I'm looking for information about Denver. Specifically how to get to Denver International Airport. I see RTD has an airport bus that runs from several locations, but it looks like it take awhile. Which location is best to catch the bus from the Amtrak station?
In many respects, the old New Englander line applies here: "Yeh can't get theah from heah!"
On a just-completed trip, I planned to park at one of the cheap(er) DIA parking lots and then RTD it to the Amtrak Temporary Station. Well, the last minute packing frenzy caught up with me and I ended up parking my car in a private lot about a block from the station with an Amtrak rate & special deals available by calling the owner's cell phone, listed on the signage. [A possible helpful hint to those who may find themselves in a similar situation.]
The biggest problem, as I see it, is that the Temporary Station is close to nowhere, unless you count the newer residential units in the neighborhood, or the complex literally overlooking the station. Even train boarding is done at a platform across Wewatta Street, which means that, unless you are traveling with only checked baggage, you will need to navigate traffic with the stoplight in order to board or disembark from the train. I'm sure that after 2014 it will only seem like a cloudy distant memory, when the renovated Union Station reopens, but for right now, it's like having a train or bus terminal in a small town which is a mile from anywhere.
The Union Station light rail transit stop is about three blocks away. This is fine, if you're backpacking it or carrying a shoulder bag or computer bag. But it is a serious jaunt if you're dragging even the roller-friendliest of luggage. Not to mention that there are continuous sidewalks only on the south side of the street (the area, despite the gentrification brought on by the construction of Coors Field, is still very industrial in some parts).
But let's assume that you can make it to or from that location. From there, you can catch the Mall Ride, the FREE [emphasis RTD's] shuttle which runs the length of the pedestrian-mostly 16th Street Mall. You can disembark and transfer at the Market Street Station. This is a mini transit hub for RTD and the airport shuttle, known as SkyRide, makes a stop here. Once you catch the SkyRide shuttle--$9 each way from this station, or $17 with a round-trip pass--it should be an easy 40 minute ride to DIA and all of its modern amenities (including an RTD sales kiosk). There are several SkyRide routes with three different fares, but the one servicing downtown runs roughly hourly.
In a few years, the light rail expansion will cover a downtown-to-DIA route, but not now. It seems like it would have been a no-brainier to make a DIA-to-anywhere route one of the first light rail projects, instead of the last, but apparently the fiefdom that runs RTD believes that their service should be as Byzantine and incomprehensible as every other major US city's.
Now, there is a bus stop right outside the Amtrak Temporary Station, on the same side of the street, even. It's MyStop number is 25925. When I was scoping out transportation options in advance of my trip, I saw a bus make a stop at that very stop and let someone off. But the number of the bus which did so isn't listed on any of the route maps as traveling on Wewatta Street. There is only one bus listed as servicing that stop, and it's the bus which comes from Boulder through Westminster (which seems like an odd routing to begin with). I mention this because if you are fortunate to find a bus which travels down Wewatta Street---or an RTD employee who can make sense of this mess, you can signal to allow you to disembark there (not sure if they will stop to make pickups, also).
All in all, you may find it easier and less frustrating to simply take the SkyRide to/from Market Street Station and then taxicab it to or from the Amtrak Temporary Station. You can also take SuperShuttle between DIA and downtown, but I believe they only make stops at hotels when downtown (I could easily be wrong). Whatever you do, don't take a taxi between DIA and downtown unless you have to, or are on someone else's expense account: last I heard, it's about $60 for a one-way ride.
HTH...if anyone has alternate suggestions, I, for one, would love to hear them!
[Edited for clarity.]