Why Denver’s car-free experiment is here to stay
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- Опубліковано 28 тра 2024
- An ode to the 16th Street Mall - and there's no way you saw this one coming 😎
Huge thank you to Ellen and the Downtown Denver Partnership for helping out - it was great to chat with someone directly involved in the Mall's future, and hope y'all enjoy the interview parts of the video :)
Denver has plenty of transit stories, from the Eagle P3 to the historic streetcar network, but the story behind the free Mallride was just too odd to ignore. It's honestly one of the better transit services I've ever taken - it's free, frequent, and actually provides useful connections to the RTD.
So I dug deeper and decided to make a video. I think the #freeMallride provides a great example of reducing the total cost gap between cars and transit, while giving other cities a blueprint for making similar improvements.
And thanks to @grimecho for the great drone clip: • 16th Street Mall Downt... - maybe I should get one too lol
00:00 Intro
01:02 What even is this
04:20 Why it's here to stay (why it works)
07:05 How other cities can do the same
09:04 Caveats and conclusions
09:57 Next video: Chicago
Thoughts on a Chicago Outer Loop video (or any transit system)? Leave a comment 🤓 And check out some of my fav transit books if you want to support the channel :) bookshop.org/lists/fav-transit-books + follow me on twitter for when I eventually start yappin about transit on there twitter.com/hudsonyuen
Boston has a ton of good and bad things to talk about, but a really interesting one is the silver line-bostons *attempt* at BRT
The SoCal Amtrak trains might be an interesting subject. They have lots of important connections but especially the local trains (NOT light rail) do not get remotely used enough compared to how bad the traffic is to theoretically push demand towards public transit.
If you don't have it already, I suggest to get a printed copy of "Plan of Chicago." Not only is it dense with information on the reasoning behind overhauling the city, but it's a beautiful, richly illustrated book in its own right. The chapter on transportation shows you how far back the scheme of multiple "circuit" lines goes. It includes many diagrams on how the scheme would work. The book will give you some good background on the topic.
In traveling five states in the US so far, I would have worded the "transportation system" in Denver as follows; From the international airport, one catches the train that stops at bus stations that has many outlets to far distances while moving toward Downtown Union Station. When one arrives, there is the Rail stations that branch out deeper into the state of Colorado as well as more trains to transport out further in with more bus stations to make the residential stops. The escooter "lime"from Lyft was such a success, that the bus system is sure to stay since writing an e scooter in a large city is the funnest and coolest experience in America right now. Denver and one other state is offering Lyft escooters. The escooter
...is what needs to be mentioned since the escooter is the next best thing since Uber.
I feel like all of this fear-mongering about safety within cities is just anti-city sentiment at this point. It doesn't matter what city it is or where it is, it's always considered drug-infested and dangerous simply because it's a city. That's the stigma that Americans have been told about cities since the mid-20th Century. It's why so many people still think that city life is sub-standard living.
Yep. Homelessness and drugs aren’t inherently dangerous.
@@Nun195Literally proved her point
It's not fear mongering, the drug and crime situation onboard many transit systems and in downtowns today is bad. Yes anti city people highlight them as reasons for cities being bad but pro city people need to acknowledge the problem because it's driving away enormous amounts of transit ridership and downtown visits.
@@KJVirander or that America just has higher rates of crime and homelessness then major cities in Europe/Japan and they need to do something about it. There's a reason why NYC, the city with the lowest crime rate, is the most urbanist city in America, public safety is the pre-requisite to good urbanism
May be you haven't read how many RTD bus drivers had to stop driving because of fentanyl overdose from passenger.
shout out to the lady from the Denver Downtown for actually sitting down and taking the time to talk to you. Quality of the videos and message you convey is much more than your sub count would let on 👌🏻
100%, Ellen was great! And thanks for the kind words - glad you liked the video and we'll keep growing :^)
Surely, has to be sponsored
I traveled to Denver last semester for a hockey tournament and i used the RTD rail service as much as possible. Being too young and poor to afford a rent a car, their program for anyone under 19 to ride free was a life saver!
A lot of middle/high school students here regularly use RTD to get to school. Makes a huge difference when you don't have to worry about fares/cards/etc.
Yeah until you're an adult and they charge you like $20 for a single day.
