By Judith Kohler

Copyright denverpost

The Regional Transportation District’s no-cost shuttle service will return Oct. 5 to the full length of 16th Street in downtown Denver.

The FreeRide service will start a day after a grand opening celebration hosted Oct. 4 by the Downtown Denver Partnership to officially reopen the 1.25-mile corridor. Normal operations will resume between Denver Union Station and Civic Center Station.

The shuttle service, formerly known as the Free MallRide, was rebranded earlier this year to reflect the corridor’s new name. The service has operated on a detour since 2022, when Denver’s $175.5 million reconstruction of the 16th Street pedestrian mall and transitway began between Market Street and Broadway.

The corridor was built more than 40 years ago and has served as a major link through downtown Denver. RTD said the shuttles run approximately every five minutes, attracting thousands of boardings daily. The shuttles had approximately 1.5 million boardings in 2024, according to RTD.

This year’s boardings are on track to surpass those in 2024. Between January and July, RTD reported a total of roughly 1.2 million boardings and an average of more than 170,000 per month.

“The newly renovated 16th Street brings opportunities to make connections across downtown and nearby neighborhoods even stronger, creating a more accessible, inclusive center city,” Kourtny Garrett, president and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership, said in a statement.

The FreeRide is available seven days a week and shuttles run every traffic light cycle during peak periods. The service stops at every intersection along the 1.25-mile-long corridor with a total end-to-end travel time of about 15 minutes.

Connections to bus service can be made at Civic Center Station and customers can connect to both bus and rail services at Union Station, including regional bus routes and the A Line to Denver International Airport.

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