RTD Board Rejects Fare Increases, While Asking Staff To Study Service Cuts
The RTD Board of Directors voted Tuesday against moving forward with proposed fare increases, but directed staff to study approximately $20 million in service cuts that could take effect with the May or June 2027 service changes.
The decision keeps fares unchanged for now while placing the possibility of significant bus and rail reductions at the center of RTD’s upcoming budget discussions. Tuesday night, you could begin to see the riffs between board members on how to address the agency's more than $200 million budget shortfall.
Board members also moved forward with three major transportation initiatives: additional BroncosRide service, the Longmont to DIA direct route and design work for the unfinished portion of the N Line north of Thornton.
Fare increases fail to advance
RTD’s meeting agenda initially included a proposal directing staff to find between $8 million and $12 million in additional annual fare revenue.
Under that proposal, staff would have studied possible fare changes, completed a required equity analysis and returned to the board with three options. Any increase would have taken effect, if possible, alongside the May or June 2027 service changes.
That proposal did not receive enough support to move forward.
The vote does not permanently prevent RTD from considering higher fares in the future, but it ends the specific fare-increase process presented to directors Tuesday.
Thompson’s Colorado previously reported that one option discussed by RTD could have increased fares by approximately 25%, but that would have lead to 3 million fewer transit trips across the Front Range each year, according to staff estimates.
Staff asked to model $20 million in service cuts
While directors rejected the fare proposal, they asked RTD staff to build approximately $20 million in potential service reductions into its planning for the 2027 budget.
Those reductions could take effect with the May or June 2027 service changes.
The board did not approve a specific list of routes to eliminate or reduce Tuesday. Staff must now determine what a $20 million reduction could mean across RTD’s bus and rail network before returning with more detailed recommendations.
That distinction matters: no route was cut at Tuesday’s meeting, but the board formally moved the service-cut study forward.
The agency has spent weeks debating how to address a long-term structural budget problem. Fare increases and service reductions were both presented as possible tools, although Thompson’s Colorado previously reported that neither approach alone appeared large enough to resolve RTD’s broader financial challenges.
For Longmont riders, the study will renew questions about the future of regional routes such as the LD and LX. Any actual changes would still have to move through additional planning, public review and board action.
BroncosRide moves forward
The board also moved forward with expanded high-volume event transit service connected to the Denver Broncos.
Directors approved an amendment to the High-Volume Event Service Pilot, authorizing $1 million for additional service before March 2027. The action also directs RTD staff to continue working with the Broncos and regional partners on service for the 2027–28 football season.
The program is intended to provide additional transit capacity for Broncos games and other major events that place unusually high demand on the system.
BroncosRide was one of the five major issues Thompson’s Colorado identified ahead of Tuesday’s board meeting.
N Line design work advances
The board also authorized an agreement with Adams County for up to $12 million in additional preliminary design and project-development work needed to plan the final portion of the N Line.
The money will support work intended to inform future design phases for completing the FasTracks commuter-rail corridor.
The action does not fund construction of the unfinished segment, but it advances the engineering and planning needed before construction could eventually begin.
In a Facebook post following the vote, Adams County Commissioner Steve O’Dorisio thanked RTD directors, staff, state lawmakers and local government leaders who advocated for completing the line.
O’Dorisio wrote that the board had voted to design the final stretch of the N Line and described the action as progress toward delivering the promises made under FasTracks.
He also credited state Sen. Kyle Mullica with helping secure N Line funding through the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Clean Transit Enterprise.
Route AL approved
Longmont’s long-awaited direct bus to Denver International Airport also moved forward Tuesday. The board approved Route AL as part of RTD’s September 2026 service changes, clearing the way for hourly service from 8th Avenue and Coffman Street in Longmont to DIA along the U.S. 287 corridor. The route will give Longmont riders a one-seat trip to the airport instead of requiring a transfer in Boulder or Denver.
Moving forward
Tuesday’s meeting produced a mixed result for riders, between solving the deficit and adding new services or delivering on Fastracks promises. Fare increases are off the table for now, but RTD is still preparing for potentially significant service cuts next year. At the same time, Route AL, BroncosRide and the next phase of N Line planning all advanced. The next major fight will be over where RTD finds $20 million in cuts—and which routes and communities are asked to absorb them.
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