@@jbssfelix That's definitely true, but you also have to remember that the Denver Public School system doesn't provide transportation to students*. The transit is free right now from a pilot program, but I remember in high school having to go to the treasurer to get a weekly bus pass to use RTD. Although, I think my school had the passes because it had a magnet program.
*I know that if you are going to your neighborhood school and live outside of 2 miles of said school that a school bus is an option, but that is practically impossible.
@@briang4914 I take the bus every day, that depends on how much you ride, if you are only going to ride twice it's 2.75 each way, significantly less than 20 dollars.
As a European, it’s so depressing to see how beautiful American cities used to be compared to now.
Yep. I visited San Francisco, basically the only city outside the east coast that truly survived the urban destruction of the 50s to 90s, it was amazing. Made me sad about all the other once amazing American cities bulldozed for the car.
While true, I think there's a new wave of attention towards this topic and more widespread recognition that what was taken away can be rebuilt. Surely there's a way we can learn from history :^)
As an American I feel the same 😭 I see old pictures of Indianapolis (my home town) and think "that's a city I would really love to live in!'.
@@een_schildpad Ellen's from Indianapolis as well! She mentioned the cultural trail, so there's a little bit of walkability at least :)
@@TheFlyingMooseCA that's cool that she's a fellow Hoosier! :-) There's definitely some bright spots like the cultural trail 💯 it's still a cool city, it's just sad to consider how much of what we want in a vibrant, walkable city with excellent electrified public transit we actually already had at one point in history 😭 it somehow would sting less if we'd just never had it...
I live in Denver and have started getting everywhere via the light rail, commuter rail, bus, and perhaps most often, the multi-use pathway system. It's certainly still a car dependent city, especially where I live in southeast Denver near Aurora, but people who say you can't go anywhere without a car are just straight up wrong.
People who avoid the trains and busses, in my experience, more often than not do so because poor people are icky and only poor people stoop to using public transit. I know there are legitimate safety issues and, to their credit, RTD has started addressing them, but often when I talk to someone about riding the bus or train I get this look of pity like the only reason someone would ever dare use public transit is if they were in dire straights; it's really just not as bad as people think yet they will never try it because of the reputation.
So, people drive. That's meant that I've nearly been killed multiple times crossing in a 100ft long crosswalk with the right of way.
Cars are inherently unfair to those without the means. If someone lives in a car centric suburb, they HAVE to spend money to own a car, fuel it, insure it, register it, and maintain it just to be a part of society. Its very class-ist and disproportionality impacts lower incomes.
Next time they give you that pity look for that, you can tell them that you dont spend money on purchasing, maintaining, and fueling a depreciating asset.
I just wish the service levels were what they used to be pre-pandemic. I had to use RTD exclusively from 2014 through 2016 (I also interned there as a Spcial Events Intern from 2015-2016) and it was quite easy. Between E and F lines, the headways on Southeast LRT were 7.5 minutes. That is so frequent, I did not even have to check the schedules. I miss it :( I live at Arapahoe station now and hardly ever take RTD, as E line barely shows up...
We’re able to avoid that somewhat here in Madison, WI because the UW campus is right next to downtown, so many students use the bus system. Technically, college students are also low-income, and some folks don’t like them either, but you get my point.
I think the problem with Denver is 2 fold. A. The people from colorado who still live here have watched Denver go from a cowtown to one of the more culturally significant locations in the US, and with the population growth has come a ton of growing pains. B. Since Covid a number of specific crime stats have gone up that has made people feel like the city is wholly unapproachable from the outside. The general feeling of safety on RTD has been eroded by the percieved loose enforcement of ticketing since covid, the general feeling of safety parking has been eroded by the catalytic converter theft rings which has risen dramatically.
Combine that with the fact that more and more denver's COL caters exclusively to the extremely wealthy tech and high end business fields, the growing disparity in social classes means you get a lot more nimbys who are moving to a place that is trying to do a ton of social programs, and so you end up with this weird situation where the state all moves in a direction but is hampered by the people who don't want to continue supporting that direction but refuse to leave because where else do you go from colorado and get to still microdose feeling like youre living in LA
@@SurrealGoatsA+ reply SG!
I think if we actually get rail to the mountains it will set off a chain reaction. Union Pacific is holding us back from a world class car-free city. It’s not our city, state, or its residents.
