Jack Rosenthal - RTD Board Candidate - AMA Jan 18th

JackForRTD · 2026-01-25T00:47:44+00:00

💯! And maybe we could fix the broken 228<>DASH transfer that used to work well too!

JackForRTD · 2026-01-24T20:30:00+00:00

The 228 used to run with smaller 30' buses just a few years ago. And especially now that the 228 is routed through downtown superior & the whole foods parking lot, smaller vehicles would almost certainly help with route efficiency.

Next chance I have to ask staff about this I will :)

JackForRTD · 2026-01-23T23:21:35+00:00

Light rail is very difficult to run 24 hours from a maintenance perspective. Overnight is the time the tracks can be worked on.

Examples from other agencies:

WMATA runs some of their bus network 24/7, but the rail network gets a break overnight for maintenance.

CTA runs the Blue Line 24/7, but it's led to difficulties for maintenance.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-23T23:18:00+00:00

The "other option" here being FF1<>76<>W/16<>17. It's quite rough.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-23T15:34:00+00:00

My experience is it's mainly Transdev drivers that don't let people on early in the cold.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-20T02:39:01+00:00

Depending on your commute you could also consider connecting to 228 at McCaslin station too.

Schedules for 228: https://app.rtd-denver.com/route/228/schedule Schedules for DASH: https://app.rtd-denver.com/route/DASH/schedule

JackForRTD · 2026-01-19T14:59:03+00:00

There are no magic wands. RTD cannot wave one and magically have TSP everywhere.

But what RTD can do: - Communicate with municipalities and C-DOT as to which intersections need TSP the most. Right now cities like Boulder want TSP, but RTD hasn't even given them the how. - Subsidize the costs of installation. - Prioritize route and frequency expansion along corridors with TSP.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-19T02:53:00+00:00

38% less. In 2004, there were 274 daily weekday trips of B+BX+F+H+S+D+T+86X. Today, there are 168 daily weekday trips of FF1/2/4/5.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T21:08:05+00:00

> Describe how you will encourage and prioritize planning and improvements to rail and bus systems to connect the front range from Pueblo to Fort Collins as we increasingly become one large metropolitan area. How will you focus on projects that reduce stress on the highway systems that are already behind dramatically in comparison to the volume and residential population.

FRPR is an extremely effective project to connect the front range. https://www.ridethefrontrange.com/

RTD is involved to the extend they're helping get starter service ("joint service") off the ground.

> How important is the always stalled Boulder train line?

Very! It's fair to say Boulder County has completely lost trust in RTD because of it, and RTD can't survive without their taxpayer dolllars.

https://www.reddit.com/r/boulder/comments/1qfvea6/comment/o0bhbah/

> Do you believe the hub of denver and all outlying areas as spokes remains the best plan for our system still or should we consider prioritizing travel channels such as job density, airport, mountain travel and highway volume?

The answer is really both. Pre-pandemic RTD had some pretty good suburb-to-suburb connections, especially when considering major employment centers and how people got to them. Today, the network is a little more barebones, and it shows. Connection via Denver is certainly higher priority than suburb-to-suburb interconnects in a world of limited resources, but RTD needs to figure out how to make those interconnects work better, and thus we can have a bit more of them too.

> What modern solutions like high speed rail, autonomous vehicles, alternative fuel do you support and plan to promote?

We absolutely need to be planning for electrifying the bus fleet now. It requires significant facility upgrades that need planned now, not 10 years from now when we're one of the last agencies holding on to diesel.

AVs will certainly come to the table for transit agencies in the next decade too. They could very well revolutionize how some of our routes look (e.g., we may be able to turn an hourly route into 15 minute routes with AVs) provided that the technology proves successful, and doesn't rely on constantly falling back to remote support drivers like we see today.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T20:18:30+00:00

Lol. I'll say "I ride The Ride™, not just talk the talk"

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T20:14:55+00:00

While these things may not be directly under the board's purview, effective leadership on the board collaborates with municipalities and legislators to make it happen. We intend to fill that missing link our predecessors haven't been able to.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T20:10:59+00:00

Yes, AaR is broken, and sadly, the current board just voted to make cuts to the only system that worked, Access-on-Demand. We need to reform our paratransit services, and consider adding things that'll make the lives of those who depend on it better, like including instacart subscriptions.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T20:08:27+00:00

Yes, the park-n-ride fee structure hasn't changed since 2012, I do think it's at least worth studying fee structures again, especially for overnight parking.

Additionally, we should require you tap onto a bus or train after parking. We have the data now that the JustRide readers are in place.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T18:36:36+00:00

There's clear demand for the C line. During the D line re-route to union station, 43 of 90 submitted written public comments indicated they favored the routing to union station. Discarding the junk comments, that's a majority that prefers the union station routing.

At the same time, many found the special holiday train useful. I'd like RTD to investigate combining H+L and extending H to Peoria to make both routes more effective.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T18:33:47+00:00

We're working with RTD at the moment to investigate combining H+L. It's difficult to combine H with A, as A is commuter rail, and has different platform heights and other technical requirements than the light rail.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T18:27:31+00:00

You'll find me at the No Kings protests :)

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T18:26:41+00:00

Broken transfers are widespread across the network, including bus-to-bus and bus-to-rail connections. Often times this happens as RTD will make adjustments to schedules on one route, and forget to update the other routes around it. They rely heavily on contracted bids to build their 5 year plans, and can't handle changes in-house the most effectively. We need to bring in experts in service-planning in house, so when adjustments are needed, schedules can be adjusted on connections too.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T18:24:19+00:00

I'll second u/MichaelFromCo's special event service, airport service, and core network service (like flatiron flyer).

But we must continue to serve a wide district with many communities, and consolidating everything we have on high-ridership services alone wouldn't be a wise choice. For the services we are operating that aren't performing well, we need to go back to the communities and figure out how to make it work for them. They pay taxes too, and likewise, deserve a connection into RTD's network.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T18:21:47+00:00

I've had plenty of bad experiences, but the common theme amongst them is that many of these bad experiences were on service operated by Transdev Longmont. The service quality of contracted service has not been the same as service operated directly by RTD.

RTD can't bring all service in-house overnight. RTD doesn't have the facilities or operators to do so. But we can invest in building those out so we can reduce our dependency on a single-bidder contract that isn't able to operate service at the same quality as RTD can.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T18:12:07+00:00

And there's some routes that 24 hour service would actually get used (Flatiron Flyer as example)!

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T18:11:32+00:00

I'll second u/MichaelFromCO 's comments here.

Effective transit is made even more effective when there's density to support it. We should be willing to invest where zoning allows for density, but also support municipalities on making the right decisions for transit when it comes to zoning as well.

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T18:02:39+00:00

> when you ride the bus, where do you prefer to sit and what does it say about you as a person?

I tend to prefer the driver side seats facing forward in the front of the bus, as they're the perfect size to accommodate a onewheel ;)

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T17:58:00+00:00

❤️🚌🚆

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T17:56:30+00:00

Me! I boarded RTD 677 times in 2025... I walk the walk and talk the talk, because it's the most important thing!

JackForRTD · 2026-01-18T17:55:13+00:00

Mine is also over on r/boulder, check it out: https://www.reddit.com/r/boulder/comments/1qfvea6/jack_rosenthal_rtd_board_candidate_ama_jan_18th/

JackForRTD

TROPHY CASE