{"data":{"id":"us-co/c.r.s.-32-9-165","jurisdiction":"us-co","citation":"C.R.S. § 32-9-165","heading":"Planning - ten-year plan - comprehensive operational analysis - accessible transportation service plan - reporting - funding study - transit-oriented community infrastructure - budget transparency and oversight.","body":"(1) Ten-year strategic plan.\n\n(a) No later than September 30, 2026, the district shall create a ten-year strategic plan. The plan must:\n\n(I) In collaboration with local governments and the district subregional service councils, identify performance measures and targets for service, ridership, enrollment in the district's EcoPass program and income-based fare discount program, and the percentages of residences and jobs within one-quarter mile of a frequent transit route. The performance measures and targets must align with state and regional goals for mode choice, land use, climate, equity, and safety;\n\n(II) Identify transportation facilities and services, including the expansion or improvement of existing facilities and services, required to meet service and ridership goals throughout the district's geographic service area over the ten-year period;\n\n(III) Include a fiscally constrained plan outlining the transit projects and services that are expected to be funded with the current budget, which must be updated periodically if the funding picture changes substantially;\n\n(IV) Include a fiscally unconstrained option that describes service and investments needed to meet the district's identified performance measures and targets for service, ridership, and the percentages of residences and jobs within one-quarter mile of a frequent transit route; and\n\n(V) Identify expected environmental, social, and economic impacts of the recommendations contained in the transportation plan.\n\n(b) For each service, facility, or capital project identified in the ten-year plan, the plan must specify and regularly update as circumstances change:\n\n(I) The time frame during which the project is expected to be completed;\n\n(II) The total estimated amount of funding required to complete the project; and\n\n(III) Funding opportunities that account for the total estimated amount of funding for the project, including the amount of funding from each funding source that has been allocated for the project or is anticipated to be allocated for the project.\n\n(c) The district shall update the ten-year strategic plan in conjunction with each major update to the Denver regional council of governments regional transportation plan.\n\n(d) In creating the ten-year strategic plan, the district shall coordinate with the department of transportation, the Denver regional council of governments, and local governments within the district's service territory.\n\n(e) In conjunction with the creation of its ten-year strategic plan, the district shall study and identify or contract with a third party to study and identify opportunities to increase the district's funding to achieve the goals, measures, and targets identified in the ten-year strategic plan.\n\n(2) Comprehensive operational analysis. No later than April 10, 2026, and no less frequently than every five years thereafter, the district shall create a comprehensive operational analysis. The analysis must:\n\n(a) Assess existing services and travel patterns;\n\n(b) Evaluate the district's financial capacity and funding opportunities;\n\n(c) Identify specific transit routes or services for implementation as identified in the fiscally constrained projects list of the applicable ten-year plan required by subsection (1) of this section; and\n\n(d) Make recommendations on achieving the goals identified in the applicable ten-year plan required by subsection (1) of this section.\n\n(2.5) Paratransit service study and accessible transportation service plan.\n\n(a) On or before December 31, 2026, the district shall contract with an independent third-party entity to conduct a comprehensive paratransit service study. The study must be completed by June 30, 2027. The district shall require that the independent third-party entity provide quarterly updates on the progress of the study to the board. The study must include:\n\n(I) A needs assessment of the population, needs, and service gaps for riders in the district with disabilities that includes an analysis of rider-level and trip-level data, including the distribution of trip frequency, identification of high-utilization riders, changes in ridership patterns following the January 1, 2026, fare and subsidy changes, impacts of those changes on frequent and high-need riders, and reduction of access to service due to loss of service or economic hardship from fare changes;\n\n(II) A cost-benefit assessment with long-term projections between cost reductions and service availability or access of paratransit service delivery models for access-a-ride and access-on-demand, including integrated, hybrid, stand-alone, and alternative service scenarios, and including analysis of changes to fare levels, subsidies, and service limits, which assessment must include peer agency comparisons and use standardized cost definitions and methodology, analysis of cost per trip and per rider, and identification of key cost drivers, such as distinctions between fixed and variable costs;\n\n(III) A definition of measurable performance metrics related to access, reliability, equity, and cost-effectiveness;\n\n(IV) An assessment of opportunities to collaborate with local and regional partners to address service gaps;\n\n(V) Engagement with paratransit users, riders with disabilities, service providers, and other key stakeholders and documentation of how stakeholder input informed findings;\n\n(VI) An assessment of system performance, including reliability metrics, trip denials, wait times, on-time performance, and rider experience across service modes, identification of any capacity constraints or service limitations, and an assessment of innovative, technology-enabled service models; and\n\n(VII) An assessment of barriers for paratransit riders and riders with disabilities to access a low-income fare discount.