u/GrowingCourage

When the G Line opened, RTD eliminated Arvada’s airport bus claiming it was replaced by a timed transfer to/from the A Line. This transfer has been broken going westbound at night for a while, with the A Line arriving at :04/:34 and the G Line departing Union Station at :01/:31. This creates an unacceptable 27 minute wait for WB riders going to Arvada or Wheat Ridge. Why isn’t there a master timed transfer plan for locations like Union Station requiring all routes to arrive and leave following a consistent pattern, just like the time banks of flights at Denver Airport? When service only runs every 30-60 minutes, it’s incredibly important that timed transfers work. Otherwise RTD is just a bunch of random routes which only serve one-seat rides in a metro area where almost every traveler needs to transfer. It seems like Arvada deserves it’s airport bus back if RTD isn’t going to honor the timed transfer they were promised when the G Line service changes went into effect.

The 104L serves two main functions: feeding riders into the airport and the N Line at Thornton Crossroads. Only one of those is a functioning transfer today though, as the WB 104L arrives at :23/:53 missing the SB N Line by 4 minutes (along with missing the other local bus connections at Thornton Crossroads). I get the desire to have every airport bus leave at :20/:50 from Denver Airport, but does that make sense if it causes a route to miss every other timed transfer? This reduces ridership by limiting it to park & ride customers, of which there aren’t many on the 104L because the average rider doesn’t understand that it’s equivalent to a SkyRide service (it used to be route AA, but it got rebranded down to the 104L because it was supposed to feed into the N Line).

This route has been ignored for service revisions since the N Line opened and has a lot of potential if it gets revisited. Changing it to service Tower Road between Pena Blvd & 104th Ave would add service to the new warehouse district at Tower/81st, along with many new neighborhoods along Tower Rd between 88th & 104th. Likewise, it might make sense for the 104L to drive on Washington St versus I-25 between 104th and 120th given the lack of local bus service in this area. And fixing the N Line timed transfer would likely generate an immediate ridership boost since north Commerce City residents could use it to travel downtown or elsewhere in Thornton without a 26 minute wait on the WB leg of their trip.

People can never miss an opportunity for a lawsuit.