September 28, :15 pm MDT

Transcription

1 September 28, :15 pm MDT TRANSCRIPTION RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com

2 Good evening and thank you for joining this live Telephone Town Hall meeting hosted by your transit agency, the Regional Transportation District. I m Roger and I ll be your moderator this evening as we talk about RTDs programs and services and FasTracks projects. Joining me this evening are RTD Board Director Lorraine Andersen and Marla Lien RTD general counsel. Also sitting in to answer your questions are Greg Straight, Project Manager of the Eagle Commuter Rail Project and Doug Monroe, Service Planner and Scheduler. Tonight we ll focus on the district Director Andersen represents which includes Arvada, portions of Westminster and Superior and portions of unincorporated Arapaho and Jefferson counties. This is your opportunity to share your thoughts about RTD and ask questions. If this is your first time on a Telephone Town Hall, here s how it works: to ask a questions just press *3 on your keypad and you ll be transferred to someone who ll take down some basic information and get you on the cue. Since we want to hear from as many of you as possible, we can only take one question per person. Once the operator has your information, you can listen to the conversation until you re called upon, and when I call your name, please repeat your question for our live audience, so again press *3 on your keypad if you d like to ask a question. Also your opinions are important to us so we ll be asking a polling question later during the call and all you ll have to do is press the number on your phone to register your answer. You can also participate online this year by going to RTD- FasTracks.com, that s RTD- FasTracks.com and clicking on the interactive Town Hall link on the home page. So why don t we get started? It s my pleasure now to introduce RTD Board Director Lorraine Andersen. Lorraine? Lorraine: Good evening everyone. Thanks so much for joining us tonight, before we get to your questions let me give you a quick update of the progress being made on our FasTracks transit expansion program, and there is a lot to report. As you may recall the FasTracks program is the largest transit expansion program in the county and more than five billion dollars in projects is continuing across the metro area. Next year will be a very big year for the Denver metro area, as RTD opens five new transit lines. In January our first bus rapid transit or BRT service called the Flatiron Flyer, will open along with 36. Construction on the highway is almost complete and will soon be ready for this new service. In the spring probably our most widely anticipated line, the line to the airport or the A- Line will open. People will be able to ride the train from Denver Union Station to DIA in 37 minutes regardless of the weather or traffic conditions. Then in summer, the first segment of the North West rail line from Denver Union Station to Westminster will open. In the fall, the rail line to Arvada and Weave Ridge will open and being from Arvada I am very excited about this line. This line will be called the J- line and to complete our openings in 2016, the R- line that runs through Aurora will become operational, so it will be a full year with four rail lines in the BRT opening. No other transit agency in the country has ever had so many major accomplishments in one year. With all these lines starting up in 2016 we will also be implementing a new fare structure in January that we believe will make easier for our customers when utilizing our services, and since safety is our number one priority you will see a new safety RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 2 of 16

3 campaign launching within the next few months. With all that said I m looking forward to the discussion tonight so please press *3 to participate. Lorraine: Catherine: All right, thank you Director Andersen. Again if you d like to ask a question you can press *3 on your keypad, you ll be transferred to an operator who ll take down some quick information and will get you in line and also new this year you can participate online at RTD- FasTracks.com and to celebrate that new option we re going to go first to an online question from Shaun. Shaun asks, Director Andersen can you tell us if you ve hired a new general manager? We have not hired a new general manager, we re conducting a national search for a new manager and CEO to replace long time RTD general manager and CEO of Phil Washington who earlier this year accepted an opportunity with LA Metro to lead that agency in its transit expansion efforts. In the interim, Dave Genova, formerly the Assistant Manager of Safety, Security and Facilities is serving as RTDs general manager and CEO an executive search committee established by the RTD board of directors has hired a recruitment firm to lead the search and the selection process evolves and finalists have been identified. There will be opportunities for the public to meet them and provide input. All right thank you Director, again *3 if you d like to ask your question. Director Andersen was talking earlier about all the accomplishments that are occurring this coming year. Four lines and a BRT line opening next year. That s quite an achievement. Marla, can you tell us what people can expect? Sure Roger, and thanks everyone again for participating this evening. It is really wonderful having worked on this starting in 2004 to see so many lines opening in the next year. As these construction projects come to an end you ll start to see trains being actually tested on the lines before we open service to the public. Three of the lines opening next year will be commuter rail lines. That s a different technology than light rail. They ll be bigger, faster trains than the ones that you ve seen operating on RTDs existing rail service and those commuter rail lines are going to the airport (DIA), Westminster and to Arvada and Wheat Ridge. The R- line to Aurora will be another light rail line and will connect to the A- line going to DIA as a cross- platform transfer and then the North Metro Line, another commuter rail line will be going from Denver to Thornton. It s under construction and is scheduled to open in 2018, so next year you will see so many changes in the region as a result of the efforts of RTD and the voters. All right thanks Marla. Again if you ve just joined us please press *3 on your keypad and if you d like to ask a question then you ll be transferred to an operator who will take down some basic information and get you in the queue. You can also participate online at RTD- FasTracks.com and click on the interactive Town Hall link on the home pages, so why don t we get started and take our first live question from Catherine? Catherine, go ahead. I would like to know if you re going to keep the Arvada A- line going to DIA when the light rail opens right close by there? RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 3 of 16