0:58 the lady in the background that wanted to get on, but was too late! 😆
If you slow it down you can make out aww dam
I spent a week at the convention center, and was only LUCKY enough to catch the mall ride bus once.
1) It’s important to know that if you’re not waiting at a stop, the bus does not stop and wait even a few seconds.
2) When the bus stops, bring “right there” running to the stop won’t cut it.
3) The “6 minute wait” is fantasy, so I suppose by not stopping and waiting they’re always trying to achieve it.
“It’s here to stay”
Common scene with the light rail in my hometown. Oftentimes you have people come running and hit the button on the door just a fraction of a second too late.
I couldn't focus on what he was saying while that was happening. Automated transit is SO much better than relying on bus drivers. The only reason to have a human driver is for customer service but he sees the lady waving but just pulls away so what's the point of them. A computer would also pull away from the station exactly on schedule but it least it will stop at every stop, won't skip people waiting at stops, or bunch up and drive an empty bus, or rush through the route to have a longer coffee break at each end of the line. A computer will always show up even on a snow day and routes will never have to be cancelled due to illness or a labor shortage. All the great bus drivers out there prove me wrong. Your only job is to pick people up and move them. Moving an empty bus around is just a waste of time and energy.
Every 6 minutes for a free bus is incredible, might be one of the most frequent buses in the US. I've lived in Boston (specifically Cambridge) and the frequent bus lines there are constantly getting stuck in traffic and bunching up. I wonder if the pedestrianized mall helps them avoid this because bus bunching sucks a lot.
Lack of competition from nonprofessional normal drivers helps a lot to maintain regularity. Hence why the most consistent systems are on dedicated exclusive paths, while the ones stuck in traffic often end up even worse than just driving yourself.
Trust me, it is an average of 6 minutes. Occasionally the busses get bunched up and it takes 15 minutes to get one, so instead you start walking to Union Station to catch your train. Then you have three buses arrive within three minutes of each other. I think they need red/green lights at the light rail stop and Civic Center Station to spread the buses out when they get bunched up.
@@RobPenguinsSince78 In my city no matter what they do, strict schedules, waiting areas, increased dead time at each end of the route, any route that isn't currently running late because of traffic is bunched up because if you're a bus driver as you catch up to the bus ahead most or all of the passengers get on the first bus or arrive at the stops after you're gone and you get to drive your whole route with a quiet, empty bus.
As someone who lives 45 mins from Denver but rarely goes, I'm really excited about this. I knew there was a bungled light rail expansion in development hell from the 90s, but it's nice to know we actually have people like Ellen working on solutions.
Tell me about it. I tend to stay away at this point unless I'm biking to Denver. They started the upgrade of that metro rail block, but I'm not sure how long it will take. They took a year and a half to finish a small biking underpass by CU Boulder.
I've only been to Denver twice but it always struck me as weird how all this money was spent on this giant light rail ring *around* the city but not through it and especially not on Colfax. Now RTD is building BRT on Colfax but it won't use the 16th Street Mall but rather run parallel to it.
Yeah, there’s a lot of good stuff on UA-cam about how RTD is willing to spend money, but the things they build don’t end up being useful 💀 Still looking forward to seeing the Colfax BRT tho - that seems to have pretty widespread support
But Colfax (which is basically 15th) runs east-west... while 16th at that point runs on a diagonal... they don't run parallel to each other. All the streets in downtown, while technically on a grid, are rotated 45-degrees. I grew up in Denver, don't currently live there, but any BRT on Colfax would work well in conjunction with the shuttle... as the shuttle terminates about a half-block north of Colfax and Broadway. I can totally see how they will work together... get off the BRT at Colfax/B-Way and take the shuttle up to Union Station/Market Street transit.
denverite here. Yep! it stinks. The light rail here system was built with mainly state funds that were made available from a very small tax increse that was voted on by the state, in the planning phase, to appease suburban governments, most of the trains were built in order to connect the richer suburbs to the downtown core. making them pretty useless to the actual citizens of Denver as well anywhere but the richest suburbs, and entirely not fulfilling the guarentee for a boulder to denver train. trust me, they would be so much more useful if they ran actual denver corridors instead of commuter routes following freeways. running down roads like broadway/ lincoln, colfax, MLK, 6th, Speer, federal and colorado… Denver used to have such an extencive trolley cart system with viaducts and the coverage was pretty impressive.
