DENVER | Transportation Thread

[TakeFive]

Trying to find specific ridership information for RTD is total brain damage. In Phoenix you can easily access all ridership at each light rail station.

I did stumble upon this tidbit buried in a pdf for an EA planning piece before the I-225/R Line became a reality.

However, the existing Nine Mile park-n-Ride is 100 percent utilized, so without additional investment in parking or rail expansion, it will be difficult for
ridership to increase to the forecasted level. The model forecasts that over 60 percent of Nine Mile riders access the station by auto.

Checking the PARK‑N‑RIDE LIST, the biggest serving metro area light rail are the:

• Lincoln Station with 1,734 parking spaces
• Littleton-Mineral Station with 1,227 parking spaces
• Nine Mile Station with 1,225 parking spaces
• Federal Center Station with 1,000 parking spaces
• Lakewood-Wadsworth Station with 1,000 spaces
• Englewood Station with 910 parking spaces
• Arapahoe at Village Center Station wit 817 parking spaces
• Southmoor Station with 788 parking spaces
• JeffCo/Golden Station with 705 parking spaces

Assuming that the Mineral Station is still at a 100% capacity then presumably that station and Nine Mile Station are two of the busiest metro stations (outside of Denver). On the R Line there will be 600 parking spaces at the Iliff Station and 550 at the Peoria Station. Inside of Denver I assume the Broadway Station with 1248 parking spaces is near capacity and looking ahead I'd assume that the Central Park Station with 1,500 spaces will be well utilized.

It would be nice to be able to access station ridership numbers but this about the best I can do.

[TakeFive]

Changing the Topic

With respect to the FAST Act, it's so interesting to know that two of the more notable items were preservation of the agriculture insurance program and renewal/extension of the IMF Bank. It's also interesting that Ted Cruz who had been against the farm insurance then decided to vote for it (Hello Iowa, I'm Ted Cruz and I supported the insurance program) before voting against the FAST Act because it spends too much money.

Thinking ahead of transit, it might be possible to get Federal funding for the SW Rail extension assuming Highlands Ranch will help out as Lone Tree did. Getting Federal help with the Colfax BRT line should be easy peasy I'd think.

[trubador]

Originally Posted by ramanboy33

Tiny, insignificant facility? It's a major Denver area hospital with 1,400 employees and 350 hospital beds (just smaller than Swedish; just bigger than Lutheran) - not to mention all the other medical facilities that pop up around hospitals. It's a level 2 trauma center, and the only level 1 cardiac center in the state.

How about the employees? It is the 4th largest employer in Aurora (again, that's not even counting all the employees of the surrounding medical offices).

Are you still trying to claim that this major hospital is a "tiny insignificant facility"?

Are you sure your bed count and employee count is not across all 3 locations they have? I wouldn't be surprised that they operate under a single license across the locations. Even if all the beds were in the Aurora location, it would still be around the 15th largest hospital in Colorado. The employee number might be accurate since Aurora charges you for the privilege of working in Aurora, but I don't really know for sure.

Also there is no way it is the 4th largest employer in Aurora. That is some outdated info you are looking at. Both UCH and Children's are in Aurora and have way more employees than the Aurora Medical Center.

So I wouldn't call it a major hospital, but it is not a tiny insignificant facility either.

Either way it will be interesting to see how many actually use rail to access the facility.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Changing the Topic

With respect to the FAST Act, it's so interesting to know that two of the more notable items were preservation of the agriculture insurance program and renewal/extension of the IMF Bank. It's also interesting that Ted Cruz who had been against the farm insurance then decided to vote for it (Hello Iowa, I'm Ted Cruz and I supported the insurance program) before voting against the FAST Act because it spends too much money.

Thinking ahead of transit, it might be possible to get Federal funding for the SW Rail extension assuming Highlands Ranch will help out as Lone Tree did. Getting Federal help with the Colfax BRT line should be easy peasy I'd think.

Highlands Ranch is not a municipality. It's going to be a lot harder to get money from Douglas County, since they'll basically have no way to recoup it.

[EngiNerd]

New RTD Fare Structure

The Regional Transportation District (RTD) will implement a new fare structure beginning Jan. 1.

New features include day passes offering riders unlimited trips through the entire service day for the cost of a single round trip; simplified rail zones; a flat $9 fare for services to and from Denver International Airport; printers aboard buses for day pass purchases; and reclassified bus routes to simplify service categories.

.....

“The public gave great input, RTD listened and now we have a simplified, more equitable fare structure that will help connect people with our system and to one another across the metro area,” said RTD Board of Directors Chair Chuck Sisk.

Local day passes will cost $5.20 and Regional/Airport day passes will cost $9. Day passes will provide unlimited trips throughout a service day for the cost of a round trip, and the Regional/Airport day pass will include an Airport fare.

New bus and rail trip categories are Local, Regional and Airport.

Express bus routes will become Local or Regional trips.

New rail zones are A, B, C and Airport. Travel in one or two zones will require a Local fare; travel in three zones will require a Regional fare; and travel in the Airport zone will require an Airport fare.

A one-way Local trip will cost $2.60; a one-way Regional trip will cost $4.50; and a one-way trip to or from DIA will cost $9.

Half-fare discounts will still be available for elementary, middle and high school students ages 6-19, Medicare recipients, passengers with disabilities and people ages 65 and above. A one-way Local Discount trip will cost $1.30 and a Regional or Airport Discount trip will cost $4.50 for qualifying passengers.

