RTD FreeRide offers history tours along Denver's 16th Street
The Regional Transportation District's FreeRide along 16th Street offers history tours with each ride. Right now, when passengers ride the service on 16th Street between Civic Center and Union Station, they can scan a QR code for the history lesson. This includes:
- An option to access a free, three-minute audio tour of the corridor narrated by noted Colorado historian Tom Noel, about the evolution of transit along the corridor and the pivotal role transit has played in the development of 16th Street and downtown Denver; or customers can choose individual segments of the audio tour
- A map of historic sites along the corridor, including Union Station, the Tabor Block, the Daniels and Fisher Tower, the Denver Dry Goods Building, and others
- Customers can customize their adventure by clicking on photos of individual sites along the route to take a deeper dive into the location's history through the Historic Denver website
- A link to expanded local history content through Historic Denver and Denver Public Library websites
- A link to RTD services and connections and the ability to Plan a Trip through RTD's NextRide app
- A link to information about the historic anniversaries (250/150) celebrated in 2026 The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence—our nation's semiquincentennial- is happening concurrently with the 150th anniversary of Colorado's entrance into the Union—our state's sesquicentennial.
RTD also mentions how important it is to know that transit started as a horse-drawn streetcar in the 1880s. It then evolved to electric trolleys, buses, and now free-ride bus shuttles.
"It's important because it connects us altogether," Pauline Haberman, Project Manager of Special Projects, RTD. "It's our history, and it's our present. Now we can see how history has been pivotal for Denver and how transit has been a part of that all the way through."
RTD says this is a pilot program that will last until April 2027. If it all goes well, RTD will extend the program.
RTD says the FreeRide services run every single day from 6 a.m. to midnight.
