RTD
Fixing Denver Transit Barely Registers With RTD Board of Directors
The Regional Transportation District’s Board of Directors is more concerned with expansion to the outer suburbs than with providing better transit in Denver itself. At least that’s what we can glean from a conversation board members had last night about RTD’s strategic five-year plan. Board members critiqued the draft plan for various shortcomings — it’s … Continued
July 1, 2015
This Is How I Went Car-Free In Denver
Denver’s share of households without a car remains unremarkable. At 12 percent, it’s just over the national average. But that doesn’t mean it’s difficult to live without a car here — it might just be that too few people are taking advantage of other options. My wife, Kati, and I traded in our car for … Continued
June 25, 2015
Help Reshape Civic Center Station Into a Safe, Modern Transit Center
RTD and the city want to transform the dilapidated, dangerous Civic Center Station into a modern transit hub, and they’re kicking off the public process tomorrow. Eighteen bus routes and 15,000 people — more than at any other station — pass through Civic Center Station, but it’s surrounded by three terribly wide streets: Colfax, Broadway, and … Continued
June 24, 2015
Tonight: Help Imagine a Better West Colfax Avenue
Professional stuntmen don’t want to cross it and Lance Armstrong wouldn’t bike it even after doping up: West Colfax Avenue. It needs to change, and residents can help decide how it will, tonight at an event called Reimagine West Colfax. It’s the first of two meetings that will decide what type of temporary infrastructure — a crosswalk or a protected bike … Continued
June 11, 2015
RTD Votes on Fare Changes Tonight, But Not Discounts for Low-Income Riders
The Regional Transportation District’s fare structure has never been simple. With three tiers of prices that vary according to how far you travel, even locals have trouble figuring out what their trips cost. If a restaurant menu was as confusing as Denver’s transit pricing, it would lose out on a lot of customers. In an attempt to simplify riding … Continued
May 26, 2015
RTD May Join the Ranks of Transit Agencies with Transparent Meetings
If a town like Littleton can do it, there’s no reason the Regional Transportation District can’t. That’s the message District H RTD Director Kent Bagley had for his colleagues today about recording and posting board meetings online in the name of transparency. No one at the Executive Committee meeting held at RTD headquarters disagreed with the principle … Continued
May 21, 2015
Mary Beth Susman Gets It: Denver Needs More Livable Streets
Before Mayor Michael Hancock and Denver City Council members made transit infrastructure a top budget priority for 2016, Council Member Mary Beth Susman was on a mission to bridge the gaps in the city’s Swiss cheese transit system. The 67-year-old made the case for better bus service in the Denver Post editorial pages last year, then got scolded … Continued
May 15, 2015
Widening Streets Near the Broadway and I-25 Transit Station Makes No Sense
At the same time that Denver seeks to become more walkable and transit-friendly, the city is pursuing road-widening projects that work directly against those goals. Sometimes the city even tries to do both things in the same place, and that’s what happening on South Broadway right now. In 2008, Denver adopted a Strategic Transportation Plan beginning with this … Continued
May 11, 2015
CU Denver Lays the Groundwork to Fill the Gaps in Denver’s Transit Network
Unlike Boston or New York, the Mile High City grew up around cars and maintains a robust network of wide, speedy roads — infrastructure at odds with the world-class transit network the city government says it wants, and that Denver residents demand. It might surprise you (perhaps not if you ride RTD often), but no comprehensive … Continued
May 8, 2015