Improving the RTD | Denver Fantasy Transit Map

Map Link: www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/edi...
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and my own camera roll
Special thanks to / @fishe_tm ( / @fishe_tm ) for supplying his RTD footage!
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Music:
Ryini Beats
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LethalNeedle
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Mix by ASSOW
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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:17 Current state of the light rail system
1:39 The airport and the A Line's success
2:16 A need for better-connecting downtown
2:51 Melbourne as a model
3:20 A downtown rail tunnel for Denver
4:50 A need for better urban transit
5:08 Colfax Corridor
6:31 Cherry Creek Corridor
7:21 Bus system
8:07 Flatiron Flyer
8:23 The complete vision

[@Mtsplash]

"completion of the B Line in the 23rd century" LMFAO

[@urfavidiot1414]

I doubt it'll be completed by the 24th

[@Montaguex]

@@urfavidiot1414Construction for the B Line extension will begin in 2050 💀 (i’m not joking)

[@nicelol5241]

@@urfavidiot141445th*

[@OfficalF.R.H.]

​@@urfavidiot1414no, 25th

[@leaderofthepenguins]

it hurts

[@RipCityBassWorks]

That city center loop solution is so elegant. That would make transfers between the LRT and regional rail systems a breeze.

[@himbourbanist]

Denver has so much potential for transit expansion

[@kyle1235]

Couldn't agree more with this video.. RTD was pretty convenient when I was a student commuting downtown from the suburbs, but once I moved into inner-Denver you were basically forced to take the bus or drive.. I always thought it was pretty wild they were planning to build a commuter train out to Longmont, but not something running down Colfax and Speer to provide better connection within the city.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Yes, that’s bizarre that transit quality would get worse as you move closer to downtown!

[@curve2833]

As someone living in Denver I love this video. If the metro has Integration with our bike infrastructure I could see it happening and would take it every chance I get.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Yes! Bike infra + transit is a formidable combo!

[@logangriffin439]

​@@thehouseoftransit2719Denver has an e-bike rebate program that's amazing! Problem is, they have like 15k vouchers that go in a few minutes 😅😅

[@grantweimer7116]

As a mines student, the gold line NEEDS to run to golden!

[@mrvwbug4423]

You can thank the rich NIMBYs of Golden for blocking that

[@theflowerflora518]

It was never planned in the first place.

[@gooseincitypark]

This was great, and another thing I would point out is that part of the reason that the light rail lines aren't really used much is because most of them are right along highways and super unwalkable areas. There are some exceptions, like the University of Denver and Fiddler's Green Amphitheater. My anecdotal hypothesis based on my own unreliable observation is that the W Line is maybe the most used of the light rail lines, and it's definitely my favorite. It's also the only suburban one that doesn't run right by a highway.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Totally agree! I didn’t dig into it too much in the video, but yeah the alignments largely miss out on places people want to take transit to (though they do still serve useful destinations like office developments along I-25 and Downtown Littleton). I also agree about the W Line-the lack of nearby freeways or obstructive rail lines allows it to serve a lot of quite walkable neighborhood. Would sure be nice if trains went fully into downtown!

[@DENVEROUTDOORMAN]

And call and dies and buses never connect on time....usually 20+ mins late

[@mrvwbug4423]

The Bellview station alignment was a massive missed opportunity. It's on the wrong side of I-25. Had it been on the east side it would've made a great station to serve the Denver Tech Center, but there isn't even a pedestrian bridge crossing I-25 from that station.

[@graemeesmith]

IMO, the W is way to slooooow. It takes forever to go from the Golden to downtown. After speeds at terrible. Agreed on stations being in unwalkable areas. I've found the most useful way to actually use the trains is drive to a station and ride to downtown.

[@hamelconsultancyllc]

Great video, I think a big thing that is often missed is WHY so few people right now use the current system. It’s honestly just horribly designed station placement. Instead of doing it the right and hard way, where you want it to serve the densest areas, they did it the cheapest and easiest way and put the line stops in area where it wouldn’t bother anyone (which means not serving anyone!) Beyond that they didn’t build a ton of housing around the new stops either, and instead put up parking structures. They are changing it a bit, but the stop closest to me is legit In the middle of a park - even the closest residential building is a 8 minute walk. They need to redone all the areas around the current stations to have high density living to start Your proposed stations are great and where they should go but there is sadly no political will at the moment

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

I completely agree. Following cheap rights of way can sometimes be the best answer (the W Line, for example, is pretty well-located), but Denver’s lines are largely located in extremely pedestrian-hostile areas, and the bus system is inadequate for last mile connections. Development could really help for some stations, but others never had much promise to begin with, at least without RTD rethinking how the bus network functions.

[@mrvwbug4423]

It's starting to improve. W line has several TOD developments. Iliff station on the R line has a nice TOD development right next to it. Bellview station has some commercial TOD going up next to it, but it still needs a pedestrian bridge over I-25 so that the DTC can be in walking distance.

[@timothystulken]

Running trains along interstates doesn’t promote ridership? Who woulda guessed?

[@harrisonofcolorado8886]

Coming from a guy who lives in Denver, I really like the ideas you've presented here. The downtown tunnel for both light rail and commuter rail, and the light Metro idea as well, they all sound like pretty good ideas. (Though, I saw you use an area for the possible metro where there is already a unused C&S ROW) And honestly, a possible Gold line extension that you've thought up could also not only help people get from Golden to Downtown Denver, but also it would be cool if a station serviced the Colorado Railroad Museum and allowed people to go to the Colorado Railroad Museum without needing a car.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Thanks for the support! I didn’t point out the possibility of a railroad museum station in this video as it probably wouldn’t be particularly busy, but it could still be useful as a request stop.

[@harrisonofcolorado8886]

@@thehouseoftransit2719 Well, I know of a few days in the year where it looks like a lot of people would come to the Railroad Museum via the Gold Line.