4 Kevin: Norma: Norma: Thanks for your question Catherine, this is Doug Monroe with Service, Planning and Scheduling. The Arvada A- line is planned to be discontinued when the A- line train opens to the airport with frequent service and both the gold line and the A- line train to the airport. The travel time will be comparable and there ll be much more options for you to get out there in more times of day. All right let s take our next question from Kevin. Kevin go ahead? Yes I was wondering if with the new service out of Westminster if they re still planning on cancelling the T- bus and if so do they realize that the transfer and the commute time will be increasing by, well my commute will increase and quite a few other people I ride the T with, will be increasing by 30 minutes? Thanks for your question Kevin. The T- line is planned to be discontinued when the Flatiron Flyer opens in January, we do know that there is a sacrifice for some in the travel time there, but the additional service that s provided along the US- 36 corridor provides more options for people and having the connection to light rail at Denver Union Station makes the connection pretty quick for most people to get down to the tech center that formerly had the one seat ride on route T. Again if you d like to ask a question please press *3, Tia or Cathy are standing by. They ll take down your information and get you in the queue. Next up is Norma. Thanks for holding. Go ahead. Yes, am I on? Yes you are, go ahead. I have a question about the cross- road traffic at all the intersections where the, in our case gold line, or the other lines cross main arteries of traffic for example I m thinking about Marshall. If the commuter rail comes by every 15 minutes or so and it s going to stop traffic there every 15 minutes, that s going to make quite a congestion in traffic along those arterial roads. What a great question Norma, this is Greg Straight, I m the Project Manager on the Eagle Project and this is something we certainly considered as we were planning the project and in setting up other projects we did extensive traffic studies to ensure that we had Pardon me. Can you hear better now? We did extensive traffic studies to model the traffic before we started the project as well as what was planned with the improvements and in cases where the improvements would actually have a negative impact on the existing crossings we ve required our contractor to do additional improvements to the roadways. No doubt most of you have seen the work that we re doing and unfortunately we have created a bunch of traffic jams ourselves in completing the work, but when it s complete the traffic at the crossing should be as good or better than it was to begin with. RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 4 of 16

