No mas

I have been an enthusiastic proponent of Denver's rail system. Not any more. This morning I waited twenty minutes for the train, choosing not to get on the one train that went to a destination far from my own. When the proper train finally arrived, there was not room on it for me. Of course this was during morning rush hour.

A few months ago, after expressing the government-suported monopoly's financial difficulties, they eliminated the trains that had once served only the City of Denver, and made all trains run to somewhere between the extreme southern suburbs and rural parts of the state*. Prior to that change, there were trains roughly every ten minutes, most of which -- even the Denver-only trains -- were SRO by the time they got to my stop. As a result of the change, those who want to board trains in Denver often can't. I had suggested that they'd do well to remove one-third to one-half of the seats from the trains to increase passenger capacity and thus allow city-dwellers to continue riding. Of course the suggestion was ignored.

I hereby invite the board of the RTD to go fly a kite somewhere between the extreme southern suburbs and the rural parts of the state -- preferably near a herd of wild bison.

*The trains having a lower cost in terms of operator labor per passenger mile and roughly equivalent energy and maintenance expense than the more favored diesel busses. The rail cars and tracks themselves are more expensive than busses, but that's a sunk cost.