RTD DISTRICT-WIDE TELEPHONE TOWN HALL EVENT NOVEMBER 14, 2018 TRANSCRIPT

Roger: Good evening and thank you for joining this special live telephone town hall meeting hosted by the Regional Transportation District. I'm Roger and I'll be your moderator tonight as we talk about RTDs fare programs, services, and projects. Joining me this e vening are RTD board chairman Doug Tisdale, and Dave Genova, RTD general manager and CEO. Also sitting in to answer your questions is Dave Mentor, lead service planner and scheduler ... and I can't read the rest of that, so sorry. Dave, I butchered your title, sorry about that. Tonight we'll focus on updates on the University of Colorado A Line, B Line, and G Line. We will also talk about upcoming fare changes and recently elected board of directors.

This is your opportunity to share your thoughts with RTD and ask questions. If this is your first time on a telephone town hall, here's how it works; to ask a question, press star three on your keypad and you'll be transferred to someone who will take down some quick information and get you in the queue. Since we want to hear from as many folks as possible, we'll take just one question per person. Once the operator gets your information, you can listen to the conversation until you're called upon, and then when I do call your name, please repeat your question for our live audience. Also, your opinions are important to us at RTD, so we'll be asking some polling questions later during the call and all you'll have to do is press the number on your phone that represents your answer.

Let's get started. It's now my p leasure to introduce RTD board chair, Doug Tisdale. Mr. Chairman, go ahead.

Doug Tisdale: Thank you very much, Roger, and good evening everyone. We want to thank you very much for joining us tonight. Now, before we're going to take any of your questions, we want to do something that we do at every one of our RTD meetings, and that's to have a brief safety briefing. We want to give you some tips on safety when traveling on the RTD system.

We want you to know that we collaborate with communities in our district in order to promote safety when traveling on or near our transportation system. For example, just recently we collaborated with

the city of Arvada near Channel 8 to produce a video with safety tips. Those included things like trains can come from either direction at any time, so always look both ways and be aware that a train may be coming. Now, if you see a train, best thing to do is wait for it to pass and wait for the gates to fully rise and for the lights and bells to stop sounding before you cross the tracks at the designated crossings. And stay alert and don't be distracted around trains. That means you should avoid distractions like, oh, listening to music on your headphones or using your cell phone when you're near the train tracks.

In addition to the safety briefing, want to you give a little security alert as well. One thing I always like to tell people when they ride our trains and buses is smile, you're on candid camera. You're being watched by our video system so we can ensure we provide for your security. The other thing is, if you haven't done it already, please download the Transit Watch app. That's called Transit Watch, and you can find that for Androids on the Google Store or on the iPhone App Store, and that puts you in immediate contact with our security police at any time when you're riding a train or a bus, so please remember to do that.

Roger: Thank you, chairman, for getting us off on that safe and sound note. Again, as a reminder, if you'd like to get in line early to ask a question of either our chairman Doug Tisdale or general manager and CEO Dave Genova, press star three on your keypad. You'll be directed to either Jennifer or Kathy who are standing by to take down your information and get you in line.

We're going to next ask the chairman to provide us with a University of Colorado A Line update. What is the latest on this project?

Doug Tisdale: Thank you very much for that question, Roger, because there's always exciting news about the University of Colorado A Line. As people know, we're in the process of applying for quiet zones. Let me explain a little bit about that. You see, federal law requires the trains that are traveling on or adjacent to freight rail tracks, that they have to sound their horns as they approach railroad crossings. Well, quiet zones are areas where the train operators are only required to sound their horns during emergencies.

Now, this last spring the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, that's the PUC, that's the state authority that oversees our grade crossings, well, they finally gave written approval to us of the wireless technology that we have at the cross gates along the University of Colorado A Line. Understand, this is the very first railroad in the country that has used this wireless technology from the ground up as we built the system. Needless to say, there were some issues we encountered, but we've

gotten past them, and since then, the crossing attendants have been removed from those crossings once each crossing has undergone and passed a safety review, and then they were certified and accepted by the Federal Railroad Administration, we call that the FRA, which has the federal oversight of our commuter rail lines.

There was a software issue that required an update and some testing. Well, during this time while we await for the testing results to be reviewed and finally approved by the FRA, we've taken steps to ensure safety by placing attendants at three of the University of Colorado A Line crossings. Three out of about 15 or so, so it's not too bad. We anticipate that review process will be completed soon after, and then the attendants will be released.

Quiet zones, Roger, that's a topic that the community has ... Well, they've wanted to know about and see implemented from the very beginning. Local governments have collaborated with RTD and with the Federal Railroad Administration to establish those quiet zones along the line by submitting applications to request these quiet zones to be implemented. Now, RTD isn't directly involved in the application process, that's actually handled by our concessionaire who runs the commuter railroad system for the Eagle Project, but we do provide assistance and collaboration with them by working to ensure that each crossing meets the requirements, and supplying information, of course, when needed.

