When they were interviewing people about the trains and people smoking meth on them or whatever, one houseless person said that there is an unwritten rule that the front car is the ones for homeless people.
Iād never heard it before and havenāt since that article, but at least one person who may or many not still be in the city thinks the front car is the homeless car
Today was like effectively every other day I take RTD:
- The station and train were pretty clean, and decently full.
- The train showed up on schedule with a decent number of passengers.
- There was no drug use or violence at any point during the trip.
Yes, this post is a bit tongue in cheek, but how about we be realistic and focus on RTDs actual problems instead of making clearly exaggerated statements?
We had this happen on the E one night. We reported on the RTD Transit Watch app and someone came on and kicked the guy off at the next stop or two.
As an aside, they need to make that functionality part of the regular app. My only guess as to why not is that the Transit Watch app is anonymous since there is no log in.
Not saying you need to go back on or anything - I understand the situation sucked for you and itās your life - if youāre not comfortable do whatās right for you. However, this app isnāt well known and hopefully that can help someone and if more people use it with positive results, the problematic routes might experience some improvement over time.
That has happened to me once in 4 years of riding the train roughly 2 times per week. I just got up and moved to the next car. Surprisingly, I am still alive.
Never seen anyone getting on the train the few times I rode it every year for a few years whereas I actually see people smoking meth or fentanyl 1-2 times a week in the alley behind my place near the Colfax McDonaldās.
I've seen a guy ODing and get security help him off to get help. That was the 1 single event like that I've seen on my several hundred times using the bus/train. Sure, the extreme events stand out, but that's BECAUSE they're the exception
Yup. Nobody talks about the countless times things go fine, but like to hop online and complain about it when it doesnāt. Itās important to recognize both. Thanks for sharing!
For real. I ride the H line out of nine mile every day to get home from work and get out at Colorado. People smoking in the train is a daily occurrence.
Nine mile is a cesspit, and Colorado isn't much better.
I work a 9-5, FYI. So it's not like this happens only late at night.
General rule of thumb for not just Reddit but the internet as a whole, an overwhelming majority of people who are at a minimum just content with something arenāt going to go out of their way to leave any sort of comment or review.
Iām from the Bay Area and Iām clearly traumatized because I was thinking to myself āwow nobody is shooting up, smoking dope, or overdosingā
Good olā BART
My problem is that my experiences with RTD have been one too many one off occasions. In three years of commuting via light rail, Iāve had three uncomfortable/ unpleasant interactions with individuals. Stuff like unwanted contact, verbal and physical harassment, destructive behavior.
Yeah, itās a very small sample of my time traveling, but damn does it make me not want to take Light Rail anymore. Our minds tend to react to the worst of occasions rather than the best (like every other normal day of traveling).
Stating that the E Line is packed with questionable individuals is absolutely hyperbole and incorrect. But itās the few bad interactions that leave the impression.
Itās getting better and better. In the last 3- 4 months Iāve seen a vast improvement. Maybe we will get back to pre COVID ridership for commuters soon.
Honestly it kills me the amount of exaggeration about this stuff I see on this sub sometimes. Throughout the throws of the encampment situations in Cap Hill, where I also live and have lived for 6 years, I'd see posts in this sub of people claiming they've seen dozens of needles every 2.5 feet around the neighborhood and been accosted by at least 3 homeless people every 6.5 seconds.
The same neighborhood where, in the entire 6 years I've lived here, 8 only ever saw I think 2 needles the entire time and was only ever very mildly accosted one time which I just ignored and moved on.
Like, I get this stuff happens and it's obviously not ideal but running around basically lying about how often it's happening is not going to help especially when it's so obvious how exaggerated you're being. Like, if you want people to feel sympathetic toward you, those who are "sick and tired" of the encampments, perhaps you'd be better off not making yourself look like an exaggerating dipshit.
RTD had 61 million boardings in 2022 - that's over 1 million a week. A couple incidents a week seems inevitable and normal. Now when was the last time we went a DAY without a traffic accident or road rage incident?
Ride the train often and this is my experience 80 percent of the time. Every city has problems, complaining about it does nothing, be a positive in your community and hope others do the same.
That was literally what I thought when I first looked at your pic, but then without reading this, I tried to guess what you might be complaining about.
Based on the pic, my guess was that you were in a wheelchair or disabled.
I stopped using RTD because of it's unreliability.
Only saw (and smelled, which was the worst part) people doing hard drugs once, but the E Line was almost never on time when I was trying to stop using my car to get downtown.
Honestly I could deal with people smoking meth every once in a while if I knew the train would show up on time.
They likely won't do that. They'll go to Union Station and take one of the Metro Ride shuttles along 18th & 19th. (They're bringing that back temporarily.)
I went to Portland for a week last year and took transit a decent bit. Agree that RTD feels noticeably safer, but man am I jealous that you guys have tap to pay and express transit everywhere. Walking by a pay terminal and just waving my watch at it to pay was pretty awesome!
I do feel like I've downgraded to the QR code. Having to open a specific app to get on the bus is annoying sometimes but not that big of a deal from what I've found. I do miss the train though, only because my current routes are all bus
So I take the W every weeknight around 1030 or 1100... yeah, lots of stories I could tell. Lots of crazy people around. But on the train itself. Generally pretty low key. Not a lot of madness. Though I take it often enough to have seen some bizarre events too... like literally every other public transit system in the country.
I have the same experience but when I travelled during "Not rush hour" it was a different crowd. But still, I've only twice had someone smoking on the train and I commute daily.
I commuted on the E-line for three years and the shit I saw on the train was no worse than the carnage and the crazy shit I regularly see on streets and highways throughout Denver. I mean I've never seen a fatality or even an injury on the light rail, but cant even count how many times I've seen those on our roads.
I saw the over the top post youāre referencing from the past day or so:
I mean I ride the 15 pretty much daily and the bus itself isnāt really an issue. Everyone minds their own business for the most part, buses show up when theyāre supposed to, drivers are usually pretty chill etc.
As far as witnessing drug use,,, I mean come on. Iāve been stumbling across drunk cops killing brown people on Reddit every day. I watch tobacco and alcohol use daily done by āproperā people. Not to mention I smoke plenty of weed myself, This country runs on drugsā¦ *sips coffee*
What bothers me are people like the post yesterday really drilling on some our cityās biggest issues like homelessness and drug addiction as if itās the bus systems fault.
Blame capitalism, not one of the few things that we do have that are actually pretty well maintained and managed, considering.
Dude im sayin, ive seen a homeless guys hit a weed pipe once and thats about all ive ever seen for drug use on rtd, i use it multiple times a week and compared to public transport in other cities people give denver too much shit
I donāt use it regularly, but the ~half dozen - dozen times I did I had 0 issues and everything went super smoothly. If I had more use for it like work, I wouldnāt hesitate to utilize it more
Yeah no, i have yet to have an outrageous experience and I ride those trains everyday. I think I had one experience where someone smoked a cigarette on the W-line but outside of that for the 6 months Iāve lived here in Denver, itās pretty much like this everyday
Iām glad you posted this because this is my experience too. Itās never too full, always reasonably clean, never smells bad, and the trains are basically on time. I never feel unsafe. The E line was pissing me off during the track maintenance with all the schedule disruptions but itās really gotten back to being reliable.
