RTD’s new “E” light-rail line from Lincoln Avenue to Union Station masqueraded as the orange-and-blue line Sunday as thousands of Broncos-jerseyed fans took the train to the Denver-San Diego game.
“Normally you pay $40 to $50” to park near Invesco Field at Mile High, said Karin Basch, who was taking the new train to the game with her friend Jason Bourne.
Sunday was the first day that passengers on the southeast line had to pay for service. Basch and Bourne each paid $5.50 for a round-trip ticket from the Dry Creek station.
Basch, who lives a half-mile from the platform, planned to walk to Dry Creek this morning and take the train the short distance to her job near the Belleview stop.
Michele Whittingham, her husband, Neal, and Neal’s dad, Tom, also were going to the Broncos game and had driven from Castle Rock to get on the train at the Lincoln station.
Collectively, they paid $22.50 for three round-trip tickets to Invesco, much less than they’d pay for parking near the stadium, Michele said. “It’s a lot less hassle.”
Dayle and Brenda Gaylin drove from Greeley to try out the new rail line. They got on at Union Station and rode south.
“We thought it would be cool to check out Park Meadows,” Brenda said, referring to the mall close to the County Line station.
But the Gaylins, like hundreds of other rail riders, arrived at County Line to find no pedestrian access from the raised train platform down to the adjacent mall parking lot. Instead, train passengers must take a pedestrian bridge over Interstate 25 and then a local bus from the parking lot on the east side of the highway back to the mall on the west side.
“If we could get to it, we’d probably have dinner there,” said Dayle Gaylin, after deciding with his wife that it wasn’t worth the time and effort.
Yvonnie Phillips of Aurora also had Park Meadows as her destination.
“I’m from Philadelphia, and this brings back that old transit feeling,” said Phillips, who was enjoying the ride from Nine Mile. She was heading to the mall with daughters Desiree, 14, and Nicole, 13, and the girls’ friend Ashley Biggers, 13.
When they got on the bus at the County Line station lot, the driver informed them that it was only running hourly for the return trip from the mall.
Some train riders decided to walk from the east-side parking lot to County Line Road and then cross under I-25 to get to the mall. Yet there were no sidewalks for part of that trek.
“This is an unanticipated consequence, and it’s a mess,” said O’Neill Quinlan, a Regional Transportation District director, about train patrons dashing across busy streets.
RTD spokesman Scott Reed said Sunday night that the agency would post more signs to help riders get to the mall on buses.
Previous owners of the mall had thwarted RTD’s efforts to provide direct access from the train. Recently, new owners of the shopping center agreed to let RTD build a bridge from the station to the mall parking lot. The $4.5 million addition will take at least a year to construct.
Some new rail riders were learning the system Sunday.
Sheila Blackstone had driven to the Lincoln station from her nearby Highlands Ranch home to try out the new line. An RTD volunteer helped her select a test trip, but when the round-trip fare came up $7.50, Blackstone decided her first ride would be this morning when she’d take the train to her job in downtown Denver.
“I’ll try it and see how it goes,” said Blackstone, who pays $150 a month to park in a downtown garage. For $135 a month, she can get a monthly train pass from Lincoln.
“It means no gas, no wear or tear on the tires,” Blackstone said, adding that she’d consider the rail option from Lincoln “providing I can get a parking space.”
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
