She often gets stuck on jagged or raised cement at bus stops, and if she tries to avoid it, Tobin ends up too far from the stop for a driver to see her.
"Sometimes I'm on the street, waving down the driver so that they'll know I'm interested in getting on. It's pretty horrible in a lot of locations," Tobin tells Westword. "I feel that in order to use RTD, I have to place myself in danger."
Denver bus stops are too dirty, inaccessible and unsafe, according to advocates and riders who are calling on the City of Denver to start improving thousands of RTD bus stops within in its jurisdiction.
"Many Denver bus stops are lacking important amenities, like shelter and seating and trash, that would make waiting at those stops more of a dignified, pleasant experience," says Adrienne Razavi, the organizing manager for the nonprofit Denver Streets Partnership (DSP). "Considering that bus stops are the front door of our public transit system, it is one of the biggest things we can do to get more people to take the bus."
On Wednesday, May 21, DSP brought together residents concerned about Denver's bus stops as part of a "Waiting for Dignity" project aimed at drawing attention to the issue. Residents who shared their experiences with Westword at the event have a range of complaints, but most of them believe these issues can be solved with simple amenities.
Denver resident Cam Thomas works with the Harm Reduction Action Center, a nonprofit that helps people inject drugs in a cleaner, safer environment. According to Thomas, overflowing trashcans and litter at bus stops are common around Capitol Hill when the nonprofit performs weekly cleanups.
"When we're on cleanup, we almost always hit the bus stops, and even on days when we don't do cleanup, we still go around to the bus stops to make sure there's not a ton of trash around," Thomas says. "It would be nice to have that as a more standard service. I'm always surprised when I see someone actually came and cleaned up that wasn't us."
Alejandra Castañeda specializes in gathering input from Denver's Spanish-speaking community for Pedestrian Dignity, a group supporting people who don't get around by car. She's hearing from Spanish speakers that homelessness and public drug-use at bus stops make them feel unsafe.
"A lot of the Spanish-speaking community are concerned about personal safety, which is related to homelessness and drug use," Castañeda says. "That issue comes up a lot in the Spanish-speaking community, of unhoused neighbors using shelters or doing things that make them feel unsafe, or leaving trash."
Jaime Lewis, a transit advisor for advocacy group Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition says that Denver has a "pretty darn good" transit system for the disabled. The bus stops, however, are "very abysmal."
Lewis, who uses a wheelchair, says that bus stops on concrete islands surrounded by grass "don't do me any good, because if it rains, my chair would sink." He'd like to see more well-maintained concrete paths at bus stops and amenities like structures that create shade or trashcans, he says.
Denver resident Cam Thomas works with the Harm Reduction Action Center, a nonprofit that helps people inject drugs in a cleaner, safer environment. According to Thomas, overflowing trashcans and litter at bus stops are common around Capitol Hill when the nonprofit performs weekly cleanups.
"When we're on cleanup, we almost always hit the bus stops, and even on days when we don't do cleanup, we still go around to the bus stops to make sure there's not a ton of trash around," Thomas says. "It would be nice to have that as a more standard service. I'm always surprised when I see someone actually came and cleaned up that wasn't us."
Alejandra Castañeda specializes in gathering input from Denver's Spanish-speaking community for Pedestrian Dignity, a group supporting people who don't get around by car. She's hearing from Spanish speakers that homelessness and public drug-use at bus stops make them feel unsafe.
"A lot of the Spanish-speaking community are concerned about personal safety, which is related to homelessness and drug use," Castañeda says. "That issue comes up a lot in the Spanish-speaking community, of unhoused neighbors using shelters or doing things that make them feel unsafe, or leaving trash."
Jaime Lewis, a transit advisor for advocacy group Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition says that Denver has a "pretty darn good" transit system for the disabled. The bus stops, however, are "very abysmal."
Lewis, who uses a wheelchair, says that bus stops on concrete islands surrounded by grass "don't do me any good, because if it rains, my chair would sink." He'd like to see more well-maintained concrete paths at bus stops and amenities like structures that create shade or trashcans, he says.
To call on more attention on Waiting for Dignity, organizers put up artwork at bus stops where DSP wants to see improvements.
An installation at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and York Street has poster-sized drawings of people who ride the bus with lights built into each piece. The lights are meant to highlight the many bus stops don't have lighting, making them less safe and inaccessible for people with visual impairments, according organizers. Similar artwork is set up at Federal Boulevard and 14th Avenue and near West Colfax Avenue and Winona Court.
An installation at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and York Street has poster-sized drawings of people who ride the bus with lights built into each piece. The lights are meant to highlight the many bus stops don't have lighting, making them less safe and inaccessible for people with visual impairments, according organizers. Similar artwork is set up at Federal Boulevard and 14th Avenue and near West Colfax Avenue and Winona Court.
A Longer Wait Ahead
RTD oversees close to 10,000 bus stops, and upwards of 7,000 of them are the City of Denver, according to Lewis. Razavi notes that only about 7,000 of RTD's total stops are actually operational. Improving thousands would be a pricey project, Lewis says, but he wants the city to at least start thinking about the issue."You're talking years, maybe a decade to address more than 6,000 bus stops," Lewis admits. "But we've got to start somewhere. We can't just keep kicking the can down the road."
Although the stops are part of the RTD bus system, it's the businesses that pay to display advertisements on them that take on the responsibility of keeping them clean and installing benches and the overhead structures known as shelters. RTD is responsible for maintaining a small percentage of bus stops in Denver, according to Razavi.
The city isn't in a great position to start spending on more projects, however. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced on Thursday, May 22, that the city is expecting a $200 million budget deficit in the upcoming fiscal year. DSP is also calling on state funding for the issue, Razavi says, but the state is dealing with an even larger budget deficit, at $1.2 billion.
"Denver would like to do more, but they're hamstrung by how much funding they have," she says. "Until we can revamp the model or change the funding, there isn't a whole lot they can do."
The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) controls the permits needed to advertise on bus stops, which are in the city's public right-of-way. The city manages those permits through the Transit Amenity Program (TAP), with DOTI responsible for enforcing the permitting rules for TAP, which include making sure that bus stops are routinely cleaned and repaired.
According to Razavi, "that program is in dire need of an overhaul, because it caters to advertisers over riders."
"In order to really revamp bus stops in the area, [TAP will] need more money," she adds.
According to Razavi, "that program is in dire need of an overhaul, because it caters to advertisers over riders."
"In order to really revamp bus stops in the area, [TAP will] need more money," she adds.
The city isn't in a great position to start spending on more projects, however. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced on Thursday, May 22, that the city is expecting a $200 million budget deficit in the upcoming fiscal year. DSP is also calling on state funding for the issue, Razavi says, but the state is dealing with an even larger budget deficit, at $1.2 billion.
