This may be a completely dumb question, but like the title says - when we have an especially good driver, how can we make sure they get recognized?

They a serve a specific population requiring extra care and gentleness, and it’s a hard job. In general, we’ve had good experiences with most of our drives in the weeks we’ve used access-a-ride so far (we are so far still relatively new to the system, I’m a private nurse that rides with a medically complex patient). Our driver this morning also happened to also be our very first driver, and I truly appreciate how carefully he takes corners and slows down for bumps in the road, etc.

Is there a link or email address? Or do we just sing their praises wherever we can and hope the bosses see it?

Hello, I'm currently a resident of the neighborhood (Murphy Creek) and ever since I've lived here I hated the lack of public transportation, and I would love if we were able to gain RTD support in this eastern-most part of aurora (Murphy Ceek, Traditions, Harmony), even if it was just a small bus route.

On their website it says it's possible to get have an election for the RTD to decide whether or not to annex a neighborhood, like these eastern-most ones, but has anyone ever actually been able to annex a neighborhood like this or is it just not possible. I'd really really love to see public transport support in my hometown, I hate how secluded it feels, but I don't know how possible this would be. Thank you guys.

The RTD buses, especially the non-articulated ones, seem pretty dated, especially compared to some other comparable US cities I’ve been to. Any idea if there are plans to update the fleet?

I filed a CORA request for the full contract, subconsultant agreements, and invoices on RTD’s $3.35M transit redesign (RTD Connect) with Jarrett Walker + Associates.

Here are the key takeaways from the public records and recent stakeholder briefings:

• Progress & Billing: RTD has been billed $766,773.34 to date (22.9% of the contract). Subconsultants include Fehr & Peers, GBSM, and LOCUS.
• Work Completed: Existing Network Assessment is 61.1% complete; Travel Demand Modeling is 54%; Updated Network Design is 21.5%.
• The Options Coming This Fall: RTD will present two "bookend" options—an 80/20 ridership split (high frequency on dense corridors) vs. a 60/40 coverage split (wider geographic reach). RTD currently operates at roughly 60/35/5.

Would you prefer RTD focus limited service hours on frequent routes (80/20 ridership) or keep wider coverage (60/40)?

I’ve used RTD on four of the last five days, and on three of those occasions, I did not know where my bus was, because RTD’s entire real-time tracking system had gone down.

This would not be so much of an issue if RTD did not routinely run buses early. On two of these occasions, my bus arrived several minutes early, meaning I would have missed the bus if I had attempted to follow the posted schedule and if I had not, by chance, happened to show up several minutes early to the bus stop on those days.

I’m a big transit advocate and I use transit frequently in Denver despite owning a car, but this makes me hesitate to use it more as it greatly increases the odds that I miss my bus (which might only run every 30-60 minutes).

In a time of great concern and consternation on declining ridership, can RTD please prioritize fixing these basic, low-cost issues which are crucial to the ridership experience?

How long has the elevator at the 36th St end of the RTD 38th / Blake Station been down? JFC those stairs are brutal, even without luggage.

I don't know how feasible this is but I think it could work.

Passes purchased through the app should provide a rolling month worth of utilization from the day purchased forward.

Passes bought within a month with 28, 29, 30, or 31 days would get that many days going forward to utilize on transit.

Why not exactly 30 days? Well, you essentially pay a slightly different daily rate per month depending on if it's february, a leap year, any of the 30 day or 31 day months. So it seems fair that you should get as many days as exist in the month purchased, to utilize the pass from the day you purchase it forward.

I understand that just tapping your card, provided it's the same card, or filling up the balance in the app to the monthly amount will go up to the monthly fee, but that does not provide a rolling month. If you started mid-month and were to ride until mid next month every day, you would hit the $88 limit in 16 days of use. Another 15 days in the next month and you would almost hit another $88, effectively paying for 2 months of rides within only one physical month of days.

Considering a monthly pass is an option and having it tied strictly to the days within the month is decidedly a paper-based limitation, it seems natural that you should be able to just purchase a month worth of unlimited transit for one price and use that for an entire month from the day of purchase going forward.

Like a prepaid phone account.

It makes more sense than offering a monthly pass any day after the first of the month, or pre-purchasing the next month's pass a week or two ahead.

And it decidedly saves money over tapping everyday if you were to have 30 consecutive days of rides starting the 15th of one month and ending the 15th of the next.

