DENVER — The Regional Transportation District board is set to vote on whether to direct staff to study a major overhaul of how the agency handles fare evasion — potentially replacing its education-first approach with direct fines RTD could collect itself, rather than routing violations through county courts.
The recommended action, sponsored by Board Secretary Chris Nicholson, is expected to be discussed at the Operations, Safety and Security Committee meeting Wednesday. If approved, it would head to the full board for a vote Sept. 22.
It could direct staff to research whether RTD could issue its own administrative fines instead of traffic citations, examine potential statutory changes, and review the agency's Code of Conduct, technology needs, public engagement plans, and equity considerations. Staff would report back to the board by February.
"RTD collects about $60 million a year in fare revenue from customers," Nicholson said. "The goal is to ensure that everyone who rides RTD is paying their fare."
Under current policy, RTD relies primarily on warnings rather than citations. According to agency data, RTD issued 12,789 fare warnings in 2025 compared to just 1,096 citations, against nearly 5 million estimated rail fare checks that year.
"The policy as written is warnings first," Nicholson said. "The idea is education and then enforcement, and that was a really logical approach to take 20 years ago when we first built the light rail system, and you could walk on, and we didn't want to penalize people who didn't understand it. But as members of staff, members of the community, and members of the board have pointed out, people know that they need to pay their fare now. They know when they get on the train what's expected of them."
Nicholson compared the approach to how other violations are typically handled. "In the same way that we don't give out warnings most of the time when you get a speeding ticket, there's a real consideration that we should do the same thing when it comes to RTD," he said.
One key driver behind the proposal: RTD currently sees no financial benefit when citations are issued. Because fare evasion is enforced as a class B traffic infraction under Colorado law, citations are issued on behalf of the county where the violation occurs — meaning any fine revenue, a $75 base fine plus additional county fees, goes to the county's court system, not RTD.
"We do not actually" get that revenue, Nicholson said. "Right now, that revenue goes to the counties as part of their processing through their court system, which is obviously not ideal for us. And other systems have moved those processes in-house, so instead of getting a civil citation that costs you $100, you can get an RTD ticket for a first violation that costs you 10."
Nicholson pointed to results from other transit agencies that have made similar changes in recent years. "There are systems that moved from court citation to in-house and saw the rate of people paying their tickets quadruple," he said. "There are systems that moved to a fare enforcement first policy and saw nearly a 10% increase within a few months in fare revenue for RTD. If we were that lucky, it would mean an additional $6 million for us."
A document from the board cites San Diego's transit agency, which tightened fare enforcement in 2025 and saw fare revenue increase 9.3% compared to the same period the year before.
It also points to Minneapolis's Metro Transit, which shifted from police-issued misdemeanors to an administrative citation model in 2023, resulting in a sharp increase in citations issued alongside a near-elimination of criminal citations.
Other agencies reviewed in the staff report — including transit systems in Portland, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and San Francisco — have adopted varying combinations of administrative fines, escalating fine schedules for repeat violations, and diversion options like community service or fare-account reloading in lieu of a straight fine.
"This is really about giving our staff the tools that they need to have the best interactions with individuals who aren't paying their fares, and make sure that we can get them into compliance," Nicholson said. "My goal is to give staff as much flexibility as possible, but also to set a tone for the public."
Not everyone views stricter enforcement as a straightforward win. June Churchill, a Denver public transit advocate who relies on RTD to get around, said she supports the broader goal but wants to see it paired with support for riders who are struggling financially.
"Paying a fare is just money out of your pocket, and a lot of folks who ride transit, they can't afford a car," Churchill said. "I can't afford a car, so paying the fare every single time, while I think necessary, is still a financial burden on people."
Churchill said the current system offers little middle ground. "One of the problems we see with fare enforcement right now is that if someone doesn't have a fare, and then they get issued a citation, it's a $75 citation, and there's no diversion alternatives," she said. "Either you issue the citation or you just push people off the train with just a warning. I'd much prefer it if we had a system where we find out, oh, you're facing financial difficulties that are preventing you from buying this fare today — let's get you a discount pass, let's get you on the Live RTD pass, let's figure out a way to make sure that you can still access employment and healthcare and opportunities."
Churchill said she'd also like to see less reliance on armed enforcement. "Ideally, I'd just like to see us have a second person on board for the light rail who does the fare checking, a transit ambassador, and if they need to, we can call the cops if there's an incident on board," she said. "I don't want someone with a badge and a gun checking people's fares. I think that's also a waste of resources."
She pointed to fare gates as an alternative many other transit systems use at high-ridership stations. "You just tap your fare, and everyone in that station has scanned their fare," Churchill said. "I think that's a very easy, very clean way to do it, which we see a lot of other agencies do. So I'd prefer to see that."
Nicholson said the board isn't rushing into changes. "We're not making the changes tomorrow," he said. "The goal of this month is really to continue the conversation that we've had for years now. I think the value here is to study it, to allow our incredibly competent staff to understand the implications and bring forward a recommendation to us in February of next year on how to make improvements."
If adopted, any resulting policy changes would need to be implemented no later than Jan. 1, 2028, according to the board document.
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