[@DavidSmith-jj7ll]

I am glad that you spotted Colfax, Cherry Creek, Nine Mile, and City Park as places that are great opportunities for better transit connections. I was just looking at Armchair Urbanist's recent bit on RTD and the bad development choices they've made around rail stations, and I immediately thought of Nine Mile as a missed opportunity. Here we have this station, that's getting a big redevelopment happening right across Parker, but because the line was put in the center of 225, on the section between the Parker overpass and the Peoria onramp, it's cut off from that development by the huge park-and-ride and the 7-lane stroad of Parker, including a porkchop island and slip lane that I've seen a bunch of pedestrian near-misses on. Six lanes of Peoria cut it off from some small high-rise apartment blocks and some suburban-style apartment complexes that could probably benefit from better transit as well. And both Parker and Peoria cut it off from some strip malls with surprising amounts of walkable-ish amenities. There is a surprisingly upscale King Soopers (Kroger affiliate) for groceries and pharmacy, at least a dozen restaurants from IHOP and Popeye's to Indian, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, tortas, a sports bar and a brewpub, a couple of ethnic markets, a Starbucks and a Middle Eastern coffee house, dentists, retail banking... pretty much anything you'd need except department stores and primary care, but those are available a few stops away along the R line at Aurora Med South or up at Anschutz. There are theaters a few stops up R or H. A few stops up to Aurora City Center gets you a good chunk of the remaining retail you'd want. But the land use and stroads and positioning of the station cut it off from so much stuff. You could easily live a car-free lifestyle there, but the street crossings are dangerous and the housing immediately goes to exclusively low-density residential or suburban apartment complexes as soon as you get two blocks from the station. Even the redevelopment is only putting in a couple of 4-over-1s, that don't even look like they'll put retail on that first floor, wasting even more opportunities for walkability and third-space options. Hell, it even has direct access to Cherry Creek State Park, the Radisson with space for small conventions, and even the regional US Passport office for the whole Rocky Mountain region is a five minute walk from Nine Mile. But you're taking your life into your hands crossing Parker, Peoria, and the other I-225 on/off ramps. Plus it's hooked in to the Cherry Creek trail system so you could easily bike to dozens more places, except the surrounding bike infrastructure out into the nearby neighborhoods is completely disconnected from both the Cherry Creek bikeway and from Nine Mile itself. It's ALMOST a great place. Your Cherry Creek / Colorado / Evans / Iliff metro line would really push that along, and there's a huge dead K-Mart crater at Evans and Monaco that would be ideal for a big TOD if it had metro access to Colorado Station, Glendale, maybe with an extension to meet the Colfax line at Rose. Hell, you could even get a bunch more commuters off Parker Road by connecting Nine Mile to a dedicated BRT route out along Parker to the town of Parker, park-and-rides that could even extend to tie in the southeast exurbs of Southlands.

[@mrvwbug4423]

Nine Mile is a weird situation. The area around it has a lot of upscale development with awful access to the station ... but Nine Mile station itself is SKETCHY AF, I refuse to go anywhere near that station due to the encampments and rampant fentanyl use right in the station. Nine Mile is at least as dangerous as South Broadway.

[@Jessie-vm6kq]

A good system at the end. Would be nice if the light metro lines didn't terminate in downtown. even with light metro there would probably be a need to expand the capacity of the terminus to handle a full trunk of ALM service. While W Colfax isn't as desirable to serve maybe send some trains along W 38th Ave & N Federal Blvd could add new areas on the east side to the ALM network.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

That’s fair, there is also a quite dense neighborhood just to the Northwest of Lodo that would be worth serving

[@DavidSmith-jj7ll]

"...even after completion of the B line in the 23rd Century." Shots fired.

[@txshady]

Good analysis, I might add that really we should look at connecting the various rail lines in other places than downtown. It would be my hope that if the B line is ever completed, it would be connected by rail to the N, G, W line. Similar to what R does for the southeast lines and A line. It is a shame RTD designed the rail network the way they did, missed opportunity with track alignment when Union Station was being redeveloped. Nowadays I would think that the massive investment they would need to fix the system to what it should be would prevent it from ever being done.

[@fosahistorica2537]

This videos are so funny, continue in this path😊

[@VeloxStang]

Beautiful. As a person that lives in the Denver area this would be amazing. Maybe one day I’ll have the money to make something like this happen 😅

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Haha, I’m very glad to hear that someone from Denver approves!

[@brennan7017]

love these videos it’s so interesting how knowledgeable about this you are

[@Denusa]

I like where you are going with this. However, a much cheaper and effective solution with the "W" line would be the building of missing southern leg of the "Y" at Auraria West and the reinstalling the northern leg of the "Y" at Colfax Avenue which was removed about ten years ago near Auraria North. The underground tunnel for the heavy rail does make perfect sense despite the high cost of tunneling in a dense urban downtown.

[@user-ek3hx3tp4u]

Funny thing is that soon after this video was made, rtd got a huge overhaul increasing frequencies and reducing fares. Also brt is planned along many roads including colfax. Rtd has its struggles, but the future is looking bright.

[@NikVargaLiverpool4ever]

The BRT is planned to be done in like 2028 which is so far away, but it is moving. They had a meeting in august about station design, now I think it’s in environmental review

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Okay, that’s good to hear

[@mozarab4495]

@@thehouseoftransit2719It'll most likely start operating in 2027 - ahead of schedule!

[@Dimewick21]