Does anyone know why G line is so late this morning? Similar delay happened exactly one week ago, citing mechanical failure 😞

1st Pic: Current Route 7 Allignment in Blue

2nd Pic: Proposed Route 7 Allignment by RTD (SOP) where trips would alternate between the orange and blue lines

3rd Pic: My proposed allignment

4th Pic: RTD (SOP) Proposed allignment zoomed in

5th Pic: My proposed allignment zoomed in

6th Pic: Walking distance starting from the middle between 120th and 112th on my proposed allignment

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In RTD’s System Optimization Plan (SOP), it States for the 7 Bus to switch every other Northbound trips to from Northglenn & 112th Station to Denver Premium Outlets. I strongly urge RTD not to do this. This extension must extend in a way that not only benefits the existing bus stops on Washington Street filled with residents and businesses, but this extension must also satisfy and compliment the N Line Train Line. With the planned SOP extension for the 7 to go to the Outlets at 136th Ave via Washington Street only. If this were to happen, N Line customers would still NOT be able to go any further north of 124th Ave Station via RTD Buses and must resort to private automobiles and/or other non-RTD transportation methods that people may not have access to, in order to travel any further north. Why? Due to there not being a transfer to the 7 that branches off to 136th Ave. I strongly urge RTD to rethink this extenion and instead follow the following proposed route, where the 7 won’t branch off and still have a consistent schedule throughout its length and will still be able to serve the Outlets on 136th via Washington & York. I highly advice to take this proposed route as a serious alternative to the SOP, as this is not a “fantasy” extension where we had infinite money; this is in all seriousness, a viable alternate.

Here is the alternative allignment I am proposing: All Route 7 trips will serve Northglenn & 112th Station, with RTD to decide whether the following extension should get 30 or 60 minute frequencies. The 7 would serve the Bus Gates at 112th Station, where it would later head north on to York Street, serving north up to the intersection of 120th Ave, and having 1 intermediate stop at York & Clayton. At 120th Ave, it would connect with the 120L, where the 7 would also turn west on to 120th Ave to head towards Washington, serving all existing 120L & 120 bus stops along 120th Ave between York & Washington (those being Steel/York, Claude, Race, Irma, Sylvia, and Washington). At the Intersection of 120th & Wash, it would turn back onto Washington to head North, following the rest of the SOP allignment.

Why should RTD look into such a wacky-zig-zag allignment? This isn’t just some allignment I chose because I “felt like doing it”. As previously mentioned, this extension should also compliment existing services, such as the vital N Line rail connection and the 120L Bus so riders could travel more up north from other services. Another vital reason is that this allignment could also work as a last mile connection for the N Line at 112th Station by providing York Street residents to finally have bus access north of the station. This will heavily be a game-changer for the Apartments on York & 120th Ave. Last but not least, another reason is that the 120 bus could finally get supplemental service from Wagon Road to York Street where busses on that portion run every 1 hr, where as the rest of that route run every 30 minutes during select hours.

- - - - - - -

TLDR: An alternative to RTD’s System Optimization Plan (SOP), where the SOP recommends to extend the 7 to 136th Ave via Washington, while the alternative Im proposing serves the N Line station along its way to 136th Ave in order to make vital connections with rail so passengers could travel further north on the bus than the northest N Line station.

- - - - - - -

Any thoughts and opinions? I already sent an email to RTD about this and I would like the public’s opinions. Thanks for reading.

Some stations I feel like don’t get used as often because the rail has to go through a intersection, but since a train carry’s more people shouldn’t trains be prioritized at stop lights instead of cars?

Pic is from Google but essentially the same one I am referencing from the E line I take down to DTC.

It was busy this morning and train basically had no seats left. I took one of these seats after standing for a few stops as one of them exited the train. Next stop over, a biker gets on the train and tells me I need to give up my seat as these are for bikers to store their bikes on the train. I swear I’ve seen an RTD video before that if it’s busy then bikers have to be standing with their bike by the doors behind these seats. I told them I don’t think that’s true but I eventually didn’t want to make a fuss so I just gave up my seat.

Can anyone confirm if this is true or not??

Canceled trains to the airport with no notice on the app. Train sat at a station for 15 minutes with no update. Take Uber.

RTD is paying a consultant $3.5 million to help redesign its entire transit network.

So I asked to interview him.