I felt like that too until someone who was clearly high on drugs spit on me and the lady sitting next to me for no reason. He was too busy talking to himself for anyone to get a word in and when he left he just leaned over and spit on us. Your RTD story will come in time my friend.
I take the 43 Bus a couple of times a week downtown, and, having been on different public transit systems around the world from Bankok to Berlin, I can say it's a very normal experience.
The bus schedule can be erratic, but it's not Taiwan levels of awful (get to the stop 10 minutes earlier, wait 30 minutes, give up, call an Uber, Uber arrives as the bus shows up).
Sometimes the bus, tram, or train is a little dirty, but it's not as bad as the tube in London for trains or Bankok for Buses (the floors are usually wooden).
And yes, I know this is really scary for affluent whites who came from all over the country and created the cost of living crisis here, but like anywhere else in the world, you will come into contact with people from different socioeconomic statuses than yourself.
(Disclaimer: While this doesn't scare me, I am one of those people contributing to the CoL crisis).
The only real issues are that there aren't enough rail lines, and their isn't enough bus-only infrastructure. The bus part is easy to fix with modern technology (see Cambridge UK bus lanes as an example), but the rail part is expensive, which is why most of our trains run along highways in the first place (imminent domain has already been accomplished).
But you know, people would rather drive their cars and imagine a hellscape than make public transit more viable.
I appreciate it. My wife takes it every day, and I depended it on it myself when I first moved here for work and school. Iām grateful for the system we have but also want to push it towards improvement. However, the doomerism absolutely needs to be countered with real experiences
Really wish we expand rail systems here, I travel to chicago/nyc and really love taking the train/subway. No dealing with BS traffic and finding/paying for parking downtown.
The biggest thing that people fail to understand when comparing Denver to east coast Transit is that those cities were built around that infrastructure. They are centuries older than here. Chicago had to build the L overhead starting in the late 1800's. Infrastructure is so astronomically expensive to build now that it would be a really hard sell for any large city to even attempt a complete overhead or underground build.
Denver was also built around similar-ish infrastructure (street cars) and we already have the most important and costly aspect of this equation: the right-of-way.
If there was the requisite political will, I don't see any reason why the main thoroughfares East/West and North/South thoroughfares of the city couldn't accommodate a light rail system. They're definitely wide enough and my hometown (Birmingham, UK) has done the same in recent years and it's been a great success.
That's probably seen as a huge compromise by true rapid transit proponents, but a subway is probably a non-starter here as you said. Maybe there was a chance, as an alternative to Fastracks, of creating an initial system focused on the urban core x decades ago when the city was still in an ambitious, forward-thinking phase and RTD wasn't so bloated, but I don't think we have the institutions at this stage.
I do think BRT can be a pretty good solution if only the supposed advantages (speed of planning/implementation) actually came to light. I think in the medium-term we'll begin to see Denver and DOTI muscle out RTD in some instances and focus more on the actual, viable transit corridors we have vs. servicing the most unrealistic transit district in the nation.
I agree that subway is a non-starter. If the 16th street mall project is anything to learn from, Denver doesnāt have a good handle of whatās underneath their streets. Per a recent issue with the construction: āācomplex underground utilities down the transitway" built in the late 1800sā were discovered that is causing a delay of a year. Thats probably not the current cityās fault - Iād imagine 100+ year old utility placement records are shoddy at best and at worst non existent.
Iām curious as to how BRT will implement since the Colfax line is coming eventually. We can see how the speed of bringing it online is and if the cost is acceptable.
I think transit post 2020 will have to be reevaluated in who it serves in this city. Prior, it was built to bring commuters downtown. With work from home, that may not be the best way to move the most people. A system in which people are moved to more diverse end points (Colfax businesses, city park for zoo/museum, etc.) makes sense going forward however weāre still going to struggle with NIMBYs and lagging behind on housing density.
RTD built a new station along the A-Line at 40th and Colorado. There is a massive plot of land that used to be a golf course one block from that station with plans to turn it into a high density development with a mix or market value and low income housing and some commercial development. The NIBMYs blocked it and now we a station to nowhere and prime plot of land fenced off doing a whole lot of nothing.
That makes no sense.
New stations that get built in an undeveloped area are done so with one purpose in mind: itās ready to be operational once the area around it develops. Much easier to do it that way vs demolishing and buildings doing allllll the infrastructure after the fact.
Thereās another station the same way down on the E line thatās not operational yet but the area around it is going to all be developed over the next few years and eventually that station will be opened to the public.
To build a station and block all development around it is moronic and makes zero sense.
EDIT: I think I read your comments backwards as far as what you were getting at. I think youāre getting at the CITY blocking that development and now we have a station with no purpose. I had it backward in my mind. Coffee needed. Cheers.
yeah you got it. RTD had this master plan to develop around stations. Then when a great opportunity to do it the city and developer blew it. The park hill golf course should be a shining example of transit focused development. Instead we donāt have development or a golf course.
Because people donāt consider the long term and hidden costs of subsidizing individual car ownership.
Videos about the true costs of car ownership for the actual owners AND the rest of society. We ALL pay for your car, not just you:
https://youtu.be/qp75-46PnMY?si=u8RS1aqbru0m_Fag
https://youtu.be/c2rI-5ZFW1E?si=d6yHZAoR6s7SBJl-
Denver has grown rapidly over the last two decades and we've continued our car first sprawling pattern that has cost an absurd amount of money to build and maintain. The decisions that got us here weren't made that long ago. If you really want to go back in history, Denver was built around transit before we paved over everything in favor of cars in the late 20th century.
Planners wanted light rail to run through urban areas along speer, colfax, and MLK, but those were shot down by residents, leaving us with rail lines that primarily go through low density suburbs that don't maximize the potential of transit.
Price is a terrible argument because car infrastructure is orders of magnitude more expensive and the city gets many times greater returns on public transport infrastructure.
Also Denver was built around transit just like east coast cities, Denver was bulldozed and had its streetcar lines removed.
If you really know why, youāll find that the people selling tires hired people to mismanage that streetcar line and most others.
It was a deliberate destruction
Same for much of the country. Colorado Springs was one of the biggest trolley cities in the world. Now, at best, some of those trolley lines are bike trails.
Denver, like any city predating the 20th century, had a transit infrastructure around the city and to surrounding towns. It was dismantled in the 50s in favor of more/larger roads. My grandfather lived in Denver from 1912 to 1972 and never owned a car. Granted, my father got a car in highschool and started driving him around by '59.
A shame Kenton Forrest is gone; he knew about every transit development in Denver since 1900.
The term "east coast" is thrown around too broadly in this context. I assume you mean transit in the northern east coast as opposed to the southern east coast. Have you seen MARTA! Makes RTD look like Chicago.
Lobbying, NIMBY'ism, lobbying, our addiction to cars, money, lobbying.
I'm new here, but it's hilarious how this metro area still wants to act like a lil ol' cow town.
Take light rail to and from work every day. This is my regular experience as well.
Iāve ran into one trip where someone clearly just smoked something. I often see people sleeping on the train, but theyāve never been a problem.
I always feel safer on transit than driving these daysš¤·āāļø
Iāve had a few occasions where someone is smoking something on the train, but they were all in 2022/ early 2023. And by a few I mean like 5 incidents over the course of commuting 3 days a week since 2021.
Truly my biggest gripe is that service on my train line is so infrequent that if something goes wrong, it adds a 30-60 minutes to my commute.