5 Aileen: Aileen: Bella: Thank you Greg, RTD is always interested in getting your feedback about the agency and what is important to you, so here is our polling question for the evening. Just press the number we indicate for your answer. Here is the question: which of the following new RTD services opening in 2016 will you most likely ride? Press one if it s University of Colorado A- line to DIA, press two if it s the B- Line between Denver and Westminster, press 3 if it s the G- line to Arvada and Wheat Ridge, press four if it s the R- line through Aurora, press five if it s the Flatiron Flyer between Denver and boulder and press six if it s none of this. Again, one for the A- line to DIA, two for B- line, three for G- line, four for R- line, five for the Flatiron Flyer and six for none of the above. Record your vote now and I ll share the results with you in just a moment and while you re voting I m going next to Aileen, go right ahead. Hello? I was wondering if the access- a- rides are still going to be available. Also when is the new pricing going to be available to everyone? Hello Aileen, we don t have any plans to discontinue access- a- ride ride as you know it s a complimentary service to our fixer out services and wherever our fixer out services continue to be offered, the access- a- ride will be offered. As for the new fares, the new fares take effect on January 1st 2016 so that ll be at the beginning of next year. Thank you. All right thank you for the good question. Here are the results of our first question, again we asked: What of the following new RTD services opening in 2016 will you be most likely to ride? Not really a surprise, 46% of you said that the G- line to Arvada and Wheat Ridge right through the heart of Director Andersen s district and the second most popular was the B- line between Denver and Westminster. We appreciate your participating in our polling question and we re going to take a call from Bella Theiler. Sorry if I mispronounced that, go ahead. Ah, yes with the new line that s opening in Arvada what will happen with the express buses that service like the Ward Road park and ride, the 72X and then also the 55X to old town park and ride? Will those still be available to riders? Thank you for your question there, the express services to both old town and Ward Road on the 55X and 72X are planned to be discontinued when the gold line opens. The travel time will actually be faster on the rail for both of those locations and there ll be much more frequent service. There s going to be some public hearings coming up in the next couple months here for the bus service plan for the gold and North West corridors and we d like to get your feedback when those public hearings take place. All right, thank you Doug for those of you just joining the call, good evening I m Roger and I m your moderator tonight as we talk with RTD Board Director Lorraine Andersen and RTD general counsel Marla Lien, this is your opportunity to share thoughts and ask questions. You can participate in the discussion and ask a question by pressing *3 on your keypad. You ll be transferred to an operator who will take down some basic information and get you in the queue, so again *3 on your keypad if you d like to ask a RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 5 of 16

6 question. Also might be a good time to mention that if you d like to leave the call early and we certainly hope you ll stick around, we ve got 40 minutes left or so but if you need to leave early you can always leave a message by pressing *9 so again *3 to ask a question live with our live audience and *9 to leave a question or comment on the voic . Let s take our next question from Maria, go ahead. Maria are you there? Maria: Cathy: Steve: Steve: Lorraine: Yes I d like to know the difference between a commuter rail and the FasTracks? Hi Maria. Commuter rail is part of FasTracks, when the voters passed the FasTracks plan in 2004, it included lines to DIA, to Arvada and Wheat Ridge, to Westminster and to Thornton and Northglenn. All of those lines are part of the FasTracks plan that was passed and they are all opening in the near future. All right thank you Marla. Let s go next Cathy, Cathy what s your question? Hi. I work at the DIA, and I started taking RTD from Thornton, P&R. It was $31 now I pay $140, so I m just wondering if this continues Thornton P&R for a long time. I m wondering what the rate is supposed to be going up to, to go to DIA? Thanks for your question, the fare to DIA is going to go up to Or it s actually going down for most people that currently ride the Sky Ride buses out there. Currently we have a tiered Fare structure of $9, $11, or $13 depending on where you board to get to DIA and with the new fare structure that takes effect on January 1st that ll be a flat $9 fare to get to DIA. We re not 100% sure on what the monthly pass is for that but for most people the one way fare will go down to get to the airport to $9. You can always go and check fare structures on our website, it s RTD- denver.com if you have questions about monthly pass costs or the other services. That s a good place to check for information and again if you want to ask, these are all great questions so lest keep them coming. If you d like to ask a question press *3, we ve got a couple folks standing by to take down some quick information and we ll get you in the line to ask your question live with our audience. Next is Steve, go ahead. The gold line in Ward Road is there going to be a parking garage there? Actually I have two questions, is there going to be a parking garage there and second, is the 72X does a lot of stops through neighborhoods up here are those stops going to be discontinued or is there going to be something to replace that? The 72X will be replaced by the gold line. At Ward Road there will not be a parking garage but there is a lot of adequate parking, service parking at Ward Road. The 72 will continue to run through Arvada but the 72X which is the express route will be replaced by the gold line. Next up is Linda, go right ahead. RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 6 of 16