At this point I can tell you that all of the applications and petitions for waivers for these quiet zones have been submitted by the local jurisdictions for review by the FRA. The review involves looking into the timing and the equipment performance at each of these crossings. This review, I got to tell you, doesn't have a set timeframe for completion since it depends on what the FRA's findings are, but as soon as possible it will be done. Once we have those waivers, the local jurisdictions submit what we call a notice of establishment for the quiet zone. Then, just 21 days later, should everything be okay with the FRA, we can finally operate without sounding the horns at the crossings. Unless, of course, the train operator feels it's necessary in case of an emergency or to provide a warning.

That 21 day time clock will begin just as soon as we get approval from the FRA for the quiet zone waivers. Don't have a confirmed date for that, but we've seen extensive progress as we go through the process. There's a few items we still have to take care of, but we want to express now clearly, we appreciate the community's patience and understanding as we work with local governments and regulatory

agencies to fulfill all of the state and federal requirements, including all the safety requirements, before these quiet zones are implemented.

Roger: All right, thank you chairman Tisdale. We’re going to go next to Dave Genova, our CEO general manager. Dave, what else is going on with the University of Colorado A Line that the community should know about?

Dave Genova: Thank you, Roger. Well, in recent months there's been more conversation about a commercial dispute and lawsuit between Denver Transit Partners, or DTP, and RTD, but I want to assure you that this is part of the dispute resolution process used to resolve concerns or disagreements on how specific areas of the contract have been carried out. Although this is something that we take incredibly seriously, both RTD and DTP are working through this. It's important for all of you to know that this process will not impact service on the University of Colorado A Line or the progress toward delivering the G Line. It's a matter of a commercial dispute that we are working diligently to resolve. In the meantime, the project teams stay focused on delivering the project and delivering the great on time performance that everyone has become accustomed to on the University of Colorado A Line.

It's important as we move these transit projects forward and continue working with regulatory agencies to deliver our rail service in the region. Let me talk a little bit about some of the successes around the University of Colorado A Line. The biggest one I'd like to point out is around ridership. The l ine is experiencing ridership levels that are exceeding expectations. In fact, we have about 24,100 weekday riders in September, and that's about 3,000 more than the beginning of the year, so ridership continues to trend up and is, as I said, exceeding expectations. Even those that we thought we would have in 2020. So, anyone who rides this line could attest to the fact that seats are fairly full or the vehicle is at capacity in some instances.

We've been reviewing this with our contractor and our board and I'm pleased to say that because we have exceeded ridership expectations for the University of Colorado A Line, and that's largely due to the reliability and on time performance of over 97%, convenience, and affordability, that we're looking into increasing the capacity of the line to carry more passengers. In 2019, RTD will begin process to introduce additional train cars to the University of Colorado A Line, which is a full year before we originally anticipated and planned for in 2020. We're working closely with our contractor, DTP, on how we could add these train cars from an operations standpoint. The plan today will be to add two cars to each existing two car train consist that is out there on the system today, essentially doubling the capacity from two cars to four cars in every trip.

The plan for adding additional rail vehicles and the cost associated will also need to be reviewed by the RTD board of directors as part of the 2019 budget process which we are currently going through this month.

Roger: That's great and exciting news, Dave. Thank you for those updates. Let's now get some questions from the public. We're going to take our first question, and again as a reminder, if you'd like to get in line to ask questions, press star three now on your telephone keypad. Aaron is first. Go right ahead.

Aaron: Hi there. As you talk about expanding service, one thing that RTD has struggled with is paying for it. With the newly elected state legislature, have you considered going after the state law that prohibits RTD from charging for parking at its rail stations?

Roger: Dave, you want to take that? Doug, you going to take-

Doug Tisdale: Let me lead off on that one, if I may. Thank you very much for your question, Aaron. That's one that we have talked about in the past, in fact, because one of the things that you know is that the RTD is always looking for ways to help augment our revenue so that we can hold back on further fare increases. That's very important to us. The notion of potentially looking for the ability to charge for parking is something that would help with that. It would not only pay for the maintenance of the parking lots and the parking structures, our park and ride system, but would also potentially give us an opportunity for some small additional revenue that could be used for operations that would help reduce any further need for fare increases.

You're right that with a new legislature that's something that can be looked at. It's something that the board would have to make a decision on. We don't just go off and do those things willy-nilly, but we have in fact talked about looking at that in the past, and I believe that we will continue to look at that to see if that's something that would be viable for us.

Roger: All right, next up is John. Go ahead with your question.

John: Yes. Yes, the question I had is regarding the G Line. Who's paying for the cost associated with the delay in that line?

