The Pedestrian 'Experience' - My Journey to the Bus

What keeps many of us from using public transportation? This is a complicated question and many factors influence an individual's mobility choice (distance to stops, journey time, frequency, etc.). Beyond just travel time, I have found that the physical experience (walking, cycling, riding transit) of the entire journey (from origin to destination) has a significant impact on whether one chooses to use public transportation. Is the path to transit intuitive? Are there sidewalks? Is it comfortable? Does the journey feel safe? Is there wayfinding and information?

I was thinking about this topic on my morning commute and wanted to document a portion my own experience. I would like to point out that (while not ideal) my commute experience is quite good in comparison to many in the Denver metropolitan area. I am also fortunate that I can choose to use transit, drive, walk, or cycle. Many others have limited mobility choices.  

The short video below documents my pedestrian experience walking from my home in the Sloan's Lake neighborhood of Denver to the 16L bus stop on West Colfax Avenue (~0.70 mi./1.12 km.).

Denver's Regional Transportation District (RTD) provides local and regional bus service in the metropolitan area. RTD is a regional taxing district that has responsibility for the transit service, but not the land use and pedestrian connectivity. RTD does not build connections to their stops, only the concrete pads for the stops themselves. Local municipalities must make these connections. RTD does coordinate and works to support connections by local municipalities where possible. However, with limited funds, most municipalities in the metro area struggle to provide quality connections consistently.

The City and County of Denver is working hard change this scenario and to address pedestrian and other multi-modal connections.

The City recently kicked off the ' Denveright'  planning effort with the development of new plans for land use and transportation, parks and recreation, trails and pedestrians, and transit. 

The Denveright effort recognizes the integral link between land use, pedestrian, recreational, and transit policies and funding. Within Denveright, the Denver Moves Trails and Pedestrians plan is specifically aimed at making "...walking a viable and primary way for people to get around town and access recreational resources — comfortably and safely". With consistent planning policy comes better justification for funding and ultimately project implementation to improve local pedestrian connectivity.  

The video below is from the Denveright home page and provides an introduction to this significant planning process that kicked off in May 2016. All Denver residents should stay informed and (if you can) be involved in shaping our future mobility options.