RTD’s electric 16th Street Mall buses cost nearly 60% more to operate than diesel coaches

RTD pays nearly 60 percent more per mile to power its electric buses along Denver’s 16th Street Mall as it does its conventional diesel fleet. It’s a price disparity that could slow the transit agency’s embrace of zero-emission technology at a time when the state’s new Democratic governor is pushing to put more electric cars on the road and air quality and climate change have become ever larger topics of conversation in Colorado. RTD general manager Dave Genova pointed at the “demand charge” levied by Xcel Energy as the culprit for the higher cost of running the mall buses, which last year carried nearly 9.5 million passengers up and down 16th Street in downtown Denver.