Love the ideas. Being from Denver and being a transit lover, I have drawn several fantasy maps of what Denver’s transit could/should/would (if Denver was perhaps in Europe) look like. Many include a loop like you have. My biggest critique is that I simply think that Ball Arena and Mile High Stadium (or what ever it’s called for the next year or 2) would need far more transit than just extending the L-line which is essentially streetcar. In addition to serving the 2 largest sports/event venues in the region, These two stations are also going to be at the center of what will be by far the largest infill development the city has ever seen- River Mile, in addition to new developments around Ball arena, and Mile High stadium itself. What I would propose is widening your downtown loop to include the sports venues on the west. I would also probably widen it to the east to include the Civic Center. My loop would look something like this: going clockwise, Union Station, Larimer/17th (or 18th), California/17th (or 18th), Civic Center, Convention Center, Auraria Campus, Mile High, Ball Arena, closing the loop back at Union Station. Conversely, your proposed inner city metro lines could probably be extended west and south to ball arena and mile high, and meeting with the south suburban light rail at Auraria campus. Speaking of the inner city metro proposal, as much as I would love to see a Vancouver sky train like inner city light metro in Denver, I simply don’t think we have the density yet and probably never will, let alone the funding. I do agree with you on the densest corridors however: East Colfax to the R line and a Broadway-Speer-Cherry Creek-Colorado- Evans/Iiliff- Parker road to NineMile link. Denver should instead look at high-capacity mostly surface-running trams for this. It shouldn’t incumbent that we have to elevate quality transit or put it underground (by the way, elevated transit in Denver tends to go over like a fart in church, especially somewhere like Cherry Creek) to get out of the way of cars. I feel a better solution is high quality/high capacity tram (think Eglington crosstown in Toronto), where we could give surface streets (at least a lane in each direction) to transit only along these corridors, give transit, full signal priority, limit left turns across the transit lines, and elevate or tunnel it in certain short sections where warranted. A well designed, well implemented, well run tram/light rail line can run pretty much as fast, and carry as much capacity as a light metro.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

While trams have their place and might be politically more palatable, high-demand corridors (including Eglinton) struggle with limited speeds and capacity when compared to a metro. While it might be hard to fathom building one in Denver today, a metro could be supported by an overhaul of the connecting bus network and smarter development policies within the city. I hadn’t heard about the River Mile development, but it would certainly be a strong destination to serve. I like extending the urban Colfax/Cherry Creek lines there so they don’t dead-end in downtown.

[@nickberry5520]

Can't wait for your video on SEPTA, Including the infamous and elusive Roosevelt Blvd Subway.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

nor can we… :)

[@nicolesi2201]

As a former user of the RTD SE FasTrax light rail before they killed the F-line in the pandemic, and also a frequent flyer who is terribly served for access to the airport, I SERIOUSLY WISH RTD WOULD LISTEN TO YOU. It baffles me to this day why Cherry Creek (Speer/Colorado) and Colfax do not have a metro system on them.

[@carsonblume]

The expansive soils make tunnels extremely expensive, elevated would be great. Also if you’re not already aware check out the upcoming front range passenger rail

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

I think elevated rail within downtown might be a hard sell politically, though that would be a nice alternative. I have heard of the front range corridor, and am definitely excited for service to start whenever it does!

[@qjtvaddict]

@@thehouseoftransit2719 then elevated it is sorry but subways can’t work everywhere and if geography prevents subway then elevated is the only option period people need to understand that. Sorry

[@dvferyance]

@@qjtvaddict The airport itself has an underground train.

[@flababofa]

@CB5E Do you have more info about the soil issues surrounding underground construction? I've been looking for a source on this for Denver for a while and I keep coming up short.

[@mrvwbug4423]

I'll be surprised if the FR Amtrak corridor is ever built. That's going to take at least a couple of consecutive Democratic administrations to happen. If it can happen politically Fort Collins to Pueblo is an easy sell, but that distance is a hard sell for HSR due to how short it is so would more likely be commuter rail. Wyoming will NEVER allow it to be extended up to Cheyenne, and extending it south to Santa Fe and Albuquerque would be a huge project.

[@danielkelly2210]

I love it!

[@mattpopovich]

Interesting video. I also agree the W line should definitely go into downtown Golden. I would caution against having the D and E lines not going directly to Ball Arena and Mile High Stadium as a lot of surburb riders use the network explicitly for that reason. I like the Cherry Creek line but I doubt anyone that actually lives in Cherry Creek will use it ($$$). I also like the Colfax line but that might be serviceable with BRT. I selfishly wish the D, E lines were commuter rail and ended up going on the A line to the airport, or at least actually going to Union Station instead of 4 blocks away from Union Station. An A line stop at Coors Field would be nice too. In my dreams we'll have a line go to Red Rocks. In my grandchild's dreams, they'll have a line going to Silverthorne. Cheers!

[@residentmaple]

This was really intriguing to watch. I'd love to see another video like this on Phoenix!

[@brendanm413]

Love this!

[@AutumnBosco]

Very good video 👏

[@sir9integra9jr]

RTD's coverage in Boulder is fantastic! Between the small size of the city and the nice layout and transit service, It's perfectly doable to live in Boulder without a car. Since moving to Denver, though, I've been very sad about having to drive everywhere all the time, knowing that parking will be a disaster when I arrive because every other person there also drove. It feels as though RTD in Denver is there to look nice for tourists, but it certainly isn't functional. People from San Francisco love nothing more than to talk about how terrible BART and MUNI are, so I say we should trade!

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

It’s good to know Boulder has a strong bus system, but I would definitely agree about that assessment of the RTD in Denver. SF’s transit isn’t perfect either, but they don’t know how good they have it!

[@sleepythespian1455]

For Downtown, we should keep Theatre District station, and run the commuter trains there in addition to the LRT lines that go there. An additional Theatre District DCPA station would be built under the DCPA complex, and we would still have that downtown loop you mentioned, just with the bottom of it being my proposed Theatre District corridor. When doing that, be careful not to put it under any active theatres. Don’t wanna disturb a performance of Mamma Mia when a Silverliner V rips through at full speed.

[@kennycarter4932]

Awesome. Wish people like you were making decisions for us

[@pirazel7858]

What you propose, is called a S-Bahn system in Europe. Suburban railway lines coming together and running along a central tunnel with several underground stops down town

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Yep, it’s pretty similar. I think the key difference is trains would be looping around and going back the way they came, as opposed to running through the city onto a new line.

[@sleepythespian1455]

7:58 Route 0 gets its numbered like that because we use a grid system, and Broadway is internally a 0-point, being what determines East and West roads. All of our bus routes get their numbers based on the internal number assigned to their primary road, hence the Broadway bus getting route 0.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

@@sleepythespian1455 ahh, very interesting!

