Per capita is misleading because most of the new people are moving into places where RTD doesn't serve well. That's not to say that RTD doesn't have a variety of issues that are producing weak ridership, but I don't think the fares are really why. For most people it's just not a good logistical fit.

And as I said, even just keeping your car but driving it less means significant savings. A difference in 5000 miles not driven/year means $hundreds in gas savings, $hundreds more in maintenance cost saved, and good chance of $thousands in parking costs averted.  And that doesn't even count the biggest savings -- delaying the need for spending tens of $thousands to replace the vehicle as quickly.  Figure somewhere between $2000-$3000/yr cost for a typical car when the purchase price is averaged over the life of ownership. Unless it's your LAST car, delaying the purchase of the next one is real savings.