Dave Genova: Thank you, John, this is Dave Genova. I appreciate that question, and it's a question that we often get. Under our current concession agreement or contract that we have with Denver Transit Partners, currently the contactor is paying all of the costs associated with the gate crossing attendants and flaggers and all the costs associated with any of the

delays that we're experiencing now. Also, there's the service payment for the G Line that the contractor's not receiving because that line has not opened.

As you might speculate or imagine, earlier I talked about the contract dispute that we're going through, and this is in ... A lot of it is in relationship to who should be paying for those gate crossing attendants. That will be part of the resolution process that we're working through currently with Denver Transit Partners.

Roger: All right, very good. Let's go next to Jean with a question. Go right ahead.

Jean: Yes, I've been riding light rail from Littleton since the day you opened. And everything was free, of course, then, and I took some of my friends, and blah, blah, blah. Anyway. What I want to know is what happened to D Line after 10:00 p.m.? I can't go to the symphony, I can't go to the theater because these things last after 10:00 at night. I have to get up in the middle of a play and leave because there's not an RTD to take me home to Littleton Station. What happened with that?

Doug Tisdale: Jean, this is Doug Tisdale, and I want to tell you, god bless you and thank you for asking that question, because it's one that I have pressed our scheduling and servicing staff on a number of times, because we do want to be responsive to the people who are going to the DCPA, to the theater, to the symphony, and to make sure that they have an opportunity to get back.

There are a couple of solutions that we are working on to augment what we've done. The first thing is, obviously we know that you can take the shuttle to Denver Union Station and you have some extra trains there. Beyond that, we are looking by virtue of some of the reconfiguration of the lines through downtown to try to add some service late at night, and particularly we are very aware of when there are special performances, such as when Hamilton was in town and stuff, we were doing that.

We do that, and there is the opportunity to take the H down to the Broadway Station, and then you can do a transfer to get back over onto the D line. We've linked those up so that when you take the H there's a D train waiting there for you. Or is it a C? It's a C train that's waiting for you. Sorry, I have to be corrected. Sometimes at my age I lose track of these things. But in any event, there is a C train waiting for you, so you can take the H, get down to Broadway and transfer over. I know that's a two seat ride. I know it's not great solution. I want you to know that

we're still looking at it. Anything that we should add to that, Dave? We're good? Okay.

Roger: All right, thank you very much.

Doug Tisdale: Thanks for the question.

Roger: We've got a lot of questions lined up, so I'll ask you to be very brief when you ask your question, and our panel will be very brief when they answer. Tony is next. Go right ahead, Tony.

Tony: My question is in regards to why there is not an express train during high traffic times, especially rush hour? My anticipation of using light rail is that it is an alternative to using a car and sitting in traffic, so why is there not an express train?

Dave Genova: Tony, this is Dave Genova, and thank you for your question. It's a question that we do receive occasionally. The primary reason that we don't have an express service on either light rail or commuter rail is because of the cost of that infrastructure. We'd essentially have to put in passing tracks or a third track, and that would be the same whether we were talking about light rail or commuter rail. It's a significant capital and infrastructure investment, and currently the ride times ... Typically, when we see congestion on the roads, of course the great thing about the rail systems is they operate in their own dedicated right of way, so we don't have those same congestion issues. But for now, we operate the trains station to station.

Roger: Okay, [Alissa 00:18:51] is next. Go ahead.

Alissa: Yes, hi. Can you hear me?

Roger: I can. Go right ahead. Alissa, go ahead with your question. Well, we seem to have lost Alissa. Alissa, press star three and we'll get you back at the top of the line. I'm not sure what happened to you there. [Carrie 00:19:18] is next. Go ahead, Carrie.

Carrie: Hi. My name is Carrie, and I'm wondering when we can expect to start using the north line from about 128th down to downtown? On the light rail.

Dave Genova: Thank you Carrie. Thank you Carrie, this is Dave Genova again. Yes, the north line, that project is a design built project. It's in its final stages of construction. We're working through final scheduling with our contractor now. We are hopeful that all of the construction activities and work will be done around a September timeframe, so fall of 2019,

and then that will allow us to get in and do all the testing of the various systems and the training of all our personnel. We're hopeful that it will be early 2020 when we open that line for customer service.

Roger: All right, great questions. If you have one, again, star three. We're now going to take a minute and ask a survey question. We want to get to know you, our listeners, and wake up those of you that are just sitting on the sofa and listening at home. Here it is. To participate, it's easy; just use your telephone keypad to enter the number of your response. Here's the first question, how frequently do you ride RTD? Press one if you never use RTD. Press two if you ride once or twice per year. Press three if you ride a couple times a month. Press four for almost every day or every day and press five for every day. Four for almost every day, five for every day. Use your telephone keypad now to register your vote, and I'll share the results with you in just a moment. While you're voting we're going to go back to questions, and [Curtis 00:21:06] is next. Go right ahead.

