I will say that probably unfortunately for the striking union, Denver - unlike New York City, and like most cities in the nation - has a majority of its citizens commuting by automobile (87.1% by car, 4.3% by transit, Census). Lack of a large part of its transit service does not seem to have affected road congestion, at least from what the article says. The ridership that is affected is generally in the lower income categories, which doesn't translate into much political influence (read: the governor is staying out of this fight?). These things would not seem to bode well for the union, or for the strike ending quickly. But like I said, I don't know what I am talking about.
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csa | 05:06 PM |
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I'm from Denver and had heard nothing about this.
Denver is a sprawling region that is difficult to serve well with transit. Unlike New York, Washington, and Chicago, Denver does not have a downtown that's packed with jobs.
There are some busy bus routes, but for the most part transit is definitely not a preferred mode of transportation. The prevalence of cheap parking everywhere (including throughout downtown, which is filled with weedy surface parking lots) further eases the way for cars. Every time I go back to Denver I'm amazed at the number of wide, bowling-alley straight streets that are everywhere.
However, voters recently passed a tax increase that will fund expansion of the light rail network. In addition, a new light rail line between downtown and the Denver Tech Center (an employment center which is outside the city limits) is nearing completion. Interestingly the new Tech Center line parallels a newly expanded Interstate 25.
Hopefully transit will take hold in Denver, but right now it's not a desirable mode for most purposes or for most people. Denver is very nice for cars, but that makes it inhospitable for people and that's a big reason I don't live there anymore.
There's an ongoing discussion of the strike by a bunch of transit geeks at SkyscraperPage.
Also: There's a new offer on the table with a vote scheduled for Friday. Full service would be back online by Monday. See article.
They unions are now voting on a new proposal contract and will likely ratify it. What you didn't take into account is that 45% of the service is already contracted out so it is not affected by the strike. Legislation allows the RTD to contract out more service in the event of a strike which they can now do. The union simply isn't in a powerful position and has to concede like in New York.
The Rocky Mountain New is reporting that the union has voted to ratify the contract by 82 to 28 percent. The RTD Board is expected to meet today to ratify the agreement. Assuming the RTD Board ratifies the contract full service will resume on Monday.
