Voters from Lone Tree to Longmont in the Denver metro elect members to the Regional Transportation District’s board of directors, which oversees the largest public transit agency in the state of Colorado.
This year, eight seats on the board are up for election — and the races have drawn more candidates than normal. Each seat covers a geographic area within the greater RTD district. Directors are elected to a four-year term. In RTD’s early days, they were appointed by local elected officials but voters took control in 1980.
What do members of the board oversee?
The board sets policy for RTD, approves its budget and acts as a conduit between the agency and the public. It also is responsible for hiring the district’s CEO, who runs the organization day-to-day.
Current CEO and General Manager Debra Johnson has run RTD since late 2020, and has focused on shoring up the agency’s shaky finances, addressing RTD’s chronically understaffed front line positions including drivers and maintenance workers, increasing its police force and catching up on years of delayed maintenance projects.
But some of those maintenance projects have made some light rail lines extremely difficult to use in recent months, slowing trains and blowing schedules. The agency has not restored much service since it was cut early in the pandemic, though staff say they are making plans to start doing that soon.
RTD leaders also recently fired their police chief, who was under investigation for alleged policy violations. CPR News obtained internal records this summer that revealed he repeatedly drove an agency police SUV more than 100 mph.
RTD is also under pressure to deliver long-delayed rail plans, including a commuter line between Denver, Boulder and Longmont. The board will likely have to decide whether to keep saving money for such projects, even as passengers and others push it to increase frequencies on existing routes.
RTD board races are typically quiet affairs, with some occasionally attracting no candidates at all. But some are hotly contested this year, and Gov. Jared Polis is expected to take the unusual step of making endorsements in some of them.
Meet the candidates from these RTD districts
District A | District D | District E | District F | District G | District I | District H | District M
