Bus stops along Broadway aimed to celebrate transit riders during the Roll Out the Red Carpet event
In celebration of the transit improvements to the Broadway/Lincoln corridor, the Better Broadway Coalition organized a Roll Out the Red Carpet event on Broadway on October 6 and 7, 2017. Various organizations decorated seven different bus stops between Alameda and 13th to give transit riders the VIP experience, and members of the public were invited to vote for the best-decorated bus stop. Tara Bardeen from Go Play Denver partnered with Denver artist Chris Haven to create an open air art gallery for bus riders at the 11th and Broadway stop – see the amazing pictures below!
As great as the Go Play Denver stop turned out, they had some close competition! The Denver Vision Zero Coalition decorated their bus stop with white flowers and set up a parklet adjacent to the stop. It was a nice, shady spot to wait for the bus, fill out a survey, or enjoy lunch from nearby restaurants.
The entire event was capped off by an after party hosted by members of Project Shift, WalkDenver’s leadership program, at the 1st Avenue bus stop. In addition to literally rolling out the red carpet for people riding the bus, the Project Shift team hosted a photo booth and invited comedians from Fort Comedy to perform in a stand-up show at Punch Bowl Social.
Over the course of the two-day event, volunteers engaged with transit riders at the bus stops, asking them how stops along the Broadway/Lincoln corridor could be improved. The Better Broadway Coalition came up with a one-question survey to distribute at the bus stops that asked riders to choose the top three improvements they would like to see at the bus stops.
Survey respondents were presented with twelve possible options: shelters, security cameras, better lighting, route maps and schedules, real time arrival information, benches/seating, public art, bike racks, trash cans, heating, WiFi, and more space to wait. Of the 150 responses recorded, the top three improvements chosen were: shelters (76 votes), real time arrival information (57 votes), and (tied for third with 48 votes each) benches/seating and better lighting. So while we can’t roll out the red carpet for bus riders all the time, there are several practical improvements that would make taking public transit a more comfortable and reliable experience for those who already use it and potentially attract those who don’t.
We’d like to thank all of the participating organizations who came out to decorate a bus stop: the Downtown Denver Partnership, Go Play Denver, Denver Regional Mobility & Access Council, Impact360, Our Denver – Yes on 2A-2G, Project Shift, Denver City Councilman Jolon Clark – Lucky District 7, and the Denver Vision Zero Coalition. The Better Broadway Coalition learned a lot from this event and enjoyed using a little imagination and creativity to celebrate the expansion of multimodal transportation options along the Broadway corridor.