@@Militantaoist I've really wanted to use RTD for transport but it has multiple things that prevent it from being truly useful. The station is only a mile from me. A very easy bike ride. But the trains only run every 30 minutes which makes timing which one I need to actually be on very awkward. I'd either be very early or very late. Second problem is Union or 48th are 1.6 or 2.5 miles from work respectively. Still a short bike ride BUT there are so many huge car-centric roads that it wouldn't be safe to ride. Third problem is that my job works 24/7 and RTD stops running trains at midnight so I'd have no way home except a 14 mile bike ride which I can do but the trail would be pitch black.
It's so frustrating that Denver has one of the larger transportation networks in the country but the rail lines really don't go anywhere useful. "Transit needs a destination. Dropping you off at a mile-long parking lot is not a destination."
It's still important to have transit reaching outside of the city. The light rail wasn't meant for just Denver city, but Denver county.
I was a young teen, not old enough to drive yet when they converted 16th St. My parents were miffed about them taking away driving... but as someone who lived in the north suburbs, I could catch a bus that got me downtown, then I could take the shuttle and go all the way to the State Capitol. I think that east of connections is where I started falling in love with transit.
I visited my brother in-law in Denver recently, and I was delighted by how good their public transit is in general. Probably the best metro system I’ve used in the US so far
Wow our standards must be low. Rtd blows a lot of money, but usually in meaningless ways it seems. Yeah let's build a light rail network that just picks people up and drops them off primarily in unwalkable wastelands. What you didn't want to go to the ghetto or the abandoned car lot?! We thought those were the two primary attractions in the area.
Where have you been lol Denver's transit blows
About the Denver homeless situation - you should check out their free housing program and the reasoning behind it. From what I remember, the idea revolves around the fact that homelessness isn't a bell curve. The vast majority of those who wind up homeless are only without a place for a day or two and get back on their feet.The people you see sleeping on the streets - outside the Denver Partnership building in this case - represent a very, very small minority of the homelessness crisis and are "chronic" in this way. This minuscule minority, however, take up an overwhelming amount of the costs associated with handling the homeless - medical bills being a significant expense. Denver's plan hinges on the fact that it is simply cheaper to just house these people for free than any other social programs. And many argue that it is the only feasible solution to end homelessness. It is a very fascinating issue - especially since it veers so hard from what we think is "right" or "fair" in regards to other welfare programs.
Sometimes offering something free of charge is cheaper than dealing with the consequences of not offering it.
It's too make money, look up California Insider show to understand from insider perspectives how the many companies profit off of 'crisis management'. It's a good money maker! and money drives the economy after all.
A housing first approach has many other benefits beyond just making housing them cheaper: Finding and keeping a job is much easier with a house, finding those who need help (medical help, addiction treatment, etc.) is a lot easier if they have an address, and there are probably other benefits that I can't think of from the top of my head.
There was a similar study here in my city where they found the same thing. A super small group of 4 or 5 people were costing society $1M a year or more in hospital bills, damages to shelter they were given, law enforcement, courts, social workers. For a small group of people it would actually be far healthier for them and far cheaper for society to hire 2 full time social workers to babysit them 1 on 1.
@@InventorZahranSee: health insurance (at least mine) offering free birth control and vaccines because it turns out that's a lot cheaper for them compared to paying for child and illness related medical care.
The only other time I've heard of a free bus system is my college town's "drunk bus." The public, private, and community college all pitched together funding to have free bus routes during weekend nights that would go from the main student housing areas to downtown.
Many universities have some sort of deal with the mass transit system in their area, with either free or discounted service for students.
I live right next to the DDP and I commute to a building right next to Civic Center station. I almost always bike to work as its faster than the Mall Ride due to its mandatory stops, but on a day like today when the snow is coming down, it's an excellent FREE alternative! Also while the Rockies do suck, they have the best bar in town! $3 beers before first pitch and the cover (Rockies tickets) is always cheap!
I can definitely see how biking would be quicker, but you're spot on - sometimes you need other options. And I do always love catching a game when I'm in town - y'all have a beautiful stadium especially on summer evenings 😍
I click for the urbanist takes and I stay for the baseball references 🤙
my iDeAL viewer
I appreciated the sudden Avs logo jumpscare.
As someone living a few blocks away from this, i'm proud that the city is doing all this compared to most other western cities!
