DENVER | Transportation Thread

[TakeFive]

Anybody make it to the annual RTD/Denver Transit Partners Open House? I missed it this year. CBS4 filled me in gratefully.
FasTracks East Rail Line To DIA On Track For Early Debut In 2016 (HERE)


WKRP in Cincinnati? Nah, we have "soapboxmedia.com." We are in a new century after all. For his Cincinnati audience Eric Peterson gives Denver many props (HERE)

What smart cities can learn from Denver

It started with Denver International Airport (DIA), and continued with four new pro sports venues, new and expanded museums and the nation's largest investment in light rail. Now the just-completed $500 million redevelopment of Union Station -- complete with a hotel, restaurants, shops and transit hub -- is the latest and greatest project.

In a h/t to bunt_q they do point out:

But Denver's commuters have yet to leverage this massive investment -- only about six percent of the city's workers utilize rail or bus to get to the job, about half the rate of Minneapolis, Portland, or even Los Angeles. Getting people out of their cars is the next big hurdle for the city.

With quotes from Tami Door and Brad Buchanan it is one of the better pieces I've read about Denver and transit. Specifically, Brad states:

The goal is to balance the "hardcore infrastructure side of rail” with the "softer, people-focused components of placemaking," says Buchanan. "That's the magic and we're doing it for real."

There was also a special section that discusses "Regional collaboration and cooperation." But we-all knew that Regionalism was the key.

Highlighted by Jennifer Bradley and Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution in their 2013 book, The Metropolitan Revolution, this kind of cooperation is old hat for Denver.

Lastly there's a section devoted to Tom Noel aka Dr. Colorado. I especially like this quote:

Noel credits the city's planning process. "It has been good planning," he says. "For all of the bitching and griping about government planning, it's what's made the difference."

Transit has made a world of difference in my life.


thechronicleherald.ca

[bunt_q]

Nothing makes you feel like a poor dirty slob quite like the walk about looking for change for the bus. All I have is a $10 bill. Second. Class. Citizen. I hate hate hate RTD. The way southerners hate Obama, if a meteorite hit the RTD Board meeting it'd be a glorious day. The difference is, the Obama haters are not rational, whereas RTD truly is too incompetent to deserve the air they breathe.

[seventwenty]

#railgazi #showusthebuscertificate

[bcp]

Wake up RTD - it's not that you can't get people out of their cars...its that MANY of your current and future stations are in SHITTY locations....people don't live there, don't want to walk there, and developers are slow to build there because of the poor locations.

All? No...many stations? Absolutely.

[bcp]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

Nothing makes you feel like a poor dirty slob quite like the walk about looking for change for the bus. All I have is a $10 bill. Second. Class. Citizen. I hate hate hate RTD. The way southerners hate Obama, if a meteorite hit the RTD Board meeting it'd be a glorious day. The difference is, the Obama haters are not rational, whereas RTD truly is too incompetent to deserve the air they breathe.

weak...you're stretching... :-)

[Zmapper]

Smart cards fix the occasional customer with no change problem; simply throw $20 or so on the card, use the balance up, rinse and repeat.

Alternatively, GFI sells the Odyssey farebox to transit firms. The Odyssey farebox has a method of dispensing a 'value card' for overpayment, which effectively functions as a poor man's smart card. A customer such as bunt_q could deposit their $10 or $20 bill, the fare amount is deducted, and a value card for future transit use is issued with the balance. Omaha recently changed over their fareboxes, and published a brochure about the new machines.

[bunt_q]

Omaha? Omaha has fare cards? Yeah, that makes sense.

We sure can make those parking meters take credit cards though. Transit here is a bad joke. 6% is probably more than it should be, thank ecopasses for that.

Can we rename this thread? Call it the "Denver Driving (and other things that make liberals feel good) Thread"

[RyanD]

Heh.. Heh.. Heh.. Remember the smartcards that RTD was supposed to roll out this year?



I'm also quite disappointed in RTD right now. They're late, they don't care and their customer service is horrible. But I'm calling them everyday my 30 minute headway on peak hour, route 24 bus is late. I'm starting to get angry now that I actually use the system. Route 11? Bus hasn't shown up multiple times. The 15 is on a, I'll get here when I please schedule and trains? You need to be somewhere? I'll show up 5 minutes early so you can wait 15-20 minutes for the next one. We can't fix the announcements on the busses (what is 3 N D avenue or 4 avenue?) The level of not paying attention to any detail is just embarassing. I used to be a rah rah transit wooooo! Go RTD kind of guy but using the system is just sad. I'm sad

