test ride the new RTD N-line (Denver, Aurora: real estate, home, construction)

[daprara]

Plenty of low stress covered parking near Union Station at the new Denver kingSoopers store 20th St & Chestnut Pl. i bought a coffee and sandwich there.
i got on the N-Line at Denver Union Station Track2. No big fuss; all the denver passengers were wearing face masks and were well organized.

the train ran to its final destination in to the suburbs.
just an observation:
Disturbing thing was some citizens there chose to not wear face masks. The new RTD Security setup was challenged with a small disturbance. I was reminded how 30-40 year old peeps resist the new normal.



- congratulations, the 13 mile ride was smooth w/o technical issue. I am impressed by the new infrastructure but to me it seemed most of the rail stations were located way out. I need to look at a map. Thinking it will take years for residential & retail development to catch up to the station locations if at all. I live in Denver so much of the N line is dont care but seems opportunity for real estate investment.
- Dont you think pricing is set too high for a daily commute?
- The N line was built in house.
- All future RTD construction, if any, will be the hi-speed commuter rail type.

[davebarnes]

I look forward to your last ride review in 2070 when RTD shuts down completely.

[mic111]

I'm kind of interested to take a ride on it myself. It was added to an existing railroad track so not positioned to maximize exposure to high density development or retail but rather runs on the historical railroad route. I know they did some work around road crossings (like flyovers) and closer to downtown to get through some commercial. I think they flyover part of the suncore refinery. I want to see how the stations turned out. I'm sure that in time high density housing and retail will probably come to the station areas but your right in that it is probably years.



I predict that Eastlake is going to take off in value. It is such a beautiful area to have rail access downtown that I think downtown works will flock to it.

[mettler]

granted I am comparing the RTD to the WMATA, which I really liked. When we moved here my wife and I took the RTD to get downtown. The was such a mess/joke that we never did it again.

I find it interesting to think that Denver will have a high speed light rail. There is no way that will ever happen. No room for rails, and no stations to support a light rail coming from outside Denver.

[ORLguy]

Originally Posted by mettler

granted I am comparing the RTD to the WMATA, which I really liked. When we moved here my wife and I took the RTD to get downtown. The was such a mess/joke that we never did it again.

I find it interesting to think that Denver will have a high speed light rail. There is no way that will ever happen. No room for rails, and no stations to support a light rail coming from outside Denver.

Damn, everyone says the RTD is important to live near, and yet you are saying it was a mess to get DT? That's a bit depressing. What were the issues you had with it?

[daprara]

well:
-the N-line something brand new, the first day run
-on the trip from denver -> to the burbs citizens were well organized
-there was a disturbance caused by customers insisting on not a wearing mask. This was at the final destination in Thornton. I mean on the very first day of operation go figure what these customers were doing. I think RTD could have done more but if people want to make a statement i guess they can. All above my pay grade. I do not represent RTD.

we have use the RTD C-line for the daily work commute. Has workded fine for us.

[cowboyxjon]

Originally Posted by ORLguy

Damn, everyone says the RTD is important to live near, and yet you are saying it was a mess to get DT? That's a bit depressing. What were the issues you had with it?

I know you didn't ask this question to me, but prior to the pandemic, I used light rail to commute to downtown Denver. Although slower than driving (W Line, it's SLOOOOOW due to lots of at-grade crossings), it worked fine.

[ORLguy]

Originally Posted by cowboyxjon

I know you didn't ask this question to me, but prior to the pandemic, I used light rail to commute to downtown Denver. Although slower than driving (W Line, it's SLOOOOOW due to lots of at-grade crossings), it worked fine.

Good to know. Wonder if the C line is any faster.

[cowboyxjon]

Originally Posted by ORLguy

Good to know. Wonder if the C line is any faster.

My guess is that it is faster on average, given a certain amount of distance. It actually might not have any at-grade crossings until it gets to the Auraria Campus, near Union Station.

The commuter rail lines are reasonably fast, too, in my opinion. The W is the only one that I can think of that I regard as slow. *Maybe* the R Line as well, as I know it meanders a bit on surface streets in Aurora, but I've never used that line.

[Willy702]

The point of using it to commute isn't speed, its convenience of avoiding traffic and paying more than your ticket cost for parking downtown. My wife used to use it pre Covid and she got home late at least one day a week, but even with the modest pickup in traffic now she is thinking of using it again. So the issues they have still don't outweigh the convenience of not having to drive. Only thing keeping her from doing it is her office bosses don't want their workers taking transit.