Public Transportation
Practice
Plan and pay using the RTD app. Use Google Maps to see public transportation options, transfers, and walking distances.
Begin with social events. Use the light rail or train for an event, concert, show, or game.
Introduce your children to public transportation. Take a light rail or train from the first stop to the last stop and back as a way to see the city.
“You can’t understand a city without using its public transportation system.”
Public transportation provides a practical way to know your neighbors and neighborhood. It is a different method of moving around the city. For many it is essential as it eliminates the cost of owning and operating an automobile. For others, it removes the stress of city driving or finding parking. Whatever the motivation, public transportation is a practice to be more present to people and place.
You come to know a city in a deeper way when traveling with others. You have a sense of the temperature of the city; not only the physical climate, but the emotional attitude of its citizens. As you move through different sections of a city you become aware of the diverse demographics. You engage both the people and place without the insulation that comes with traveling in an automobile.
Denver has been a car-centric city for decades but once had one of the largest streetcar systems in the country. Early in the 20th century, it had over 250 miles of track and was the primary mode of transportation. The lasting effects are some of Denver’s favorite streets – Gaylord, Pearl, and Tennyson – all developed around trolley stops. In 1945, the system served 122 million annual riders, compared with Denver’s current public transit system, Regional Transportation District (RTD), which at its recent peak in 2019 had 59.6 million annual riders.
Matt Ladd is a neighbor who regularly uses public transportation for his commute. After college he joined the Peace Corp and lived in El Salvador, where the primary way people travel is by bus. When he returned to the US, he lived in New York City for 6 years and the subway was the way he moved around the city. When he and his wife, Cari, moved to Denver in 2014 they bought their first car, but chose to only have one and continue to use public transportation.
Matt acknowledges the challenges of public transportation in Denver, but offered some advice on how to navigate it. Busses make up the largest part of the network, but are not easy to quickly understand. He recommends using them for regular activities and giving yourself a week to learn the routes and times. Light rail stops are located along major corridors and funnel into downtown. Commuter rail trains operate at higher speeds and make fewer stops than light rail. If you are looking for a way to begin using public transportation, take the train to either Union Station or Denver International Airport and experience the city from a different perspective.