Moved to Denver 13 years ago and the Free Mall Ride was one of the first things I loved about downtown. At the time I was broke and in my early 20s so being able to take a bus for $2 and explore downtown for free was a game changer
@9:14 "it would be unfair to only increase the cost of driving, without a commensurate improvement to the alternatives"
So true. In London the Mayor introduced a daily fee to drive in the city, but only belatedly (and rather half heartedly) introduced some new bus routes.
Glad you stuck it through to that part of the video - I originally had a longer section about the necessity of improving transit if you increase driving costs, but it got a bit rambly so I just axed it lmao
I still feel that it's a key message here - it's ineffective and a bit unfair to do one without the other 🤷
@@TheFlyingMooseCA as per your section about drivers benefiting from big subsidies ... it may NOT be unfair to increase the cost of driving ... but you have to bring the public with you (even when drivers are in the minority) ...
so the "effectiveness" argument is definitely valid
"daily fee to drive in the city" lmao
@@SingleTheShot how would you describe it to people outside the UK ?
@@fToo NYC has done the same thing calling it a "congestion toll" for $15 on top of $14 or $15 to just get into Manhattan, anyway.
Please do a video on RTD's death spiral: Decreased frequencies, terrible leadership, bad route planning, etc. It's so bad that Polis is trying to restructure the board to change things up, and I think that we may see some additional service cuts as their budget problems worsen to the point where it's unusable.
Yes! Are people blind as to how ineffective and corrupt rtd is? Or are other cities just worse?
Every time I visit Denver I love the 16th street mall! I can't wait for it to be finished. Very interesting video!
You got some great presentation my guy
I had to ‘like’. For Ellen!!
Glad to say I'm here before this channel blows up. The editing and presentation are top notch!
I take the train into downtown and then take the mall ride to my office. It’s so much better than driving.
As someone from Denver originally and a huge Denver sports fan the meme at 6:32 had me Rotfl. Overall great video and presentation
having lived both in downtown denver and in suburbia denver, i've always been fascinated by our public transit because the issues with it are a little bit overwhelming (especially since they stopped running a few lightrail lines during lockdown and never picked them back up), but there IS a lot about it that works really well.
unrelated, but my favorite goofy (horrific) thing about the free mall ride busses is that they really Do Not Stop. some people are just unaware enough of their surroundings that they end up in front of one of these things while it's moving.
Fantastic video dude. Really cool to see this quality and effort coming from a smaller creator!
Appreciate it a lot - thanks for watching!
Excellent video and graphics! I'm glad this channel popped up on my recommended, and I hope you keep growing!
Glad you liked it - see you around!
Creators like you remind of why content creation is so important. So important to have eyes on these subjects and your quality is superb. Under 10k gang, it will be 1 million subs before you know it!
Really appreciate it - let's hope we get there one day 😎
I have just discovered your channel and i love it ! Great subjects, great realisation !
It's refreshing to see a video about something done well.
Thoroughly enjoyed this video till the end. Thanks for sharing my city and teaching me something new.
I lived in Denver for school and still live in the area. 16th Street was always quite interesting, and it was fun to walk it after going to a movie or something similar.
As someone from dallas, the AT&T district has actually gotten even better than you think. The DART transit mall (light rail) is only a 15 minute walk along very pedestrian friendly streets. I believe there is also a decent number of bus lines that connect around the district.
I really want to move to Denver, especially as they are building the Front Range Passenger Rail.
The FRPR is still in the planning phase. Will take many more years until it's opened
See you in 20 years
Be warned, the closer you get to Denver in Colorado the higher the cost of living
I appreciate all the Rockies footage mixed into the vid. Great to see my city getting some love!
haha anything is an excuse for baseball 😎 and Denver's definitely grown on me!
this video was so good! I'd love to see more Denver stuff and I'm looking forward to the Chicago video :)
Don't forget the Bustang Outrider services that can take you to every corner of the state once daily.
Might try it later this summer - thinking of a lil trip to glenwood springs 👀
Yes! Took it to Vail, Frisco/Breckenridge, Idaho Springs, Ft.Collins, & Colorado Springs.
@@TheFlyingMooseCAThat also connects you with RFTA, highly rewarded and I've heard called "best rural transit service in North America". Covers 70 miles from Aspen to Rifle.