[@austin67605]

Such a great vision. Downtown would blossom with that much connectivity. What about extending your Colfax pink line all the way to Buckley space force base? I know it’s a big employer in Aurora. Not sure if military bases can have direct rail. Also worth considering would be an aerial tram to serve highlands from union station. It could fly over confluence and connect the neighborhood to transit + be a great tourism attraction.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

I really appreciate the feedback! The Air Force Base might be tricky to have as a terminus, but someone else suggested extending the line to the 40th Ave Airport Blvd A Line station, which could bring it closer to the sprawling AFB with shuttle buses as a last mile connection. Just a thought. As for the aerial tram, that’s absolutely brilliant! Highlands seemed moderately dense but also difficult to connect to the rest of the network so that’s a great solution.

[@mrvwbug4423]

They could have a station right outside of Buckley with a walk on base gate, then talk the Air Force into running shuttle buses on base (yes I know Buckley is a SFB, but the Air Force runs the base and comprises almost all the personnel on base).

[@mrvwbug4423]

I would add that most personnel that work at Buckley live in Aurora

[@pcongre]

I'd aim even higher: step 1. ban new urban highways, tear down existing ones, invest savings in more efficient modes 2. copy Japanese urbanism laws, including a virtual ban of on-street parking 3. copy Dutch bicyle standards, invest heavily in new bike infra 4. copy Central European rather than Australian p t solutions i e either you make the different lines compatible before connecting them ...or why not create new corridors on the other side of new separate cbd tunnels?

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Well this is certainly aiming higher! What I show is maybe more of a short-term solution :)

[@mrvwbug4423]

Denver already has a ton of bike infrastructure, bike paths going all over the metro area and separated bike lanes near downtown. Problem is the city is too big to efficiently travel by bike and the transit is too disjointed currently to make for efficient "bike + train" travel. For point #1, Denver doesn't actually have a lot of urban freeways, it has a metric ton of stroads. for point #2, most parking in Denver is already off street, you can't build housing in Denver without off-street parking space.

[@pcongre]

@@mrvwbug4423 0. compared to other us cities, sure - not objectively speaking, though 1. fair enough, where i wrote urban highways i probably should've written '(sub)urban motor infra' or the like... or simply bloatroads? ^^ 2. right, but that's where the rest of japan's urbanism laws are relevant

[@Shastasnow]

I wish more cities would work to improve their transit systems. I am going to miss living in Denver. But I will be back for holidays and what not to see my mom 👍

[@SamruaiKiwi]

I am glad to have found your channel! You have awesome videos and are definitely unrepresented on youtube given the quality of your content. If you're gunning for lots of subscriber growth, I think a new, high-quality mic would go a long way! Maybe that's already on your wishlist but I hope to see you go far! EDIT: Pleast make on of these for Portland Oregon too!

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Thank you! Mic is on its way :) Portland’s a fun one, we’ll have to get to it soon.

[@mrvwbug4423]

@@thehouseoftransit2719 PDX has bigger problems to deal with than TriMet expansion though. Right now you have to have a death wish to even ride TriMet in downtown

[@znewell5]

This is really cool; I also think RTD should consider a line that would share tracks with the A line until the Central Park station and then route north into Commerce City to serve employment centers there, intersect with the N line, and then join up with the future B line up to Boulder (and perhaps all the way to Longmont) - this would give Boulder and 36-corridor residents and employees a single-seat airport ride (it's also very selfish as I live close to an A line station and work close to a future B line station...)

[@mrvwbug4423]

In my case, I live relatively close to the R line, but it's MUCH faster for me to drive up to the Peoria station and catch the A line up there if I'm going to the airport vs catching the R line up to Peoria. A line to the airport is still much nicer than driving there.

[@TheLiamster]

This is great but there also should be zoning reform around stations. There’s so much potential to increase ridership through transit oriented development

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

For sure, TOD never hurts!

[@isaacabramovich2546]

I want to see New York city metro area. You can do LA and many growing city in the south and south west, I would like to see Chicago too?

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Thanks for the suggestions! I tend to be more inclined to focus on cities that don’t already have extensive plans in place (I also think Nandert’s ideas for LA are fabulous). In the short term the regions I’d like to focus on next include Charlotte, Atlanta, Chicago, and Northern New Jersey.

[@arhanmenon1526]

@@thehouseoftransit2719 I can't wait for North Jersey, especially for what you do in Hudson County. There should be a subway along JFK/Bergenline linking Bayonne to Fort Lee imo. I even have it going across GWB into NYC and then along Fordham Rd in the Bronx to complement the Bx-12.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

@@arhanmenon1526 nice, my line is perhaps not that extensive though there is definitely a need for a subway under Bergenline

[@Mac-tw3zu]

The miners would, in fact, love it. We’re stuck walking an hour to Jeffco to ride the W

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Sounds frustrating, I’m glad it would help

[@simpletraveler86]

easily bikeable via the hwy 6 path

[@Mac-tw3zu]

@@simpletraveler86 but there are limited bike parking options at Jeffco. Also, the train runs every 30 minutes from that station vs 15 on the rest of the W line. Fact is that unless bike culture changes a lot it’s inaccessible for the average student. Mines also has a massive issue with parking at the moment. Because housing in golden is so expensive, most older students drive from Denver/suburbs. Kinda sucks that the W didn’t just go all the way closer to campus/downtown

[@theflowerflora518]

The G line will never serve there because it was never supposed to.

[@Mac-tw3zu]

@@theflowerflora518god forbid they extend a line

[@themountainwanderer]

Some great ideas. Too bad they won't have the funding for most of it. One of the priorities must be efficiency. It just takes too long now, with light rail lines having too many stops and too low frequencies, especially off hours. The mall shuttle bus is a catastrophe in that regard, stops on every block. Security also needs to be drastically improved. Open drug consumption in stations and on vehicles is an every day occurrence. It is frustrating to see the system falter after the promise of FastTracks. Really sad to see these once great looking stations being dirty and vandalized and service cut.

