| A lot of local government officials act like buses don't exist, so I was excited and thankful on Monday when one of my city council members recognized their importance. Vicki Stack is the representative for Ward One on the Lakewood City Council, and she would like connecting service to the West Corridor light rail line to run every two and a half minutes. She asked an RTD how to get buses running that often. He was somewhat wishy washy on that point, so I thought that I would answer her question here. We get buses to run frequently by paying for them. Lakewood can get the money in a variety of ways. The city can apply for state and federal money that RTD is not eligible for. (It would help if the city lobbied to make sure the state and federal governments fund transit.) Lakewood could ask Jefferson County to support transit. Lakewood could calculate how much a significant increase in transit could save in road repairs, health care costs, etc. to see if transit improvements would pay for themselves. Lakewood could ask voters for a sales tax or mill levy increase. Similar ballot issues pass more often than they fail. Roads and driving are not going to get any cheaper. As WeatherDem pointed out, global warming is not getting better. People are moving out of suburban into urban environments. Local governments need to support policies that recognize these realities. And we need to support government representatives who do so. |
