RTD is proposing what its staff calls a moderate reduction in bus service come January as the transit district continues to struggle with the recession and a reduction in sales tax revenue, the lifeblood of its annual budget.

The cuts, mixed in with some additions and schedule adjustments on a myriad of routes, result in a net annual savings to RTD estimated at $662,400.

RTD is currently projecting a 9.6 percent annual decline in sales tax revenues for 2009, reducing the transit agency’s resources by $23.7 million.

The staff detailed the proposed changes in a memo to the elected RTD board/ You can read the memo here.

None of the changes would take effect until after public hearings are held and the board members have a chance to vote on the package. RTD is planning six public hearings spread around the district, with two at the downtown headquarters. The schedule hasn’t yet been firmed up.

But one hearing will be in Conifer, in the mountains of Jefferson County along the US 285 corridor. There, RTD staff is recommending closure of the Pine Junction park-n-Ride, on the border of the district, and shortening the runs of the Routes CS. CV and CX so that they end at the Mountain View park-n-Ride about five miles east of Pine Junction.

Since RTD started charging out-of-district commuters a daily parking fee at selected lots, patronage by Park County residents at the Pine Junction lot has plummeted, staff said. Park County is not part of the RTD district, but a significant number of its residents, particularly from the Bailey area, commute into metro Denver.

RTD says about two to three dozen riders a day park at Pine Junction — although the undated Google Maps aerial view shows 91 vehicles parked there and just 26 vehicles parked at Mountain View. But the capacity at Mountain View can handle the total, should all remain as riders.

Shortening the route and dropping maintenance costs at Pine Junction would save RTD an estimated $64,300 annually.

View US 285 park-n-Rides in a larger map

Click on the blue push-pins to see stats on the two park-n-Ride lots on US 285 that are affected by RTD’s proposed changes.

RTD makes service adjustments three times a year, part of the process of union drivers and light rail operators bidding on shifts and routes to run. The bidding goes by seniority. RTD packages the routes and runs into shift work from which the drivers and operators select. The collection of schedules is called the “run board.”

Earlier this year, RTD made a major service reduction with the May run board. The January run board incorporated a moderate reduction and the August run board constituted a minor reduction.

“The proposed January 2010 Service Change represents a moderate service reduction and is within the parameters discussed with the Board of Directors during previous conversations regarding potential 2010 budget mitigation strategies,” Bruce Abel, assistant general manager of customer and contracted services, said in the memo.

When looking to make service reductions, RTD examines ridership and cost not only of individual routes but specific tripe within each route. It attempts to cut costs by eliminating the least productive or most heavily subsidized trips – typically but not always at the very beginning or end of the service day – or by combining two trips into a single one midway between the old scheduled times. RTD also tried to determine whether there are alternate choices for transit riders if a trip or route is eliminated.

In the Denver Local service, the largest reduction would come in the Route 0 Broadway bus. Most of the projected $82,600 in savings comes from reductions in weekend and holiday service. The short-turn trips – runs between downtown and either I-25/Broadway or Englewood stations that are sandwiched in between full runs to Highlands Ranch – are being cut so that service on the full route runs every 15 minutes instead of every seven to eight on average.

In the Boulder service area, RTD is proposing to reduce peak 15-minute frequencies on the Route 205 28th Street/Gunbarrel daily service, and lopping off a periodic route deviation that has fewer riders. The annual savings would be $244,800.