Curtis: Hello, guy. This is Curtis William Mattio. I live in southwest Denver, and I've only taken the RTD once or twice. I'm disabled. I'm in a wheelchair, I'm in a power wheelchair, and I definitely could use access to the RTD. Could you maybe have me call somebody or something about that?

Doug Tisdale: Curtis, this is Doug Tisdale, board chair. Let me respond to that and give you some initial thoughts, and then I'll let others chime in, too. Number one, we have, all of our buses and our trains are, of course, accessible for anyon e in a wheelchair, and I think most people know that. We also have Access-A-Ride, and if you are in fact in a wheelchair you undoubtedly qualify for using our Access-A-Ride. That's a service that will come to your home and will pick you up and take you to wherever it is that you need to be. That's something that is an exceptionally worthwhile service.

Now, one where you can do that, if you have access to the internet you can go to our website, which is RTD -Denver.com, you can get information there. Or, you can call our main number at VRTD, excuse me, and that's ... Oh, and the Access-A-Ride direct dial is 303-299-2960. Remember that you can call that line, or you can go to the website to check things out about Access-A-Ride.

Roger: All right, great questions. Again, star three if you'd like to get in line here. The results of our first survey question. Again, we asked how often, frequently do you ride RTD? 33% said once or twice per year, 24% said a couple times per month, and 22% said never, we don't ever use RTD. We're hoping we'll convince some of those 22% to give us a try.

For those of you that just joined us, again, good evening. I'm Roger, your moderator tonight, and we're joined this evening by RTD board chair Doug Tisdale, and Dave Genova, RTDs gene ral manager and CEO. We also have Dave Menter, who is a service planner here to help answer questions. You can participate and ask a question by pressing star three on your keypad and you'll be transferred to an operator who will take down some quick information and get you in the queue. Again, star three on your keypad to ask a question.

I you need to leave the call early, and we hope you don't, we've got about 35 minutes left on the call, but if you need to get ... I don't know, dinner or look after the kids and want to leave the call early, but have a message or question or comment, press star nine. Star three to ask a question live with our audience, star nine to leave a voice message.

Dave, let's spend a couple minutes, we'll keep this brief, to talk a little bit about the G Line through Wheat Ridge, Arvada, and downtown Denver. Could you give us an update on what the status of that project is?

Dave Genova: Thank you, Roger. Well, the G Line underwent an extensive testing process earlier this year to t est software and crossing technology to ensure they were reaching the standards as required by the Federal Railroad Administration and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. We've also completed an important part of what we call the system performance demonstration, and that's a 21 consecutive day period where the contractor has to meet very strict requirements regarding on time performance and reliability, and they've done that and done it very well. This is a contractual requirement, not a regulatory requirement, but it verifies the system reliability and the on time performance when we run the simulated schedule. Now that we've completed that portion of testing, we continue to focus on the gate crossing timing and optimizing those timings so we can get through our regulatory approvals.

While we are performing technology and equipment related adjustments to crossings and continue to perform tests, there are other key items that need to be completed that are related to the regulatory process. Before moving forward with the opening of the G Line, let me just walk you through the main items that we have to complete. Those items are grade crossing testing that will need to be verified by both the Public Utilities Commission and the Federal Railroad Administration, the G Line will need to be added to the operational a waiver that we have for the University of Colorado A Line and B Line. This waiver is for our wireless crossing activation buffer time and to account for operational variances on the commuter rail network. Then we will submit

certification documents to the Public Utilities Commission for approval of the crossings. They'll go through the commission docket process, and then we will be able to pursue with the establishment of quiet zones after all the waivers are granted.

So, quiet zones, as mentioned earlier, involves an application process which is largely led by the local jurisdictions. RTD, we support the process by providing information, such as data and the design of the crossings, to the regulators reviewing the applications. Currently, we've initiated a quiet zone process for the G Line by submitting our letters of intent. The next steps will be applying for a waiver, followed by filing the notice of establishment. Before quiet zones are considered, the crossings need to be individually reviewed and certified. The bulk of the items we are working on involve close work with our partners, Denver Transit Partners, and the regulatory agencies. Both the FRA and Public Utilities Commission partners have a job to do in ensuring the G Line meets requirements and is safe as a result. With work in progress for these items, we know that we're not able to specify an opening date just yet for the G Line, but we hope to have that information available to all of you soon.

Roger: All right, thank you very much, Dave. Let's go back to questions and call on Jane next. Go right ahead.

Dane: Hello?

Roger: Jane?

Dane: Dane.

Roger: You're live. James, oh, they put down the wrong name. Go ahead, sir.

Dane: My question is this regarding the video security. What are response times on these, and I'm very concerned about this not having live officers or retired military patrolling the trains themselves.

