Deborah Davis was arrested last September in Denver, Colo., while she was riding a bus, after security guards boarded the bus and she refused to show identification. After a large public outcry, federal prosecutors dropped the charges against Davis.

Now the Denver Regional Transportation District has proposed rerouting three of its bus routes which pass through the Denver Federal Center, after complaints from passengers about being required to show ID when riding that particular bus.

The Denver Post reported that RTD had tried to work with Homeland Security to resolve the dispute, but that inconsistent enforcement of the ID requirement for entering the Denver Federal Center “made the bus service unpredictable for commuters.”

Bus routes to be changed include the 3, 5X and 100, the crosstown route Davis rode to work that fateful September day. Two other routes, the GS and 14, which terminate in the Denver Federal Center, will not be changed under the proposal.

John Gilmore’s Identity Project, which supported Davis’ efforts to fight the ID requirement, released a statement Friday about the change: “The federal government has never offered a rationale for demanding that people show their papers in order to visit federal property. People who enter are not checked against any kind of list, nor are their names or identities recorded. A mere show of submissiveness, e.g. flashing any plastic card of the right color, usually suffices. There is also no law that requires people to show their papers to enter federal property; in fact, the law states that federal property is open to the public during business hours. This hasn’t stopped the Gestapo from imposing their own made-up rules.”

Federal regulations seem to allow the government to check ID of anyone entering federal property, as long as signage is in place informing people that their ID will be checked. But because the ID isn’t checked against any sort of database, it’s actually quite useless, and does absolutely nothing for security. Even terrorists have valid ID.

This is one of the more sensible things I’ve heard come out of this long story. I’m just disappointed it took RTD months to actually get around to making the proposal. It is such an obvious solution that it takes bureaucrats months to even think of it, and probably even longer for it to get implemented.