And Glenwood is beautiful ofc, try the Iron Mountain Hot Springs.
I just gotta say, your videos are fantastic! It feels way more personal than a lot of the videos I see online now. Incredibly well made! I’m excited to see more. Also the baseball clips are amazing.
Thanks a lot! And yes, these videos are all an excuse to share baseball clips 😈
I stayed at a hotel in downtown Denver and rode the shuttle quite a few times, it is kind of like a "hop on hop off" transit... So easy!
This is great coverage of an important issue. I love Denver and the Mall ride has always been super useful. I'm hoping we can get much more transit and less cars all over the city.
Highlighting success stories is an excellent way to approach this topic. Well done.
Also if you don't know sometimes Denver shuts down traffic on Broadway on the weekends to show people what a carless and walkable city would be like. It would be fantastic to get another mall ride up and down Broadway.
We have something like this in Rutland Vermont of all places where The Bus (it's actual name) is free and can travel between the city, surrounding towns, and the local ski resort. It's very nice.
Killer content, excellent presentation. Keep it up!
Denver is underrated asf
Denver is a hell hole. You have low standards.
Colorado is amazing, but Denver is a very average city.
Don’t forget about the trains in Denver. There is actually a direct rail connection from downtown to DU and many other places around the city. Plus the city are working on BRT lines along Arterials like colfax to dense urban neighborhoods.
Your content is amazing. I’ve lived in Denver my entire life, and what strikes me about Denver’s public transit is that it goes “around” the city to Aurora and Centennial, but no transit on Colfax or near anywhere remotely residential. I’m a new subscriber after your DC metro video, so it’s awesome to see a new video about my city. Keep doing what you’re doing, I love seeing new videos :) One idea for a transit system to cover the PRT at West Virginia university - it’s really interesting!!
Really glad you liked this one - Denver is growing on me the more time I spend there :) And the PRT has popped up before as a suggestion - not sure if it was you but it'd definitely be a fun topic to look at
15 and 15L run EB on Colfax and 16 WB do you mean there is no Transit on Colfax?
Thanks for making this!
Keep it up man you've got fantastic videos and amazing thumbnails
thank you :)
Awesome video! Walkable and bikeable cities are the best!
Incredible.
I grew up in Denver and spent the last 7 years of my life in DC and I unfortunately also love baseball. it's like your content is specifically catered to me lol
jokes aside this is top tier stuff. keep this up you're crushing it
haha sounds the algo has reached the intended audience 😎 glad you enjoyed!
This is awesome!!!
Your voice is beautiful btw :) love the video! Learned something new about Denver! Hope we get a pedestrian only street here in Seattle.
The Mall Ride is so handy, and a lot of people don't give it credit for how much service it does for that part of the city. It's nice to see it getting some love.
I'd LOVE to see you do a video on the Montreal subway, because it has so many super cool features (old F1 tires, wooden brakes, passive cooling on train cars) that I'd love to learn more about.
Also, for Chicago, you gotta mention how the city scooted a whole historic building a little bit east to make improvements to one of the light rail lines.
Omg thanks for coming to Denver! So cool to see my city covered
Happy to show you our public transportation services here in Bern, capital of Switzerland
Great video, visited Denver a while back and found the downtown quite nice because of that free shuttle! Looking forward to the one about Chicago’s lines too. Would also love to see a video later on the subway expansions that Philadelphia planned but never built, since they would have been so nice to have today 😞
Glad you liked it :) Philadelphia's been a popular suggestion, so I'll have to add that to the list 🤓
I live in the suburbs of Chicago and Metra, the train service on freight lines, is really good and the largest commuter rail in the US based on area.
I’ll be in Denver next month and was planning to ride this line. So, thanks for the info.
When I was in college at CU Boulder, I used the RTD network quite regularly. All students, staff, and faculty are given RTD passes and it helped me get around without a car. I just had to watch the schedule carefully or risk having to wait over an hour for the next bus.
Love how on the thumbnail there is a reflection of a car on the bus but the title says something about car-free
Great video 🎉
While a tangent off the main topic, as a downtown Denver resident one thing that augments our transit is the network of downtown bike lanes and trails and the programs created by the city to encourage alternative transportation methods, like our E-Bike program that provides up to $1400 to buy an E-Bike. Throughout my time living in Denver I have found myself utilizing my e-scooter and e-bike to travel to the transit hubs to make longer distance travel. Next time you are in town and want to travel around, try the Platte River and Cherry Creek Trails as well as the expanding bike lanes down places Broadway or cruise through RiNo. Combining these modes of transport often makes transit times downtown equivalent to that of driving a car.
great video!!