Doug Tisdale: This is Doug Tisdale, and listen, thank you very much for that question, because as I told you, safety and security is a huge part of our concern and one of our priorities that we are addressing at the RTD. Excuse me. First of all, the response time, when the driver hits, and I'll just call it for brief words, a panic button, it's an immediate response. The people in our security center are immediately able to see what's going on there, and you, with your Transit Watch app, if you have a smartphone and you get that app, you too can be in immediate contact with our security center, our command center that monitors that.

Typically, in terms of getting another body out there, whether it's a police from the police department, or from our police force, or from one of our supervisors, that's anywhere from two to three minutes we can have someone there. Sometimes it might be a little longer, but we're talking single digits. So, you do have immediate access and the command center is able to monitor what's going on promptly, so you should feel secure in those circumstances.

Roger: Chairman, I've seen that firsthand myself on the 16th Street Mall. Someone submitted something on Transit Watch, and by the time the bus stopped at the next block, opened the doors, there were, security police were there. So, very impressive resp onse time. George, you're next. Go ahead with the question.

George: I live in Longmont, so we don't have the opportunity to use light rail very often, so I have a policy political question for you. That is, is any consideration being given to enlarging the RTD district to cover Weld and Larimer Counties so that one day in the future we might be able to have commuter rail from Fort Collins, Loveland, possibly Greeley and Longmont into Denver?

Dave Genova: Thank you, George, this is Dave Genova, and that's a great question and one we get occasionally. As you know, part of our Fast Tracks Program includes the northwest commuter rail line that would be the remainder of what we have in operation now, or the B Line that goes from Union Station to Westminster. That's the first six miles. But we're still looking for the funding, and it's about 1.4, $1.5 billion to complete that line to Boulder and then into Longmont. It still remains part of our Fast Tracks Program and we still remain focused on trying to identify that funding. In fact, we've been working with stakeholders along that corridor to try to develop a service plan that would be more of a starter service and not the full blown service, but we're continuing to look for funding. Regarding your question on expa nsion, we don't have any current plans right now to expand the RTD district, although there are others that are looking at regional rail in the area.

Roger: Very good. Thank you, Dave. Chair Tisdale, why don't we switch away from the G Line now and I'm going to ask you to talk a little bit about the B Line, which opened in July.

Doug Tisdale: Thank you very much for that question, I appreciate that, Roger. We're very proud of the B Line. The B Line's been on operation now for about two years, and we've measure our ridership. We know that the line's performing very well. You know, the B Line had over 400,000 riders last year alone. It's absolutely amazing. And in September we've been

looking at daily riders of about 2,200 a day. That gives you some idea of the vibrancy of that line out to Westminster.

Now, the B and the G Lines, which we hope will open very soon, share a portion of the rail that we have that goes from Denver Union Station out to Westminster, so between Adams County and downtown Denver there are a couple of stops that are going to be used for both. We often received a question if the Pecos Junction Station and the 41st and Fox Station, which are part of the G Line, could also someday serve as station stops for the B Line. They aren't open yet, because of course the G Line is still just now undergoing its testing.

Well, as it stands currently, the B Line runs from Denver Union Station to Westminster Station, no stops in between. Takes 12 minutes to go end to end, it runs every 30 minutes during the peak hours, and every 60 minutes during the off peak hours. Obviously, if we had the train stop at those other stops that would require changes to the schedule, and there's some concern on the part of folks up in Westminster as to whether that would be a good idea. It is, however, I want you to know, under consideration, and there are various things we have to look at as we do that.

Under the G Line service plan, when that opens very soon following the testing that we're currently doing, the service to the 41st and Fox Station and the Pecos Junction Station will be every 15 minutes during peak hours and every 30 minutes during the non-peak hours, and that's what we have planned for the projected ridership. But you know, if we get such success on the G Line as we've been having on the B Line, why heck, we might even extend those and get even more frequency.

Roger: All right, thank you, chairman. This may be a good time to take a quick break and ask our second survey question. Again, all you have to do is use your telephone keypad to enter the number of your response. Here is the question; how do you currently use RTD? Press one if you use the bus or train as your primary means of transportation. Press two if you use a bus or train about the same as you dr ive your own personal vehicle. Press three if you use the bus or train only when attending or going to major events, like the theater or sporting events. Press four if you use other RTD services that might include Call-and-Ride or Access- A-Ride. And press five if you don't currently use any RTD services. Again, record your vote now, I'll share the results with you in just a moment. While you're voting, we're going to call on Sharon for a question. Go ahead.

Sharon: Hello?

Roger: Hi, Sharon, you're live with our audience. Go right ahead.

Sharon: Thank you so much. I used to ride RTD at least twice a day before I retired, and I love it, and I love the light rail, and I'm so glad you're here. Since I retired, I moved to the southwest part of the Front Range, and there is no light rail presence here. I mean, it's everywhere else, but it doesn't exist here in the southwest part of the city. I understand the need for connection to downtown, but there are some wonderful stations that you could eventually connect to, and buying land now around C470 before it's all built up might be a good idea to invest in the future. I'm just won dering if that will ever happen?

