Out of district RTD - free street parking available anywhere? (Denver: home, purchase)

[Newyerker]

I've been commuting to downtown occasionally for work and because my car is registered out of district (springs), ive been walking to a bus stop, taking the bus to the light rail. this is normally ok but RTD bus just straight up SUCKS. schedules are horrendous (one time i got off a bit late from work, and found out the bus runs every hour after certain hours) almost never on time, and rarely in sync with the light rail schedule. not to mention the street i have to cross when coming home has no traffic light and is a 6 laner with 50 effective mph limit (45 but everyone does like 55).

I usually sit coming home but today felt like standing and i think this was around orchard or dry creek somewhere near on the F / E line, and saw massive amount of cars just street parked right next to the light rail. I was wondering if anyone was familiar with the area and knows if that area is ok for free street parking.

Another thing that always gets me is that my main station is County line station right behind Park Meadows mall, and there is always crazy amount of empty lots at the mall, except there are signs everywhere 'NOT for RTD, you are subject to fine or towing.' I wonder how they check, and if anyones ever been fined actually.

I'd register up here for convenience sake but just got my car and registered down in my old town where tax rate was significantly lower, id probably be looking at thousands in tax difference, not to mention having to be at DMV.


Anyone have any pro tip for an out of district RTD parking?

[2bindenver]

you are saving thousands by not registering in the district, what's a few parking tickets?

[cowboyxjon]

Why not pay the parking fee? You said you only use RTD occasionally.
Also, do you really know how the vehicle fees are calculated? I doubt the difference in cost between registering somewhere in Metro Denver vs The Springs is that significant.

[Newyerker]

Originally Posted by 2bindenver

you are saving thousands by not registering in the district, what's a few parking tickets?

this cheap ol man just being extremely cheap. four bucks for parking feels like a lot outside the city

[Newyerker]

Originally Posted by cowboyxjon

Why not pay the parking fee? You said you only use RTD occasionally.
Also, do you really know how the vehicle fees are calculated? I doubt the difference in cost between registering somewhere in Metro Denver vs The Springs is that significant.

im talking about actual purchase tax not the registration fee. not entirely sure but because i paid much less based on the county/city (only slightly over 5%) this year as opposed to close to 8% in denver, was wondering if theyd try to get the tax difference when i re-register. ive def heard of other states and counties doing this.

[alloo66]

That's what you get for living in the Burbs!

[MissTerri]

I would just pay the $4 parking fee. Avoiding the bus hassle and avoiding having to cross six lanes of traffic on foot would make the fee very worth it.

[N610DL]

Had a very weird thing happen parking at an RTD station going to the airport last week. I did everything right - pay for the days my car spent there and got (what looked like) a ticket when I got back to my car 5 days later. They explicitly said "don't leave your parking ticket on the dashboard" to avoid theft.

It was a ticket, but it said I owe "0" but it looked like it was a warning, even though I did everything right. IMHO, is the city just looking for revenue or something? Why waste paper when I followed the process correctly?

I was concerned when I left because how would the city know if I didn't leave the stub on the dashboard of my car that I paid? Very odd process.