RTD light-rail trains are clean. They’re fast. They’re efficient and they’ve spread deep into the suburbs. But the culture growing up around the rush-hour rides is getting some low marks when it comes to manners.
Smokers anxious about finding even standing room on southbound trains puff away on the platform, even though they’re shoulder-to-
shoulder with people who don’t. Able-bodied riders stick to their seats, leaving others to lean on their canes during the herky-jerky ride home. Folks refuse to budge from their standing spots in the car stairwells, blocking others from entering the train.
These sorts of things happen all the time on Denver’s expanding light-rail network, though, gentle riders, they should not.
You can chalk it up to Coloradans growing up without public transportation, but it’s a changing world and frustrations about too-crowded trains, fluid schedules and lost bus routes are no excuse for bad manners.
“There’s no question, it’s a change,” says native Coloradan Scott Reed, RTD’s spokesman and a regular bus commuter, who, not incidentally, always offers his seat to someone less able. “Any time someone tries something new there’s going to be a bit of a learning curve, and the longtime riders know the ins and outs. It just takes a little while to learn them.”
With last month’s addition of the southeast line, RTD projects the overall system is now logging about 50,000 rides every weekday.
The new lines have pushed ridership so high that during busy hours it often is standing-room only on the trains, and sometimes trains are so full people waiting at stations have to miss their train and wait for the next one.
That makes for a lot of potentially crabby humanity shoehorned into hurtling steel boxes.
While good manners aren’t something RTD officials regulate or enforce, issues of comfort and decency do matter as they assess the success of riders’ experiences.
Reed says everybody who uses light rail should practice good etiquette while in the stations and riding on the trains.
Here are his baseline tips for good light-rail behavior:
Don’t blow smoke: That includes in RTD stations or shelters where it’s not permitted, or in the face of fellow passengers in line where it’s rude.
Get up: There are seats designated for the elderly and handicapped on each train. If you’re sitting in one, give it up to the lady with the cane.
Wait just a minute: Let people get off the train before trying to board.
Pipe down: No loud cellphone conversations or loud headphones, please.
Move it: Please move to the center of the car to allow others to board.
Watch the door: Try not to block others’ entrance to the train by parking yourself in the car stairwells.
Be ready: Keep your ticket or pass readily available for the fare inspectors.
Shove in: There are usually fewer people in the rear car than the front car, so it may be worth the extra steps.
Pedal away: Bikes are permitted but only if there is enough room. A free bike permit, available at any RTD transit center, is required.
Get off: Gather your belongings as you approach your stop so you will be prepared to deboard.
Reed says riders with complaints or questions should call RTD’s telephone information center at 303-299-6000, or visit RTD’s website at rtd-denver.com.
Staff writer Douglas Brown can be reached at 303-954-1395 or djbrown@denverpost.com.
