Public transport ,From the parking garage at my apartment complex situated on South Broadway, I snapped an image of downtown Denver through the thick fog. What was usually a unobstructed view of the skyline changed into a difficult-to-read collection of rectangles. In the following day the skyline was gone.
Smoke from wildfires blowing through California caused the air quality issues and poor visibility that the Front Range experienced last summer experts believe that the local pollution caused by traffic is a greater issue in the case of Ozone, which is created when the chemicals released from objects such as power plants, cars and industrial boilers are baked by the sun.
According to as the Environmental Protection Agency notes, ground-level ozone is the primary source of smog and it’s a big problem throughout the Colorado Front Range. In the past year in particular, it was reported that the Front Range experienced 65 “ozone action day alerts” from May 31 and Aug. 31 – the most number since the beginning of record-keeping in the year 2011.
In an effort to lower the amount of pollution and improve air quality at the peak of the state’s “ozone season,” the Regional Transportation District (RTD) has implemented the “Zero Fare for Better Air” initiative. In August, riders who ride with RTD including buses or light rail as well as Access-aRide are able to ride at no cost. Many transit agencies that aren’t part of Denver participate in free fare programs during August. A list of participants can be found here.
A press conference promoting the RTD initiative was held on July 28, in the Denver Union Station. It was also an alert day for the ozone.
The program of free fares was made possible thanks to the law passed earlier in the year. The bill will provide the amount of $28 million for RTD in order to pay the cost of transportation fares for the month.
State Sen. Faith Winter (D-Westminster) was one of the main sponsors for the bill. In a press conference held on Thursday, Winter said “the number one emitter of carbon is the transit sector, and we can’t afford to miss our climate goals.”
“The whole idea is to get folks out of their car and to try transit — it will cost nothing — and to learn how to navigate our community by transit and realize that, you know, it [public transit] really alleviates stress and it alleviates congestion and it reduces our carbon footprint,” said Angie Rivera-Malpiedewho is the district director of District C at RTD speaking to Rocky Mountain PBS.
In addition to reducing the amount of car congestion and the harmful levels of ozone pollutants drivers generate, Rivera-Malpiede added that RTD hopes that by offering public transportation for free that people will appreciate the advantages of leaving their vehicles at home, and will continue to take public transport, even after the free fare program has ended.
What are the advantages of public transport?
First of all, taking public transportation means that you’re not driving cars, which are among the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the United States. A study released in 2018 by the Center for Neighborhood Technology found that public transportation emits 55% less CO2 emissions than trips in a automobile.
It is also safer than driving. Statistics indicate that cities with large numbers of people using public transportation have less traffic fatalities or injuries than cities where the number of public transit users is lower.
In spite of the fact that in the two years ago, RTD was the most expensive in terms of cost of fares across the United States, taking public transport is still generally cheaper than driving. As per the American Public Transportation Association, “the average household spends 16 cents of every dollar on transportation, and 93% of this goes to buying, maintaining, and operating cars, the largest expenditure after housing.” Another fact: the average car owner pays over 50 cents for every mile, taking into consideration the expenses of maintaining and owning a vehicle according to the Federal Highway Administration.
They say that even though the free transportation program is a significant step in the right direction, there is more to be done to significantly reduce ozone emissions as well as improve the Denver region’s public transportation options.
“We believe that all the participants sitting around the table united in addressing our climate and air quality issues and this is a good starting point. But, we don’t believe that this is the ultimate goal, or the end all of the solution,” stated Molly McKinley, the policy director of the Denver Streets Partnership.
McKinley declared that the most important element to the puzzle is the funding for RTD.
“If we’re really going to get serious about improving our air quality and climate and also providing more folks opportunities to get around the Denver region, we really need … sustained, long-term investment in public transit and I’m hoping to see that in the future between RTD and the state,” McKinley declared.
McKinley stated that the typical transport agency within the United States receives 23 percent of its funds from the state government. RTD however, gets less than 1% of its funds through the Colorado state government. Over half of its revenue comes from sales tax which has seen greater volatility in recent years because of the economic ramifications caused by pandemics.
“I think there are so many other people who would use transit if it were more frequent, if it were more reliable, if it were more convenient,” McKinley added. “And a lot of it comes down to the frequency of service and that’s really where we need more operating funds for the long haul.”
Transit riders are in agreement. According to an RTD survey of passengers light rail commuters as well as bus riders both placed the frequency of service as well as route coverage as among the most crucial components of public transportation. The top factor that commuters from both groups was, however, price of tickets.
