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Statistics give RTD bad score
by Daniel Sadowski
The Metropolitan
Denver is home to the deadliest and most energy-inefficient
rail-transit system in the country, according to a new study recently
released by the Independence Institute think tank.
RTD officials and the Golden-based Institute are clashing
over allegations made by institute affiliate and transit researcher Randal
O’Toole in the study titled, “The Great Rail Disaster.”
The study says six people died in pedestrian or vehicle
collisions with Regional Transportation District light-rail cars from
1994 through 2001, which O’Toole said makes RTD the deadliest rail
agency per passenger-mile.
“RTD is well known for operating a safe and efficient
system,” said RTD spokesman Scott Reed, in response to the charges
Reed said of the six light-rail fatalities at RTD, three
involved trains and pedestrians, one resulted from an auto collision with
a train and two were suicides. He said RTD was not cited in any of these
incidents.
The first pedestrian fatality was in October 1994, when
a 50-year-old man ran in front of a light rail train at 15th and California
streets.
In August of 2000, another pedestrian was killed when he
attempted to board a train as it pulled out of the station at West 10th
Avenue and Osage Street. The auto fatality occurred when the driver went
around a lowered safety bar on to the tracks and was hit.
In three of the light rail fatalities, the people who died
were “intoxicated well above the legal limit,” according to
Reed.
Additionally, a light rail transit system in Salt Lake City
operated by the Utah Transit Authority has had six fatalities since its
establishment in 1999. This would result in a higher fatality rate than
Denver’s RTD.
Since 2001, RTD’s light rail system has had no other
fatalities.
Reed cited the award RTD received in 2003, naming it the
best transit agency in North America, said safety was one of the biggest
evaluation criteria.
RTD also received the performance award from the American
Public Transportation Association, an industry trade group. O’Toole
disagrees with that endorsement.
“We’re safe,” he said, “as long
as RTD doesn’t build any more rail lines.”
But more rail lines in the Denver metro area are exactly
what have been proposed in RTD’s FasTracks program plan.
The $4.7 billion proposal awaits voter approval this November
and, according to RTD’s Web site, would increase RTD’s sales
tax from the current .4 cents per $1 to a full penny per $1. The plan
also includes the construction of over 119 miles of light rail and commuter
rail, as well as 18 miles of bus rapid transit.
O’Toole also said RTD Light Rail led the nation in
energy consumption per passenger-mile in comparison with systems in 22
other cities nationally. RTD said that conclusion reflected the agency’s
own mistakes in reporting its energy consumption figures to the national
database O’Toole used.
O’Toole is in charge of the Independence Institute’s
Center for the American Dream, set up to promote home ownership and automobile
travel and to oppose planning that emphasizes public transit and higher
density housing.
Jon Caldara, former RTD board chairman and current opponent
of FasTracks, heads the Institute.
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