The $6 Billion Transit Project with No Ridership

I live in Denver, in one of the densest residential areas, not particularly near a highway. I work within easy walking distance of a light rail station. It would still take me about twice the time to commute by public transit than it does by car.

The buses take the same roads to the highway, where they transfer to the light rail. The lightrail runs along the highway, where it’s slower than all but the worst commuting traffic. The buses run every half hour. The light rail line I need runs every half hour. Those times don’t always line up.

Frequency is the only reason it doesn’t make sense.

I feel I need to point out a few things for some of these commenters.
1. Rail transit does NOT contribute to homelessness. Homelessness is contributed to by people of means who love to complain about it while never lifting a finger to do something about it.
2. In the VERY near future, it will become increasingly and prohibitively expensive to merely own a car. Infrastructure costs to build roads will force cities/states to find creative ways to pay for it (road taxes, private owned tollways/parking meters, since billionaires refuse to pay their share of the burden). Do I even need to mention fuel costs in the next decade?
Collectively we need to recognize that the way we all live now is changing, and we need to prepare ourselves for what comes next.
Thanks for reading my rant. 💐 🙇‍♂️

I remember how unreliable the A train to DIA was, which always, I mean always, breaking down! They would have to send busses to pick up the stranded passengers and take them the rest of the way to the airport where most people missed their flights. And they couldn't get the automatic cross guards to work so they actually paid people to stand at all the intersections and manually stop traffic! What a joke!

Have you ever considered social cohesion? The USA is full of people who don't want to be together in tiny boxes. This is coming to Europe as well.

Public transportations are useless

Yep. It's the same problem that all of them now find. All the homeless junkies and schizophrenics basically use the train as their home. I actually was on a Denver train when I smelled the strong smell of piss and, yep, the homeless guy in the bench seat next to me had pissed himself while asleep.

The City of Denver has a 30% office vacancy rate due to Democrat leadership that has caused high costs, homeless crisis, violent crime, sanctuary city overcrowding, and increasing crime/drugs.

I have riden the train line from the airport to Union station a few times. I'm always surprised by the stops it has along the way as it seems like it's nothing more than industrial parks and I see very few people getting on and off the trains at those stops.

Stigma is the reason. Poor people ride the train, I don't want them coming into my neighborhood to break into my house. If you go to cities that are not cosmopolitan, that is the narrative. For example, that is the real reason that MARTA in Atlanta, hasn't gone to Cobb and Gwenett county. The creation of surburia was also a reaction to keeping the rich and the poor separated. So it really boils down to race and economic conditions.

Is this because the Californians came and wanted to follow their plans?

RTD trains are consistently the worst. Rarely on time, always filthy, often rude and lazy drivers, highly inconvenient. Talk to anybody on denver, you will never get anything positive. It's genuinely an embarrassment

Our light rail has become homeless shelter that reeks of piss and is a complete waste of money

In Philadelphia, the extensive, efficient mass transit system is bleeding ridership; literally. The system is a nightmare of violence and dysfunction. And that is pervasive. The stations under and around City Hall are some of the most dangerous.
No amount of lipstick can improve the level of ridership until safety is restored.

This was a known fact before it was built but politically it got built and SPENT. The only time to use it is an airport commute....leaving your car at home ensures you are not a victim of car theft while parked at DIA.

Only time I used the rail system in Denver was to go from my home in Aurora to CCD at Red Rocks. Mostly used the buses only when I did not have a car or bicycle.

What's the point of building a metro if your train only run once every 30 minutes? It should me every 10 minutes minimum and it's unbelievable that richest country in the world can't even do that.

Denver's main problem is the drugs and lack of care for the light rail.
They are dirty, smell like pee and way overpriced.
And the fact that so many will smoke fentanyl on them with no care who is watching.
It's become so sad what my city has become.
They have definitely Californiaized Colorado sadly.

No transit project can fail if managed properly.

Ya. Democrats tend to throw funding at it for instant gratification without thinking about it practically. Republicans tend to be more thoughtful and strategize where to efficiently use money in order to have a more delayed, yet greater, gratification.

What a waste of taxpayers money. So glad I no longer live in Colorado 🎉😂

Am I the only one who loves the light rail I live in Thornton and travel to work in downtown Denver everyday I park for free at the park and ride and pay $3 for a day pass on the light rail

Look at any European or US city where rails work. The cities were laid out in the horse and buggy days. Boston, Chicago, DC, NYC. That’s pretty much it. US cities are very wide. Our cities and towns are not dense. The trains don’t go where 70% of the people need to go as highly dense cities are.

Because it's too far to get to the stops. I live kind of close to a stop but it's not in walking distance. Everything's so damn far away. There's no walking distance in Denver. It's all made for cars. That's why. What's the point of having the rail you get to have a car to get there? You got to get an Uber's to get to the rail stop

Blue, blue, stuck in glue.

I commuted with RTD for work around downtown Denver from 2000-2019 - I stopped when I could start working from home about a year before the pandemic lockdowns - all I can say is that I will never commute again - I love remote work as I work in technology for healthcare orgs in other states - however, RTD buses, lightrail, and trains are all awful and unreliable - the schedules are horrible and not frequent enough - they also do not run late enough for an urban area - since 2019, I used lightrail once to get to a convention downtown - it was such a sketchy ride that I paid for an Uber home - took over an hour to get into downtown from Aurora, but the Uber took 20 minutes - I am good without RTD and its dysfunction in my life - I rode its transportation for almost 20 years and watched it go from bad to worse all while having to pay ever increasing prices.