7 Linda: Steve: Lorraine: Hi, I was wondering about where the Arvada train will be running and how much it s going to go up with the access- a- ride passes that we have because I live on 68th and Hidden Lake. All right thank you for your question. The train to Arvada, there s going to be two stations there, there ll be station at old town and there ll be another station what we re calling the Arvada ridge station which is at about 50th and Kipling. The access- a- ride fares are going to be $4.70 starting in January and I believe that was the second question you asked there. All right thank you, again if you have a question please press *3 and we ll get you in line. One of RTDs big projects going on right now is construction on the gold line commuter rail train which is going right to old town Arvada. Lorraine can you tell us what s going on? Sure Roger, I have worked for close to two decades to bring the gold line to our district and it is so fulfilling to see construction continuing and nearing completion and we re looking forward to the testing of the line coming soon. I want to acknowledge that the disruption to traffic in neighborhoods is currently a burden and has been a burden during construction and testing but keep in mind it is temporary and it will leave us with such a great improvement. I have felt the inconvenience as well. My husband and I live less than two blocks from the rail line. The work will be over before you know it and we ll all sit back and enjoy the new opportunities the gold line will give our communities. One more thing, please be careful around our construction zones and never ever trespass on any train track. It is not only illegal to do so but it is extremely dangerous for staff and the public and for you. We need to help our staff and other public members stay as safe as possible by taking time to be careful and observe the instructions of the flaggers. Remember do not trespass on the railroad tracks, it is dangerous for everyone and specifically dangerous to the trespasser so be careful out there. Jonathan: Okay thank you Lorraine, let s go to our next question from Jonathan, and go ahead. I was wondering when is the light rail actually going to be finished here in Colorado. All right, Greg you want to take? Marla? The lines that are opening next year are five lines in the FasTracks program, that s the gold, the first section of the line to Boulder which will stop at Westminster. The line to DIA, I- 225 and then in 2018 we will be opening North Metro, we also expect to sign a full funding grant agreement next years for the south east extension and think that that s going to open by 2018 so those are the lines that are under contract and in construction now, because we ve actually started work on south east, we think that the bulk of the system will be operating really by 2016 but the last two pieces by 2018 and then there are some unfinished extensions and the line all the way to Longmont is not planned for immediate construction. RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 7 of 16

8 Joe: Jan: Katie: All right, thank you. Let s go to an internet question it s from Brian, Did I understand correctly that the A- line bus to DIA will be closed as soon as the A- line East corridor is open and will there be a bus route available to the airport from Arvada? Maybe some Sky Ride clarification? Yeah I m sorry I misspoke when I said that before, the A- line bus from Arvada will actually be discontinued when the gold line opens and that point there will be a connection from the gold line to the A- line and that ll take place at Union Station but I do believe that they are planning to discontinue the A- line at around the time that the gold line opens or shortly thereafter, but the most frequent departures on both the gold line and the A- line train will make those a very attractive option for people going from Arvada to the airport. All right thank you again, if you have a question *3 or go online like Brian did to RTD- FasTracks.com and just click on the link in the home page and you can send us an question as well. Next up is Joe. You re live, go ahead. I was wondering if the Arvada gold line will have restrooms in any of the stations. Who wants to take that and may we just talk generally about restrooms around the? That s a good question Joe I get that a lot this is again Greg Straight, the Project Manager on the project and the short answer is there will not be public restrooms available on the gold line or the other line nor will we have restrooms on the commuter rail vehicles themselves. That s also another frequent question that we get. Thank you Greg, next is Jan, go ahead? Yes I was wondering what kind of accommodations for the cars that people drive to get to the train and will there be a fee for the parking there? RTD charges in- district residents who park for 24 hours or less nothing. It s free for in- district residents right now that park and take their car away not leaving it overnight. We currently charge $2 a day for in- district residents after the first day for multi- day parking. If you park at a park and ride and you re going on a trip and you leave your car there and go to the airport, it will be $2 a day after the first day and you can do that online or you can do that at any of the kiosks. It s $4 a day for out of district residents and on the gold line we re going to have over 2000 parking spaces on opening day and we plan to add close to another 2000 by 2030 so we think there ll be adequate parking. Thanks Marla that s a bargain. I think DIA parking is 20 bucks or something so take Transit Park in our park and rides and head out to the airport. Hassle free. Next up is Katie, go ahead. Yes you ve mentioned tonight on the gold line that there would be a station called the ridge station and then you also said that the line would end at Ward Road, so now are those two different stops or is that all just one and the same? RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 8 of 16

