Overview
- The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction to halt RTD’s Jan. 1 changes, including a $4.50 base fare, a reduced $20 per-ride subsidy for up to 60 trips, and a two-hour overnight service cut.
- Plaintiffs ADAPT, the Atlantis community, and advocates Dawn Russell and Claudia Folska allege violations of the ADA and the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act and reference voter-approved Measure 7A.
- RTD says Access-on-Demand is a supplemental, premium curb-to-curb service not required by federal law, asserts the changes are lawful, and is reviewing the filing.
- The five-year-old program, which provides taxpayer-subsidized rides through companies such as Uber, has grown to more than 70,000 monthly trips and about $17 million annually, and a peer review urged restructuring for sustainability.
- Unless a court intervenes, RTD plans to implement the new structure on Jan. 1, including a $2.25 discounted base fare for income-qualified riders and service hours aligned with ADA paratransit.