Getting From Denver International Airport to Downtown Without Losing Your Mind
The RTD A-Line is the only public transit option that actually gets you from DEN to downtown in under 40 minutes. I know because I took a cab once for $55 and a rideshare once for $42 during rush hour, then switched to the A-Line and paid $10.50 plus a $3.50 airport access fee. The math writes itself after the third time you realize you could have just bought a coffee and waited. Here is what the map actually looks like in practice, not the sanitized version RTD puts on their website. The A-Line runs from the Airport Station (literally under the terminal, follow signs to LIFT) to Union Station in eight stops. The full run takes 37 minutes. Trains come every 15 to 30 minutes depending on the time of day. The schedule changes seasonally, so the "every 15 minutes" you see online might actually be every 30 if you are traveling on a Sunday evening in November. The stations, in order from the airport: LIFT Station, 38th & Blake Station, and Union Station. That is it for the practical traveler. LIFT is the Park & Ride lot at 38th Avenue and Federal Boulevard. 38th & Blake is the closest stop to the Pepsi Center / Ball Arena area and the RiNo district. Union Station is the terminus, right in the heart of downtown near the 16th Street Mall.
I learned the hard way that the airport access fee is separate from the base fare. The base fare is $10.50. The airport access fee is $3.50. Total one-way cost is $14. If you have a Go Bus Pass or monthly pass, the airport access fee still applies. This is not intuitive. I stood at the ticket machine in 2022 and tried to use my monthly pass, and the attendant had to manually override it because the system kept rejecting the transaction. The workaround is to buy a ticket at the kiosk before you get to the platform, or just tap your credit card directly at the gate. The Go Ride app works too, but I have had it fail to load at the station twice when I was in a hurry. The trains are light rail, not commuter rail. They look like standard RTD light rail cars with fold-down seats and standing room. There is Wi-Fi onboard, but it is slow and drops connection between stations. Do not expect to stream anything. My laptop has enough battery to finish an email, but that is the ceiling.
How the Schedule Actually Works
Peak hours, Monday through Friday, 6 AM to 9 AM and 4 PM to 7 PM, trains run every 15 minutes. Off-peak and weekends, every 30 minutes. Late night after 10 PM, the interval stretches to 60 minutes. The last train from the airport departs around 11 PM. The last train from Union Station departs around midnight. These times shift, so check the RTD website on the day you travel. The app updates, but not always in real time. I discovered a quirk that I have not seen documented anywhere: the A-Line sometimes skips 38th & Blake during certain maintenance windows. If you are staying near Ball Arena or need to transfer to the B-Line or G-Line, check the real-time departure board at LIFT before you board. The digital display shows which stops are served. If 38th & Blake is not listed, you will go straight to Union Station. I missed this once and had to walk 12 blocks from Union Station to my hotel in the rainy season. The walk took 28 minutes. Not recommended. The train does not stop at every station between LIFT and Union. Some trains are express and skip LIFT, running only from 38th & Blake to Union. These express trains run during peak hours and cut the downtown commute to about 25 minutes from 38th & Blake. From the airport, you still need to get to 38th & Blake first, which adds 5 minutes. The tradeoff is rarely worth it unless you are coming from near the 38th & Blake station already.
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What the Map Does Not Tell You
The RTD map shows a simple line with dots. It does not show that LIFT Station has limited parking during peak travel times. The lot fills up by 7 AM on weekdays. If you are driving to the airport and planning to take the A-Line home, you will likely find a spot further down Federal Boulevard or at the 38th Avenue Park & Ride, which is a five-minute walk away. The free shuttle between lots exists, but it runs every 20 minutes and the wait can eat into your connection time. Bicycle storage is available at LIFT and Union Station, but the racks fill up quickly in summer. I have seen people leave bikes locked to railings because there was no space. If you are bringing a bike, get there early or use the rear-mounted bike rack on the train, which accepts two bikes per car on a first-come basis. The rack is small. A mountain bike with wide handlebars barely fits. I learned this after bending my derailleur once trying to force it through. Accessibility is handled well. All stations have elevators and escalators. The trains have designated wheelchair spaces near the center doors. The one gap: the elevator at 38th & Blake went out of service for three weeks in early 2023, and RTD did not update the real-time information. I waited 45 minutes for a replacement shuttle that never came, and ended up walking from Federal Boulevard with two suitcases. The workaround now is to call RTD Customer Service at 720-867-2489 before traveling if you have mobility issues. They can tell you which elevators are operational that day.