9 June: Benita: Lorraine: Yes those are two different stops. The Arvada ridge station in the old town, Arvada station are in the city of Arvada. The Ward Road end of line station is called the Wheat Ridge/Ward station and that is at about 50th and Ward Road in Wheat Ridge out there and that is the end of the line of the gold line. I m going to ask a follow up question maybe Marla can answer can answer this. Could you talk about how we name stations or Greg can you talk how we name stations? RTD does have a station naming policy and we name by the streets and occasionally by destinations and land marks so for example Denver Union Station is Denver Union Station, most of the stations however are according to the nearby streets. Thank you. Okay we re going to call on June next, what s your question tonight? What I was wondering is this gold line that s coming from Arvada is that going to Union Station and then to DIA or does it go from the Arvada old town Arvada station straight out to DIA? It doesn t go straight out to DIA the gold line will run to Union Station and at Union Station you ll have to change trains to get to DIA so it is two separate trains but there s a convenient connection at Denver Union Station to make the connection to get to the airport. Benita you are up, thanks for holding go ahead. I just have to express my gratitude for access ride, it has changed our life. Thank you very much. Well thank you Benita. We appreciate that compliment. Let s go next Lorraine, we ve talked earlier with the opening of four rail lines and the Flatiron Flyer next year and with construction now underway on the north metro line, FasTracks it sure seems to me is transforming the region and having a significant impact on our economy. Is that how you see it? Roger you re absolutely right. FasTracks is the major economic driver in the region. Since RTD started building the fats tracks program in 2005, 3 billion dollars have been spent and injected into our local economy plus we ve created 14,000 full time jobs and not many people know this but studies have shown that for every $1 invested in transit infrastructure here, that dollar translates into $4 added back into local economy and with the opening of these lines, there are going to be permanent jobs available for many people to keep this lines running and open and well maintained. Well the RTD couldn t have gotten all this done without the help and support of municipalities and other partners in the region and really the state and the federal government, can you tell us a little bit about that? RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 9 of 16

10 Sandy: Lorie: Bernadette: Well what you said is absolutely true, we could not have gotten this done without the help of all of our partners and we are model for the nation in terms of regional collaboration. RTD, the cities, the counties, the state, the business community and of course the federal government which is such an important funding partner have held one united vision to get this whole program built. All right thank you, so we are going to back to taking questions. Again if you d like to participate, you have two options press *3 and talk to either Tia or Cathy, they ll get you in line or go online at RTD- FasTracks.com. Next is Sandy go right ahead. Yes, currently the 80X access is a pretty remote residential neighborhood that s between the new Arvada line and the new boulder line, and so it s really not easy to get from these neighborhoods down to either one of those rail lines. Is the 80X going to be discontinued or affected in any way? Hi Sandy thank you for your question, while the 80X is not directly related to either the gold line or the north west line, as part of the north west line bus service plan we are looking at the greater network up there and the 80X is going to be preposed in changes in that it ll be proposed to be turned into a feeder route to the US 36 Sheridan and BRT station. Now that won t happen until the north west rail opens to Westminster sometime in the middle of next year but be assured that were not planning to discontinue service to anybody it ll just be in a way that you access downtown Denver but not losing any actual service. Lorie, you have been waiting a little while, go ahead with your question. Oh yes thank you for inviting me to the meeting first off, and I really appreciate the project is a major undertaking and the Denver metro area in my opinion could really use this. My question is that I wanted to know where little dry creek was diverted. I m in the neighborhood where there is a station stop being built and I was just wondering if that was to be boarded already if it had to be. It s on the G- line from Westminster to Denver. Thank you Lorie this is Greg again. We didn t actually divert the little dry creek, nor will we. Though we have taken a great deal of effort to try to make sure that we accommodate the current flow as well as the future flows for little dry creek but we have not diverted as part of the RTD project. All right lets go next to Bernadette, go ahead. Yes, currently we have a discount and rates for senior citizens, is that going to continue? Are we going to pay less to use the rail? Thanks Bernadette the senior rates Senior citizens currently pay a half fare on RTD if they re over 65 and that is planned to continue with the new fare structure. All fares will be discounted 50% for senior citizens. All right lest go next to Chuck. Go ahead Chuck. RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 10 of 16