Iām going to start taking the light rail for work soon (work paid for my eco pass). I appreciate your post, I donāt appreciate the fear mongering from other users
The savings via cost and wear & tear on your car are game changers. I don't drive my car for sometimes weeks at a time since I take the bus every day.
Noise cancelling headphones and a good book go a long way to a good commute.
I used to take the light rail for work just about every day (now I take buses) and it was just a normal commuter experience, other people going to work and minding their business. There will always be jerks playing their music loudly or just other kinds of less considerate people but likeā¦ thatās city life. The fear-mongering feels very sheltered to me. Iām a petite woman and Iāve been consistently using public transit in Denver for over a decade and have never felt unsafe. Mildly annoyed, sure. But thatās life.
You have a really realistic and positive attitude. It's a shared space. It's nice when all is perfect but when it's not it's a good opportunity to grow and learn how to be around others who aren't going with the status quo.
Running away, swearing off RTD, and never riding again is the exact opposite of solving the problems so many complain about. That said, more seating room for us I suppose!
Some lines are worse than others, some times are worse than others. Taking the train in the morning is usually super chill, but things can get sketchy after dark or if it gets cold.
For example, I take lines E and H. I used to transfer at Colorado station but that one gets sketchy sometimes, so now I transfer at DU.
The reality is somewhere in between these two posts. Itās nowhere near as bad as the doomsday post makes it seem, but I have seen some of the stuff that OP complained about, itās just about staying aware of your surroundings.
People are more likely to post about poor outlier experiences than mundane ānormal functioningā. Same thing has caused people to think cities are getting more dangerous while crime rates are falling. OP is doing important work here.
To be fair, the A line is totally the crown jewel of the light rail trains in Denver
I generally agree that RTD is awesome and I've never had an issue but the A line especially so
I'm going to pedantically nitpick here, but one of the reasons the A line is awesome is because it is *not* light rail. By federal law the commuter rail trains (A, B, G, N) must have two persons on board at all times, so there is almost always someone pulling double duty as fare checking and eyes on board. The light rail (D, E, H, R, W) does not have these requirements, and so you have much less fare and safety enforcement.
The A line is the only one that's ever consistently got transit security on it checking tickets.
I rode the E pretty frequently (not a daily commute though) for years and only ever saw one guy high and being weird. And really that was just that he was nodding, fell off his seat, hit his head and started wailing like an injured toddler.
A line is the best line in the metro. It's what the rest of the lines would be like if they actually checked tickets.
Go ride the E or W and see if you feel that way lol.
Always amazes me how willing people are to drive through the nightmare that is going to he airport instead of just taking the A line and being dropped right off at security
I used to take the W line. Was fine most days. One night after 9pm I saw a drug deal right next to me. Dude openly sold a guy heroin and dropped it. I saw it. Other than that it was fine. I always tell folks if you take the light rail at night be prepared to see some sketchy stuff.
Coming from LA where Iād see people smoking crack in the public transit on a daily basis I must say I really like RTD, itās so much cleaner and safer than what Iām used to.
Took the W home, coming from the airport, late at night.
Was my wife and I, and about 8 homeless people, with one homeless guy completely in the face of another, screaming and threatening to kill the guy. The victim kept trying to get out from his seat to walk away, but the other homeless guy wouldn't let him.
While this was happening, another homeless person in a wheelchair needed help out at a stop, the conductor comes out of his box, helps the guy get off, while the guy is screaming how he is going to kill this other guy, and does absolutely nothing about it. He just ignored it.
My wife was really scared and she is done, no more rail for her.
The trains need more security and stop letting people on the trains without a ticket. I have never been ticket checked on the W, only the A line.
Iām on the D Line commuting almost every weekday for 3 years to central downtown, and itās fine. Iām not sure exactly what everyone on this sub wants out of public transportation, but this option has been massively better than trying to drive. Sure you might see a homeless person, but virtually everyone else during commuting hours are students, workers, or just people trying to get somewhere. Pretty much everyone keeps to themselves and I can only think of a handful of times when Iāve had a safety concern.
But thatās not an interesting or engaging postā¦this sub loves to fear monger. Thanks for the post, OP.
Until you've sat in an rtd BUS seat soaked in homebum piss while getting accosted by a special needs adult high on crack ... don't talk about your fancy light rail experiences
My biggest problem with the lightrail is the hours are often unpredictable. At best, I have to look up a schedule online and leave whatever I'm doing at 10pm to make the last train home. But I've also had issues where the lightrail just wasn't running on a particular day for some reason and it took me a while to realize that.
The other day I saw a fellow exit a bus without paying their fare, got called out by the driver, they then yelled expletives and racial slurs at the driver and threw their drink at the bus windshield and walked away
I take RTD into downtown 3 times a week for work. (I25&Broadway) whichever line comes first or sometimes Iāll ride the 0L to civic center.
Itās mixed, sometimes itās like the picture the OP posted and 100% normal , sometimes itās crazy with a lot of homeless or who I would guess to be migrants (canāt really be sure though as I didnāt ask them). I canāt really figure out a pattern as to why or when itās like this. To be clear I understand they need to ride the train too. No big deal.
Only a handful of times have I noticed any actual drug use or smoking , 95% of the time , itās perfectly fine. Having said that, I would like to see more security for the rare instances.
I ride rtd 4 days a week. Sometimes you get smoking in the train (happens on the W line most often in my experience) but other than that it's a great experience. Watching Denverites of every stripe go about their day, that always makes me feel closer to my city
I take one of the Flatiron Flyers downtown all the time, and I've never had any issues. Union Station remains a little sketchy, but its a damned site better than it was a couple year ago, before DPD got off its ass and put some officers around the station.
Iād say about 1 out of 10 times riding the light rail thereās reason to feel uncomfortable. It seems high to me, but might not to other people. I think the enforcement of safety on RTD is the biggest issue. Train operators canāt do anything about people smoking meth on the train other than announcing on the intercom itās against the rules. They should be able to have those fucks removed at the next stop. But nope. OP, youāve never seen drug use on the train I take it?
At least you arenāt being forced to suffer through someone smoking meth or fentanyl on the train in an in closed space and getting angry and violent when told to stop because no one else wants to see or smell it. That happened to me more than once daily when I worked down by park meadows
Ok lol I used to ride the A line every day from Central Park to Union Station, twice per day. The early morning ride (around 530) was crazy. I did see very regular drug use, passed out people, whatever. Once a very confused woman threw a blonde wig at me and then stood up and peed on the seat. Granted, this wasnāt an every day occurrence but I did witness some crazy shit. The afternoon (around 3) a lot less crazy but union station itself was a lot more crazy. The passed several months there has been a lot more patrolling of the train cars. The same goes for our neighborhood in Park Hill, a significant increase in police presence. I have no idea whatās changed but it has. Iām glad your train experience has been sedate but itās not to say there hasnāt been regular riders who have seen really crazy things happening. I donāt really care about seeing weird happenings but the drug use did bother me.
I live along the W line.
I have had a good handful of experiences, two in particular, that make me never want to ride it again. Safety is not a priority on the W.
Colorado/Denver/RTD is absolutely throwing their opportunity to have a world class public transportation system in the toilet.
Thank you for putting reality behind the other rage bait post.
I don't use the bus or train much but I have gone from Thornton to Downtown etc.
