A majority of RTD passengers would be willing to see cuts to service on light-rail trains and buses throughout the eight-county transit district if it means fewer dropped runs and greater reliability of travel, a recent agency survey shows.
That was the data Regional Transportation District officials delivered Thursday afternoon before a board of directors meeting during which agency leaders are looking at whether, and how, to pursue service cuts in the midst of one of RTD’s worst labor shortages in its 50 years of operation.
“This is an emergency,” said RTD Director Judy Lubow said. “This is just creaming us in terms of status and reputation.”
The RTD staff likely will bring a list of possible cuts to light-rail and bus routes at the board of directors meeting Dec. 12. Few specifics were provided Thursday, but RTD has said the commuter rail lines A, B and G would not be affected by cuts, nor would Access-A-Ride, which serves people with disabilities.
Director Jeff Walker said he would oppose cutting routes altogether, opting instead to reduce frequency on existing routes. Director Natalie Menten said RTD needs to be careful not to restore service automatically after the temporary reduction period if that route is proven not to be productive or useful.
The earliest any service cuts would go into effect would be spring. No decision has been made as to how long the service cuts would last.
In a survey of 13,000 people that was part of an outreach campaign that RTD ran during the first half of the month, 59% favored a temporary service reduction to better balance bus and train runs with RTD’s employee numbers. The respondents said they’d be willing, on average, to wait up to 18 minutes for a bus or light-rail train.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents during a telephone town hall held Nov. 6, involving 5,000 people, gave an identical answer in terms of their willingness to accept temporary service cuts in exchange for more reliability. That group was a bit more generous in how long they would wait for the next bus or train, at 30 minutes.
“They want to just show up and have their trip,” RTD General Manager Dave Genova said of passengers.
Genova said this is the first time in his 25 years at RTD that the agency is contemplating service cuts directly in response to a worker shortage.
RTD has been dropping runs on its light-rail network in the last few months as it deals with operators calling in sick or taking time off at the last minute. As recently as Monday, RTD canceled more than 100 light-rail runs because of the driver shortage.
The agency was met with a barrage of criticism from passengers on social media. One Twitter user said: “I was 45 minutes late to work this morning. The trains were so packed people couldn’t get on or off. WHY cancel trails during rush hour? WHY haven’t you hired more operators? The decision making is suspect.”
RTD says it is facing a historic labor shortage because of the strong economy and low unemployment rate coupled with rapid expansion of commuter and light-rail lines in the past three years. It said the labor crunch began to manifest in 2015 and has grown only worse over the past few years.
On Thursday, Genova said the launch of the Southeast Extension into Lone Tree in May exacerbated the situation on the light-rail side. That additional 2.3 miles of track from Lincoln Street station to RidgeGate station added 6,350 annualized hours of service and called for 20 additional light-rail operators, RTD says.
Many rail and bus operators have to work six days a week — a process known as mandated overtime. And because mandated shifts go largely to workers with lower seniority, newer employees are hit hard — leading to retention issues.
In the past 33 months, the agency reports hiring 791 new bus drivers but losing 710. On the rail side, RTD has hired 177 operators but lost 201 in that same period. So far this year, nearly 70% of bus drivers and more than four of every 10 light-rail operators have been mandated to work one of their off days each week.
The agency acknowledges that the rigorous and unpredictable schedule for its newer employees contributes to fatigue, lack of family time and depression.
“Many of our operators are tired of working six days a week,” RTD spokeswoman Pauletta Tonilas said.
The frustration goes both ways, she said, with the labor crunch alienating passengers who don’t feel they can rely on the service to get to places on time.
“Our customers are very unhappy right now,” Tonilas said.
RTD says it has made a concerted effort to bring new employees on board, offering a $2,000 signing bonus and $1,000 referral bonus, advertising open positions on buses and trains and even changing the “hold” message on its customer care line to advertise jobs at the agency.
The last contract RTD hammered out with the union early last year upped hourly pay for new drivers from $17.59 to $19.40 an hour. That rate jumped to $19.98 an hour this year and will increase again to $20.58 an hour in 2020.