[@Denusa]

We are still waiting (forever) for the East Colfax Busway which seems to be pushed back another year for another year. A street rail system along East Colfax is a nonstarter as it has been opposed by almost every group of people in Denver. Creating dedicated bus lanes on W. Colfax and East Colfax where each widens to six lanes is definitely doable. For Broadway and the "0" : bus lanes exist all the way to Englewood southbound but woefully incomplete between I-25 and Cherry Creek. There IS a bus/bike signaling system above Cherry Creek and parts of downtown but it is still a work in progress. The "L" line (Gold) is projected to be extended northward to Blake/40th Station but construction/funding is not in place. The 83 L& D or Cherry Creek line is especially problematic. The 83L and 83D run together for part of the route but split for most of the way to Nine Mile Station. The 83, 40 ,105 and the proposed Colfax and Cherry Creek rail lines all suffer the same serious flaws for improvement. Heavily traveled during the weekdays... these routes all have significant to 60% dropoff in ridership in the evenings and weekends. Bus lanes for these routes would be appropriate on all these routes. However, please note Denver roads are notorious for changing in size. The 105 runs primarily on one street which varies from an eight lane major highway to a two lane residential connector as an example.

[@mrvwbug4423]

6th Ave being the most obvious case for your last point. East end of it is a huge stroad, as you approach downtown it splits into a pair of one way residential streets then at I-25 becomes a freeway out to Golden, then turns into a 2 lane B road that goes to Blackhawk

[@james-mn7zj]

please do the chicago L 🙏

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

It’s near the top of my list!

[@qjtvaddict]

Make the suburban trains a 10 minute service then extend them past union station to new elevated lines and serve new areas. The light rail rolling stock then gets replaced by automated metro stock then new lines along broadway to reroute the C train then have the E train run on a viaduct to eliminate grade crossings to union station then go serve coifax as an EL with C automated operation. E goes to automated operation. In other words outside of the W and L lines trash the idea of light rail. And with the new EL lines no more reverse branching. Line E can then run through to become the coifax line.

[@liskaliska9148]

Love this! Please do Charlotte's Blue, Gold, upcoming Silver, and Red, as well as any ideas for others!

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Noted, thank you!

[@carbontetlabs8606]

I know you're not really a traffic guy but as a resident I'd love to see you cover the atrocity that is the intersection of I76, I25, I270 and US36. In particular, 270E clogs up every single morning and I stg it's an actual case of just one more lane being all that's needed

[@arhanmenon1526]

I feel like Flatiron Flyer should also have a branch to the airport to give people direct access to Boulder. This would be useful for out-of-state CU students.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

This is a good idea!

[@tfhorsch4527]

there already is the AB1 bus going from downtown Boulder to the airport, but it needs to at least double its frequency, its always almost full whenever I take it.

[@otsoko66]

@@tfhorsch4527 If you pick up the AB1 in downtown Boulder, you will still be in Louisville (next town to Boulder) 40-60 minutes later. It is the slowest bus in the universe.

[@mrvwbug4423]

The FF needs to stop at an A line station, but the east branch of the FF stops at the Colfax R line station which is idiotic, it should stop at the Peoria or Central Park A line stations.

[@theflowerflora518]

The AB bus already does that

[@t.7746]

Please do the Chicago CTA System next!!

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

It’s definitely going to happen at some point!

[@mcb187]

One huge thing is missing here: no connection to Colorado Springs or Fort Collins! I-25 sucks to drive, and having a regional rail connection, even if it isn’t as frequent as I think it should be, would be amazing! I think the route would server at least Colorado Springs, Castle Rock, Denver, Loveland, and Ft Collins, but a route serving Pueblo, Fountain, Downtown Colorado Springs, USAF, Monument, Castle Rock, Centennial, Downtown Denver, Thornton, Loveland, and Ft Collins would be the absolute best. Frequencies could be as low as once every 3 hours and it would work, but once an hour would be insane!

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

That’s more of an intercity service, which I don’t show on this map. But I agree, it’s a very strong corridor, and Amtrak’s Front Range connection will be a game changer!

[@bistro-tat]

I like the city center loop, although I think the regional heavy rail lines would not be able to get below grade to travel under 19th street due to the length of Union Station's platforms and the fact that 20th street is already below grade. There's just not enough room for trains to get below grade level and maintain access for Amtrak + other future services. You'd either have to demolish Coors Field for the tunnel portal and travel under 20th st or tunnel under 22nd street with portals for each of the branches.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

This is very fair, that is a tight area to fit a portal into. Separate portals for each of the branches would be complicated but might have to be the way to go

[@timothystulken]

Colfax is a crucial commercial vehicle corridor through the city. It’s the only street that explicitly allows commercial vehicle traffic, and as such, heavy vehicle traffic is quite high throughout. This would pose a challenge to any road diet/centrally aligned train system. My suggestion would be to use 13/14th streets for trains or shift commercial vehicle traffic to those streets. Having trains and commercial vehicles on the same stroad sounds like a recipe for disaster. The colfax corridor desperately needs improved transit though. It’s crazy that it’s only being served by busses that run in the same lanes as normal traffic.

[@williamerazo3921]

Yes Denver needs a loop

[@dvferyance]

I think Denver has one of the best light rail systems in America.

[@TheMagnificentish]

Please do improving Muni in San Francisco

[@brianr4054]

Also good Idea for transit on East Evans, I drive this corridor frequently and everything about it need to change. I hate everything about this street. Elevated Rail could work here because it is dense enough to generate good ridership and there is Zero room for road expansion. 90% of the structures east of I-25 need to be bulldozed, so there are lots of good redevelopment opportunities. Fun Trivia, the right of way north of Evans that you pointed out use to be part of the defunct Denver and New Orleans RR in the 1800's. Now it is just hone to some High tension powerlines.

[@mrvwbug4423]

Are you talking east of I-25 or east of Santa Fe? The section east of I-25 turns into Iliff in like a mile and there is absolutely no room to build anything there. The section between I-25 and Santa Fe is mostly taken up by the University.

[@Distress.]

