Denver Transit Key to Downtown Success

I was in Denver in late July for a meeting, and was impressed with the progress Denver had made in its downtown since my last visit in 2000. A key part of the success is the light rail line that runs through downtown and which intersects with the 16th Street Bus Mall. RTD operates both the bus and light rail system as well as some regional service that serves commuters to outlying communities such as Boulder.

The C and E light rail lines serve Invesco Field, Pepsi Center and Union Station which is the west anchor of the 16th Street Mall while the D, F and H Lines loop downtown, intersecting the 16th street mall on Stout and California Streets. The buses on the 16th street mall operate about every 90 seconds to two minutes. They are hybrid buses and free.


All along with 16th street mall, people were eating out, drinking coffee and shopping. On a Friday evening I walked back to the hotel at about 10:30 p.m. and the streets were packed and the buses full. In LoDo (lower downtown) new condominium building were sprouting up along with some lofts rehab projects. As a group, the older buildings did not appear to me to be of the quality of those in St. Louis.

It is clear that the investment that Denver made in light rail and buses is paying dividends in reviving downtown. Denver has an ambitious rail expansion program called FasTracks. FasTracks is RTD's 12-year comprehensive plan to build and operate high-speed rail lines and expand and improve bus service and park-n-rides throughout the region.

FasTracks passed a Colorado voters few years back and helps serve as a reminder that Denver is moving ahead with transit investments. St. Louis needs to make a greater investment and apparently will get that opportunity in February.

New Study Shows Public Transit Saves Households $6,200

The American Public Transportation Assocition has issued a new report that shows households that use public transit save at least $6,200 per year. You can read the report and press release by clicking here.

Several years ago after our kids left home, we reduced our auto ownership from two to one -- a Prius hybrid. I use the bus and MetroLink for my daily commute and my wife drives to her suburban job site. She can use the bus and MetroLink for a lengthy reverse commute, by carefully navigating bus stops in hostile environments near major arterial roads.

I would say I would say we easily save the $6,200 per year cited in the report. What it requires is that you use public transit, walk more, and are ready to shell out $50 or $60 a day to rent a car on occassion. This also suggests that to adopt this strategy that you choose to live in a place that is well served by public transit, is walkable and preferably is mixed-use, things advocated on this site as well as other sites such as Steve Patterson's excellent blog Urban Review St. Louis.

I live within walking distance of a grocery store and am not sure living with only one car would work as well if this were not the case.

The bottom line, is APTA and others hope the new Congress will up funding of public transit as a critical part of an energy strategy, new foreign policy initiative not to leave out the need to address global warming.

Location Efficient Mortgages

Sandwich Man posted this:

What's more, homes hold or appreciate in value while cars only lose theirs, and financing a home is cheaper than a car--the interest rates are lower, and there's no deduction for interest on car loans. The mortgage interest deduction is the biggest one in the federal tax code. You're far better off putting your money into a higher priced home instead of cars. St. Louis should be using location-efficient mortgages to help people do this, too.

A location efficient mortgage program was started in St. Louis about a year ago. I doubt it gets much publicity from the real estate agents and lenders. The way the program works, is that people who live near transit are eligible to barrow more money since they will use less of their income on transportation. I believe the cap on the program is $375,000, plus the entire city of St. Louis qualifies for the program. Fannie Mae is a backer of the program. Metro and the City of St. Louis should be promoters as well.