GOLDEN — On Monday, the city plans to expand a bus program that runs between its downtown and the last stop on the W-Line — a so-called “first mile/final mile” service for commuters that is gaining traction across metro Denver.

But proposed service cuts to Regional Transportation District’s Denver-Golden light rail line, prompted by lower-than-expected ridership, could undermine the city’s efforts to get buy-in from its residents on public transit as a meaningful alternative to driving.

The City Council last week passed a resolution asking the RTD to consider delaying any service cuts by a year or, short of that, tinker instead with the W-Line’s weekend or late-night schedule.

“If they could find a way to either delay or keep that service for those six hours in the middle of the weekday, we think we could really boost ridership,” said Steve Glueck, Golden’s community and economic development director.

The RTD board of directors this fall will consider whether to curtail weekday frequency on the W-Line — from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes — between the Federal Center Station and the Golden Station between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and between 6 and 9 p.m.

City officials say that change, which would take effect in January, could disrupt their $100,000 pilot program that is launching Monday. It adds a second bus to its flex bus program so that every train leaving and arriving at Golden Station from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays is met with a shuttle that helps complete a commuter’s daily trip, by taking them from the station out at the Jefferson County government center to the Colorado School of Mines campus or to downtown Golden.

Cities across the metro area have tried tackling the first mile/final mile issue, in which the short distance to home or work at the beginning and end of a commute can be what sways a commuter to take or skip transit that day.

This month, Lone Tree began offering free Link on Demand ride service in partnership with ride-hailing company Uber, which allows anyone to use Uber’s app to hitch a ride from any location within the city to another, including the Lincoln light rail station.

“First- and final-mile connections are critical to increasing transit use,” said George Gerstle, who heads the Boulder County Transportation Department. “There have to be convenient ways to get to the bus (or train) and from your stop to the final destination if ridership is to increase significantly.”

Gerstle said Boulder County has created bike shelters at bus stops and incorporated bike-sharing programs such as B-Cycle and Zagster into transit routes to encourage cycling as part of the daily commute.

A first mile/final mile study along U.S. 36 conducted a few years ago recommended car-sharing, EcoPasses from RTD, secure scooter parking, and reliable apps that track transit schedules and map out options to get to a station or stop as ways to close the gap.

“We’re all trying to maximize the FasTracks investment in our communities,” said Audrey DeBarros, executive director of Louisville-based Commuting Solutions.

FasTracks is the metro area’s 122-mile rail system, which is still being built. The multibillion-dollar effort, approved by voters in 2004, also includes 18 miles of bus rapid transit between Denver and Boulder.

RTD is considering service cuts to the end of the W-Line, which opened in 2013, because of low ridership. Agency spokesman Nate Currey said the proposal is “largely budget-driven right now.”

He said ridership on the W-Line between the Federal Center Station and Golden, which is measured by passengers tripping a laser as they board the train, is “lower by half” than comparable segments at the end of other rail lines in FasTracks. With a $64 million shortfall facing the agency in the coming year, Currey said hard choices will have to be made.

Stuart Anderson, executive director of Denver-based Transportation Solutions Foundation, understands RTD’s fiscal challenges.

“If I’m (RTD general manager) Dave Genova, I’d be scratching my head and saying, ‘If I can’t cut here, where do I cut?’ ” Anderson said.

But that doesn’t mean the first mile/final mile issue can’t be overcome. Anderson’s organization is working with ride-hailing service Lyft to provide University of Denver students and staff with rides from the University light rail station to different parts of campus. So far, 140 people are participating in the program.

Transportation Solutions Foundation is also hoping to use nearly $8.5 million of a $937 million Denver bond package — should voters give their blessing in November — to put bike lanes on Buchtel Boulevard connecting the University station with the Colorado light rail station to the east. Residents in the Virginia Village neighborhood east of the Colorado station told Anderson that if there were better pedestrian and bike connections to the rail stations, “they would be encouraged to use transit.”

Centennial Mayor Cathy Noon empathizes with Golden’s desire to acclimate residents to its program without disruptive schedule changes thrown in midstream. Centennial partnered with Lyft last August in a six-month pilot that provided commuters with free rides to the Dry Creek light rail station.

Participation in the program wasn’t quite as robust as the city had hoped, Noon said.

“What we found is that it needed more time to get established,” she said. “If we could have had another six months, we could have had a different outcome. It takes time to change people’s habits.”