http://www.johntayer.org Regional Transportation District Board of Directors Representative, District O Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:08:43 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en With much fanfare, the group of community representative and transportation officials that have been evaluating options for transit, road and bike improvements inthe US 36 corridor, the Preferred Alternative Committee (PAC), agreed on a package to take through the Final Environmental Impact Analysis (FEIS) process.  The agreement, known as the ... http://www.johntayer.org/2008/07/20/us-36-combined-alternative-recommendation/ In case you didn't see these in the Daily Camera, both Steve Pomerance and Bob Greenlee responded to my opinion piece, "Rising Above the Transit Paradox.": FasTracks derailed (Greenlee): http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/jul/13/fastracks-derailed/ Funding transit with market forces (Pomerance): http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/jul/06/funding-transit-with-market-02/ You will notice that Bob takes the opportunity to offer another criticism of the FasTracks program, ... http://www.johntayer.org/2008/07/19/greenlee-and-pomerance-respond-to-the-transit-paradox/ Many District O residents e-mailed me concerning the proposal to cut Route 201.  Unfortunately, only one of my fellow Board members joined me in opposition to the final package of staff recommended service cuts.  The Board approved the staff recommended package of service cuts that included the 201 while providing a reprieve for one ... http://www.johntayer.org/2008/07/19/my-opposition-to-the-route-201-service-cuts/ The Unlimited Access Pass Working Group continues to make progress in an effort to resolve long-standing disputes between RTD staff and pass advocates.  Attached are the minutes from the May Working Group meeting.  As you can see from the minutes, a key focus of Working Groups discussions continues to be Eco-Pass pricing.  ... http://www.johntayer.org/2008/06/30/unlimited-access-pass-working-group-update-june-08/ Everywhere I go these days, I am beseeched by friends and neighbors who ask me why, at a time when transit demand is rising, RTD is considering service cuts. Instead, shouldn’t RTD be increasing service? That certainly sounds like a logical model for meeting human mobility needs in the face ... http://www.johntayer.org/2008/06/26/rising-above-the-transit-paradox/ Trip Planner is a web-based service that is designed to help RTD customers design the most efficient transit trip to their desired destination.  Unfortunately, the old Trip Planner program had many weaknesses, directing customers along exceptionally long and convoluted routes.  The problems appeared to be most acute when reaching the planned destination entailed a transfer ... http://www.johntayer.org/2008/04/28/new-google-based-trip-planner-service/ Democracy is best practiced by an educated public.  One means of public education is ensuring that citizens have convenient access to the information that policy leaders employ in their deliberations.  This includes access to staff policy memorandums and other supporting materials. Having worked at he city of Boulder for six years, where all non-confidential materials that ... http://www.johntayer.org/2008/04/23/rtd-agenda-materials-now-on-the-web/ Last evening, the RTD Board initiated the 2009 Budget Preparation Process.  As a charge to my fellow Board members, I offered the following thoughts: Tonight we embark on the long process for pulling together RTD’s 2009 budget.  We know the budget preparation process is always difficult, balancing competing priorities in an ... http://www.johntayer.org/2008/04/23/opening-thoughts-on-the-2009-budget-preparation-process/ At the end of February, RTD staff and US 36 corridor officials got cross-wise over portions of a FasTracks report concerning the implementation of the bus rapid transit (BRT) system. Corridor officials identified a number of instances in the FasTracks report that appeared to indicate RTD was back pedaling on ... http://www.johntayer.org/2008/03/30/brt-concerns-about-rtds-commitment/ Every year, at this time, RTD commences its budget preparation process.   It is through the budget process that RTD allocates resources across its various transit activities, from bus and train operations to implementation of the FasTracks program.  Aside from a general fiduciary responsibility to ensure that RTD resources are deployed efficiency and effectively, it is ... http://www.johntayer.org/2008/03/30/2009-rtd-budget-preparation-process/