11 Chuck: Rigger: Kevin: Lorraine: Brian: Dave: Yes I was wondering what the pricing structure is going to be on say a trip from old town Arvada to DIA. I know there are different zones. What kind of a situation are you looking at for a trip to DIA from Arvada? Thanks for your question for the fare to DIA all trips to DIA are going to be the $9 airport for a one- way trip. That s the same no matter how far you re going whether you have to change trains or not, so the fare from Arvada to DIA is going to be a $9 fare but the fare from Arvada to downtown Denver will actually be going down from what the current rate is on the express buses out there. Right now the express buses charge $4 and via two zone or a three zone fare but with the new zone structure out there, all this will fall into two zone fare to get to downtown Denver and will actually go down to the local fare level. Okay we ll take our next question from Kevin, go ahead. Why does south Denver get the new nice light rail along I- 25 and northern Denver seems to get the heavy rail? Kevin that s a great question, light rail is totally different than commuter rail and one of the reasons that the north part gets commuter rail is that our trains have to be weighted for crashes with freight trains because we will be operating on freight track but I have to tell you Kevin, I ve ridden on both of these, light rail and commuter rail and I love these nice new commuter rail trains. They ride smooth, they are just first class so I think once you ride the commuter rail you may even like that better than you like the light rail, so I think it is a good thing for us to have commuter rail. Lorraine I think those are really long lines, they travel long distance and these work better for those situations. People are going to love them. Let s go next to a question from the Internet and again it is Verly, will there be a charge for parking at the Ward Road/Wheat Ridge station since there s no structure but just surface parking? Marla the parking policy applies the same whether it s surface or garage is that correct? That is absolutely correct if you are in district and you are there for one day not overnight, it s free. If you are there for more than one day, it s $2 a day and if you are out of district it s $4 a day and that is whether it s surface or structure. All right thanks, these are great questions. We ve still got a few minutes so press *3 if you d like to get in line and ask a question live for our audience. Next is Brian, go ahead. Yes good evening. I just wonder if you ve started the process for hiring and training of the commuter rail operators. Brian that also is a good question and I get that frequently. To answer your question yes we have more specifically we have contracted with single point entity Denver transit partners who we ve provide not only the construction but operational services and I would encourage you to look on their website, Denver Transit Partners, for information regarding potential employment opportunities. They re not only starting to look, and RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 11 of 16

12 test and hire light rail operators but people to help maintain our vehicles and a whole host of operations that you would find and expect with the operation of a new commuter rail service so we have started, it s not too late. I would encourage you to look at Denver transit partner s website for more information. Sara: All right next is Sara, Sara you ve patiently holding for 30 minutes, what s your question? I just want to know First of all good evening and second of all I want to express my gratitude for the 8 years of riding access- a- ride. I do have two quick questions. What are the changes in the 10 Ride Ticket Books, will it be additional charges going up 20 cents to buy them at King Soopers or Safeway? Secondly, where can I go online Lorraine to find out just how far the new North West corridor Where all is going to be accessible? I ve had to switch doctors because there is no service up at the North Metro Campus for St. Anthony s north, the 144th and Orchard and I wondered if at all the new north west line, that area would be included? Hi thanks for your question Sara, this is Doug and I can address the service planning and fare parts of that. The 10 ride ticket books will still be available in January. The price is going up on those and I m not sure what the exact amount will be but it ll be similar to what it is now where there s about a 10% discount compared to if you ve paid for 10 individual rides on the bus. Another new product that s coming out is going to be the day pass in January and that s designed to complement the 10 ride ticket book but it should provide some more flexibility for people that currently ride with the 10 ride ticket book and allowing them to ride all day for two fares as opposed to having to pay multiple after riding twice. As far as St. Anthony s hospital up north and the north metro rail line up through Thornton, there is no We haven t set up the bus service planning for that and you can find out more information about the rail line at RTD- FasTracks.com. The St. Anthony s Hospital is not located adjacent to that rail liner however, but I would like to add that starting in January there s going to proposal coming out later this month to start in January continuing route eight on Huron street. Route eight will continue up to the orchards there and go by the hospital there on 136th and that should provide some connectivity to the patrons of that hospital, and open up some opportunities up there off Huron street. Lorraine: All right good question. Let s go next Lorraine? I also want to say something about the commuter rail lines, they are level boarding so for people in wheel chairs and with walkers and so on, it will be so nice for them to use the commuter rail trains and the insides of the train are large and it will be just a really nice way to travel for folks with disabilities so just remember level boarding on the commuter rail. All right that s a good point. Let s go next to Jack. Go ahead Jack with your question. RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 12 of 16