I'd love one of these videos for Miami

[@graemeesmith]

Something I've noticed is if you live south of the W line in Lakewood is nearly impossible to walk or bike north to the train. 6th ave is a stupid impenetrable barrier.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

That’s frustrating, it does look like a pretty huge barrier. Better connecting buses would help but even that can only go so far when there are so few arterials that actually cross 6th

[@schwenda3727]

Any clue how long it’ll take to get Amtrak services running between Pueblo & Cheyenne? Hopefully that in particular works out simply given the lacking highway capacity within the entirety of the Front Range sprawl…

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

I’m not entirely sure when serious planning for that will start, but it’s certainly going to become one of the best-connected Amtrak corridor services

[@qjtvaddict]

High speed operation then

[@IndyBikeEnjoyer]

Very interesting! You should take a look at the Indianapolis Red (operating), Purple, and Blue BRT lines (under construction/ planned). Public transit is awful in Indy, but it's exciting to see some attempt at rapid transit being undertaken.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

I’m vaguely familiar with the system, and I will say the existing/planned lines are really solid for an otherwise car-dependent region!

[@DENVEROUTDOORMAN]

Nope

[@hamelconsultancyllc]

Also quick question: where do you get the job density info? Would like to use it for my own projects thanks

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Here's the site that I use :) www.robertmanduca.com/projects/jobs.html

[@jasoningolden2194]

Great video. I can add some other problems with RTD: 1) It takes at least twice as long to get anywhere on RTD as it does to drive. 2) The connection between the suburban lines and the A line is horrible, requiring one to schlep luggage about 4 blocks on the surface, or brave the homeless hell gauntlet that is the connector tunnel. 3) Going to an event at Ball Arena requires standing around in the cold for up to 30 minutes afterwards since the trains run on 30 minute schedules at night. 4) Trains are feeling a lot less safe lately with sketchy groups using them as places to hang out.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Those are definitely all major frustrations

[@graemeesmith]

The connector tunnel (bus station) has gotten much less sketchy! Still need to drag your luggage quite a ways though so it's a pretty sucky experience.

[@Bureaucromancer]

It seems to me that doing Colfax first, emphasizing the Mallride upgrade as the primary LRT/Commuter Rail connector and running all southern light rail downtown would benefit a lot more people sooner than doing a downtown loop first...

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Fair enough, those could probably be prioritized

[@officialvisaural]

Pretty much every city needs an orbital/circle service that would connect radial lines together

[@kevinbarnes218]

already the downtown tunnel loop would make rtd rail system sooo much better

[@jonathanlanglois2742]

Melbourne is building a tunnel to bypass the loop, precisely because through running is more efficient. It might just be that Denver is better off upgrading some of its Light Rail system to more of a metro-like system.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

This is true, and it’s definitely optimal to through-run. In the short term, though, it’s probably not the best use of RTD’s limited resources to convert existing lines to different standards.

[@SpaceboyYT]

Amazing video! I live in the Southwest portion of the Denver metro area. I had lots of idea for extensions and expansions myself. If the C line was running, the C Line could be extended to C-470 & Lucent while the D Line could be extended along Mineral/Ken Caryl Avenue, and then turn north onto Kipling and terminate at Southwest Plaza. Or the D Line could branch off and run along Bowles Avenue instead.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Ah, yes the southwest suburbs of Denver are a bit tricky to serve as there are no existing rights of way. In the short term better bus service on those arterials would help a lot, but I like your ideas for branching C/D service.

[@SpaceboyYT]

@@thehouseoftransit2719 Thanks!

[@mrvwbug4423]

Run the C line to Morrison, train to Red Rocks haha. Not that the incredibly corrupt Morrison town government would EVER go for it.

[@ababababaababbba]

do one for bart and muni please!

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

We’ll get there eventually!

[@DENVEROUTDOORMAN]

Nope

[@idcanthony9286]

So, when do we storm the RTD and City Council meetings to get this approved?

[@alexisdespland4939]

the dowtown loop dosen't serve the city bus termial at civic ceter.

[@LIRRFAN426]

You should do the NYC Subway next

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

I would… but I’m scared of the responses from angry New Yorkers lmao

[@zekebowl]

The idea of getting the property to build a line down Colorado blvd would bankrupt a state 4 times the size of Colorado.

[@user-ek3hx3tp4u]

It kinda makes me frustrated that everyone hates on this system. I get it’s not the best system but it’s getting a lot better. Like people don’t realize that many US cities don’t even have rail services and many others have even worse ones than Denver. I think it should get some recognition before getting criticism and hating on it.

[@williamerazo3921]

Can upgrade the airport line to a HSR

[@suckmyartauds]

8:06 this killed me lmfao. Great vid!

[@MrKcweeda]

Is there a link to the google map of the proposed loop and lines?

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Map link now in description!

[@Alexis-lt3zy]

Big problem with proposed underground rail lines: the earth here is _impossible_ to work with. Anything underground costs so, so much more money here.

[@maceolo]

The two systems are not necessarily incompatible. Tram-train systems can also be operated with 2 different voltages. Look at the Tram-Train-System in Karlsruhe or Kassel. In Kassel they even have diesel engines and electric motors on the same trains.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Oh yeah the voltage isn’t the issue, the problem is that the commuter rail system has much higher platforms than the light rail system

[@sleepythespian1455]

With the Downtown proposal, would Theatre District station survive the change, or would we no longer use it?

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

@@sleepythespian1455 it would probably be kept around as part of the L line

[@ravisharma8724]

What makes an “all new international airport?” Does it require it to be built on an entirely new parcel of land too?

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

By the metrics I was using, yes

[@eejit12]

Salt Lake City next!

[@CABOOSEBOB]

Ideally they convert every line to light metro and make them through running

[@sri-kaushalramana437]

can you do one on atlantas Marta

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Lots of people seem interested in this so… yes, soon :)

[@Denusa]

The extension to golden by the "G" line would be easy to do as the ROW already exists as a BNSF branch line to Coors brewery. However, lack of cash and pollical will and community support has caused to be failure as a viable project to this date.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Hmm, that’s too bad. It’s a fairly simple project so hopefully it will move ahead when the RTD has more capital to work with.

[@kertchu]

I’d love to see a video like this on san jose’s vta light rail if you can please.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

We will make our way there eventually

[@kertchu]

So what are you planning to do before that?

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

@@kertchu We’ll see, I’m most inclined to do systems that I feel have a lot of unrealized potential and desperately need improvement. Cities like Chicago and Atlanta are priorities, and while the Bay Area is up there, there are already some pretty solid plans in place.