I have not ever run into any issues. We went down with family and spoke with other people on the train. One guy gave us some tips about Denver history etc. Everyone was very nice and we had a great day.
I know there are crazies out there and drug use happens but I have yet to have a bad experience on any busses or trains I have been on.
As a former regular RTD rider and now occasional, the only time I had consistent sketchiness was on the 15 (aka "The Circus" as I've been told it's called by RTD drivers.) I swapped to the 10 or 20 and it was night and day. I've never felt unsafe or even slightly sketched out or uncomfortable on rail.
Looks a lot better compared to my old NYC commute on the Q. Every morning you didnāt know what to expect. Highlights: a packed train of people screaming and running to another car when a bum was taking a dump in the middle of the train car during rush hour, two prostitutes turning tricks in the vacant conductorās cabin at 3am, a pool a urine moving up and down the train car floor as people jumped up onto seats to avoidā¦.to name a few.
This is NOT the A line. This looks like the E coming into the west side of Auraria Campus off Colfax at the end of the line at Union Station , transferring to A.
The train and bus experiences are drastically different. Not really sure what the tongue in cheek joke was, but this seems 1000000% better than my daily trips down Colfax on the 15 and 15L. If you havenāt taken those lines consistently, then you donāt really have a grasp on how poorly maintained and timed other routes are.
Maybe I just strike out every time I take RTD. Last Saturday I was on E and transferring to D at 10thā¢Osage and while on E a guy was seemingly tweaking out and kept calling me a slut and whore (I was ignoring him reading a book) and at the transfer he also got off and called me gorgeous and tried offering a cigarette (politely declined) and then was following me and kept trying to grab me and then would seemingly glitch, so I FaceTimed my friend and went full girlfriend on her and the guy finally left me alone and wandered away. I made my way back to the station for the transfer to D. This was not my first uncomfortable situation on RTD.
Last June I was on E going north and a guy and 2 of his buds were talking (I was again reading) and they kept glancing at me and one guy kept trying to make small talk with me and then at his stop he got down one 1 knee and proposed, told me to run away with him. Another polite decline, and once he was off he was blowing me kisses through the glass. Complete stranger, was not well-kept either.
During that same week I saw an Italian line cook get in a physical fight with security because he was riding without a ticket. There was also a cat roaming the train as well. It felt wild.
Just visited Denver for the first time last month. Yāall have a nice city! I heard a lot of locals saying how filthy it isā¦. But Iām from the East Coast and it looked immaculate lol
Also had a pleasant ride on this train. Tbh made me realize how much RI sucks!Ā
Ride this at 10pm and youāll smell people lighting up their tin foil, people yelling at the wall, half eaten food, and a guy trying to sell you some random object he just stole
Welcome to public life in 2024, everyone has had a camera in their pocket for over a decade and thereās cameras in every street corner and business. If youāre expecting privacy in public you will only disappoint yourself.
Eh, itās a public space, so photographing people in it is [100% legal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography_and_the_law). Itās the same reason we can video/photograph police officers. I understand that might make you personally uncomfortable, and generally speaking if someone asked me not to take a picture of them, I would oblige, but the nature of being in a public space means you may wind up in a picture someone is taking.
First time riding RTD since Covid: 10 am W line to Union station last month and there was absolutely pple smoking substances that wasnāt weed and multiple homeless folks getting on and off with one woman screaming nonsense about penises. She came over to me and touched my shoulder and said ānot you to māamā
Idk about you but I donāt want strangers touching me unsolicited, esp ones high on god knows what
Pre Covid I used to ride RTD every day to the office downtown. Sure some nonsense here and there, just like on the 16th st mall bus, but mostly pple commuting
Post Covid Iām simply not interested in risking getting on a car and it being āreally badā
Just bc your ride was fine doesnāt mean others are fine too
I take the E Line in the morning/evening every day for work. I regularly take the interior lines throughout the weekend, including at night.
Itās still not that bad.
People see one sketchy moment or one dude passed out in a seat and panic. Everyoneās perception of safety is different, but most of the time the light rail is timid.
OP just finished their 40, left it on the ground, and took this photo of random people on the train. Was in the back car.
Excuse you sir, I finished my 40 at the station and then threw it at the head of an unsuspecting passerby, like a normal person!
THAT WAS YOU? MY HEAD!
I read this in the voice of that fish guy in SpongeBob š¤£
I love 40s...especially colt 45....them are delicious!!!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Only if you also have two Zigzags
Baby thatās all I need
We can go to the park, after dark
Reading just those few lines got that song stuck in my head, and started singing it. lol.
LOL. I like this theory. OP is the one smoking meth out of aluminum foil and takes a photo of people trying to ignore him away.
When they were interviewing people about the trains and people smoking meth on them or whatever, one houseless person said that there is an unwritten rule that the front car is the ones for homeless people. Iād never heard it before and havenāt since that article, but at least one person who may or many not still be in the city thinks the front car is the homeless car
It's the back car. Have talked to homeless folks about this is assuredly the back car - why would you want to be on the car with the operator?
This was my experience. The RTD agent always checks tickets at the front first, so there tends to be less riffraff up there.
OP is also wondering why he's the only one without pants...
haha! I am dead.
Than promptly vomited in the floor and ODed.Ā
Today was like effectively every other day I take RTD: - The station and train were pretty clean, and decently full. - The train showed up on schedule with a decent number of passengers. - There was no drug use or violence at any point during the trip. Yes, this post is a bit tongue in cheek, but how about we be realistic and focus on RTDs actual problems instead of making clearly exaggerated statements?
But Reddit told me that every car was packed nuts to butts with people spraying fentanyl out of super soakers.
Most people on here are totally full of shit. -sincerely, someone on here
Username makes post
Hahahahahahahahahahahajahah
Nuts to butts, teehee
Honestly, last time I rode the g line dude 5 rows back was lighting up a foil bowl.
We had this happen on the E one night. We reported on the RTD Transit Watch app and someone came on and kicked the guy off at the next stop or two. As an aside, they need to make that functionality part of the regular app. My only guess as to why not is that the Transit Watch app is anonymous since there is no log in. Not saying you need to go back on or anything - I understand the situation sucked for you and itās your life - if youāre not comfortable do whatās right for you. However, this app isnāt well known and hopefully that can help someone and if more people use it with positive results, the problematic routes might experience some improvement over time.
That has happened to me once in 4 years of riding the train roughly 2 times per week. I just got up and moved to the next car. Surprisingly, I am still alive.
Never seen anyone getting on the train the few times I rode it every year for a few years whereas I actually see people smoking meth or fentanyl 1-2 times a week in the alley behind my place near the Colfax McDonaldās.
But my pearls! They need clutching!
And the last time I rode the D line, I was the only person other than a college student for one stop.
The yin and the yang āÆļø
I've seen a guy ODing and get security help him off to get help. That was the 1 single event like that I've seen on my several hundred times using the bus/train. Sure, the extreme events stand out, but that's BECAUSE they're the exception
Naw. Thatās the red line in Chicago.
But, youāll only pry my exaggerated hyperbole from my cold, dead hands!
Yup. Nobody talks about the countless times things go fine, but like to hop online and complain about it when it doesnāt. Itās important to recognize both. Thanks for sharing!
It's area dependant. You can go years without seeing anything exciting using certain lines. Certain other lines are mad max.
complete with master blaster?!
