RTD will scale up train, bus service for All-Star Game

DENVER — Have you ever had to wait a long time for a light-rail train after a Colorado Rockies game? The Regional Transportation District (RTD) wants to make sure that doesn’t happen during next week’s All-Star Game.

“We’ll have extra trains, commuter and light rail trains and additional buses where needed,” said Michael Ford, the chief operating officer of RTD.

Ford said the agency is basing service decisions on data collected from all around the city — everything from All-Star ticket sales to information from other vendors and economic partners.

“We think there’s going to be a concentration on the [16th Street] Mall. We think some of our other routes like the 15 on Colfax are going to be heavily used,” Ford said.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, RTD has been operating on a reduced schedule, as ridership plummeted with the virus circulating. As the agency starts to recover, Ford says the focus will be on the types of service people are looking for.

“We look at what’s going on in our area and we try to make sure that we have accommodations for those depending on our resources and our service availability,” Ford said.

For instance, pandemic service changes have meant the last southbound train out of downtown Denver each night is at 10:18 p.m., which has recently frustrated some Rockies fans who complained to Next with Kyle Clark.

But the agency is proposing adding an additional 10:48 p.m. train from Union Station on Friday’s Saturdays and Sundays.

“Be patient with us,” Ford said. “We’re trying to make changes. We’re trying to accommodate the needs and we’re working very hard to bring back service at a measured pace given where we are right now.”

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