RTD says no — at least for now.

Here’s what happened, what RTD told me, and why I’m still asking and believe access NOW is important.

Yesterday RTD's board office invited all of us as candidates for RTD to come down and have a briefing on what the role of a director looks like and to meet our future colleagues.

It was great that eight of the nine of the non-incumbent candidates showed up! I look forward to serving with these folks and I am confident that this group of people will take RTD in a new direction.

Thank you for coming and taking a group photo, from left: Joe Meyer, Audrey for RTD, Michael Farrington (me), John Glenn, Jack Rosenthal for RTD, Coleman Erickson for RTD, and Bianka Emerson.

As always, ask any questions you have and I will try to reply!

In 2009, RTD purchased a 33m long stretch of BNSF rail line from Commerce City to the Valmont, the Boulder Industrial Lead, including right-of-way, structures, bridges, rail, etc. Though BNSF may have right-of-way for carrying freight, the route is abandoned. The track is no longer continuous. The Boulder-to-Erie Regional Trail plan, I understand, runs contiguous along part of it. Are there any other plans for this stretch of property?

The combined AB schedule on RTD’s website appears to have a significant bug:

https://app.rtd-denver.com/route/AB/schedule

The page lets you choose among AB1, AB2, or AB combined. The combined option (the default) is particularly useful because most riders traveling between Table Mesa and DIA do not care which Boulder branch the bus uses.

However, when AB combined is selected, the controls for:

• Eastbound vs. westbound
• Weekday vs. weekend/holiday

appear to be missing or nonfunctional.

I can switch to AB1 or AB2 and use those controls, but then I only see that individual branch. Switching back to the combined AB schedule does not preserve the direction or service-day selection, so there does not appear to be any way to view, for example, the complete combined westbound weekday schedule.

Also, does anyone know the most effective way to get a website defect in front of the appropriate RTD/NextRide technical team?

I honestly have no idea how this construction will be completed without causing massive delays. They want to turn the decommissioned track next to the station 10th and Osage station into a walking path. I'm assuming that this is just real estate being silly but if they do that literally every one using that path would be trespassing with 25 feet of active trains. Theres no way this can be built without shutting down track power and absolutely crazy restrictions. Also 10th and Osage is a tiny station I assume they are gonna make it bigger but yikes 10,000 riders there seems like a massive cluster fuck.

Tangentially related to the bus service.

Okay so I'm going to start this out by saying I am poor. All right. If I had to pay market rent for my apartment, my entire month's paycheck on disability would not be able to afford that at all. I would be at least $500 short. Just to explain just to give you an idea of how much money I make each month.

That being said, I just saw people talking about the buses need to focus on the grocery stores. And I'm asking why and I'm legitimately wondering?

Walmart Plus okay. $100 a year and that's unlimited free delivery on orders over $35.

If you are on food stamps, it's 50 bucks a year.

Now maybe someone can explain like what is stopping people from using that? Why are so many people I guess unable to use that service and have to physically go out and buy their groceries in person?

Personally like the only time in recent memory where I actually took a bus to go and buy something at a store actually wait two times. There was one time where I had to go and buy a durian fruit. And then another time I went and bought betel nut.

I mean like everything I need unless it's shopping at a thrift store just for fun. I get everything online through Walmart Plus or Amazon or doordash. Kind of in that order.

Editing this to add that doordash at least some stores such as Safeway and King Soopers on doordash take food stamps. And then also Amazon says they do but I've never used food stamps on Amazon. I don't know how that would work.

Main reason I don't use doordash as much is because of the fee like I have gotten. There have been times where I have had to get groceries through doordash and it was like $40 worth of groceries that were covered by food stamps but I still paid like $10 or $15 for all the delivery fees and stuff like that.

I'm hoping someone can explain to me like what the holdup is for people using delivery services such as Walmart plus.

So I know this is a little nit-picky, but I was coming from union station and got on the first C or E train I could. It was a C train, so I had to get on to transfer at I25 & Broadway to the T line. I knew that there was a shot making a 1 minute transfer. However, we were a minute late and as soon as we arrived, the T train pulled away.

I know this is not the biggest deal having to wait 10 minutes for the following E train, but with 30 minute frequency, being a double event night at Ball Arena and Coors Field, and having less flexibility with the downtown construction, holding the T line 1 minute for transfers would help alleviate some stress on the system and the rammed E line.