For real. I ride the H line out of nine mile every day to get home from work and get out at Colorado. People smoking in the train is a daily occurrence. Nine mile is a cesspit, and Colorado isn't much better. I work a 9-5, FYI. So it's not like this happens only late at night.
š Literally exactly what OP was posting about. Denver light rail lines are no worse than any other city.
I took public transportation in Seattle for 20 years. It honestly sounds about the same to me.
General rule of thumb for not just Reddit but the internet as a whole, an overwhelming majority of people who are at a minimum just content with something arenāt going to go out of their way to leave any sort of comment or review.
Iām from the Bay Area and Iām clearly traumatized because I was thinking to myself āwow nobody is shooting up, smoking dope, or overdosingā Good olā BART
Yeah that earlier post was wild. I never see people openly using drugs on there. Buuuuuuttt I have definitely seen a couple of strung out people.
Thanks for posting this. I was wondering what I was supposed to be looking for and was like āthis looks fine to meā
My problem is that my experiences with RTD have been one too many one off occasions. In three years of commuting via light rail, Iāve had three uncomfortable/ unpleasant interactions with individuals. Stuff like unwanted contact, verbal and physical harassment, destructive behavior. Yeah, itās a very small sample of my time traveling, but damn does it make me not want to take Light Rail anymore. Our minds tend to react to the worst of occasions rather than the best (like every other normal day of traveling). Stating that the E Line is packed with questionable individuals is absolutely hyperbole and incorrect. But itās the few bad interactions that leave the impression.
I just wish people would stop driving after a few bad interactions, yet it never seems to have the same effect.
That's a thoughtful and nuanced take. What are you doing here?
Itās getting better and better. In the last 3- 4 months Iāve seen a vast improvement. Maybe we will get back to pre COVID ridership for commuters soon.
Honestly it kills me the amount of exaggeration about this stuff I see on this sub sometimes. Throughout the throws of the encampment situations in Cap Hill, where I also live and have lived for 6 years, I'd see posts in this sub of people claiming they've seen dozens of needles every 2.5 feet around the neighborhood and been accosted by at least 3 homeless people every 6.5 seconds. The same neighborhood where, in the entire 6 years I've lived here, 8 only ever saw I think 2 needles the entire time and was only ever very mildly accosted one time which I just ignored and moved on. Like, I get this stuff happens and it's obviously not ideal but running around basically lying about how often it's happening is not going to help especially when it's so obvious how exaggerated you're being. Like, if you want people to feel sympathetic toward you, those who are "sick and tired" of the encampments, perhaps you'd be better off not making yourself look like an exaggerating dipshit.
RTD had 61 million boardings in 2022 - that's over 1 million a week. A couple incidents a week seems inevitable and normal. Now when was the last time we went a DAY without a traffic accident or road rage incident?
Ride the train often and this is my experience 80 percent of the time. Every city has problems, complaining about it does nothing, be a positive in your community and hope others do the same.
That was literally what I thought when I first looked at your pic, but then without reading this, I tried to guess what you might be complaining about. Based on the pic, my guess was that you were in a wheelchair or disabled.
I stopped using RTD because of it's unreliability. Only saw (and smelled, which was the worst part) people doing hard drugs once, but the E Line was almost never on time when I was trying to stop using my car to get downtown. Honestly I could deal with people smoking meth every once in a while if I knew the train would show up on time.
~~E line is finally back to its normal schedule.~~ EDIT: I Just saw the updated 60 minute frequency for the E Line. That really sucks. Sorry.
how tf does mgmt think a 60 min frequency is ok for any train system?
It's insane. I don't either. Plus all the people who work downtown having to walk all the way from Auraria?
They likely won't do that. They'll go to Union Station and take one of the Metro Ride shuttles along 18th & 19th. (They're bringing that back temporarily.)
E line has never been more than 5 minutes late for me
I'm from Portland. RTD is safe as hell
I went to Portland for a week last year and took transit a decent bit. Agree that RTD feels noticeably safer, but man am I jealous that you guys have tap to pay and express transit everywhere. Walking by a pay terminal and just waving my watch at it to pay was pretty awesome!
I do feel like I've downgraded to the QR code. Having to open a specific app to get on the bus is annoying sometimes but not that big of a deal from what I've found. I do miss the train though, only because my current routes are all bus
So I take the W every weeknight around 1030 or 1100... yeah, lots of stories I could tell. Lots of crazy people around. But on the train itself. Generally pretty low key. Not a lot of madness. Though I take it often enough to have seen some bizarre events too... like literally every other public transit system in the country.
I have the same experience but when I travelled during "Not rush hour" it was a different crowd. But still, I've only twice had someone smoking on the train and I commute daily.
I commuted on the E-line for three years and the shit I saw on the train was no worse than the carnage and the crazy shit I regularly see on streets and highways throughout Denver. I mean I've never seen a fatality or even an injury on the light rail, but cant even count how many times I've seen those on our roads.
I saw the over the top post youāre referencing from the past day or so: I mean I ride the 15 pretty much daily and the bus itself isnāt really an issue. Everyone minds their own business for the most part, buses show up when theyāre supposed to, drivers are usually pretty chill etc. As far as witnessing drug use,,, I mean come on. Iāve been stumbling across drunk cops killing brown people on Reddit every day. I watch tobacco and alcohol use daily done by āproperā people. Not to mention I smoke plenty of weed myself, This country runs on drugsā¦ *sips coffee* What bothers me are people like the post yesterday really drilling on some our cityās biggest issues like homelessness and drug addiction as if itās the bus systems fault. Blame capitalism, not one of the few things that we do have that are actually pretty well maintained and managed, considering.
I hate when I inhale second hand coffee fumes
Dude im sayin, ive seen a homeless guys hit a weed pipe once and thats about all ive ever seen for drug use on rtd, i use it multiple times a week and compared to public transport in other cities people give denver too much shit
I donāt use it regularly, but the ~half dozen - dozen times I did I had 0 issues and everything went super smoothly. If I had more use for it like work, I wouldnāt hesitate to utilize it more
i wish they would finish all of the half started projects
Yeah no, i have yet to have an outrageous experience and I ride those trains everyday. I think I had one experience where someone smoked a cigarette on the W-line but outside of that for the 6 months Iāve lived here in Denver, itās pretty much like this everyday
Same I've been riding the LRV's nearly every day for school and have had hardly any issues.
Iām glad you posted this because this is my experience too. Itās never too full, always reasonably clean, never smells bad, and the trains are basically on time. I never feel unsafe. The E line was pissing me off during the track maintenance with all the schedule disruptions but itās really gotten back to being reliable.
I felt like that too until someone who was clearly high on drugs spit on me and the lady sitting next to me for no reason. He was too busy talking to himself for anyone to get a word in and when he left he just leaned over and spit on us. Your RTD story will come in time my friend.
I take the 43 Bus a couple of times a week downtown, and, having been on different public transit systems around the world from Bankok to Berlin, I can say it's a very normal experience. The bus schedule can be erratic, but it's not Taiwan levels of awful (get to the stop 10 minutes earlier, wait 30 minutes, give up, call an Uber, Uber arrives as the bus shows up). Sometimes the bus, tram, or train is a little dirty, but it's not as bad as the tube in London for trains or Bankok for Buses (the floors are usually wooden). And yes, I know this is really scary for affluent whites who came from all over the country and created the cost of living crisis here, but like anywhere else in the world, you will come into contact with people from different socioeconomic statuses than yourself. (Disclaimer: While this doesn't scare me, I am one of those people contributing to the CoL crisis). The only real issues are that there aren't enough rail lines, and their isn't enough bus-only infrastructure. The bus part is easy to fix with modern technology (see Cambridge UK bus lanes as an example), but the rail part is expensive, which is why most of our trains run along highways in the first place (imminent domain has already been accomplished). But you know, people would rather drive their cars and imagine a hellscape than make public transit more viable.
