Regional Transportation District

RTD Line D--Mineral Station/18th and California St train in downtown Denver

In the 1960s, the principal provider of public transportation was the Denver Tramway Company, which served the City and County of Denver, as well as older portions of Arvada, Aurora, Englewood, Golden, Lakewood, Westminster, and Wheat Ridge and smaller suburbs. In 1969, the 47th session of the Colorado General Assembly created the RTD to provide public transportation to five additional counties in the metropolitan area. In October 1970, RTD found it needed to establish a Northern Operations Group (NOG) to provide service to Boulder and Longmont.

The privately owned Denver Tramway Company continued its service under sponsorship of the City and County of Denver until 1971, when it was taken over by Denver Metro Transit, an entity created by the City and County of Denver. Suburban services only continued for those suburbs willing to contribute a subsidy.

By 1972, RTD had created a plan for a personal rapid transit (PRT) system in the area, which included 98 miles (158 km) of PRT and extensive bus service throughout the areas served by RTD. Later that year, the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) selected RTD to develop PRT as a demonstration project. In 1973, residents voted for a sales tax of 0.5% over the six counties served by RTD for ten years; 20% of the funds would be used for expanded bus services and the other 80% was earmarked for PRT construction, although that project was later scrapped. The tax became effective January 1, 1974 and was raised to 0.6% on May 1, 1983.[5] On January 1, 2005 the tax rate increased to 1.0%.[6]

In 1974, RTD acquired and consolidated the local bus systems. Denver Metro Transit became part of RTD in July 1974. RTD acquired the bus system in Boulder from the Public Service Company of Colorado.[7] Other RTD acquisitions included Evergreen Transit, Longmont Mini, the Englewood-Littleton-Ft. Logan service, Public Service and Northglenn Suburban Service.[8] RTD also acquired the privately owned Denver-Boulder Bus Company, which ran airport buses.

RTD expanded and improved service frequency in the mid-1970s, and its services were expanded to routes that commercial carriers previously operated, although inflation prompted RTD to implement a new fare structure in February 1978. On September 5, 1978, RTD completely replaced all bus routes, formerly mostly radials from downtown Denver following old streetcar routes, with new routes based on a grid system, numbered based on the hundred blocks of the street grid. For instance, the new Colorado Blvd (4000 east block) route was number 40, and the new 10th Avenue (1000 north block) route was number 10. RTD reached a record number of weekday passengers in 1980, the same year it expanded the Park-n-Ride system and acquired 216 new buses, 89 of which were articulated. Work was also completed to make RTD's service more accessible to elderly and handicapped people.

State law required privatization of 20% of bus lines in 1989, with this quota increased to 35% in 2002.[9] In September 1994 Downtown Express/High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes were opened to buses, and to carpools a year later.

RTD A Line train at Denver Union Station.

In 1979 federal approval was granted for the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver, originally known as Transitway. The project allowed express bus productivity to double and was eventually intersected by RTD's first light rail line, the D Line, at Stout and California streets. Construction began in 1980.

RTD opened the Central Corridor light-rail line in October 1994, bringing rail transit back to the region. The Southwest Corridor light rail line opened in 2000, followed two years later by the Central Platte Valley spur. In 2003 the downtown portion of the original line between Speer Boulevard and 14th Street was realigned as a result of construction of the Colorado Convention Center.

In April 2006 unionized transit workers of the Amalgamated Transit Union went on strike for the first time in 24 years, citing increased health care costs, mandatory overtime, and disproportionate wage increases relative to upper management. Workers walked off the morning of April 3, shutting down the light rail system and decreasing bus service to about 45% of its normal capacity, the remaining service being provided by existing RTD subcontractors Laidlaw, Connex, and First Transit. Laidlaw and Connex, whose workers are contracted rather than unionized, would take over many routes operated by RTD, albeit on a reduced schedule, while First Transit, whose workers are unionized, operated only its own routes due to its contract with its workers. A revised contract was approved by the union on April 7, and service resumed on April 10. The strike lasted a total of seven days, and although thousands of commuters were stranded by the strike, only a few backups were reported as customers made makeshift arrangements for commuting or waited out the strike.[10]

Civic Center Station after renovation in 2017.