Dave Genova: Thank you Sharon, this is Dave Genova. We do have, not knowing exactly what part of the southwest area that you live in, we do, as part of the Fast Tracks Program, have one extension in the southwest area. It's a short extension of the southwest light rail line a couple of miles that would take the light rail line from our current end of line station at Santa Fe and Mineral down into Highlands Ranch around the Lucent area. I don't know whether that will help you or not. Again, we are looking to get the funding to build that line. We haven't identified the funding to build or operate that line, but t hat's one extension that will eventually be going out in the southwest area.

In the meantime, I'd really encourage you to check out the other parts of the RTD family of services. We offer Call-and-Ride services, fixed route bus services, and so in many times and many ways you're able to get on another RTD service and then be able to connect to the rail line. If you wanted some help with trying to figure that out, you could either go online or you could call in to our telephone information center and our customer service agents would be really happy to help you, and they can be reached at 303 -299-6000.

Roger: All right, very good. Here are the results of our second survey question. Again, we asked how do you current use RTD? 37% of you said you use RTD when attending major events, sporting events and theater. 21% said you use it as your primary means of transportation. Those are great numbers. And then 18% said you don't use RTD at all currently. Thank you for your feedback. We'll have one more survey questio n before this call is over, and we're going to go to Brett next with a question. Go ahead.

Brett: Hello. I'd like to reflect on the decisions made for the commuter lines that have to do with using the new technology as opposed to going back and using the t ried and true mechanicals crossing items that probably have worked for over 100 years, and why the board and why the upper

levels of RTD went on this wireless technologies that have caused all these problems on the commuter lines?

Doug Tisdale: Brett, this is Doug Tisdale, the board chair, and I'll take that one. I got to tell you, it's an excellent question, and I certainly understand why people ask that. The simple, direct answer is because the wireless technology is so much superior. It is something that is not susceptible to failure going forward once we got the bugs worked out, and we're very confident that we have worked the bugs out.

It's a new system. As I said, we're the first train in the country to build this from the ground up with the wireless technology as part of it. When you have that kind of system, you do have bugs. We've worked through those bugs. We aren't susceptible to the same kind of failures that the old mechanical system had when we were using that. So, I got to tell you, we believe, and I think the industry agrees with us across the country, that this is the future and we are leading that charge, and we're happy to do so, even though there can be a few little rocky steps along the way at first.

Roger: Thank you, chairman. Alex is next. Go right ahead with your question.

Alex: Yeah, I take the E Line to a lot of Rockies games, and lot of times coming and going it's just standing room only. Sometimes even kind of unsafe because people are standing in the stairwells. How hard is it to, you know, when there's an event downtown, whether it's a Rockies game or a concert or whatever, to add a car to the light rail coming in and out of downtown?

Dave Genova: Thank you, Alex, and yes, we do provide service to a lot of special events, the Rock ies one, the Broncos another one, and a lot of other special events that occur down in kind of the entertainment district of downtown. It's not difficult to add cars as long as we have car capacity. Our service planning team and our light rail operations team, they continuously review the kinds of ridership that we have on the various lines, and we do actually add service for special events where we think we're going to have the need for more capacity. When we're able to, we can go up to what is called a four car train consist, but that's our maximum that we can do is four cars in any one train consist. So, we can do it, we often do, but it's just a kind of a fact that sometimes with special events the crowds can be pretty big.

Roger: All right, let's go to Helen with a question I know Dave was just about ready to talk about. Helen, go ahead.

Helen: Hello. I've noticed that a lot of the people on this call are not bus or train riders, and fares are going up soon, and what is RTD ... And a lot of people don't know that the fares are going up. What is RTD doing to make sure that riders know that fares are going up in January?

Dave Genova: Thank you Helen, this is Dave Genova, and you must have been anticipating the next session that we have planned to talk to you about is a little bit more on the fare, but let me answer your question specifically. We have, as you might imagine, a very big marketing and public relations campaign that we are in the midst of developing that we will be rolling out, because we know how important it is to be able to communicate to all of our patrons, and others that are interested in using the RTD system, not only how the system works, but how much is the fare for various trips, how do I buy my fare, and all those kinds of things. So, we will be doing a very big public relations campaign, and we'll have a lot of information available through a lot of different outlets. We'll use the media, well use our website, we'll have information out on our system, and we’ll use social media and variety of other things.

Let me now just talk a little bit more about what those fare changes are, so what can you anticipate as we start to look into 2019. The RTD board of directors routinely makes fare adjustments to help off set the cost of transit operations. The last fare increase that RTD had was in January of 2016, so it's been three years, and as you might be able to imagine as well, we've had increased labor costs and fuel costs in that time period.

