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View Poll Results: Will you use the commuter rail to DIA?
Yes 56 67.47%
No 24 28.92%
There's a train to the airport? 3 3.61%
Voters: 83. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 04-25-2016, 08:58 AM
 
Location: Houston
204 posts, read 200,386 times
Reputation: 248

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I went down to the platform at DIA for the opening on Friday. It was fun event with a band and freebies. I also met with the people from Bags (maketraveleasier.com) that will take/check your luggage down at the platform level. It looked like a nice setup. I meant to ask them if they will have anything like that at Union Station so you could drop your luggage there and be done with it.

On Friday evening, a group of us rode the train to downtown for dinner. It was a nice experience not having to mess with trying to drive/park downtown. After that, I'm giving more consideration to getting a pass through work and using it more often, but I'll probably wait until the train comes down into Aurora (R line I think it is).
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Old 04-25-2016, 09:37 AM
 
Location: Arvada, CO
13,824 posts, read 29,817,265 times
Reputation: 14418
We went on Saturday.

We took the W Line (for free ) from the Sheridan station to Union Station. The W Line drops you off pretty far away, but there is a world-class bus terminal underground, connecting the light rail dropoff and Union Station. It is beyond legit.

I hadn't been to Union Station since before all of the changes. Last time I had been there, the original station itself had been an actual station, and nothing else (was quite abandoned feeling/etc). It is completely yuppified now, and serves almost no purpose for trains (besides Amtrak). The center of the room is some sort of social thing, where everybody can sit on couches and be almost forced to talk to each other.

The line for the A Line snaked around to the front of the building, and then into a giant circle. We put off riding it for awhile (we had our 5 year old), and went to eat lunch at 16th St, and walked along Cherry Creek for our first ever trip to Confluence Park. We walked back towards Union Station, and checked out some apartments ($2900/mo for a two bedroom, a block from Union Station) along the way. We got back to the A-Line later in the afternoon, and only had about a 40 minute wait to board.

The trains themselves are very nice, but IMO (as a 6'7" fellow) they could use just a bit more leg room. Obviously this line doesn't go through the most attractive parts of the metro area, but the train rode pretty smooth the whole way, and surprisingly some of the stops weren't completed all the way yet.

Upon arrival to DIA, you go up a gigantic/steep escalator (with cool lights/artwork) that dumps you off right at the south end of the terminal, right at one of the security lines. This will be useful once they move some of the check-in stuff down to the train platform (the infrastructure for it is already there, it seemed to be semi-operational on Saturday).

The line to get back on the A-Line back to town stretched nearly into the airport. It was a 3 hour wait. We went and had ice cream at Burger King, then called one of our employees to come pick us up and take us back to the Sheridan station.
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Last edited by Count David; 04-25-2016 at 10:05 AM..
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Old 04-25-2016, 09:40 AM
 
Location: The analog world
17,077 posts, read 13,283,669 times
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Great overview, David! Thank you.
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Old 04-25-2016, 09:54 AM
 
Location: Arvada, CO
13,824 posts, read 29,817,265 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by randomparent View Post
Great overview, David! Thank you.
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Old 04-25-2016, 06:54 PM
 
12,999 posts, read 18,823,048 times
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If I ever fly to Denver again, I plan to.
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Old 04-25-2016, 08:56 PM
 
Location: Albuquerque
1,315 posts, read 2,005,911 times
Reputation: 1644
I took the A Line this weekend from Peoria to 38Th & Blake Station to avoid the crowds. I was impressed with the speed of getting to other stations. I would not only use this to go to the Airport but also to commute to work. This is no light rail its a commuter rail. I'm glad that I live on the east side now. Getting to downtown is a lot more convenient catching the A Line that a bus to downtown. Yay RTD!
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Old 04-25-2016, 11:07 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,325,490 times
Reputation: 35920
We're not getting rail up here in the NW until 2042. So, no, I won't be using the new service.
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Old 04-26-2016, 06:27 AM
 
2,174 posts, read 4,271,241 times
Reputation: 3481
Part of the deal killer for me is parking. First, I don't like the idea of leaving my car for days on end at a neighborhood parking garage that doesn't have 24/7 supervision. Second, There's the $2 charge.

I suppose I could take Uber to Union Station, but by that time, might as well pay a little more and take Uber the entire way. Maybe if it's rush hour, I'd do it that way.
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Old 04-26-2016, 06:35 AM
 
Location: Albuquerque
1,315 posts, read 2,005,911 times
Reputation: 1644
Quote:
Originally Posted by alloo66 View Post
I took the A Line this weekend from Peoria to 38Th & Blake Station to avoid the crowds. I was impressed with the speed of getting to other stations. I would not only use this to go to the Airport but also to commute to work. This is no light rail its a commuter rail. I'm glad that I live on the east side now. Getting to downtown is a lot more convenient catching the A Line that a bus to downtown. Yay RTD!
I forgot to add that it's only $9.00 to/from the airport. The fare is $4.50 from 40th & Airport Park n Ride, and $2.60 from Peoria Station to Union Station. Just buy a day pass and its good all day on bus or rail.
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Old 04-26-2016, 06:37 AM
 
Location: Albuquerque
1,315 posts, read 2,005,911 times
Reputation: 1644
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt View Post
We're not getting rail up here in the NW until 2042. So, no, I won't be using the new service.
R Line to Arvada is opening up later this year. I think that it's supposed to be like the A Line as far as cars are concerned. Boulder is another story, you have the FF bus.
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