Trains and buses could soon run more frequently on lines around Denver, reversing pandemic-era cuts to the Regional Transportation District.
RTD staff presented plans for June 2026 adjustments this week. The proposal, which is still up for debate, would increase the frequency of several rail lines.
The G Line to Arvada would come every 15 minutes for most of the day, while the B Line to Westminster would start running every 30 minutes at peak times.
Currently, the G arrives every 30 minutes and the B every hour.
“When I found out about this the other day, if I could have done a back flip, I would've done a back flip,” said Ian Harwick, a member of the RTD Board of Directors, as he discussed the G Line changes at a recent meeting.
Meanwhile, changes on the light rail lines will result in greater frequency along the “trunk” that runs from Lone Tree’s RidgeGate Parkway Station to downtown Denver, with trains coming as often as every 7.5 minutes.
The proposal also includes more frequent shuttles on 16th Street downtown and extending the 15 bus route to serve an Amazon warehouse in Aurora.
But, it also would scale back or even eliminate service on some bus lines, including the Platte Valley FlexRide.
“These service changes represent a coordinated effort to strengthen reliability, restore key frequencies and better align service with customer demand,” said Patrick Preusser, RTD’s chief operations officer.
“Everyone I've spoken to so far about these service changes is over the moon. It's a great example of what we can do with more funding,” said Chris Nicholson, a member of the RTD Board of Directors.
The proposal comes as RTD faces continued political pressure. Its board chair, Patrick O’Keefe, recently said that the district can not afford to complete the FasTracks program that voters approved more than 20 years ago — meaning RTD might never finish planned extensions of the B Line to Longmont, the N Line to Thornton, the L Line to the A Line, and the D Line to Highlands Ranch.
The planned train to Longmont could instead be replaced by service on the planned Front Range Passenger Rail project.
Meanwhile, O’Keefe said the agency should instead focus on its next 25 years.
The service proposal is expected to return to an RTD board committee on March 11 and then to the full board on March 24, taking effect in June.
The proposed changes for rail lines include:
- Increasing frequency on the G Line, running trains every 15 minutes from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends. Trains had been running every half hour for years. The change would restore pre-pandemic frequency.
- Increasing frequency on the B Line, running trains every 30 minutes on weekdays from 6 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m. The change would restore pre-pandemic frequency.
- Increasing frequency on the R Line to every 15 minutes from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m to 6 p.m. weekends. This is in response to suspension of H Line service.
- The D Line will run to Union Station instead of 18th and California, “establishing a stable operating pattern that improves customer experience.”
- Timing adjustments to the W Line.
- Suspension of the H and L rail lines due to the downtown rail reconstruction project.
Proposed changes for bus service include:
- Increasing frequency of the 16th Street FreeRide, with buses arriving every 3 minutes instead of every 4.5 minutes.
- Extension of Route 15 on Colfax to the Amazon warehouse at 21000 E. 13th Ave. in Aurora.
- Increasing frequency of routes 0L 37, 43, LD3 and the ART line.
- Reinstatement routes 53 and 80.
- Elimination of the Platte Valley FlexRide due to low ridership
- Reductions of evening and late-night trips on routes 7, 112, 120, 520, among other changes
RTD staff said the changes are not expected to increase costs. Some of the changes would be supported by Clean Transit Enterprise grant funding from the state, which is paid for with fees on retail deliveries.
More details of the proposed changes are available in this PDF.
Public hearings to hear about the proposed changes are planned for the following dates via Zoom, with details to come:
- Feb. 23, 2026, at noon and 5:30 p.m.
- Feb. 24, 2026, at noon
