No matter how the Regional Transportation District’s labor dispute is settled, the system may have already lost.

Business commuters are forming carpools. Trips are being coordinated over Internet sites. RideArrangers – the Denver Regional Council of Governments’ commuter program – received 500 calls Monday. Spokeswoman Sherry Patten said the program normally gets 100 to 200 calls a month.

RTD customers are finding new ways to get where they need to go, and whenever the strike ends, it will be difficult to get some of them back on the bus.

“Anytime there is a disruption in service, people are going to look for other ways to get around,” RTD spokesman Scott Reed said. “One of the biggest hurdles for any transit agency is to get people to try transit for the first time.”

Reed said it can be just as difficult to get them to come back.

In 1982, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001 – the same union that is striking this time – went out on strike for nearly a month. The strike ended in what was roundly accepted as an RTD victory – workers finally agreed to the district’s original offer after losing $1,700 in pay during the strike.

But RTD lost too.

It took nearly two years before ridership numbers returned to pre-strike levels.

This time around, RTD may be in a better position to recover. The light-rail line along T-REX will expand service and is expected to double light-rail passenger numbers when it opens later this year. But the strike could dampen momentum the district had gained after voters approved the $4.7 billion FasTracks plan last year.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said RTD is like any other brand name. “People want to know it is reliable,” he said.

Reed agreed that the strike could affect how residents perceive RTD.

“When voters trust you enough to overwhelmingly approve increasing their taxes to build 119 miles” of additional transit, “there is an expectation that that will be available on a daily basis,” Reed said. The “strike could raise questions as to” the validity of that.

Denver City Councilman Rick Garcia said one area of service that may be hurt is the busing of students.

“It could be there are people at (Denver Public Schools) who say, ‘You know, this seemed like a good idea, but now we realize it can be taken away from us,”‘ Garcia said.

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