[@kertchu]

@@thehouseoftransit2719 ok, I have some ideas but then maybe I should be making a video instead of you haha

[@kertchu]

@@thehouseoftransit2719I just wonder though, how can I better research things like cost. I am actually working on a fantasy transit map of Santa Clara county right now, so idk if I should do more research or just put a video out there and ask for criticism.

[@brianr4054]

Elevated rail in front of the Cherry Creek County Club? The corridor is begging for transit but the county club billionaires will never let that happen. An at grade streetcar is feasible, but the well connected nimbys will also go apopleptic at the sight of overhead wires. Below grade will be a mess being so close to cherry creek and the high water table. I have lost sleep trying to figure out a mass transit route on Speer/First. Maybe a deep bore tunnel coming through Cheesman Park from the northwest could be feasible. Likely a BRT lite is all that we will ever see, if anything. Sorry to be a downer.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

If this country ever gets its act together we’d just tell the NIMBYs to suck it up and deal with the elevated line, but unfortunately today that feels like a distant reality

[@P4DDYW4CK]

I love how these rail lines get people to Union Station and that’s it. Good luck getting anywhere else in Denver without getting stuck in traffic! There definitely is a lot of potential, it’s just gonna take a lot of money and political will. I feel like the B Line will never be completed. This was a wonderful fantasy though! I think Colfax and Broadway are great roads to build a skytrain-like transit project on.

[@mrvwbug4423]

One of the major problems is East Colfax and South Broadway are the two highest crime areas of Denver, they need to clean up both areas to make transit development more appealing. Nobody is going to ride a rapid transit line in those areas if they're worried about getting mugged or exposed to Fentanyl.

[@JohnJohnson-kg4ek]

What makes you say that the two different rail networks are incompatible at 2:40? They are the same rails and same trains aren't they?

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Not at all, the regional rail network uses large high floor mainline trains while the light rail network uses smaller low floor trains

[@JohnJohnson-kg4ek]

@@thehouseoftransit2719 It looks as though the tracks are made for both types though? The regional D line from Littleton runs along the same tracks as the L line on Stout Street.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

@@JohnJohnson-kg4ek That’s true, and both are already part of the light rail network. What I was referencing was that the light rail network is incompatible with the mainline A/B/G/N lines

[@JohnJohnson-kg4ek]

@@thehouseoftransit2719 That's very interesting! I did not know that. I'm from Denver and made my own fantasy transit map. I would love to hear your opinions on it if you like.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

@@JohnJohnson-kg4ek Sure! You can send it here if you like

[@CABOOSEBOB]

They need to focus on making the stops they have worth visiting

[@qjtvaddict]

Denver LRT can easily be converted to light metro

[@ayeeeeeeee6240]

could you do one on Atlanta’s MARTA system?

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

We’ve got a lot of cities to get through, but there seems to be some interest in Atlanta so it might be up there on the list

[@DENVEROUTDOORMAN]

Nope

[@mauricemorgan9701]

You should do the Chicago cta

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Oh boy let’s just say we’ve got a lot planned for Chicago

[@maas1208]

​@@thehouseoftransit2719 I have a feeling its going to be controversial, I Absolutely Hate the Controvesial opinion of Demolishing the L and replacing it with a subway in Chicago with a Burning Passion.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

@@maas1208 oh agreed, the Loop must stay. New tunnels might still be in order though

[@maas1208]

@@thehouseoftransit2719 Maybe they could make spur off the Southwest corner of the Loop to where the Former Chicago Grand Central Station used to be as alternative terminus for train lines like the Brown line or the Orange line.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

@@maas1208 or, just keep using the Loop as a loop ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@LilBoyHexley]

I wish the people in charge could see this. Denver could have excellent transit with great ridership if it directly served high demand areas within the urban core. The skeleton for a great system is *right there*. I live near a park and ride and work downtown, but the commuter rail is near useless for most commuters because it doesn't serve the locations people actually work. With a given commute actually having more time spent on a bus in downtown traffic than on the rail. It just sucks because at this point we've built a large amount of rail that isn't doing well, so the political will to build more has been spent. It's such a waste. With a proper nucleus the transit system could truly be a model for how to do transit right.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

It really is too bad. Hopefully RTD will be able to locate a new funding source and at least get to a place where there is more political will to support it.

[@LilBoyHexley]

​​​@@thehouseoftransit2719 Hopefully the east Colfax BRT (just recently pushed up to 2026) will provide something of a legitimate win for rapid transit in the city, and provide a specific local example of the benefits of TOD. Maybe that'll help to reignite efforts.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

@@LilBoyHexley It’s definitely a strong first step!

[@danesmith3615]

Wont lie as an old operator for the a,b, and g lines that tunnel loop would suck to run if you had to use the restroom itd only be possible at end terminals which it takes like 5-10 minutes walking at the airport, g line you have to basically park in the platform and b line has no restroom for operators in westminster

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

This is a perspective we don’t often hear! Hopefully more convenient bathrooms could be installed at the outer terminal stations, but that shouldn’t prevent through-operating service in the core

[@danesmith3615]

Rewatched your vid and wanted to mention as nice as this would be it wouldnt be possible as there would have to be cross overs of the commuter and light rail tracks. Reason saying not possible is that the two systems are powered differently, and pretty sure would violate some fra law what could work better is to have the commuter go into a tunnel and serve a few stops along the the 16th street mall with an underground terminal near civic center. @@thehouseoftransit2719

[@urfavidiot1414]

PLEASE DO NYC

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

NYC’s always intimidated me 😅 Might start with northern New Jersey

[@urfavidiot1414]

@@thehouseoftransit2719 sounds good to me

[@christopherharmon9336]

After watching a few videos about the Bogota BRT system, I personally don't think the US should build one more mile of rail. I hear people say that the US has over-invested in roads. If this is true, the BRT infrastructure is already in place.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

BRT should definitely be more common across the US, but it has its limitations. It is very expensive to operate since labor costs are much higher here, and Bogotá’s system is going to be difficult to electrify in the future. There’s a reason Bogota is now looking to construct a metro line.

