimize resources like equipment and workforce, and better understand a growing region with more places to go, people to see, and things to do.
Optimizing current and future services
Due to COVID-19, RTD shifted the focus of the System Optimization Plan (SOP) in 2020 to help identify recommendations for the January 2021 service adjustments, ensuring that existing services were efficient, cost effective and meeting regional travel needs. Moving forward, RTD will be required to make tough decisions about where to invest scarce resources. To support this, the Reimagine RTD team will assist RTD’s Service Development group in implementing metrics and milestones that will guide how we rebuild service from current levels.
Mobility plan for the future
Reimagine RTD’s result, The Mobility Plan for the Future, will develop mid and long-term strategies for RTD as we move beyond the COVID-19 crisis and ultimately create a system that meets the future mobility needs of our region.
Why Reimagine RTD
RTD is currently facing many challenges, including dramatic reductions in ridership and funding resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, by 2050, population in the Denver area is expected to grow by approximately 31%, resulting in increased congestion and an even greater need for transportation options. These challenges, combined with the introduction of new technologies and limited options for increasing transportation funding, is driving our need to reimagine RTD by looking at our transit network, services, and business practices to meet the transportation needs of the future. In August 2020, RTD temporarily halted the Reimagine RTD project to prioritize our focus on selecting a new General Manager, finalizing the January 2021 service changes and allowing the RTD Accountability Committee, formed in collaboration with the governor’s office, to begin developing recommendations for the agency. The Reimagine RTD project was reinitiated in February 2021.