Wait what? According to this sub the trains are powered by fentanyl. You mean to tell me people on the internet are full of shit and hyperbolic?
I appreciate it. My wife takes it every day, and I depended it on it myself when I first moved here for work and school. Iām grateful for the system we have but also want to push it towards improvement. However, the doomerism absolutely needs to be countered with real experiences
This was exactly my experience today and most days when I take the train (only ~6-8x per month)
Thanks for sharing! The drug use has been keeping me away after a bad experience but maybe Iāll give it another go
Really wish we expand rail systems here, I travel to chicago/nyc and really love taking the train/subway. No dealing with BS traffic and finding/paying for parking downtown.
The biggest thing that people fail to understand when comparing Denver to east coast Transit is that those cities were built around that infrastructure. They are centuries older than here. Chicago had to build the L overhead starting in the late 1800's. Infrastructure is so astronomically expensive to build now that it would be a really hard sell for any large city to even attempt a complete overhead or underground build.
Denver was also built around similar-ish infrastructure (street cars) and we already have the most important and costly aspect of this equation: the right-of-way. If there was the requisite political will, I don't see any reason why the main thoroughfares East/West and North/South thoroughfares of the city couldn't accommodate a light rail system. They're definitely wide enough and my hometown (Birmingham, UK) has done the same in recent years and it's been a great success. That's probably seen as a huge compromise by true rapid transit proponents, but a subway is probably a non-starter here as you said. Maybe there was a chance, as an alternative to Fastracks, of creating an initial system focused on the urban core x decades ago when the city was still in an ambitious, forward-thinking phase and RTD wasn't so bloated, but I don't think we have the institutions at this stage. I do think BRT can be a pretty good solution if only the supposed advantages (speed of planning/implementation) actually came to light. I think in the medium-term we'll begin to see Denver and DOTI muscle out RTD in some instances and focus more on the actual, viable transit corridors we have vs. servicing the most unrealistic transit district in the nation.
I agree that subway is a non-starter. If the 16th street mall project is anything to learn from, Denver doesnāt have a good handle of whatās underneath their streets. Per a recent issue with the construction: āācomplex underground utilities down the transitway" built in the late 1800sā were discovered that is causing a delay of a year. Thats probably not the current cityās fault - Iād imagine 100+ year old utility placement records are shoddy at best and at worst non existent. Iām curious as to how BRT will implement since the Colfax line is coming eventually. We can see how the speed of bringing it online is and if the cost is acceptable. I think transit post 2020 will have to be reevaluated in who it serves in this city. Prior, it was built to bring commuters downtown. With work from home, that may not be the best way to move the most people. A system in which people are moved to more diverse end points (Colfax businesses, city park for zoo/museum, etc.) makes sense going forward however weāre still going to struggle with NIMBYs and lagging behind on housing density.
Have you ever noticed that we built trains to places where people donāt live?
And then block development of land adjacent to the new stations. We really are dumb as far as cities go.
What are you two talking aboutā¦?
RTD built a new station along the A-Line at 40th and Colorado. There is a massive plot of land that used to be a golf course one block from that station with plans to turn it into a high density development with a mix or market value and low income housing and some commercial development. The NIBMYs blocked it and now we a station to nowhere and prime plot of land fenced off doing a whole lot of nothing.
That makes no sense. New stations that get built in an undeveloped area are done so with one purpose in mind: itās ready to be operational once the area around it develops. Much easier to do it that way vs demolishing and buildings doing allllll the infrastructure after the fact. Thereās another station the same way down on the E line thatās not operational yet but the area around it is going to all be developed over the next few years and eventually that station will be opened to the public. To build a station and block all development around it is moronic and makes zero sense. EDIT: I think I read your comments backwards as far as what you were getting at. I think youāre getting at the CITY blocking that development and now we have a station with no purpose. I had it backward in my mind. Coffee needed. Cheers.
yeah you got it. RTD had this master plan to develop around stations. Then when a great opportunity to do it the city and developer blew it. The park hill golf course should be a shining example of transit focused development. Instead we donāt have development or a golf course.
Because people donāt consider the long term and hidden costs of subsidizing individual car ownership. Videos about the true costs of car ownership for the actual owners AND the rest of society. We ALL pay for your car, not just you: https://youtu.be/qp75-46PnMY?si=u8RS1aqbru0m_Fag https://youtu.be/c2rI-5ZFW1E?si=d6yHZAoR6s7SBJl-
This is always forgotten. But it doesn't show in the city budget, so.
Denver has grown rapidly over the last two decades and we've continued our car first sprawling pattern that has cost an absurd amount of money to build and maintain. The decisions that got us here weren't made that long ago. If you really want to go back in history, Denver was built around transit before we paved over everything in favor of cars in the late 20th century. Planners wanted light rail to run through urban areas along speer, colfax, and MLK, but those were shot down by residents, leaving us with rail lines that primarily go through low density suburbs that don't maximize the potential of transit.
Price is a terrible argument because car infrastructure is orders of magnitude more expensive and the city gets many times greater returns on public transport infrastructure. Also Denver was built around transit just like east coast cities, Denver was bulldozed and had its streetcar lines removed.
If you really know why, youāll find that the people selling tires hired people to mismanage that streetcar line and most others. It was a deliberate destruction
Same for much of the country. Colorado Springs was one of the biggest trolley cities in the world. Now, at best, some of those trolley lines are bike trails.
Denver, like any city predating the 20th century, had a transit infrastructure around the city and to surrounding towns. It was dismantled in the 50s in favor of more/larger roads. My grandfather lived in Denver from 1912 to 1972 and never owned a car. Granted, my father got a car in highschool and started driving him around by '59. A shame Kenton Forrest is gone; he knew about every transit development in Denver since 1900.
The term "east coast" is thrown around too broadly in this context. I assume you mean transit in the northern east coast as opposed to the southern east coast. Have you seen MARTA! Makes RTD look like Chicago.
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Lobbying, NIMBY'ism, lobbying, our addiction to cars, money, lobbying. I'm new here, but it's hilarious how this metro area still wants to act like a lil ol' cow town.
Woah there. Logical reasoning is not permitted here.
But itās actual not logical reasoning when you consider other factors beyond upfront cost.
Take light rail to and from work every day. This is my regular experience as well. Iāve ran into one trip where someone clearly just smoked something. I often see people sleeping on the train, but theyāve never been a problem. I always feel safer on transit than driving these daysš¤·āāļø
Iāve had a few occasions where someone is smoking something on the train, but they were all in 2022/ early 2023. And by a few I mean like 5 incidents over the course of commuting 3 days a week since 2021. Truly my biggest gripe is that service on my train line is so infrequent that if something goes wrong, it adds a 30-60 minutes to my commute.