[@christopherharmon9336]

Bogota has the ridership to support constructing a train network. Build ridership first, then build trains. It feels like we're going about it wrong in the US. We build trains, and hope people ride. BRT is expensive to operate? This is true if and only if a train is carrying hundreds of people on each trip. Every train passing through Arvada only has a few people on it. I can't imagine what the operational costs are to support a train line which few ride, like the R-line in your video. Keep up the good work!

[@matthewmcree1992]

Automated light metro is the ultimate solution for most reasonably dense American cities. I would kill for Minneapolis-St. Paul to turn the Green Line from LRT to automated light metro with platform screen doors, but it seems like the Twin Cities don't seem that interested in building anything other than tons of BRT-lite.

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

I think most of the corridors Metro Transit is building BRT on make sense, and at this point converting the Green Line would be more of a hassle than it’s worth. However, I would love to see a new higher-capacity connection between Minneapolis and St. Paul (be it light metro or mainline rail) as well as an automated metro line to core neighborhoods like Uptown.

[@Actual-Knight]

The transport is so bad out in the Denver suburbs that there exist "park & ride" stations served only by buses. Not even a train station with a parking lot, it's a bus stop with a parking lot. Absolutely ridiculous

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

Many cities have these, but it’s about using them properly

[@kyletopfer7818]

Australian here - Melbourne's City Loop is not a great example of this type of solution in my opinion, as it had a number of drawbacks and was overbuilt. They also stuffed up bits of the construction so that one of the lines can ONLY run one direction around the Loop without conflicting with other lines, and the Loop design tried to put too many lines/branches into one Loop tunnel. This Loop design was actually very peaky and commuter-focused. In an Australia context I would suggest Sydney is a better example with its City Circle line that does the same job in a better way. But I disagree this is the best solution - I think Denvers suburban rail should through-run onto the busier southern LR branches and these should get platforms raised and be converted to suburban rail standards with some improved grade separation. This would give you faster speeds and the eficiency benefits of through-running, which is my major criticism of the Melbourne City Loop concept - you showed on the map you highlighted that there are 7 main lines running into the city of Melbourne from the West and roughly the same from the east (not including branches), as many of these as possible should be through-run rather than looped as looping has hefty disadvantages too (slower journeys to the last station on the loop before resuming running in the suburban direction, more confusing for passengers, more construction & maintenance needed for less benefit, more difficult to add additional services).

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

A looping service is definitely a tradeoff, but so is reconstructing every station on an existing light rail line. Sure, you could improve ops a little, but that money should probably go towards expanding the network rather than reconstructing lines that aren’t in particularly useful places. Just my take on things

[@kyletopfer7818]

@@thehouseoftransit2719 you would have a point If the light rail service was successful, but it has pretty poor ridership numbers whilst the suburban rail has the highest ridership per mile of all commuter rail systems in the country outside NYC, and that is with the present operations of a terminal station not through-running into the City and serving some of the more important journey drivers, and lack of TOD. Suburban rail done well like in Australia (Sydney, Perth, Melbourne or Brisbane) with through-running is far more attractive for TOD and for families wanting to relocate themselves near to transit, compared to say Adelaide, Canberra or Newcastle in Australia which all have much worse performance at least partly due to the terminal nature of their operations. In the context of Denver you could sell it as an upgrade and use it to justify increased development around the existing light rail stations, with faster speeds and more Grade separations along with nicer stations and through-running being a proper upgrade and transformation of the system (especially AS the through-running would give people way Out on the Southside or Westside a direct train to the Airport or at worst a same-platform Transfer)

[@thehouseoftransit2719]

@@kyletopfer7818 You imply that the suburban rail performs better by virtue of it being suburban rail, which is simply untrue. The suburban rail network performs better almost exclusively because of the A Line serving DIA, which is a major ridership generator. Would the light rail lines ideally have been built as suburban rail? Yes. But they weren’t, and frankly that’s hardly the biggest flaw in their design. The problem is that these lines serve destinations with limited use and often little development potential. The mode isn’t the issue here, it’s where the lines go. So while you could put effort into reconstructing the light rail system into a “more appropriate” mode, it probably won’t do much for ridership compared to just running the trains more or building new lines to places people actually want to go.

[@kyletopfer7818]

@@thehouseoftransit2719 we shouldn't ignore the benefits of suburban rail though, I have seen stacks of videos and comments from non-regular users saying they found the ride on the suburban lines in Denver more comfortable and pleasant which is important for longer journeys. Suburban rail stations are a nicer spot to wait for trains and there is no reason you couldn't have platform screen doors or sheltered waiting areas to protect from road noise on highway median stations. Perhaps the solution is going to be building a fourth track on the southern railway corridor, grade separating more of the line, kicking the freight companies onto 2 of the 4 tracks, then running the suburban trains as expresses at their max speed of 79mph with a strategic interchange interchange station or 2 between LR and a stack of TOD around interchanges? Running costs with 4-car or eventually 6-car suburban trains at 10min or 15min headways will be lower than that which is needed to provide similar capacity with light rail vehicles especially if you cant couple more sets together than the present 2. Just on cost, your city loop idea would be something like 2 miles of new underground tunnel right? There is no way the city will let RTD get away with doing that cut-and-cover in the middle of downtown so it is going to be expensive, whereas linking Union Station with the southern LR corridor could an easy short cut-and-cover tunnel mostly through carparks and a shorter section on road.

[@mrvwbug4423]

This still leaves Aurora and SW Denver metro underserved. The R line also needs a realignment, it snakes through Aurora at 10mph because of those 90 degree turns, but ALL of its stations are next to 225. Another line east of the R line to serve the eastern part of Aurora is needed. Also a train line between the D line and W line to cover the 285 corridor. Also they really need a bus lane on US36 for the Flatiron Flyer, until the B line is built, but don't get your hopes up on the B line ever being extended. BRT connector between G and W lines would be nice. As it stands the W line west terminus acts as a hub to what is Denver's main area for outdoor recreation (the open space parks on the south end of Golden).