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by RyanD

I'm also quite disappointed in RTD right now. They're late, they don't care and their customer service is horrible. But I'm calling them everyday my 30 minute headway on peak hour, route 24 bus is late. I'm starting to get angry now that I actually use the system. Route 11? Bus hasn't shown up multiple times. The 15 is on a, I'll get here when I please schedule and trains? You need to be somewhere? I'll show up 5 minutes early so you can wait 15-20 minutes for the next one. We can't fix the announcements on the busses (what is 3 N D avenue or 4 avenue?) The level of not paying attention to any detail is just embarassing. I used to be a rah rah transit wooooo! Go RTD kind of guy but using the system is just sad. I'm sad

Stop using the poor people's buses and you'll get better service. RTD knows who to keep happy and who they can shit on. The people they can shit on don't have $10 to break to make bus fare, so why should RTD care? Lawyers don't ride the local or the limited buses- they ride the rail and the express buses where the service is well maintained.

It's hilarious that RTD is just waiting on the smartcard system until the Airport Line opens in 2016 and the fare structure is completely revamped. So instead of having some time to work out the kinks of general smartcard sales and use it's going to be one colossal clusterfuck.

[RyanD]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

Stop using the poor people's buses and you'll get better service. RTD knows who to keep happy and who they can shit on. The people they can shit on don't have $10 to break to make bus fare, so why should RTD care? Lawyers don't ride the local or the limited buses- they ride the rail and the express buses where the service is well maintained.

It's hilarious that RTD is just waiting on the smartcard system until the Airport Line opens in 2016 and the fare structure is completely revamped. So instead of having some time to work out the kinks of general smartcard sales and use it's going to be one colossal clusterfuck.

Unfortunately, I live close enough to the city where driving is obnoxious due to lack of parking, but I'm not walking distance to where I want to be, unless it's a Cherry Creek night, which happens every once in a while. Cherry Creek is warming up to me, and I'm starting to like it. ANYWAYS, I need to just get a bike like I've been meaning to. Join the masses and just not depend on RTD for much.

[Brainpathology]

Just to be clear, we all think RTD is a bunch of incompetent nincompoops.. but we also hate Aurora for trying to thwart one of it's more stupid plans?

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by Brainpathology

Just to be clear, we all think RTD is a bunch of incompetent nincompoops.. but we also hate Aurora for trying to thwart one of it's more stupid plans?

Nah, that's Aurora thwarting one of Denver's more stupid plans (if we think that a plan that's meant to get built sooner rather than later is stupid). RTD is just along for the ride.

Remember, a large part of RTD's stupidity stems from having to satisfy every single town in the area, which makes for a transit system that's politically acceptable, but maybe not the most efficient.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by Brainpathology

Just to be clear, we all think RTD is a bunch of incompetent nincompoops.. but we also hate Aurora for trying to thwart one of it's more stupid plans?

To clarify, it's Denver's stupid plan we want them to thwart.

That said, even if Denver had a good plan, we would still fully expect RTD to botch the execution of it, and make it vastly more unpleasant and inconvenient than the same plan would be in other cities.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by RyanD

unless it's a Cherry Creek night, which happens every once in a while.

I've never bar hopped Cherry Creek. Let's do this.

[RyanD]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

I've never bar hopped Cherry Creek. Let's do this.

YEEESSSS! No cars necessary and I have ample parking in my neighborhood! You can sleep in the shed. Or the couch. Or wherever you end up. My room is off limits.

[idiot206]

Can you fill me in on the plan you hope is thwarted? And what is wrong with the RTD? I'm an out of towner. I will say the only time I went to Denver, I had a bad experience taking the bus into the city from DIA but it seems that won't be an issue after 2016.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by RyanD

You can sleep in the shed.

What, with the farm animals? Pretty confident I can do better than that down in cougarville.

[RyanD]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

What, with the farm animals? Pretty confident I can do better than that down in cougarville.

My house plot in Cory Merrill is funny. There's a huge front yard with a huge tree, abnormally sized side yard, a shed, open back yard, screened in sun room, and detached garage. Better yet, I should go camping in my yard. That would be fun.

But I see what you're saying. Why stay in Ryan's shed when you can go to the Citidel Tower (big red one on Steele), with some Cherry Creekian.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by RyanD

Why stay in Ryan's shed when you can go to the Citidel Tower (big red one on Steele), with some Cherry Creekian.

Where she'll put a spiked collar on me and tie me up out by the pool in only a speedo, where I'm only allowed to speak in a fake Italian accent. And the other Creekians will come by to rub my hair. I can't wait.

Ahem, transportation. Back to RTD-bashing!

[seventwenty]

That's an oddly specific fantasy.