In LA, these rails are not enticing to use, due to the criminal element, not to mention bio hazardous homeless.

Denver light rail is a joke. Actually, public transit in the entire country is a joke. Poor shelters from the weather, limited routes, infrequent service, and cars that rock because the rail installation was sloppy. Anyone who has traveled to Europe knows, their trains take you just about anywhere you want to go, run often and are some of the smoothest rides you’ll ever have. But hey, we have multibillion dollar bombers, aircraft carriers, submarines and so many other nasty toys to destroy other nations infrastructure.

Honestly, I also think that they should have just, like... not covered all that land. They tried too hard to cover the ENTIRE metro area instead of creating good, condensed service in the city core, where all the dense urban development should be.

3 hour commute for a 20 minute drive wonder why no one takes rtd. And then all the meth heard add to the mix.

I do not feel safe riding the light rail in Denver. Homelessness and high crime rates are out of control.

I've been taking the trains in Denver for almost 2yrs now. Consider some of the reasons below why people Rarely use the Denver trains these days, Rarely do people pay because rarely are people checked for tickets. Homeless folks often carry on multiple items causing delays, making noise, playing loud music, drug use happens occasionally on the trains, much of the time the trains are delayed or must go very slow between stops, it takes an extra 15-20mins to take the train from union station to DTC when compared with driving, they are using less cars now so the train gets crowded and I can't stand up for 45mins due to a bad knee, elevators are often dirty, trashy and sometimes don't work, it's hit or miss with security patrols, these are some of the reasons people don't want to take the train. Other than that, it's convenient 😅

I Lived in Metro Denver for Five Ghastly Years; I Even Used the Light Rail When My Late Wife Was In The Hospital And It Was Convenient.
What It Wasn’t Was Safe and Secure. No Police, No Conductors. Riding At Your Own Risk is Simply Foolhardy!!!
I’ve Watched a Few of Your Videos And You NEVER MENTION SECURITY!!!!

The stupidity of RTD leadership all the democrats roots and consequences

Thats just arura, I don't consider arura Denver 😂. I still hate arura even after 20 years

Yah I live the light real and public transportation but there is some issues with timing, i can't count the times my bus didn't show up and I had to walk my grocerys in my wheel cart 2 miles or more home. Its hard because I do get there are some issues. Worker burn out, emergencies, road closers ECT. I love public transportation, yah sometimes people are instrig, but its part of living in a city and within society in general. I also really appreciate the law or no fair days, since im very poor those are life savers! Because of the timing issues there are times where I do need a car. My partner being mobility disabled, so they would use the car most times. I could walk, or ride public transportation, and if the bus is late or the weather is changing i would get a ride. Some of that reminds me of busstang 😂

I live in Denver metro area for 20 years. I have taken light rail 4 times. once to take my wife out to dinner downtown, other times to the hockey game. It generally doesn't go close to where I am going so I drive. Downtown Denver is not where most of us outside of Denver proper are interested in going. I don't work close so it isn't convenient for that. I live a few minutes from a main street on the fringe of Denver the city council is trying to make a bike main line. Except very few use bikes here except for serious training. More and more I avoid the city because it doesn't offer much and is increasingly difficult to interact with.

Denver needs those high speed trains like China. But they’re stubborn

Seems ridiculous to stack people on top of each other to improve ridership. More problems with condensed population. No thanks

A woke money maker for the 'elite' landowners and construction companies. Was never going to work as advertised. Much like the scam going on in california. not surprising as Colorado has been californicated by the leftists here...

You missed several major reasons people don’t use trains:
1. Flexibility…Stops can be miles from your destination so now you have to hoof it in all sorts of weather or pay large amounts for taxi-type services.
2. Poor policing/safety makes for an unpleasant ride. Look at recent NYC subway problems…nuff said.
3. Atmosphere: Do you like dingy platforms, tagged trains inside/out, carved up seats? Because I don’t.
And many more problems I don’t care enough to enumerate.
Just invest in a good bus line or better yet…encourage a private bus line service through tax incentives and untaxed, convenient stops the way it used to be. And allow for competition. That way you have a low cost, inexpensive to operate, flexible, convenient transit service that will remain clean and safe because it is in their best interest.

Parking maximums to force ridership is un-American. Maybe the root of the problem is that our tax money went to an initiative clearly lacking demand.

Did I hear him say that a train station increases the property values in the area ? Not these days train stations and bus stops only invite loitering and the homeless.

California has the same problem paying for a transit system NO ONE WANTS

Everyone I know won’t take it because they’re scared of crazy people and crime.

All public transportation in the US should be abolished with the money going to widening roads and buying cars for everyone.

In Albuquerque we have the ART Project ABQ Rapid Transit that runs through the middle part of the city on Central Avenue. The city spent millions and nobody rides it. It a rolling homeless shelter and crime ridden with plenty of drugs to go around. Also there's the Rail Runner that runs between Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Belen with low ridership. At the train stop parking lots vehicles are constantly burglarized and the the main transit station in downtown Albuquerque its also crime and drug ridden. City leaders also needs to take into consideration the crime that these things attracts.

I'd rather drive than ride the ltr.
It's not safe and very dirty. I'm not sure it's been cleaned ever

Sir. I live in Denver right by the train. And it’s crime that keeps us off the light rail ! Please stop