I'm a Denver resident and local advocate, and your video on 16th Street (recently renamed for some reason) is quite good!
I would say that this isn't as high-quality, though. Good on mentioning BRT, but I wouldn't say that residents explicitly want BRT, I'd say that people want better transit. Denverites, like most of the world, really would prefer rail, and that sentiment has shown up at the outreach meetings for Colorado BRT.
In terms of FRPR, it won't be high-speed, and it was never planned to be (unless you count the 2012 CDOT study, but that didn't go anywhere). I also wouldn't say there's any frustration that funding isn't going to it, and the plan is to go to the ballot in 2026. Also, that feeling of being misled about where money is going is really more of a Fastracks thing. In the minds of the public, there's a correlation between Fastracks and FRPR, and people don't differentiate. People, especially in Boulder and Longmont, have been paying taxes for a train since 2005, and this has led to some serious distrust in RTD, and transit projects overall.
Lastly, a transition away from a hub-and-spoke model isn't really possible without a massive infrastructure project, especially considering that our bus network made that transition in 1978. The only really feasible thing RTD can do on that front would be increased headways on the R line, which is planned per the System Optimization Plan.
Thanks for the perspective! You definitely have a better depth of understanding - these posts are primarily summaries of the responses I get, which I unfortunately have less local context on. I’ve added to the post to point to your comment here.
Do you also mind elaborating on what you mean by the public not differentiating between Fastracks and FRPR? I’m curious on what you think the outcome of this is
Essentially, FRPR is seen as a continuation of Fastracks. That's probably just because, for the last 20 years, "Rail expansion" has meant Fastracks. Also, the project is pretty closely tied to RTD's Northwest Rail (the B line), and that... doesn't help.
The big impact of this is mostly that people in Boulder, Longmont and Broomfield, who feel betrayed by RTD for not building their train after 20 years of paying taxes for it, are a lot less likely to vote for another tax increase to fund FRPR. In talking to people there, we've seen a lot of skepticism about FRPR, and explicitly because of Fastracks.
On a lighter note, the slow zones are gone, and service is running (somewhat) reliably at 15 minutes where it's normally scheduled
Definently got some inspiration from your videos and my research led me to your 16th street mall video, so thank you very much.
Overall, i would obviously love this train, but would hope it leads to changes in city design as the denver suburbs are becoming increasingly uninhabitable to other forms of transportation.
I definently see it getting approved for funding next year, but i dont envision it transforming our megaregion.
Hey I’ve watched that! Great stuff and thanks for linking it here. Is your group also focused on covering this topic for the next little bit? If so then feel free to link your channel/public pages directly here so others can find it
Hi! East Coaster here, but I lived in Colorado Springs for 5 years and have family in Denver -- one thing I wanted to note about FRPR is the (obvious) issue that a lot of the front range just isn't set up for people to actually get around once they get there. I obviously would have much rather taken a train up to Denver, from COS, when seeing family/friends but with the likely rail routing it would have been rough actually getting to where I would have wanted to. This effect is far more pronounced in COS, IMO -- the current rail right of way, if maintained, does parallel the "downtown" and cuts fairly close to old colorado city, but COS is such a sprawling nightmare you're somewhat out of luck once you arrive. I lived close enough I theoretically could have made use of it (rail to Denver, and then some family luckily lived along a light rail line) but it would have taken a 45-60 minute trip and likely transformed it to closer to 2 hours.
Definitely a big issue that plenty of places face - the strength of local networks factor hugely into the decision of what mode to choose. It’s further motivation to improve things holistically I suppose, and interesting to hear how it plays out along this corridor
I'm a Denver resident and local advocate, and your video on 16th Street (recently renamed for some reason) is quite good!
I would say that this isn't as high-quality, though. Good on mentioning BRT, but I wouldn't say that residents explicitly want BRT, I'd say that people want better transit. Denverites, like most of the world, really would prefer rail, and that sentiment has shown up at the outreach meetings for Colorado BRT.
In terms of FRPR, it won't be high-speed, and it was never planned to be (unless you count the 2012 CDOT study, but that didn't go anywhere). I also wouldn't say there's any frustration that funding isn't going to it, and the plan is to go to the ballot in 2026. Also, that feeling of being misled about where money is going is really more of a Fastracks thing. In the minds of the public, there's a correlation between Fastracks and FRPR, and people don't differentiate. People, especially in Boulder and Longmont, have been paying taxes for a train since 2005, and this has led to some serious distrust in RTD, and transit projects overall.
Lastly, a transition away from a hub-and-spoke model isn't really possible without a massive infrastructure project, especially considering that our bus network made that transition in 1978. The only really feasible thing RTD can do on that front would be increased headways on the R line, which is planned per the System Optimization Plan.
Thanks for the perspective! You definitely have a better depth of understanding - these posts are primarily summaries of the responses I get, which I unfortunately have less local context on. I’ve added to the post to point to your comment here.
Do you also mind elaborating on what you mean by the public not differentiating between Fastracks and FRPR? I’m curious on what you think the outcome of this is
Essentially, FRPR is seen as a continuation of Fastracks. That's probably just because, for the last 20 years, "Rail expansion" has meant Fastracks. Also, the project is pretty closely tied to RTD's Northwest Rail (the B line), and that... doesn't help.
The big impact of this is mostly that people in Boulder, Longmont and Broomfield, who feel betrayed by RTD for not building their train after 20 years of paying taxes for it, are a lot less likely to vote for another tax increase to fund FRPR. In talking to people there, we've seen a lot of skepticism about FRPR, and explicitly because of Fastracks.
On a lighter note, the slow zones are gone, and service is running (somewhat) reliably at 15 minutes where it's normally scheduled
Appreciate the nuance, and thanks for filling in that gap - it’ll be helpful for others who come across this :)
Hey! I recently did a 3 part video series on this proposed passenger rail if anyone wants a deeper dive into that specifically. (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPeF29CeqGWtBxkIkYOZUkawTL8k18PWj&si=w0HwXOjWefCIh_PX)
Definently got some inspiration from your videos and my research led me to your 16th street mall video, so thank you very much.
Overall, i would obviously love this train, but would hope it leads to changes in city design as the denver suburbs are becoming increasingly uninhabitable to other forms of transportation.
I definently see it getting approved for funding next year, but i dont envision it transforming our megaregion.
Shout out the representation tho!
Hey I’ve watched that! Great stuff and thanks for linking it here. Is your group also focused on covering this topic for the next little bit? If so then feel free to link your channel/public pages directly here so others can find it
Hi! East Coaster here, but I lived in Colorado Springs for 5 years and have family in Denver -- one thing I wanted to note about FRPR is the (obvious) issue that a lot of the front range just isn't set up for people to actually get around once they get there. I obviously would have much rather taken a train up to Denver, from COS, when seeing family/friends but with the likely rail routing it would have been rough actually getting to where I would have wanted to. This effect is far more pronounced in COS, IMO -- the current rail right of way, if maintained, does parallel the "downtown" and cuts fairly close to old colorado city, but COS is such a sprawling nightmare you're somewhat out of luck once you arrive. I lived close enough I theoretically could have made use of it (rail to Denver, and then some family luckily lived along a light rail line) but it would have taken a 45-60 minute trip and likely transformed it to closer to 2 hours.
Definitely a big issue that plenty of places face - the strength of local networks factor hugely into the decision of what mode to choose. It’s further motivation to improve things holistically I suppose, and interesting to hear how it plays out along this corridor