Trainspotting
Welcome to our World Class City.
We have trains.
The new Southeast line of our Regional Transportation District's light rail system is now open, so of course, we had to go ride it.
While I'm excited that we have expanded routes available now, sometimes all I can do is laugh at how ass-backwards Denver is.
So, we get up on Friday morning and walk over to the nearest stop. We want to buy $10 day passes so we can ride the whole system and not worry about transfers or anything. Only problem is that you can't buy day passes at the individual stations. No, you have to go all the way to Market Street Station downtown, where the main terminal is, to purchase them. So we wait for four trains to pass so that we can get off at Union Station and walk two city blocks east to Market Street to buy the passes. And then we go back to Union Station....
And even if we could have purchased the passes at any stop, the ticket machines don't take plastic--cash only. Curiously, the ticket kiosks and information booths were all closed, too. Weird.
So, we're out riding and having fun, but it's getting to be lunchtime. Oddly, there's nothing with easy access from any of the suburban stations along our route ("Look! Chili's!"), but we persevere on. We decide to stop at Park Meadows Mall, one of the biggest malls in the metro area. We decide that if we can, we'll stop there and grab something to eat. We'd heard rumors that even though there was a train stop there, you couldn't actually access the mall.... We get to the stop at County Line Road and sure enough, you can't get there from here.
Picture this, if you will. We're standing on a train platform, and looking down a steep incline. The mall's parking lot is less that 100 yards from where we're standing, with the Nordstrom door maybe 300 yards away. And we can't get there because there is a tall metal fence, a steep hill, and a busy road.
The original owners of the mall wanted nothing to do with public transportation in what appeared to be a very classist response. I think the new ownership group gets that people who ride light rail aren't just poor people--it's all sorts of people, including people like us who would have easily dropped $30 on lunch and would have possibly spent a lot more than that shopping. But still, you can't get there now....
We decide that we'll walk across the pedestrian walkway--the one that takes you to the megachurch, doncha know--but will not take you to the mall. As we're walking across, someone tells us that there is bus service, but the next bus isn't for 35 more minutes. Uh, okay. We stop to look at the walk we'd have to do--heading north on the east side of I-25, under the overpass, and then south down the west side of I-25. Do-able, but probably a 20 minute walk. Screw that.
So, we get back on the train. We had one more stop to get to the end of the line (which truly is "the end of the line") and I knew better than to ask Nigel if we could just head back north instead. So, we went to the last stop ("It looks just like Upminster!"), complete with a lovely suburban gulag "luxury" apartment building, whipping wind, and nothing else, and waited for the next train, so that we could take another line east. We did find lunch, back in our neighborhood at Wild Oats--the only stop along this route with easy-easy access to food.
Then, we rode the already-existing line down as far as it would go ("Why?" "Because we can." "Okay.") and went shopping and for coffee. Ah, civilization!
It was a fun day, and it is fun being married to a trainspotter. Nigel is a very serious man and trains bring out the seven year old in him.
It's also great that our public transportation system is improving. It's nice to be able to get to more and more places without having to rely on a car. A few years ago, Denver embarked on one of the silliest marketing campaigns I've ever seen, telling everyone who would listen or read about our "World Class City." You know, if you have to tell people you're a World Class City, chances are good that you're not. Can you imagine London or New York doing that?
So, proudly, we're a little cowtown. And I'm pretty much okay with that. At least we have trains.
We have trains.
The new Southeast line of our Regional Transportation District's light rail system is now open, so of course, we had to go ride it.
While I'm excited that we have expanded routes available now, sometimes all I can do is laugh at how ass-backwards Denver is.
So, we get up on Friday morning and walk over to the nearest stop. We want to buy $10 day passes so we can ride the whole system and not worry about transfers or anything. Only problem is that you can't buy day passes at the individual stations. No, you have to go all the way to Market Street Station downtown, where the main terminal is, to purchase them. So we wait for four trains to pass so that we can get off at Union Station and walk two city blocks east to Market Street to buy the passes. And then we go back to Union Station....
And even if we could have purchased the passes at any stop, the ticket machines don't take plastic--cash only. Curiously, the ticket kiosks and information booths were all closed, too. Weird.
So, we're out riding and having fun, but it's getting to be lunchtime. Oddly, there's nothing with easy access from any of the suburban stations along our route ("Look! Chili's!"), but we persevere on. We decide to stop at Park Meadows Mall, one of the biggest malls in the metro area. We decide that if we can, we'll stop there and grab something to eat. We'd heard rumors that even though there was a train stop there, you couldn't actually access the mall.... We get to the stop at County Line Road and sure enough, you can't get there from here.
Picture this, if you will. We're standing on a train platform, and looking down a steep incline. The mall's parking lot is less that 100 yards from where we're standing, with the Nordstrom door maybe 300 yards away. And we can't get there because there is a tall metal fence, a steep hill, and a busy road.
The original owners of the mall wanted nothing to do with public transportation in what appeared to be a very classist response. I think the new ownership group gets that people who ride light rail aren't just poor people--it's all sorts of people, including people like us who would have easily dropped $30 on lunch and would have possibly spent a lot more than that shopping. But still, you can't get there now....
We decide that we'll walk across the pedestrian walkway--the one that takes you to the megachurch, doncha know--but will not take you to the mall. As we're walking across, someone tells us that there is bus service, but the next bus isn't for 35 more minutes. Uh, okay. We stop to look at the walk we'd have to do--heading north on the east side of I-25, under the overpass, and then south down the west side of I-25. Do-able, but probably a 20 minute walk. Screw that.
So, we get back on the train. We had one more stop to get to the end of the line (which truly is "the end of the line") and I knew better than to ask Nigel if we could just head back north instead. So, we went to the last stop ("It looks just like Upminster!"), complete with a lovely suburban gulag "luxury" apartment building, whipping wind, and nothing else, and waited for the next train, so that we could take another line east. We did find lunch, back in our neighborhood at Wild Oats--the only stop along this route with easy-easy access to food.
Then, we rode the already-existing line down as far as it would go ("Why?" "Because we can." "Okay.") and went shopping and for coffee. Ah, civilization!
It was a fun day, and it is fun being married to a trainspotter. Nigel is a very serious man and trains bring out the seven year old in him.
It's also great that our public transportation system is improving. It's nice to be able to get to more and more places without having to rely on a car. A few years ago, Denver embarked on one of the silliest marketing campaigns I've ever seen, telling everyone who would listen or read about our "World Class City." You know, if you have to tell people you're a World Class City, chances are good that you're not. Can you imagine London or New York doing that?
So, proudly, we're a little cowtown. And I'm pretty much okay with that. At least we have trains.
posted by Kay at
2:41 PM
3 Comments:
I feel I should point out that the fact the it was built at all is fairly miraculous. The vote to fund the rail component of TREX and FasTracks was opposed by a blowhard contingent of far-right idealogues who regard public transportation as socialism. These are people who think everyone who doesn't drive an enormous gas-sucking SUV is unAmerican, and possibly a terrorist.
Given the closeness of the votes, it really isn't surprising that RTD didn't allow for card readers in the ticket machines, or push harder for the bridge to Park Meadows.It's a budget issue. At the time the vote was taken, SouthWest wasn't yet open, so nobody knew how popular it would be. If SouthWest had flopped, it would have been a "Leftist Boondoggle", or some such O'Reillian nonsense. Its success should be celebrated as a rare victory of common sense over the idiots of the talk-radio Right.
Nige.
I know, I know.
It just seems like we're so ass-backwards sometimes.
xxx
what do you think of this story in your state?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/27/peace.wreath.ap/index.html
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