In fact, our labor, we're really working diligently to fill the operator shortage that we have now in terms of rail operators and bus operators. We recently went through a negotiation with our wages and such, and we made about an 8 to 10% wage increase across the board for all of our operators and maintainers and folks that operate the system. So, we've had some significant increases, and as I've said, this is something that the board looks at every three years to make sure that our fares are understandable, that we're able to implement them, that they're equitable, and that the fare achieve the revenue levels that we need in the RTD budget to make sure that we can provide the reliable service that we put out every day.

A unique part of the process that went on over the last year, in addition to the board taking up looking at fare, we also worked very closely with a group that we call RTDs Pass Program Working Group. This was a 25 member group of stakeholders from across the RTD district representing universities, businesses, low income agencies, schools and others, and so we worked very closely with this group for over a year. We also worked closely with the Affordable Fares Task Force to better

understand the relationship between pass programs and the desire for more affordable income based fares.

After the year long pass program study and after a lot of analysis and review, the RTD board did approve significant changes to our fares that will take effect beginning January 1 of 2019. Let me talk about the one that's most notab le, and I think the one that is really leading the pack, because there's only a few agencies in the country that provide what I'm going to talk about next, and that is the creation of a low income fare program that will offer a 40% discount to riders that are at or below 185% of the federal poverty level. That, as I said, not very many agencies are doing that across the country. We're very pleased to be rolling that out. That will actually go into effect about the middle of 2019, because we have a lot of things to implement, including an eligibility program, before we'll be able to put that program into place.

Another significant change we made was increasing the discount for student. Students currently get a 50% discount, and we'll be increasing that to 70% for youths that are between the age of six and 19 years old. We continue to maintain our 50% discount for seniors and those that are eligible under disabilities and things.

Additionally, our base fares have changed from paying for trips to paying for time, and this is exciting because in 2019 riders will be able to buy a three hour local fare of $3, a region fare of $5.25, and the airport fare of $10.50. We heard from the fare review and public input process that there was a desire to have more flexibility, and that led to the introduction of this three hour fare, which will be available for local and regional fares, and it will replace our current one way cash fare that a person can often buy and get a transfer. But the good news about the three hour far e is that it's the same price as what we used to charge for one way, but a person can use that three hour fare and make as many trips as they want in that three hour period and travel in multiple directions. Very similar to the very popular day pass that we rolled out in 2016.

I'm excited to announce that starting tomorrow, customers using the RTD Mobile Tickets app, and if you haven't downloaded our Mobile Tickets app, I encourage you to go to the Apple or the Android store, look for RTD Mobile Ticket app, the Mobile Tickets app. You can download that app and then you can buy the following products that I'm going to explain. Starting tomorrow you can buy access to the three hour pass and monthly passes, and then of course the day pass, which has been on Mobile Ticketing since its inception a little over a year ago. It's a great way to buy your tickets, you can put them in a wallet, you

don't have to stand in line and wait, you just buy the ticket, activate it before you board, and hop on.

Roger: All right. Let's go to Benjamin with a question. Go right ahead.

Benjamin: Good evening. Hey, thanks, first of all, for the three hour pass. That really helps me. Second of all, on the light rail stations many of the information displays are broken, and I heard that there's a project underway to replace those, and I was wondering if you had an update.

Doug Tisdale: This is Doug Tisdale, Benjamin, RTD board chair. Thanks very much for the question, because the answer is yes, and soon. That's a brief as I can get, but we are working on that because, yes, that's something that drives people crazy. There are some apps you can have on if you have a smartphone or you have access to that and you're comfortable using it, you can always check, because we do send real time information out and we allow anyone with separate apps of their own that they've developed to access that information. But we are, yes, working on that, and we are hoping to get that out very soon, and I think you will see that change over the course of 2019.

Roger: Thank you, chairman. Let's ask our last survey question. Again, to participate in the survey please use your telephone keypad to enter the number of your response. Here's the question; in your opinion, what could RTD do to improve services and gain more ridership? Press one for lower fares. Press two for improved placement of routes. Press three for expanded hours of operation. Press four for on time performance improvements. Press five for improved security. And press six if you're not certain or none of the above. Again, we'll share the results with you in just a moment, and while you're entering your response, we're going to call on Sam. Sam, go ahead.

Sam: Hi. I was just wondering, because I ride the R Line every day to work, why it's been chopped down to one car during rush hour periods? Because it definitely gets pretty full.

Dave Genova: Thank you, Sam, this is Dave. Yeah, the reason we went down to one car was essentially because of the utilization. I know that there are days and there are certain trips that get a little bit more crowded than others. I just recently reviewed an analysis in a report on that because I had some of our board directors asking me that same question, and I received information from our service planning team and our rail operations team. While some of the numbers that I saw were about in the 60s was usually the highest number of trip utilization we have. So, we continue to monitor that, and as ridership continues to increase, which it has, I'm pleased to say, been steadily increasing on the R Line,

we'll add that capacity back out there. But in the meantime, it's a savings on the maintenance of those cars.

