Light Rail (Denver, Aurora, Arvada: 2015, home, live)

[MtnSurfer]

Hello,

How good is the light rail system? Isn't it expanding down the I36 corridor and out toward DTC? Is there a good website which discusses the long term plans for expansion?

Has anyone used it with any success? If so do you avoid using it during the winter months when walking is required from the stop to your destination?

Thanks,

- Derek

[tfox]

Light Rail is operated by RTD The Regional Transportation District Home Page -- currently, there are two corridors, southeast (which serves DTC and the other office parks further south) and the southwest corridor, which serves the suburbs of Englewood and Littleton. IMO it's a pretty good system that I've taken a fair bit, but I don't take it every day as I don't work in the same office every day.

In the SE corridor there's a service called Call-n-Ride that serves the office park that will give you door-to-door service. Basically, you call them on your cell phone once you know when you'll arrive at your stop, and they take you to your office door. If you arrive in the morning at the Belleview, Orchard, or other big office stops, there's probably no need to call as there will be Call-n-Ride minibuses lined up at the stops to shuttle around office buildings.

Future corridors are going to be built as part of the Fastracks initiative, but this is long out into the future. The earliest corridor (the West Corridor to Golden) will come on-line in 2013, with other corridors like the US-36 corridor to Boulder coming on-line in 2015 and 2016. All told, there will be rail (not necessarily light rail) between downtown Denver and Golden (west corridor), Arvada (Gold Line), Boulder (NW Rail), Longmont (NW Rail), Thornton (North Metro, as well as light rail down I-225 to service Aurora, and extensions to the existing SE and SW corridors into Highlands Ranch and Lone Tree.

However, bus service to Boulder today is actually pretty good right now, with every-15-minute or better service during rush hours between Boulder and Denver, not including 2 express bus services per hour (Downtown Denver to Downtown Boulder). So, if you're inclined to take transit on the US-36 corridor you're probably going to do fine even now; I'm not sure that rail will end up being that much better than the current system on the US-3 corridor.

[BillRadio]

Originally Posted by tfox

However, bus service to Boulder today is actually pretty good right now, with every-15-minute or better service during rush hours between Boulder and Denver, not including 2 express bus services per hour (Downtown Denver to Downtown Boulder).

Boulder is a big supporter of the bus system, so service is better than average. And, the busses between BLDR & DEN are not your rickety city busses, most of them are comfy coaches. It's actually more civilized than Light Rail.

[xxman777]

My mom uses it everyday to get to work. She actually prefers to use it during storms because then she doesn't have to deal with traffic. She wears plenty of layers so waiting for a few minutes outside isn't that big of a deal. But then again she drives to a park and ride and her work is across the street from a station. That kind of cuts down on the walk time.

[chickadee1074]

My family and I are looking to move to Denver. My husband is an area manager for a railcar repair company. We're hoping to start a new shop in the area. Does anyone know of any businesses or companies that use railcars? Any with trains running around them? If so, please let us know. Thanks

[ColoradoPro]

To answer your first question, removed- this is the website containing the plans for future development of the LightRail system.

As for the LightRail being useful, I have heard nothing but good comments from people about it. I haven't used it much, but that's just because I don't live / work downtown.

If you're interested in seeing a more detailed map of the current LightRail lines than what RTD currently offers, you should check out the removed

[wilberfoss]

Is there any light rail service to Fitz that runs to Littleton, Centennial, or S. Aurora? If not, any plans for the future?

Thanks, and sorry for the dumn question, I haven't moved to Denver yet, and I can't figure out the damn light rail map!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

There are no such things as stupid questions on this Forum!

No light rail to Fitzsimmons. Light rail goes from Littleton to downtown and from Lincoln Avenue up I-25 past the Denver Tech center to downtown. One spur to I-225 and Parker Road. There are plans for the future, probably way distant future. Check the Regional Transportation District web site.

[ColoradoPro]

Originally Posted by wilberfoss

Is there any light rail service to Fitz that runs to Littleton, Centennial, or S. Aurora? If not, any plans for the future?

Thanks, and sorry for the dumn question, I haven't moved to Denver yet, and I can't figure out the damn light rail map!

Hey wilberfoss - I have two sites for you to check out- first - for a more interactive lightrail map than what rtd offers, check out this Light Rail Map Page . As for plans for the future, you can check out the map that shows the plans for the Light Rail system, coined the "FasTracks" project, here is a link for the RTD FasTracks Interactive Map

Hope this helps!

[wilberfoss]

Thanks - definitely helps!