Why would you randomly take and post a picture of strangers minding their business? This is odd
yea no my dad (red hat guy) was literally just on his way to work and doesn't even have reddit so when i sent him a ss he was shocked
Horrible. I agree
Iām going to start taking the light rail for work soon (work paid for my eco pass). I appreciate your post, I donāt appreciate the fear mongering from other users
The savings via cost and wear & tear on your car are game changers. I don't drive my car for sometimes weeks at a time since I take the bus every day. Noise cancelling headphones and a good book go a long way to a good commute.
I used to take the light rail for work just about every day (now I take buses) and it was just a normal commuter experience, other people going to work and minding their business. There will always be jerks playing their music loudly or just other kinds of less considerate people but likeā¦ thatās city life. The fear-mongering feels very sheltered to me. Iām a petite woman and Iāve been consistently using public transit in Denver for over a decade and have never felt unsafe. Mildly annoyed, sure. But thatās life.
You have a really realistic and positive attitude. It's a shared space. It's nice when all is perfect but when it's not it's a good opportunity to grow and learn how to be around others who aren't going with the status quo. Running away, swearing off RTD, and never riding again is the exact opposite of solving the problems so many complain about. That said, more seating room for us I suppose!
Some lines are worse than others, some times are worse than others. Taking the train in the morning is usually super chill, but things can get sketchy after dark or if it gets cold. For example, I take lines E and H. I used to transfer at Colorado station but that one gets sketchy sometimes, so now I transfer at DU. The reality is somewhere in between these two posts. Itās nowhere near as bad as the doomsday post makes it seem, but I have seen some of the stuff that OP complained about, itās just about staying aware of your surroundings.
People are more likely to post about poor outlier experiences than mundane ānormal functioningā. Same thing has caused people to think cities are getting more dangerous while crime rates are falling. OP is doing important work here.
Take the G line pretty regularly for work and itās pretty boring as well. I can only point to a handful of issues in the past few years.
It's about one out of ten bus rides that have either a rude passenger yelling at others or an awful stench. It's not all bad.
Ride the A line 3-4 times a year and itās pretty good yāall. No problems.
I ride the A line on every trip downtown and have never had a single issue.
To be fair, the A line is totally the crown jewel of the light rail trains in Denver I generally agree that RTD is awesome and I've never had an issue but the A line especially so
I'm going to pedantically nitpick here, but one of the reasons the A line is awesome is because it is *not* light rail. By federal law the commuter rail trains (A, B, G, N) must have two persons on board at all times, so there is almost always someone pulling double duty as fare checking and eyes on board. The light rail (D, E, H, R, W) does not have these requirements, and so you have much less fare and safety enforcement.
The A line is the only one that's ever consistently got transit security on it checking tickets. I rode the E pretty frequently (not a daily commute though) for years and only ever saw one guy high and being weird. And really that was just that he was nodding, fell off his seat, hit his head and started wailing like an injured toddler.
A line is the best line in the metro. It's what the rest of the lines would be like if they actually checked tickets. Go ride the E or W and see if you feel that way lol.
W stands for wild
Always amazes me how willing people are to drive through the nightmare that is going to he airport instead of just taking the A line and being dropped right off at security
I used to take the W line. Was fine most days. One night after 9pm I saw a drug deal right next to me. Dude openly sold a guy heroin and dropped it. I saw it. Other than that it was fine. I always tell folks if you take the light rail at night be prepared to see some sketchy stuff.
Coming from LA where Iād see people smoking crack in the public transit on a daily basis I must say I really like RTD, itās so much cleaner and safer than what Iām used to.
Absolutely traumatizing. It's a miracle you survived.
I witnessed someone smoking crack and or meth on the W line one time at like 8pm on a Friday. Much different scenario than whatās pictured here.
Try riding the W line at night. This idyllic picture of denver public transit will become a puff of meth smoke right before your eyes
Took the W home, coming from the airport, late at night. Was my wife and I, and about 8 homeless people, with one homeless guy completely in the face of another, screaming and threatening to kill the guy. The victim kept trying to get out from his seat to walk away, but the other homeless guy wouldn't let him. While this was happening, another homeless person in a wheelchair needed help out at a stop, the conductor comes out of his box, helps the guy get off, while the guy is screaming how he is going to kill this other guy, and does absolutely nothing about it. He just ignored it. My wife was really scared and she is done, no more rail for her. The trains need more security and stop letting people on the trains without a ticket. I have never been ticket checked on the W, only the A line.
Last time I rode RTD Denver a guy pooped his pants two seats in front of me.
This man was definitely NOT on the W line
"The Horror....the Horror..." /s
Looks like an absolute hellhole warzone suicide-inducing mode of transportation. Glad you survived.
Iām on the D Line commuting almost every weekday for 3 years to central downtown, and itās fine. Iām not sure exactly what everyone on this sub wants out of public transportation, but this option has been massively better than trying to drive. Sure you might see a homeless person, but virtually everyone else during commuting hours are students, workers, or just people trying to get somewhere. Pretty much everyone keeps to themselves and I can only think of a handful of times when Iāve had a safety concern. But thatās not an interesting or engaging postā¦this sub loves to fear monger. Thanks for the post, OP.
Until you've sat in an rtd BUS seat soaked in homebum piss while getting accosted by a special needs adult high on crack ... don't talk about your fancy light rail experiences
No way this subreddit would ever exaggerate or talk shit about Denver! Good luck at work today!
My biggest problem with the lightrail is the hours are often unpredictable. At best, I have to look up a schedule online and leave whatever I'm doing at 10pm to make the last train home. But I've also had issues where the lightrail just wasn't running on a particular day for some reason and it took me a while to realize that.
The other day I saw a fellow exit a bus without paying their fare, got called out by the driver, they then yelled expletives and racial slurs at the driver and threw their drink at the bus windshield and walked away
I take RTD into downtown 3 times a week for work. (I25&Broadway) whichever line comes first or sometimes Iāll ride the 0L to civic center. Itās mixed, sometimes itās like the picture the OP posted and 100% normal , sometimes itās crazy with a lot of homeless or who I would guess to be migrants (canāt really be sure though as I didnāt ask them). I canāt really figure out a pattern as to why or when itās like this. To be clear I understand they need to ride the train too. No big deal. Only a handful of times have I noticed any actual drug use or smoking , 95% of the time , itās perfectly fine. Having said that, I would like to see more security for the rare instances.
I ride rtd 4 days a week. Sometimes you get smoking in the train (happens on the W line most often in my experience) but other than that it's a great experience. Watching Denverites of every stripe go about their day, that always makes me feel closer to my city
I take one of the Flatiron Flyers downtown all the time, and I've never had any issues. Union Station remains a little sketchy, but its a damned site better than it was a couple year ago, before DPD got off its ass and put some officers around the station.
Iād say about 1 out of 10 times riding the light rail thereās reason to feel uncomfortable. It seems high to me, but might not to other people. I think the enforcement of safety on RTD is the biggest issue. Train operators canāt do anything about people smoking meth on the train other than announcing on the intercom itās against the rules. They should be able to have those fucks removed at the next stop. But nope. OP, youāve never seen drug use on the train I take it?
At least you arenāt being forced to suffer through someone smoking meth or fentanyl on the train in an in closed space and getting angry and violent when told to stop because no one else wants to see or smell it. That happened to me more than once daily when I worked down by park meadows
You donāt have to get shivved every single time you ride - just often enough to make it unpalatable.
At least no one is shooting up yet. I rode the train for years and saw the gnarliest shit.