Roger: Okay. Here are the results of our final survey question. Again, we asked what RTD could do to improve service and gain more ridership. 28% said expand hours of operation, 20% said lower fares, and 17% said improve the placement of routes across the system. Thanks for your input on that. We are running short on time. We're going to go to Kevin next with a question. Go ahead, Kevin.

Kevin: Yes. I've been trying to access Access-A-Ride op because I'm disabled and I can't walk very far and I can't see so I can't drive any more. But the thing is, I'm nine tenths of a mile from a bus stop to the west of me, and 1.4 miles to a bus stop to the east of me, and I'm told that I can't get any service. So, if I lived a few blocks over one way to the other, I would be able to get access to these kinds of services, but I'm in a pocket that you say is federally ... That I can't do it because of federal laws.

Dave Genova: Kevin, thank you. Yes, that's a question that we receive from time to time as people live not as near to a route as we have with our Access -A- Ride boundary. We do try to be as flexible as we can with that service, but we do have those parameters in place. It's one of the most costly services that we operate, but I want to give you a name and number of somebody that we can possibly talk to you about some other options that might be able to fill in the gap. If you're ready, I'm going to give you a name and a phone number for a person at RTD. His name is Brian Matthews, M-A-T-T-H-E-W-S, and his phone number is 303-299-2155. I'm going to repeat that phone number. 303-299-2155. Or, of course, you could always call into the main number and talk to our customer service representatives. But there might be some options depending on where you are with some of the other RTD alternatives.

Roger: All right, thank you Dave. Chair Tisdale, the RTD board is an elected body, and we just had an election. Can you tell us a little bit more about that process?

Doug Tisdale: Thanks very much, Roger. Yes, the RTD is governed by a 15 member, that's one five, a 15 member publicly elected board of directors. Think about this too, folks, we govern 3.1 million people who live in a 2,400 square mile area. 2,400 square miles. That's the size of the state of Delaware. The directors are elected to four year terms. They can serve a total of eight consecutive years, that's two terms if they're elected by the district that they represent. The elections are staggered so that we have eight seats that are open in one general election and seven in the next.

You may have noticed in some of the districts where folks live who are listening in that we did have seven of them this time around and we're going to end up with six new faces on the RTD board, so there's a lot of adjustment for all of us. We were very pleased to see the quality of people and the interest in the election. They will be sworn in in January of 2019 and coming aboard.

You can find out a whole lot of additional information about the board of directors, and we encourage you to do that, because it is an elected board. You know, we are only one of four, just four, transit agencies in the country that have elected boards. Everybody else, they get appointed by the governor, by county commissioners, by the legislature, by whomever. But in RTD we're elected by the people, and you can learn about those people by going to RTD-Denver.com and see a lot more information about the people who are pleased to serve you in providing safe, clean, reliable, courteous, accessible, and cost effective transportation services in our district.

Roger: Well, there you go. Thank you much, chairman. We're going to ask one more question as we wrap up the call tonight. It's been a great call, we've had over 4,700 participants tonight on the line. That's terrific. Here's the last, we just want to get your quick opinion. On a scale of one to five, with one ... Have to look at h ow we rated this. One to five, with one being the highest ... One being the lowest and five being the highest, what is your impression of the quality of service of RTD. One to five, one being the lowest, five being the highest. Please enter your response now on your phone. We'll share that with you in just a moment. While you're voting I'm going to see if our CEO general manager, Dave Genova, has any final remarks go ahead.

Dave Genova: I just want to say thank you very much for joining us tonight. We know that you have a lot of options to spend your time and this is just a very important part of our outreach. I think that you'll be seeing more and more community engagement from us at RTD in a variety of different ways, including more of these kinds of telephone town halls and other kinds of community engagement activities. Thanks for being with us, and if you have any questions please follow up with the team of professionals at RTD.

Roger: Thank you. Chairman Tisdale, 85% of us, of voters on the survey gave us a three, four, or five, so pretty darn good results. Any final comments you might have?

Doug Tisdale: We are delighted to participate in this call because it's important for us all to communicate, to collaborate, and to cooperate, and this is part of how we do it, so thank you.

Roger: Thank you, sir. Again, we appreciate your participating tonight. If you've thought of a question or we didn't get to your question, because we had a number of people that we just could not get to in this hour long call, if you'd like to leave a message, a comment, or a question that maybe you've thought of since the hour began, you can stay on the line, you'll be directed to a voicemail system, and we will get back to you as soon as possible. On behalf of chairman Doug Tisdale, CEO general manager Dave Genova, our service planning staff, all of the hard working RTD employees, thank you very much for participating, and have good night.

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