Car Free living in Denver (Boulder: purchase, taxi, zip codes)

[MobyLL]

Originally Posted by livecontent

You are so right, as usual.

livecontent -- I just wish my wife had the same clarity of thinking as you. The absolute infallability of my opinion seems so obvious to everyone else, but for some inexplicable reason she just does not seem to recognize that fact.

Originally Posted by livecontent

There are also many other areas in Denver and the Suburbs that are very walkable and will be more so with an expansion of the mass transit system. (It takes a think tank scholar to come up with that idea}
We are still on the right track.(another pun)--I am just getting so good.

Livecontent

I agree, the Denver area has made, and is continuing to make good decisions on the transportation issues of the region, and the regional cooperation is great to see. There is often so much more disagreement and division over implementing a regional transportation plan... Atlanta comes to mind.

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

LOL, MobyLL! When I took statistics in college, we had to read an article called "How to Lie with Statistics". I saw some of the methods of lying used in the "Places Rated Almanac". I guess I retained something from that course!

Pittnurse, you reminded me of something -- In one cartography class (I have a Geography degree) we read a book called "How to Lie with Maps". If i remembrer correctly, one of the examples used in the book was the old pull down maps they used to (maybe still do) have in elementary and middle schools that showed the whole world. Most of those maps used a "Mercator" projection which is basically a mathematical formula of how to take a 3 dimensional object and represent it in 2 dimensions. There are many different types of projections that are appropriate, or inappropriate, for use with different types and sizes of landmasses. The "Mercator" projection is notorious for exaggerating landmass size as you near the poles. That is why Greenland appears so large on those Mercator maps.

Well, the conspiracy theory is that the US Gov't. promoted the use of world maps with the mercator projection in schools because in addition to exaggerating the size of Greenland, the size of other far nothern landmasses were greatly exaggerated, namely the Soviet Union; which during the cold war the US military would of course want to have US citizens to look at as a huge, threatening enemy.

[Katiana]

Maybe there is a whole collection of books called "How to Lie With (fill in the blank)."

I knew about the mercator maps, but the conspiracy theory is a new one to me!

[ramtribe]

Trying to find out the kind of area is around 1999 Broadway?

Is Denver a town you can get around with out a vehicle?

[steveindenver]

Broadway and 20th is at the edge of the corporate downtown. It is south of LODO, north of capitol hill, just west of five points ... really a nowhere land.

Within a couple blocks west and south you have some newer condo developments. Around there I know there is a historic block with a few B&B's. The area was much different before they knocked down the public housing to the east a few years back and shipped them all off east to Aurora.'

If you use maps.google.com and enter the address then use the street view you can get an idea of what is around there, mainly 1-2 story buildings, mostly warehouses slowly being converted into overpriced condos.

Yes Denver is doable without a car depending on where you live. It is a very bike friendly city with many miles of path and lane. I am able to get up to the Flat Irons mall area from downtown -- 22 miles 21 of those miles on path or bike lane (or the big shoulder of wadsworth). The kicker is I often beat folks home as traffic can turn their 25 minute drive into an hour easy.

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by steveindenver

Yes Denver is doable without a car depending on where you live. It is a very bike friendly city with many miles of path and lane. I am able to get up to the Flat Irons mall area from downtown -- 22 miles 21 of those miles on path or bike lane (or the big shoulder of wadsworth). The kicker is I often beat folks home as traffic can turn their 25 minute drive into an hour easy.

Man, you are my kind of person to bike that to the FlatIrons Mall. I sure you are aware but the readers would be pleased to know that most all buses and the commuter light rail allows for transport of a bike.

In addition, people who move here, do not understand how established the bike trails are in this area. One of my favorite, when I was able to bike, was the Platt River Greenway--It runs from Chatfield Dam in Littleton to way up to Adams County. It can be thought as the "bike superhighway". Off this "highway" branches numerous other trails, Bear Creek, Cherry Creek, Clear Creek etc.

This is one of the advantages of Denver being on the flat Great Plains---it encourages more bicycling.

Livecontent

[livecontent]

I am resurrecting this thread to make an announcement Dah, Dah!

Tomorrow is a periodic Service Change Day, January 13, for RTD buses and rail. RTD has made available for the first time an interactive GIS system map online, in addition to the always available html--this information is available today for the schedules starting tomorrow. This has some interesting features that one can now see where all the bus stops are located---I could just hear all you people saying--"who cares."

Well, I care, and those of you who are interested in using your car less, now have a new tool to figure it out.

It will also help new transplants, who are looking for a new residence, of the how and where of the transportation system. I would suggest looking for a place which is near good public transportation options.---I am not talking to you people who do not care., so ignore this post at your own expense.

Check it out at The Regional Transportation District Home Page, under systems maps tab or
direct RTD System Map.

Now maybe more people can
livecontent

[the_koolkat]

I am so glad I stumbled onto this thread !! I recently lost my car in an accident and am not supper anxious to fork out the money to replace it. Where I live now you have to drive. There is no public transport and everything is spread out. I am borrowing my son's car. However, I am moving to Denver soon and was hoping not to have to buy a car. Thanks to the GREAT information here I know what I need to look for in a place to live/work to be able to get by without one. I understand there maybe times I want to get out of town and may wish I had a car. I figure with the money I'll save on insurance alone I can rent a car on those occations. I am more and more happy with the thought of making Denver my home !!

[celes_18]

Originally Posted by oberon

It doesn't help that currently the vast majority of people in Denver drive and rarely if ever use RTD, nor that the average amount of time people own a house is about 3-5 years. So agents don't know or care about it.

I currently don't drive or own a car through choice. When needs demand it I will get a license and join the majority. But for now I don't need to. I've lived in Denver for 12 years. I am a 15 min walk from my job. Theres a bus station in front of my job that goes to the store or I can walk there in 30 mins. My mother and brothers are all short bus rides away. Recently as I've started to approach 30 I've decided to purchase a house and told the real estate agent that I did want something close to public transportation. Not only was he surprised but he asked me to give him the area's that were close to bus stops in the zip codes I was looking for. I was surprised more people aren't interested in our public transportation.

for the record Denver's rtd is high up there on my list. Its not as convenient as the one in San Francisco but much better then LA and 10 times better then Hawaii where i grew up. We had 1 bus going east in the morning and another going west in the afternoon. If you missed our bus you had to walk or get a taxi home. good times then.

[Mikieo415]

I have noticed that there are quite a few suicidal bikers who have no regard for their surroundings. It is still winter and I can't count on one hand how many times a biker just weaved in and out of traffic in front of me paying no attention to what is coming. This problem is especially pronounced in the Boulder area. I personally will not ride my bike on busy streets because I don't want to be around the traffic. I like to eat scrambled eggs, but I don't want to become scrambled eggs. So, if you are reading this and you love riding your bike on the streets with the "I'M INVINCIBLE" attitude, be aware of what is around you, or better yet, go on a bike path.

[the_koolkat]

I love riding my bike ! However, I have to agree that riding a bike in heavy traffic is just crazy. I am really hoping a bike trail connects where I live with where I work once I get there !! Can anyone tell me if the downtown bike trails are safe. I lived in Spokane Washington for awhile and there were so many attacks and sexual assults on thier trails it wasn't even safe to use them during the day. It has been several years and that may have changed. How are the Denver trails???