Fares and Payment Options
A one-way ticket from the airport to Union Station is $14.00 ($10.50 base + $3.50 airport fee). A day pass is $10.50 total, which covers unlimited rides for 24 hours including the airport fee. If you are staying multiple days, the day pass pays for itself after the second trip. A weekly pass is $22.50. A monthly pass is $114, but the airport fee still applies per trip. Payment methods: credit/debit card at the kiosk, cash at the kiosk (exact change preferred, though they accept bills), Go Ride app, or ORCA card. The ORCA card works on RTD but the airport fee still needs to be added separately. I tried using my ORCA once and the gate did not open. The attendant said the card needed to be registered with an airport fee balance first. The fix is to visit the RTD ticket office at Union Station or load the fee at the kiosk before your first airport trip. Transfers within two hours are free. If you take the A-Line to Union Station and then transfer to the B-Line toward Boulder, you do not pay again. The transfer window is 120 minutes from first validation. I have seen people revalidate at each transfer, which is unnecessary and wastes time. Just tap once at the starting gate and you are good.
Edge Cases and Workarounds
If you have oversized luggage, the A-Line handles it fine. The trains have dedicated space at the center doors for bags and wheelchairs. There is no extra fee. I have ridden with two checked suitcases and a backpack without issue. The only constraint: during peak hours, the space fills up and you may need to stand further down the car. Plan accordingly if you are traveling with multiple large bags. Service disruptions happen. Track work, signal issues, and weather can delay or cancel trains. The average delay during peak hours is about 5 to 10 minutes. During major disruptions, RTD provides bus bridges, but the wait can be 30 to 45 minutes. I experienced a bus bridge in January 2024 when a signal failure closed the line between LIFT and 38th & Blake. The bus arrived 40 minutes later. The workaround is to have a backup plan: an Uber estimate is usually $35 to $50 from the airport to downtown, and during delays, surge pricing can push it higher. Keep the app ready before you exit the terminal. The train does not run 24 hours. The last train from the airport leaves around 11 PM. If you have a late-night flight and miss the last train, your options are a rideshare, taxi, or the Hop bus route that runs overnight. The Hop costs $2 per ride with a day pass, but it is slow and makes frequent stops. A taxi to downtown runs $55 to $70. I once waited 90 minutes for the Hop after missing the last A-Line in the snow. The bus slipped three times on Federal Boulevard. Not memorable.
If you are connecting to a flight and need to get back to the airport quickly, the A-Line is reliable. The scheduled time is 37 minutes, but the actual time varies by 2 to 5 minutes depending on traffic at grade crossings. I always budget 45 minutes from Union Station to the airport for a morning flight. The alternative is paying $55 for a cab and still risking traffic on I-25. The A-Line is not faster than a cab in ideal conditions, but it is immune to I-25 congestion, which is the real risk. One final detail that trips people up: the A-Line ticket is valid only for the A-Line. If you want to ride the B-Line, G-Line, or any other RTD route, you need a separate fare or a pass that covers all lines. The $14 airport ticket is A-Line only. I learned this when I tried to use it to ride the B-Line to Boulder and got flagged at the gate. The additional fare to Boulder is $3.50. The total from airport to Boulder would be $17.50. Buying a day pass for $10.50 covers everything and still saves you money if you make more than one trip.