Excited for the video about the Seattle link!
Super educational and interesting video, thanks for making it. I moved here in the fall (which l can actually see my apartment window in some of your b-roll which is cool) and I've taken the light rail but haven't taken the leap onto any of the transit buses, but definitely will after watching this.
Glad you liked it - and yeah, definitely give the Mallride a try :)
As a Denverite I think it’s also important to factor in the cost of parking in the total cost. Anywhere even close to downtown or a college campus is going to be AT LEAST $10 a day to park. Makes transit a lot more desirable. Although at the moment there’s so much construction it can be harder to get around than usual (at least where I live)
Awesome channel!
Keep up the great content
Love this video! What a great example of how infrastructure can shape people’s choices from moving from A to B!
Thanks Kevin! I'm just looking for excuses to go on field trips 🤓
There’s also another ride that’s free called “Free MetroRide” but was discontinued when Covid-19 happened to limit ridership and to this day, its still not open yet… yikes!
There's been a lot of talk in Salt Lake City about pedestrianizing Main Street, where the UTA TRAX light rail runs. With heavy interlining, services are pretty frequent along this corridor (5-10 mins). By SLC standards, it is a fairly narrow street but has plenty of restaurants, entertainment, and other destinations. But for now, the one car lane in each direction still exists. During the summer they will shut down the streets to car traffic, but it is only seasonal and for certain days of the week.
Another perk to the mall ride that its a boon to local business. It's easy to get a coffee on one side of the mall before you shop for clothes on the other side. There's no extra gas, it's quick and reliable and of course it's free. If you haven't looked into the 5280 project you definitely should! It's more of a pedestrian thing but as a resident I'm incredibly excited about it. Imagine being able to walk from Denver to Aspen on a beautiful path!
Wow, it's so weird seeing something I've come to take for granted as a Denver resident, being showcased as something unique.
I love Denver!
Thanks for covering our city. Great video and its fun to see you filming in locations that I see everyday.
I do avoid that area at night, but through out the day its great. There were times there were a lot of drugs in the areas you filmed at but thats part of the cycle of Denver. They chase the homeless around the city and a couple years ago it landed in Union Station. They're gone from there though for the most part now.
Even when they were there though, it wasn't too bad other than the fact they were smoking drugs next to you on the light rail. But they usually mind their own business.
One thing that Denver is doing super well is re-organizing the city’s land for more useful buildings like apartment buildings and shopping areas. Parking lots have been getting eliminated one by one
Thanks for visiting our city! Sorry the 16th reno wasn't done when you visited, guess you'll have to return :)
liked, Thanks Ellen
Denver definitely punches above it's weight with transit, but the real star is our bike network. It really acts in conjunction with transit as every RTD bus and train has dedicated bike storage.
I've only run/biked down Cherry Creek before but yep - definitely want to try some of the other routes :)
Love the clips of the Rockies
Certainly the MallRide is not the cause of homelessness. The city, county, and state need to address homelessness in as many different ways as necessary- and we have seen that the Housing First strategy is tremendously effective for people.
Love this setup and this video!
yo your video editing is fantastic - if you don't mind me asking, what program do you use?
Thanks! Final Cut and Apple Motion - used to be Premiere but my friend graduated so I couldn't use his free Adobe suite anymore 🤡
when you're driving in downtown denver, 16th st doesn't feel like an obstacle at all. you're never gonna think to yourself, oh if only i could turn onto this pedestrian area.
when you're on foot, hopping on the shuttle is a no-brainer too.
it's surprising to hear it described as a really bold and risky policy choice because the experience of it just feels like a lay-up.
I think that's the beauty of it - it feels seamless today but it was quite controversial when they were discussing it in the 70s. Part of that was how cities really were emptying out and the pedestrian mall concept had run its course in a lot of other places
Hi, Denver native here. The only issue with the program right now is that it takes the city years to complete any civil infrastructure project, and now 16th street has been closed for close to 3 years. Plus 16th street has seen better days.