RTD announced earlier this year that the commuter rail line that will provide service between Denver’s Union Station and Denver International Airport will begin service on April 22, 2016.

http://denverurbanreview.com/2015/12/3703/

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by bcp

Sounds a little simpler....but I'm wary of any govt agency telling me they are making something more equitable

Yet still...Airport zone? Sounds like people just one to two stops away will pay $9.... That will kill ridership from anywhere but downtown and the first couple stops. I'd prefer a D zone and the same rules as the rest of the system (great to see no mention of different prices based on transit type !)

The airport zone only includes trips originating or terminating at DIA and that makes sense rather than people abusing the piss out of the other two stations with parking that would be considered local. Local fare plus $2/day parking? I'm not sure which of the economy lots at DIA could beat that.

[bunt_q]

I assume there will be discounted fares for airport employees, anybody see anything on that?

[EngiNerd]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

The airport zone only includes trips originating or terminating at DIA and that makes sense rather than people abusing the piss out of the other two stations with parking that would be considered local. Local fare plus $2/day parking? I'm not sure which of the economy lots at DIA could beat that.

What about transfers from the R line? I'm not so sure about your comment based on the 2016 Fare page.

http://www.rtd-denver.com/fares-2016.shtml

Economy lots can't beat a $9 ea. way ride either unless you are only staying a day or two, and if you are only staying a day or two, you are usually parking in the garage because you are getting your company to reimburse you for it. The Economy lots are $13/day, and shuttle lots are $8 per day, not including gas to get there and back. I'm actually pleasantly surprised RTD priced the Airport Zone as they did, figured it would be more like $15 ea. way based on the cost for other lines.

Originally Posted by bunt_q

I assume there will be discounted fares for airport employees, anybody see anything on that?

They will probably keep the ValuPass program, and modify it accordingly.
https://www.denvergov.org/Portals/671/do...ALUPASS 2015 DEDUCTION AUTHORIZATION.pdf

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by EngiNerd

What about transfers from the R line? I'm not so sure about your comment based on the 2016 Fare page.

That would be a scenario as well. But I was thinking about people using the Pena and 40th stations as satellite parking for the airport similar to some the privately owned lots (like Canopy of the Parking Spot) around the airport. Stations further down the A Line and along the R line see too far away for this scenario.

[EngiNerd]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

That would be a scenario as well. But I was thinking about people using the Pena and 40th stations as satellite parking for the airport similar to some the privately owned lots (like Canopy of the Parking Spot) around the airport. Stations further down the A Line and along the R line see too far away for this scenario.

I don't see anything outside of DIA being included in the Airport zone based on that fare map. So if you use the A Rail line, no matter the station, it will be $9 one-way.

Just look at the Skyride Bus Fare schedule, a ride from Tower Rd. on the AA of Airport Blvd. & 40th on the AF/AT to DIA will be part of the "Airport Zone", even though they are basically as close as you can get. It's their way of simplifying the fares, which it achieves. It just kind of screws those living close in wanting to take the Rail or Bus (EDIT: actually not really, because they currently have to pay that much anyway on the Skyride, $9 is current min., and goes up to $13 from Boulder, so this will be significantly cheaper now for those coming from the burbs.).


http://www.rtd-denver.com/ProposedBusFareStructure.shtml

[PLANSIT]

It's $9 to and from the Airport. From whatever line. That simple. Any other station along the A Line is $2.60.

******

If for some reason you are able to fly out in the AM and arrive back same day PM, you could buy a Regional Day Pass for $9 and it would be good for both trips (saves $9).

[The Dirt]

Yeah, this is a good fare structure for the airport. Basically, anyone coming up I-25 from the south can now just park at Lone Tree and pay $9 all the way to the airport with as many transfers as they want. This has the added benefit of relieving metro congestion from all of the suburbanites trying to make it to the airport through metro Denver. The only time it's no cost-effective is when you have a large group, like a family, trying to get to/from the airport. Basically, you end up reducing single-occupant rides to/from the airport, which is a good thing.

EDIT: those colors are awful and the scaling in downtown makes it impossible to read.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

EDIT: those colors are awful and the scaling in downtown makes it impossible to read.

It is truly one of the worst system maps in the country, if not the globe.

Not that anybody should be surprised by that from Denver... as far as we're concerned, there are no other cities on earth we can learn anything from. Because we have sun and mountains. Nobody else has that. Not even Bolivia.

[RyanD]

It looks like you can take the W line to the A line without transferring. YAY confused tourists!

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by RyanD

It looks like you can take the W line to the A line without transferring. YAY confused tourists!

They'll be able to commiserate with the tourists who are aimlessly searching for the University of Colorado stop on the University of Colorado A Line. The "University of Colorado A Line's Airport Boulevard & 40th Avenue - Gateway Park Station" might be the wordiest station name in the world.

But you're right, it's going to be confusing for people looking at shades of blue, who might think they can get a one-set ride from the Airport Boulevard & 40th Avenue - Gateway Park Station to the Jefferson County Government Center - Golden Station.

Also, this is why we have such crappy headways. If trains came any more frequently, they wouldn't be able to say the complete station name.

[The Dirt]

I can't wait to take the Subway Eat Fresh Gold G line from the Wheat Ridge-Ward station in Arvada to the Littleton-Mineral station in Highlands Ranch along the slightly more orange gold IBM Think Different C line.

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

It is truly one of the worst system maps in the country, if not the globe.

Nah.

Official map of trams in Szeged, Hungary:

[CharlesCO]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Official map of trams in Szeged, Hungary:

But at least Szeged has a comprehensive tramway system...

[DUPio]

Are there any legitimate discussions for intra-city rail, especially along Colfax? There is a glaring hole in that RTD map where a massive number of people live...

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by DUPio

Are there any legitimate discussions for intra-city rail, especially along Colfax? There is a glaring hole in that RTD map where a massive number of people live...

No. BRT and Enhanced Bus Routes are the most realistic options that are being pursued at this time.