RTD To The Rescue

As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, someone recently sideswiped my car, which was sitting at the time in its spot in the parking lot of my condo building, requiring me to take it to an auto body shop to replace the front bumper. And so, being without a car for almost a week, I have been depending on the RTD, aka the Regional Transportation District, which operates Denver's buses and light rail trains, to get around town. In my opinion, RTD has done a lot to improve public transportation in Denver over the years, especially with its light rail system. And living in a condo building just a few doors down from the train station, as seen in the photograph on the left, it makes it very easy to get around the city. While my car has been in the shop, I have been able to attend Oktoberfest in the Ballpark neighborhood, as well as the last Rockies home game of the season via a 20-minute train ride. There have been complaints about the lack of policing of the trains and light rail stations, as well as the delay in completing the light rail system promised in a voter approved "FasTracks" plan, but it seems to me RTD has done everything possible to deal with these issues.

The system's biggest critic, ironically enough, is a former chairman of RTD, Jon Caldara. Caldara hosts a current event's show on KBDI-TV PBS 12 here in Denver called Devil's Advocate with Jon Caldara. I remember watching this show when he stated that if he was ever chairman of RTD again, he would immediately close down the entire light rail system and mothball the trains. A system that people, especially those who cannot afford a car, depend on every day. And keep in mind that when Denver was experiencing tremendous growth, the city was encouraging transit-oriented developments (TODs), which resulted in many planned use developments around these light rail stations, giving people an easy commute to work. Can you imagine the chaos if someone came in and just eliminated light rail service to these TODs? And more importantly, how the hell would people who don't own cars or don't want to hassle with parking get to the ballpark? Not to mention Denver Bronco games. Talk about chaos.