3:46 "should lowkey be hitting cleanup" BRUHHHH u don't gotta tee off on my Rockies like that 🥺
Also 10:23 "Edited 2.55AM"... I felt that
Also Also!! All of Denver's public transit has recently been going free for one or two months in the summer to help pollution which is pretty sweet!
The urban planner of Downtown Denver is so down to earth and chill, not what I expected in someone in charge of planning a 3 million people metro area's core
An interesting tidbit about the Mall Ride; It was the most frequent regular bus route in the US and Canada pre Covid. I believe headways were as low as every 2 minutes, possibly even every 90 seconds at its most frequent. I’m sure it’s still up there at 6 minute headways, but likely no longer the most frequent. Though I’d be willing to guess in the top 5.
Yep - the frequency even today is still very impressive (especially compared to the rest of the RTD). I think official stats still have it as 3 mins today, but I said 6 mins more from personal experience and just observing it at different times of day :^)
Oh wow- so if it’s officially listed at three minutes headways it probably is technically the most frequent still. Sadly, I believe when Denver’s other downtown circulator reopens (Free MetroRide), I believe the mall ride is supposed to go down to a 10 or 15 minute frequency. The good news, though is that Denver is revamping its bus network and will be essentially tripling the 15 minute network.
@Dimewick21 Traffic signals downtown change every 90 seconds and so headways are multiples of that. Before the pandemic, peak service was every light cycle = every 1½ minutes. Bunching would happen when boarding was slow. Bunching also happens due to the construction detours. As demand goes up and down through the day, headways would widen. Late at night it would get down to 15 minutes. Extra buses were run for Rockies crowds. What is hurting now that was not mentioned is the operator shortage, the same problem affecting transit service in popular cities like Berlin.
Neat! 😃
Within Denver city proper, the transit system is alright. However, the larger RTD throughout the metro area is... Not good. Yes, suburban transit is hard. But RTD tends to build lines where it is convenient for them, rather than where people actually need to go.
One interesting thing about Chicago is that it has several smaller “satellite” metro areas around it (Milwaukee, Madison, and Rockford). As a result, there’s actually pretty frequent (5-10 times a day, depending on route and mode) bus/train service between the cities, and I think it would be interesting to look at.
Thanks for the history. The mall is really nice. Also, you’ve got a radio voice & a tv face…deadly combo
7:22 “what does it look and feel like on the street and at intersections” it’s so nice to hear people who are able to affect things actually saying things like this.
I’ve seen some bus stops that are so sketch or literally just a metal post in a dirt ground with no sidewalks that nobody dares take them if they can’t help it
It blew my mind in Korea seeing bus stops with heated benches, electric signs, and rain shelter
I'm excited to see the development of Downtown Denver. Lots of big Dense buildings around union station, CSU Spur buildings just north of Downtown, and new high rise glass towers in the heart of Downtown
I had no idea this existed, but I'd eventually like to travel to Denver. Definitely keeping this in mind!
haha you won't be able to miss it if you're anywhere near union or 16th
@@TheFlyingMooseCA awesome, thanks!
I moved to Denver earlier this year without a car and with a part-time job when I landed. I managed to find a couch to crash on near downtown, so took buses for the past few months. Finally got a car very recently, so transport is easier for now, but I can confirm, it's possible to get around with RTD. Even with two jobs it was manageable (technically).
My biggest issues are just buses don't come often enough, and I would often miss transfers because the second bus would be late. I spent a couple hundred on uber/lyft because of this. This happened way too many times. I was hoping to take the (psuedo) light-rail way more than I did though. The coverage just isn't there, or at least wasn't for me. It was always an option, but it was rarely one I chose.
If you’re going to Chicago then take a train to Milwaukee. It’s a short trip. Lots of history and controversies with transit in Wisconsin. Urban desires vs the rural state ran government stories
Just found your channel! Great stuff! Would love to see a video on how the South Shore Line not only survived, but is thriving and expanding with new branches and added service, especially in a mostly transit hostile state!
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the suggestion 🤓
I live in Boulder and my partner and I went to a show at the Paramount on the Civic Center Park end of 16th Street Mall a couple weeks ago. Just walking from the Paramount's own garage to the Paramount theater 2 blocks away, we came across open drug use, aggressive panhandlers, and a fight. It's actually scary to go down there nowadays and I don't see any end in sight.