Metro Denver bus drivers and train operators have reached a tentative deal with the Regional Transportation District for raises that would push the starting hourly pay above $30 in 2027.
The deal that Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001 leaders negotiated with the RTD would provide a 6.5% wage increase this year, applied retroactively to Jan. 1. The drivers, operators, mechanics, and other transit workers would receive a 4.5% increase for each of the following two years.
ATU negotiators had pushed for wage increases by 7% each year for three years.
The 2,000 or so union members would have to approve the deal in voting this month, ATU president Lance Longenbohn said. If approved, it would raise the starting hourly pay for a new bus driver or train operator from $25.96 to $27.65 this year, increasing to $28.89 next year and $30.19 in 2027. The top pay would increase from $32.88 to $35.02 this year, then to $36.59 and $38.24, Longenbohn said.
RTD drivers “can find other jobs where they’re not getting cursed at and spit on, in some cases to make more and in most cases to make enough that it’s worth the difference,” he said. “It’s a hard job. You’re not just driving. You’re keeping an eye on people on the bus, answering questions, helping people with mobility devices.”
RTD has struggled to retain frontline employees. Shortages of available bus and train operators have limited the agency’s ability to help riders navigate disruptions as maintenance crews carry out catch-up work to repair deteriorating rails. Bus and train operators marched through Lower Downtown from Union Station to RTD headquarters at rush hour recently and packed an agency board of directors meeting demanding higher wages.