Register to Vote and Support Transit

RALLY!
Tuesday, October 2 at noon
Market Street Station Plaza (I assume that this is the area between the main doors and the mall shuttle.)
Denver
Bus: Mall Shuttle

Besides a rally to support bus and train riders, there will be an opportunity to register to vote, and to learn about candidates who support transit. The later is something that I am interested in, as I am only aware of one or two candidates who genuinely support transit, and none of those actually put any effort into it.

We should all thank the Amalgamated Transit Union for organizing this rally.

Winter Service Change Meetings

The public meetings for the January service changes are here, spread out over the next week.

It looks like there are going to be more service improvements than cuts, although it looks like the light rail is going to be cut in Five Points. I am worried that the Five Points light rail line is being undercut to bring in a streetcar, or even worse, pretend to bring in a streetcar. Not that I have anything against streetcars. Streetcars can be wonderful. But if we cannot fully support what we have now, we are not going to fully support a streetcar.

So here are the meeting times and places:

Thursday, September 27 at 6 pm
Adams City High School, Community Room
7200 Quebec Parkway
Commerce City
Bus: The 48 is a five to ten minute walk away. Maybe someone should suggest that it is not safe to make students walk across several lanes of traffic to take the bus.

Thursday, September 27 at 7 pm
Central Park Recreation Center, Room A
9651 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
Denver
Bus: None?

Thursday, September 27 at 7 pm
Lafayette Recreation Center
111 W. Baseline Road
Lafayette
Bus: JUMP (The last bus going to Boulder runs at 9:13 and the buses from this stop do not run to or from Erie.)
L (Route between Longmont and Lafayette only. The last bus leaves a little after 9:06.)
The 225 will get you here, but not back. And the DASH does not serve this stop, no matter what Google Maps says.


Monday, October 1 at 4:30 pm
Longmont Senior Center
910 Longs Peak Drive
Longmont
Bus: 326, 327 (Last buses leave between 6:15 and 6:30.)
Within walking distance of the L and the BOLT.


Friday, October 5 at noon and 6 pm
RTD Administrative Offices
1600 Blake Street, Rooms T&D
Denver
Bus: 0, 1, 6, 10, 15L, 20, 44, 120X, B, AF
Noon Meeting only: 9, 28, 32

Friday, October 5 at 6 pm
Glenarm Recreation Center
2800 Glenarm Place
Denver
Bus: 12, 28
Glenarm Recreation Center is within walking distance of the light rail stop that RTD wants to cut. RTD wants to cut this stop because the City of Denver runs the lights to prioritize cars over people walking, biking, taking the bus, and taking the light rail. It is ten times more expensive to subsidize cars in a dense urban area than in a rural area, so the timing of the traffic lights near downtown Denver supports cars over paying teachers or providing basic health care.

ColoRail Fall Meeting

Saturday, September 22 at 10 am
Boulder Public Library
1000 Canyon Boulevard
Boulder
Bus: JUMP
The AB, B, 204, 225, SKIP,  and DASH are about a block away.

Colorail is meeting again this Saturday 10 am at the Boulder Public Library. An official from FasTracks will be speaking about the options for rail vs. BRT in the northwest corridor followed by pizza followed by a presentation on high speed rail.

RTD's Citizen Advisory Committee is Looking for Members

RTD is again looking for members to serve on its FasTracks Citizens Advisory Committee. While this committee is a joke that does not do what the initiative passed by the public intends it to do, it might be an interesting way to learn more about how RTD operates.

The committee meets monthly.

From an RTD press release, here are is how to apply:

Application letters should include a brief statement of interest in serving on the CAC, specific qualifications, highlights of related experience and expertise as well as a resume. All letters must be received electronically at Dale.Honor@rtd-denver.com by close of business Friday, September 21, 2012. 

For more information, contact Dale Honor at 303-299-2334 or Dale.Honor@rtd-denver.com.

Kansas DOT wants to know how to spend citizen money

The Kansas Department of Transportation is hosting eight regional meeting to discuss how to spend T-WORKS money. T-WORKS was passed by the Kansas legislature in May 201 following a series of public meetings hosted by KDOT. The legislation authorizes KDOT to spend $7.8 billion over ten years.

I have some questions about T-WORKS. Can we use any of this money to save the Southwest Chief? What about improving pubic transportation in Wichita, Topeka, and the Kansas part of the Kansas City metro area? What about adding more bus and train service to better connect small towns in Kansas and support their downtowns.

Well, we are at a second round of public meetings starting next week, so maybe some of these questions can be answered, if enough citizens can ask them.

Monday, September 24
1-4 pm
Kansas Highway Patrol Training Facility
2025 E. Iron Avenue
Salina

Tuesday, September 25
9 am - 12 pm
Kansas Highway Patrol Headquarters
1821 W. Frontier Road
Hays

Wednesday, September 26
9 am - 12 pm
Magouirk Conference Center
4100 SW Comanche
Dodge City

Thursday, September 27
9 am - 12 pm
Ramada Conference Center
1400 N. Lorraine
Hutchinson

Monday, October 1
9 am -12 pm
Holiday Inn Olathe
101 W. 151st Street
Olathe
This is the meeting for the Kansas City metro area, but there does not seem to be any bus service to this location. Am I right? The local bus service website can be reached at http://www.thejo.com/.

Tuesday, October 2
1 pm - 4 pm
Eisenhower State Office Building
700 SW Harrison
Topeka

Wednesday, October 3
1 pm - 4 pm
KDOT District 4 Chanute Complex
411 W. 14th
Chanute

Thursday, October 11
1 pm - 4 pm
KDOT Wichita Metro Hillside Office
3200 E. 45th Street, N
Wichita

I mentioned that it does not appear that there is bus service to the meeting for the Kansas City metro area. Does anyone know if there is bus service to any of these meeting? If not, how are car free people in Kansas going to make sure that their voices are heard?

This Month's Board of Director's Meeting

Maybe if more people went to RTD board meetings, the board members would ignore citizens less. It also seems that they are meeting less often, just once a month. So I will start publicizing their meeting times.

Tuesday, September 18 at 5:30 pm
RTD Administrative Offices, basement
1600 Blake Street, Denver
Bus: Everything that goes by Market Street Station.