\n\n(b) On or before December 31, 2027, the district shall complete, adopt, and begin implementing an accessible transportation service plan informed by the comprehensive paratransit service study described in subsection (2.5)(a) of this section. The plan must include:\n\n(I) A holistic vision for providing appropriate and accessible transportation service to riders with disabilities in the district;\n\n(II) The establishment of an overarching framework to guide future paratransit decision-making, including measurable metrics of performance in access, reliability, equity, and cost-effectiveness;\n\n(III) A framework for fiscal sustainability informed by considerations of long-term cost projections, tradeoffs between services, and peer agency comparisons;\n\n(IV) A framework for the use of any innovative and technology-enabled service models; and\n\n(V) An implementation framework with timelines, priority actions, and reporting on implementation progress.\n\n(3) Reports.\n\n(a) (I) During each legislative interim, the district shall present a report on its progress in delivering the projects identified in the ten-year strategic plan described in subsection (1) of this section and the comprehensive operational analysis described in subsection (2) of this section to the transportation legislation review committee created in section 43-2-145 (1)(a). As part of the report, the district shall provide guidance to the committee as to how to access and understand the plan and analysis, and the committee may, if it determines that the plan or analysis does not include all the information required by subsection (1) or (2) of this section, instruct the district to ensure that any missing information is promptly added.\n\n(II) Notwithstanding the requirement in section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I), the requirement to submit the report required in this subsection (3) continues indefinitely.\n\n(b) The district shall report quarterly to its board of directors on its progress in developing and delivering the ten-year strategic plan described in subsection (1) of this section and the comprehensive operational analysis described in subsection (2) of this section.\n\n(c) On or before January 31, 2028, the district shall present the paratransit service study and accessible transportation service plan to a joint meeting of the house of representatives transportation, housing, and local government committee and the senate transportation and energy committee, or their successor committees.\n\n(d) On or before December 31, 2027, the district shall submit to the house of representatives transportation, housing, and local government committee and the senate transportation and energy committee, or their successor committees, and to the governor, a report containing responses to and the district's implementation timeline of all recommendations made to the district by the 2025-2026 regional transportation district accountability committee, created in section 24-38.5-124, as it existed prior to its repeal on July 1, 2026.\n\n(e) On or before January 31, 2027, and on or before each January 31 thereafter, the district shall report on the following to a joint meeting of the house of representatives transportation, housing, and local government committee and the senate transportation and energy committee, or their successor committees:\n\n(I) The district's budget, including external funding, and financial performance;\n\n(II) Ridership;\n\n(III) The implementation of Senate Bill 25-161, enacted in 2025, including the district's progress in:\n\n(A) Delivering the projects identified in the ten-year strategic plan described in subsection (1) of this section and the comprehensive operational analysis described in subsection (2) of this section; and\n\n(B) Aligning with state climate goals as required by section 32-9-119.7 (9); and\n\n(IV) The implementation of this Senate Bill 26-150, enacted in 2026, including the district's progress on implementing its accessible transportation service plan described in subsection (2.5) of this section.\n\n(4) Transit-oriented community infrastructure. The district shall periodically notify the Denver regional council of governments and the department of local affairs of any known infrastructure gaps that exist within a transit center, as defined in section 29-35-202 (9), within the district's service territory.","path":["Title 32 - SPECIAL DISTRICTS","Article 9 - Regional Transportation District Act"],"source_url":"https://olls.info/crs/crs2026-title-32.htm","current_through":"Colorado Revised Statutes 2026","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:37:45Z","sha256":"93c66ebd0346f17f4ad9f7f08b8cc80105e149799b81533a8c556a1f83cd5c5b","source_id":"us-co","stale":false,"prev":"us-co/c.r.s.-32-9-164","next":"us-co/c.r.s.-32-9-166"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}