13 Jack: Lorie: Marsha: Yeah I know how we built these things because I remember voting on the tax but the fares that you re charging can t possibly be paying for operations, where s the money coming from? Okay Jack you are correct, the fares don t cover all of the operations. All of the tax payers in the district pay a 1% tax on all of the items that they pay a sales use tax for the state, that pays for the capital and it pays for some of the operations. We also get federal grants. The federal government has helped us build the west carter, it s helping us build the east and gold lines and it is going to help us build the south east extension. We ve gotten some grants from our state partners and we also get some miscellaneous revenue from advertising, naming rights, some real estate interest that we have but most of our money is a combination of taxes, fare box, and grants. Thanks Marla, let s take a question off the web from Brian, Brian s got another question. What plans does RTD have with the bus park and ride at Ward Road when the gold line opens. Anyone know? Are we going to be stumped here? Marla do you know that answer? Wow. Yeah there is a station that is being relocated and will be sold when the new parking garage is complete after the relocation is completed. All right well Brian that was a good one, you stumped us there for a second. All right lets go next to Lorie. Lorie go ahead with your question. Yes I was wondering what kind of security Well not what kind actually but that there will be security on these lines? There will be security on the trains and at the stations park and rides but that doesn t mean that there s always going to be security on every train or at every station all the time. We have teams that rotate through the park and rides at night. We have security on the cars, we have fare inspection on the cars but they spread themselves out over the system and are in different places at different times. Thanks Marla, let s go next to Marsha. What s your question? Can you give us an estimate of how long it s going to take to take the gold line from old town Arvada, downtown Union Station, change trains and get to DIA? The travel time from old town to downtown Denver is about 20 minutes and the travel time from downtown Denver to DIA is about 35 minutes so overall with the connection you should be able to do it in just about an hour to get out to DIA and just keep in mind also that that travel time works day and night no matter how much traffic is on the roads, these trains will be able to make those travel times all the time. And in any weather condition, so that s a nice added bonus. We re going to call on Cathy next for your question. Cathy go ahead. RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 13 of 16

14 Cathy: Danny: Danny: Lorraine: Yes have there been any projections regarding how many cars will be taken off the road once the systems are operational? Well Cathy you re asking a hard question. We project how many riders we re going to have and we think that by 2030 on the gold line we re going to have between 18 and 20 thousand riders a day so when you re riding on a train you re not riding in a car but of course the population of the region keeps growing and so the number of riders on our transit system doesn t necessarily mean that there are fewer riders on the road. Okay we ve got about 10 minutes left. If you d like to jump in and get a question press *3 and we ll get you in line and while you re doing that we re going to call on Danny next. Danny go ahead, are you there? Yes sir. Go ahead. You say in district, I live up on the end of the gold line so how far does the district stretch off the line itself? Lorraine do you want Or Marla talk about the district? Well for people in Jefferson County all of Jefferson County is what s in the district, and I ve had this question this week. All of Jefferson County is in the district as is all of Denver County. Adams County I think it ends at Bijou creek or something, if I remember the boundaries. The eastern part of Adams County is not in the district but all of the I think all of Boulder County is in the district so it s quite a large district. Another item that can be found on our website if you go to RTD- Denver.com and I think click on the board of directors page, you ll be able to see how big the district. It s thousands of square miles. Let s go to Greg next, it s your question go ahead. Yes well I was wondering when the gold line is completed at Ward Road will there be connecting bus service to downtown golden? Thanks for your question Greg, with the gold line there s not plan to be connecting bus service to downtown Golden the area that it would have to run through is pretty sparsely populated and it wouldn t really make service standards to run through there. Downtown golden is connected to the W- line, which opened in They have service down the end of line station at Jeffco Government Center and we also provide service on either route 16 or 16 unlimited to the Oak Station on the W- line. All good questions again, press *3 we still have a few minutes. We re going to go next to Matt. Go ahead. RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 14 of 16

