Blind Center Not Pleased With Proposed RTD Route Cuts

LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS4) - There's a campaign by the blind to save three bus routes they consider vital to their independence. The Regional Transportation District is planning to cut those routes or eliminate pickups because of low ridership.

The Colorado Center for the Blind says reduced transportation will mean fewer opportunities. The center's location was picked because of the proximity to public transportation. Now educators worry eliminating bus routes will derail their mission.

CBS4's Kathy Walsh talked with some students enrolled in the Colorado Center for the Blind's Learning How to Live Independently class.

"With my training I'm getting at the center, I'm confident I can do it," Jabarai Moran said.

The training includes mobility. Moran of Georgia and Terry Anderson of Steamboat Springs navigated the RTD station at Santa Fe and Mineral.

"This is where we take the 401 to get back to the apartments," Anderson said.

But come January the 401 may be gone. It's one of the bus routes that takes the blind students to their apartments on West Mineral. And it's one of three routes the students train on that RTD is proposing to discontinue or cut back. The 60 route is also on the chopping block and the 67 route is scheduled for cutbacks.

"It's a matter of balancing economics and ridership," Bruce Abel with RTD Bus Operations said.

It's also part of a major effort to save $11 million. The bus service would be replaced by an RTD Call-n-Ride, but the blind center says that's not acceptable.

"We want to teach our students that they do not need to call somebody up for a ride, but they can hop on a bus and independently go wherever they'd like to go," Julie Deden with the Colorado Center for the Blind said.

"We have individuals throughout our district that have grown over the years to depend on our services and are going to have to adjust their travel patterns to work with us as we are going to have to adjust our economic realities," Abel said.

RTD said they are willing to work with the center.

The students and staff of the Center for the Blind said they will take to the streets in a grassroots effort to save the bus routes.