RTD commuter rail ridership up 17.5% amid A Line count change
In the United States, RTD commuter rail ridership rose 17.5% through June 2026, although the agency says a revised A Line counting method contributed to the increase.
System boardings reached 32.7 million through June, 4.2% above the same months of 2025. Buses carried 20.8 million of that total, a rise of 1.2%, while commuter rail carried 4.5 million, up 17.5%. Light rail, by contrast, slipped 2.7%. The agency set out those headline numbers on 10 September.
A Line accounts for more than the reported commuter-rail increase
The June financial statements break each mode down line by line. A Line boardings reached 3.34 million through June, against 2.65 million a year earlier. That is a gain of 26.2%, or about 693,000 trips, while commuter rail as a whole added 676,000. In other words, the other three lines together lost about 17,000 boardings. The B Line rose 2.2%, but the G Line slipped 2.4% and the N Line 0.8%.
However, the comparison is not fully like for like. The same statements say RTD adjusted the calculation of A Line boardings beginning in August 2025. The entire January–June 2025 comparison period therefore predates the change, while the January–June 2026 figures use the revised method. RTD says the counting change contributed to the 17.5% increase but does not quantify its effect.
Downtown work pulls light rail down
RTD light rail ridership reached 5.12 million boardings through June, some 143,000 fewer than a year earlier. Most of the shortfall landed in one month: June produced 875,000 boardings against 1.06 million in June 2025.
Reconstruction of the downtown loop began on 7 June, and the D, H and L lines are the services affected. Work covers the loop midblocks and the Colfax Avenue alignment, with completion scheduled for the first quarter of 2027. A final stage along the Welton Street corridor may start in mid- to late 2027. The construction programme therefore extends well beyond the period covered by the ridership report.
| Line | Jan–Jun 2026 | Jan–Jun 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Line | 3,338 | 2,646 | +26.2% |
| B Line | 75 | 73 | +2.2% |
| G Line | 522 | 535 | −2.4% |
| N Line | 599 | 603 | −0.8% |
| Commuter rail total | 4,534 | 3,858 | +17.5% |
| C Line | 178 | — | not comparable |
| D Line | 796 | 982 | −18.9% |
| E Line | 1,475 | 1,362 | +8.2% |
| H Line | 656 | 847 | −22.5% |
| L Line | 95 | 126 | −24.6% |
| R Line | 580 | 555 | +4.5% |
| S Line | 6 | — | not comparable |
| T Line | 122 | — | not comparable |
| W Line | 1,214 | 1,393 | −12.8% |
| Light rail total | 5,122 | 5,265 | −2.7% |
Among the light-rail lines with figures for both periods, only the E Line and R Line recorded increases. The C, S and T lines have 2026 figures only, so no year-on-year comparison is shown. Boardings come from automatic passenger counters and carry a stated accuracy of plus or minus 10% at a 95% confidence level.
Source: Regional Transportation District, unaudited monthly financial statements, June 2026 (rtd-denver.com).
RTD against the national ridership trend
APTA estimates that US light-rail ridership rose 6.0% in the first half of 2026, while commuter rail increased 2.2%. RTD moved in the opposite direction on light rail. Its reported commuter-rail increase was about eight times the national estimate, although RTD says its revised A Line counting method contributed to that result.
| Operator | Mode | Change |
|---|---|---|
| United States, projected total | Light rail | +6.0% |
| Denver Regional Transportation District | Light rail | −2.7% |
| Sound Transit, Seattle | Light rail | +35.0% |
| Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority | Light rail | +10.8% |
| San Diego Metropolitan Transit System | Light rail | +0.1% |
| Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District, Portland | Light rail | −1.0% |
| Dallas Area Rapid Transit | Light rail | −3.5% |
| Metro Transit, Minneapolis | Light rail | −10.0% |
| United States, projected total | Commuter rail | +2.2% |
| Denver Regional Transportation District | Commuter rail | +17.5% |
| Caltrain | Commuter rail | +25.4% |
| Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority | Commuter rail | +9.3% |
| Metra, Chicago | Commuter rail | +6.5% |
| Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority | Commuter rail | −14.8% |
APTA says the national rail totals are projected because it estimates ridership for agencies that did not report data for the current quarter. Its figures may differ from Federal Transit Administration reports because calculation procedures and reporting periods differ.
Source: American Public Transportation Association, public transportation ridership report, second quarter 2026, published 2 September 2026 (apta.com).
Grants, not fares, lifted the revenue line
RTD revenue reached $602 million through June, an increase of $98 million or 19.3%. Grant revenue alone accounted for $124 million of that, up $107 million year on year, and $93 million of it was booked in June. Since grants grew by more than the total increase, the rest of the revenue base together ended slightly below 2025.
Sales and use tax, the agency’s financial foundation, totalled $427.8 million against $416.7 million a year earlier. That is a rise of 2.7%, although RTD’s own summary text gives the same increase as $10 million, or 2.3%. Passenger fares brought in $28.8 million, 0.6% more than last year, and investment income fell 48.9% to $17.6 million.
RTD’s trend table gives a fare recovery ratio of 4.7%, although the combined financial statement in the same report shows 4.9%.
Operating expenses came to $589.2 million, 8.0% below plan, with paratransit alone $20.3 million under budget. Together with the timing of grant revenue, lower-than-planned operating expenses helped narrow the year-to-date decrease in net position to $66 million, an improvement of $132 million. Liquidity nevertheless slipped to $1.172 billion, down from $1.182 billion in December 2025.
Measured against 2024 rather than 2025, the recovery looks flatter still. The agency’s own trend table shows first-half boardings 0.8% below the same months of 2024.