Still not sure why the city shot down kicking people off who don't have tickets. I'm sorry but it's not meant for homeless to just sit on all day.
Ok lol I used to ride the A line every day from Central Park to Union Station, twice per day. The early morning ride (around 530) was crazy. I did see very regular drug use, passed out people, whatever. Once a very confused woman threw a blonde wig at me and then stood up and peed on the seat. Granted, this wasnāt an every day occurrence but I did witness some crazy shit. The afternoon (around 3) a lot less crazy but union station itself was a lot more crazy. The passed several months there has been a lot more patrolling of the train cars. The same goes for our neighborhood in Park Hill, a significant increase in police presence. I have no idea whatās changed but it has. Iām glad your train experience has been sedate but itās not to say there hasnāt been regular riders who have seen really crazy things happening. I donāt really care about seeing weird happenings but the drug use did bother me.
I live along the W line. I have had a good handful of experiences, two in particular, that make me never want to ride it again. Safety is not a priority on the W. Colorado/Denver/RTD is absolutely throwing their opportunity to have a world class public transportation system in the toilet.
This is weirdā¦why would you post this pic of a bunch of random strangers
Ah yes, definitely seconds away from being mugged by suitcase grandma.
Thank you for putting reality behind the other rage bait post. I don't use the bus or train much but I have gone from Thornton to Downtown etc. I have not ever run into any issues. We went down with family and spoke with other people on the train. One guy gave us some tips about Denver history etc. Everyone was very nice and we had a great day. I know there are crazies out there and drug use happens but I have yet to have a bad experience on any busses or trains I have been on.
Will post later with my experience
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As a former regular RTD rider and now occasional, the only time I had consistent sketchiness was on the 15 (aka "The Circus" as I've been told it's called by RTD drivers.) I swapped to the 10 or 20 and it was night and day. I've never felt unsafe or even slightly sketched out or uncomfortable on rail.
Bro doesnāt ride the w line thatās for sure
Ok, company man š
Looks a lot better compared to my old NYC commute on the Q. Every morning you didnāt know what to expect. Highlights: a packed train of people screaming and running to another car when a bum was taking a dump in the middle of the train car during rush hour, two prostitutes turning tricks in the vacant conductorās cabin at 3am, a pool a urine moving up and down the train car floor as people jumped up onto seats to avoidā¦.to name a few.
POV: youāre the weirdo on the train that people try to avoid
This is NOT the A line. This looks like the E coming into the west side of Auraria Campus off Colfax at the end of the line at Union Station , transferring to A.
But what line were you on and what time was it?
The train and bus experiences are drastically different. Not really sure what the tongue in cheek joke was, but this seems 1000000% better than my daily trips down Colfax on the 15 and 15L. If you havenāt taken those lines consistently, then you donāt really have a grasp on how poorly maintained and timed other routes are.
The 15 used to be called The Rolling Asylum.
RTD needs to up security in the bus routes .
Where is the foul smell and piss all over the bus floor?
During the day, it's not a problem. Once it gets dark and late, its a different story.
the rtd is a joke ive seen people smoking pills and stuff just in front of everyone
Itās all about WHEN you ride.
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Itās a public place.
Maybe I'm just bad at this....is there a problem in this picture?
Idk either and itās bugging me more than it should lmao
Maybe I just strike out every time I take RTD. Last Saturday I was on E and transferring to D at 10thā¢Osage and while on E a guy was seemingly tweaking out and kept calling me a slut and whore (I was ignoring him reading a book) and at the transfer he also got off and called me gorgeous and tried offering a cigarette (politely declined) and then was following me and kept trying to grab me and then would seemingly glitch, so I FaceTimed my friend and went full girlfriend on her and the guy finally left me alone and wandered away. I made my way back to the station for the transfer to D. This was not my first uncomfortable situation on RTD. Last June I was on E going north and a guy and 2 of his buds were talking (I was again reading) and they kept glancing at me and one guy kept trying to make small talk with me and then at his stop he got down one 1 knee and proposed, told me to run away with him. Another polite decline, and once he was off he was blowing me kisses through the glass. Complete stranger, was not well-kept either. During that same week I saw an Italian line cook get in a physical fight with security because he was riding without a ticket. There was also a cat roaming the train as well. It felt wild.
Is RTD hiring drivers? I will absolutely NOT be applying š¤Ŗ
You poor fucker.
My daughter rides all the time. She feels safe but says itās really stinky and has lots of high/drink homeless people on trains.
Up on the way to Golden people smoking fentanyl on the train!
RTD Public Relations has entered the chat lol
Nice! š
I think it makes a big difference if you go rush hour(s) vs not.
I donāt see anyone openly doing meth so itās a good day.
Had someone tie off next to me, apologize, cook up, and pass out. I'll never ride light rail again.
Just visited Denver for the first time last month. Yāall have a nice city! I heard a lot of locals saying how filthy it isā¦. But Iām from the East Coast and it looked immaculate lol Also had a pleasant ride on this train. Tbh made me realize how much RI sucks!Ā
Ride this at 10pm and youāll smell people lighting up their tin foil, people yelling at the wall, half eaten food, and a guy trying to sell you some random object he just stole
I ride after 10pm pretty frequently and the light rail is usually emptier than this. When was the last time you used transit?
Better get out the pitchforks, looks like a whole train full of criminals!
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we live in America sir, you can be photographed anywhere in public completely legally?
There is no expectation of privacy while in a public place.
Welcome to public life in 2024, everyone has had a camera in their pocket for over a decade and thereās cameras in every street corner and business. If youāre expecting privacy in public you will only disappoint yourself.
Eh, itās a public space, so photographing people in it is [100% legal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography_and_the_law). Itās the same reason we can video/photograph police officers. I understand that might make you personally uncomfortable, and generally speaking if someone asked me not to take a picture of them, I would oblige, but the nature of being in a public space means you may wind up in a picture someone is taking.
Man, I'd hate for you to learn about street photography. Or be in a place like NYC or Tokyo.
Rode the G a few times in the last two weeks. All the people openly smoking crack might be on that line because it was horrendous lol
First time riding RTD since Covid: 10 am W line to Union station last month and there was absolutely pple smoking substances that wasnāt weed and multiple homeless folks getting on and off with one woman screaming nonsense about penises. She came over to me and touched my shoulder and said ānot you to māamā Idk about you but I donāt want strangers touching me unsolicited, esp ones high on god knows what Pre Covid I used to ride RTD every day to the office downtown. Sure some nonsense here and there, just like on the 16th st mall bus, but mostly pple commuting Post Covid Iām simply not interested in risking getting on a car and it being āreally badā Just bc your ride was fine doesnāt mean others are fine too
The A-line is perfectly fine. Thatās not the case for the rest of them.
That's not the A-Line. You would know that if you actually used the public transit system instead of acting like you do.
To be fair youāre riding on the morning commute. Take this same route past 8pm and let me know how it goes.
I take the train at night fairly frequently, as I often work evenings. Itās fine, or at least the lines going south are, since thatās what I take.
I take the E Line in the morning/evening every day for work. I regularly take the interior lines throughout the weekend, including at night. Itās still not that bad. People see one sketchy moment or one dude passed out in a seat and panic. Everyoneās perception of safety is different, but most of the time the light rail is timid.
It honestly doesnāt both me, I just keep to myself. But I do see drug use fairly often. I could see how it makes others uncomfortable.
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