Light Rail to Castle Rock (Denver, Fort Collins: apartments, condo, homes)

[Mezter]

I don’t see it happening but that would be absolutely amazing.

[Tim Tim Tim]

Originally Posted by Willy702

I doubt they would ever build a train there anyways, just too far to go in not the easiest terrain. It would be a Boulder style bus at best which won't exactly get big support. So when you think about it pay about the same tax as everyone else and get the right to park in lots and get a slow bus service, is it a surprise it gets rejected?

They built an interstate in the same location, not sure why they couldn't do a rail line.

The bus will likely fail, I wouldn't use it.


Regarding the vote, is there anywhere that laid out the specifics of the deal? With the quote from the mayer, it makes me wonder what specifically the deal had in it that was so bad?

Mayor Ray Waterman said he was surprised the margins were even that close. “I’m glad we’re out of RTD,” he said. “We support mass transit, just not that particular offer

[suzco]

Originally Posted by Tim Tim Tim

. . .
Regarding the vote, is there anywhere that laid out the specifics of the deal? With the quote from the mayer, it makes me wonder what specifically the deal had in it that was so bad?

The article davebarnes cited above lays out the issues with the deal as the mayor saw them:

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Castle Rock mayor: No to RTD – The Denver Post

[davidv]

1. Castle Rock will not get bus service let alone a light rail line until it becomes part of the Regional Transportation District. Right now they have not paid into the systemA for over ten years. It is the reason why people living in non-RTD areas using the parking garages at light rail stations must pay a $4 parking fee.

2. Boulder/Longmont deserves a train before Castle Rock does. They have been in the system.

3. A Castle Rock to Downtown Denver line would most likely follow/use the rail tracks along US-85, not I-25. The right of way is already in place, and the terrain would not pose a problem.

[jsmdenver]

Light rail is the worst way to commute long distances. It takes FOREVER without express lines.

A bus is much faster for end-to-end transit, even with light traffic, as it doesn't have a million stops.

Castle Rock would be much better off focusing on getting an express bus service with a stop in DTC and a stop in DT Denver, but that isn't likely. As it is, the new Ridgegate station with its massive parking garage is pretty obviously there to capture the Castle Rock ridership and collect your daily parking revenue since you aren't paying RTD taxes. A good nose-thumbing commuter solution by Castle Rock for that would be a free PnR down in CR, with a connector bus to and from the Ridgegate station.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by jsmdenver

Light rail is the worst way to commute long distances. It takes FOREVER without express lines.

A bus is much faster for end-to-end transit, even with light traffic, as it doesn't have a million stops.

Castle Rock would be much better off focusing on getting an express bus service with a stop in DTC and a stop in DT Denver, but that isn't likely. As it is, the new Ridgegate station with its massive parking garage is pretty obviously there to capture the Castle Rock ridership and collect your daily parking revenue since you aren't paying RTD taxes. A good nose-thumbing commuter solution by Castle Rock for that would be a free PnR down in CR, with a connector bus to and from the Ridgegate station.

https://ridebustang.com/routes-maps/?route=south-line

Castle Rock could always ask CDOT to add a stop on Busstang. But the COS to DTC route it REALLY slow because it has to make a million stops in the DTC as it's so spread out. The COS to downtown route is quite a bit faster, but there's only five buses available for the commute. But it's certainly easier to add express buses than it is to reconfigure the SE LRT lines to accommodate express service.

[jweb29]

CDOT can barely get that god damn arvada line open. Let's not get ahead of ourselves

[Jammin36]

I’m looking at moving to Sedalia, and I love the idea of building the light rail down Highway 85. There’s already a train track there like they mentioned, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble to build the light rail there as well. Plus, it could stop in Sedalia, and it wouldn’t be as congested, since there’s only the C and the D line, instead of four on the other line (E, F, H, and R)

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by Jammin36

There’s already a train track there like they mentioned, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble to build the light rail there)

You cannot build light rail next to a “train track”.
Cf. RTD. B line.

P.S. Sedalia will get rail service when Bud’s serves fries.

[iSudo]

Not to get political, but I've always been told that Castle Rock resides in one of the oldest, most conservative counties in Denver Metro and they tend to vote down a lot of progressive agendas including school funding and public transit funding. With regards to impeding RTD, it's to "keep the riff raff" out, per a direct quote from one of the city council meetings.