15 Matt: Mary Joe: Oh yeah I was wondering when you guys were going to extend the bike racks on front of the RTDs and then also if they were going to be wider because the tires nowadays are getting wider and they won t fit in there. Thanks for your question matt, RTDs experimented with a few different types of larger bike racks for the front of buses, and they haven t worked out for a variety of reasons. Many of our facilities are stations are park and rides, we re not built with the bike racks in mind and adding a third bike to them actually makes the bus unable to make some of the turns that we have in our facilities, and because our fleet has spread across the whole district we can t upgrade the bike racks on those. I m not sure about accommodating larger tires or not but that s something we can certainly pass along to our maintenance folks and I d also like to add on the topic of bikes that there will be eight bikes spaces on each commuter rail vehicle so there ll be considerably more bike capacity on those than many of our train riders are used to. Okay good question, Mary Joe you re next go ahead. Will I be able to go to the University of Colorado Medical Center Anschutz campus from old town Arvada? Hey Mary Joe thanks for your question. You will be able to, it will require a transfer but if you ride the gold line to Union Station and get on the east line, you can get off at the Peoria- Smith station on the east line, and take a connecting bus down there probably on Peoria street, or you could also connect to the I- 225 line at Peoria- Smith station and they ll be a connecting train to get to either the Fitzsimons station on 225 line, or to the Colfax station depending on where your destination within Anschutz campus is there. They re going to have some shuttles to pick people up from the stations and get them to the right buildings as well over at Anschutz. All right really good questions tonight and we have five minutes, it s still not too late to jump in and get a question asked for our panel tonight. While we re waiting for that, Greg why don t we talk a little bit about the construction that s left to do where are we starting to see trains testing on the line? I mean we re really getting really close here. We are Roger and thanks for asking that question because I m pretty proud of what we ve done. We re generally about 80% done with physical construction. Most of the civil improvement throughout the community is complete and we re now in the processes of starting to test our systems and our trains and so while people will see a train alignment that would look or essentially look complete I would say that a key message for people to understand is that we still have a lot of work to do. It s effectively a brand new rail road and before it s all said and done, we ll have nearly nine months to a year s worth of startup and testing proving the vehicles and training our operators and making sure that we re ready to run service and do so reliably. Marla, Greg s been talking and we ve heard a lot about the Eagle Project what does that mean? The Eagle Project and it s a unique funding and teaming process that we ve used there. RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 15 of 16

16 Renalda: Renalda: Well the Eagle Project which stands for East And Gold Line, is a public private partnership between RTD and Denver transit partners where RTD is the owner, RTD the elected board will still set the fare and the service policy but the constructor and the operator for the next 29 years is a private consortium that has a lot of expertise in commuter rail and will be operating the system on behalf of the RTD board and staff. They will be held to service standards. They have to deliver just like we would expect our own trains to run. The contract between RTD and Denver transit partners specifies as I said that the board will set the fare and the service levels but there are standards for cleanliness, there are standards for on time performance, there are standards of maintenance for the park and rides, there are standards for the appearance and the safety features of the vehicles. We have a policy at RTD that all our service, whether it is operated by the private contractor, whether it is operated by RTDs own forces, that should be transparent to the public that when you get in our system you are entitled to a safe, clean, reliable ride and it doesn t matter whether it s being operated by an RTD employee or by contracted services. All right great, let s take a question from Renalda, go ahead. Okay, I live off of Federal, on Cottonwood, and the line B which is a Westminster right? Hello? Yes, go ahead with your question. Are we still going to have transportation to get to the station there on 71st and Irving from farther north? The 31 bus? Yeah the 31 will continue once the North West rail opens up there to Westminster station, same hours that it does today and there ll just be a connection to the rail line now. It ll connect with the northwest line at Westminster station, it ll also have a connection to the gold liner at the clear creek federal station which is down at about 60th and federal. All right well I see by the clock that we are just about to the end of our Telephone Town Hall. We apologize if we didn t get to your question tonight but you can still leave us a message at the end of the call, so just stay on the line, as a reminder you can find lots of information on our website RTD- Denver.com and you can connect with your director through the website, you can look at any information on our current service and a ton of information on all these lines and routes that are opening in With that said if you d like to leave us a message, stay on the line. On behalf of RTD and everyone here around the table, we d like to thank you for taking part in this event and we wish you a very good night. RTD District L, September 28, 2015 on Vekeo.com Page 16 of 16