The Southeast Corridor, a component of the Transportation Expansion Project, opened on November 17, 2006, followed by the West Rail Line on April 26, 2013. RTD's Market Street Station closed on May 11 and 12, 2014 and was replaced by the newer Union Station.[11] The Free MetroRide service began along 18th and 19th streets between Union Station and Civic Center Station.[12]

University of Colorado A Line became the first commuter rail line to open, on April 22, 2016, with the second, the first 6.2 mile segment of the B Line, officially opened on July 25, 2016. The light rail R Line to Aurora and Lone Tree opened on February 24, 2017.[13]

RTD made significant service changes and suspended service on multiple bus and light rail lines due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[14] The F line was suspended on September 20, 2020 and the C Line was suspended on January 10, 2021, with both routes being permanently discontinued in early 2023.[15][16]

Gillig Low Floor buses make up most of the fleet, replacing the Orion V and Gillig Phantom buses that made up most of the fleet until the late 2000s. In 2014, RTD began to receive New Flyer Xcelsior low floor buses for the free MetroRide and other routes.[17] MCI and Neoplan vehicles are used as express buses and regional buses, including service to Denver International Airport branded as SkyRide. In 2016, RTD began receiving delivery of 36 BYD K10MR all-electric buses to be used on the 16th Street Mall, replacing the older locally built TransTeq EcoMark buses in use since 2001.[18]

Siemens SD-100 and SD-160 are used as light rail vehicles. As of May 2015, the RTD light rail fleet had 172 light rail vehicles, serving 58.5 miles (94.1 km) of track and 54 stations.[4] For RTD's new commuter rail system, it uses Silverliner V's.

RTD's Current Rail Fleet for Light Rail & Commuter Rail:

Map of RTD rail service and fare zones as of July 2023.

The RTD fare structure is based on a zone system for rail and a service level system for bus. Local/Limited bus routes or a trip on rail up to 2 zones costs $3, Regional routes or traveling 3 zones on rail costs $5.25, and travel on bus or rail to Denver International Airport costs $10.50.[19] Seniors, students, people with disabilities, and Medicare recipients are eligible for reduced fares. Children below age 6 ride free when accompanied by an adult with proper fare; this offer is limited to three such children per adult passenger. RTD also offers the following 24-Hour Passes: Local ($6) or a Regional/Airport ($10.50) which allow unlimited travel at the chosen fare level until 2:59 a.m. the day following the purchase.[20]

The fare system was last updated in January 2016 in preparation for the completion of 4 FasTracks rail lines in 2016. The new simplified fare structure included the removal of the Express fare level, pared down the rail fare zones from 4 to 3, and consolidated the tiered SkyRide fares into a single Airport Fare. A new 24-Hour pass option was also introduced, allowing riders to take multiple trips at twice the cost of a one-way ticket.[21] However, the base fare one-way fare was increased by 15% to $2.60, attracting criticism for disproportionately affecting low-income residents.[22] In January 2019 RTD increased the base fare to $3, but also introduced fares of $1.80, $1.50 and $0.90 for those qualifying under a discount fare program.[23]

A fare card program, in development for over four years by Xerox, is available through employers as the EcoPass, through colleges as the CollegePass, and to the general public as the MyRide Stored Value card.[24][21] MyRide users receive a discount on fares.

As of 2018, RTD enforces transit code and fares with its own security employees as well as via contracts with local police departments and Allied Universal Security Service.[25]

In 2006/2007, RTD worked with the city of Boulder, the University of Colorado, and real-time bus-tracking outfit NextBus on a GPS-based system to help riders with bus arrival information at selected high-traffic stops, but the experiment proved to be unreliable and was discontinued.[26] Several years later, RTD started making its bus location and route data available to third-party developers. Google Maps (website and mobile apps) started offering real-time bus information, as did various other mobile app developers with free or paid apps, such as the Transit app.[27] In March 2017, RTD rolled out a new web-based tracking system, optimized for mobile devices, called Next Ride to track buses and light rail, predict arrivals, show nearby stops and routes.[28][29]

In February 2019, RTD became the first transit authority to integrate its public transport services into the Uber app, enabling Uber riders in Denver to select a new ‘Transit’ option within the app, powered by Moovit Transit APIs.[30] Uber Transit users can plan their journey with real-time information and step-by-step directions. Included in this is the ability to purchase transit mobile tickets directly in the app, powered by Masabi's Justride mobile ticketing SDK.[31][32]

• List of bus transit systems in the United States
• Denver Union Station

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Regional Transportation District.

• Official Website
• The Transit Alliance – A non-profit coalition promoting expanded rail and bus transit in the Denver Metro region.