Denver Airport to Downtown, Boulder and the Tech Center: What Each Option Costs
The A Line to Union Station costs 10 dollars and takes 37 minutes. A taxi is a flat 72.04. Verified 2026 fares for the train, the Boulder and Tech Center buses and the ski shuttles.
Sammie O
The A Line train from Denver airport to Union Station costs 10 dollars and takes 37 minutes. A taxi to the same place is a flat 72.04 dollars. That gap exists because Denver airport is 25 miles from the city, on a single access road, and no option is a short hop. This page sets out what every option costs, checked against Denver International Airport and RTD in September 2026.
What each option costs
| Destination | Train or bus | Taxi, flat rate | Time by rail or bus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown, Union Station | 10 dollars, A Line | 72.04 dollars | 37 minutes |
| Denver Tech Center area | 10 dollars, AT bus | 80.04 dollars | About 45 minutes |
| Boulder | 10 dollars, AB1 bus | 115.04 dollars | 63 to 68 minutes |
| Tower Road | Not served | 37.04 dollars | Not applicable |
The rail line runs 23 miles. Pena Boulevard, the only road in or out, runs 11.1 miles from the interstate to the terminal. There is no walkable alternative and no cheap short taxi.
The A Line, and the fare almost everyone quotes wrong
The airport fare is 10 dollars. Many travel sites still say 10.50. That was the price until 31 December 2023. RTD simplified its fares on 1 January 2024 and the airport fare came down, along with the monthly pass, which fell from 114 dollars locally and 200 with the airport to a single 88.
Three things about that 10 dollars are worth knowing.
- It is a day pass, not a single ride. It buys unlimited RTD travel for the rest of that service day.
- Youth aged 19 and under ride free, airport included. So do active duty military.
- Seniors, riders with a disability, Medicare holders and people on the LiVE low income programme pay 2.70 dollars with no airport surcharge.
The 2.75 dollar three hour pass does not cover the airport zone. Buy one by mistake and upgrading at the airport costs 7.25 on top, which is more than the 10 dollar pass would have cost outright.
The train takes 37 minutes between Union Station and Denver Airport Station, with eight stations in between. RTD says trains run every 15 minutes from 6am to 8pm and every 30 minutes outside that. An independent tracker says the 15 minute window starts at 4:30am and ends at 6:30pm.
The airport station is the Airport Transit Center beneath the Westin, reached from Level 1 of the terminal down a long escalator.
The first eastbound train from Union Station is 03:00 and the first westbound from the airport is 04:12. We could not read the last train reliably from RTD’s own timetable, and the figures in circulation disagree, so check the schedule before a late arrival.
Boulder and the Tech Center by bus
SkyRide buses take the same 10 dollar airport fare as the train.
For Boulder, AB1 runs daily, every 60 minutes, via Broadway to Downtown Boulder Station, in about 63 to 68 minutes. AB2 runs at weekday peaks via 28th Street to Boulder Junction. AB3 runs at Saturday peaks. All three use US 36, the Northwest Parkway and E-470.
For the Tech Center, the AT runs hourly between Arapahoe at Village Center Station and the airport, via Nine Mile Station and I-225, in about 45 minutes. On weekdays the first departure from Arapahoe is 03:19 and the last is 22:03. There is also a single overnight trip, the ATA, which runs before the first train.
One thing to plan around. The AT ends at Arapahoe at Village Center Station in Greenwood Village. It does not stop at DTC Station. If your hotel is in the Tech Center core you have a further leg.
Both routes run hourly, so a missed connection costs an hour, not ten minutes.
Taxis
Taxis pick up at Level 5, Island 1, at doors 505, 507 and 511 on the east side and 506, 510 and 512 on the west. They run 24 hours and take no booking.
The airport publishes flat rates for the main destinations and those flat rates already include the airport access fee. If your trip runs on the meter instead, 6.04 dollars is added on top. An extra drop off within the same zone adds 5 dollars. Cherry Creek is quoted at 75 to 95 dollars on the meter plus the 6.04.
There is a discrepancy here worth naming. Metro Taxi, one of the eight companies operating at the airport, publishes 66 dollars to downtown plus an access fee of 4.57, against the airport’s 72.04 all in. Neither page carries an effective date. We use the airport’s figures because it is the authority for its own kerb, but expect variation between companies.
Uber and Lyft
Pickup is Level 5, Island 5, on both the east and west sides, reached by the marked crossings.
The airport charges a 4 dollar fee per trip, on pickups and drop offs alike, effective 1 August 2024. That comes from the airport’s own commercial transportation rules, so unlike most airports the figure here is solid.
The airport tells you not to request your ride until you have your bags or have reached Level 5. That is good advice given the walk.
We are not going to quote a fare. Neither Uber nor Lyft publishes one for Denver, and the third party estimates we found also state the A Line fare as 10.50, which has been wrong since 2024. Check the app.
The airport’s own drive time to downtown is 25 to 35 minutes by taxi or rideshare, marked as traffic dependent.
The mountains
Shared vans leave from Level 5, Island 4. The airport puts the run to the ski resorts at 3 to 4 hours.
Epic Mountain Express publishes rates valid through 30 April 2027. To Vail, Beaver Creek and Avon, a shared shuttle is 69 to 139 dollars a person one way, and a private van for up to 12 is 649 to 1,199. To Breckenridge, Keystone, Frisco, Silverthorne and Copper, shared is 59 to 129 a person and private is 599 to 1,169. The ranges reflect peak dates and holidays, and every fare includes a 3 dollar airport concession fee. Its desk is on the baggage claim level across from Carousel 12 and Door 512, west side.
Peak 1 Express serves Summit County, at 49 to 69 dollars a person to a shared pickup point and 64 to 84 door to door, with private charters from 599.
Two warnings. Epic Mountain Express has discontinued its Aspen service, though the airport’s own page still lists Aspen among mountain destinations. And Peak 1 quotes about two hours to Breckenridge against the airport’s 3 to 4 hours for ski destinations generally. Two hours is a clear I-70 best case, not a planning figure.
Rental cars
There is no consolidated rental centre at Denver. Each brand runs its own courtesy shuttle from Level 5, Island 4. The shuttles are free. The airport publishes no frequency or journey time, so allow more than you would at an airport with a single facility.
The Customer Facility Charge is 6 dollars per rental day. It rose from 2.15 on 1 February 2023 and the airport reserves the right to raise it to 10 dollars on 60 days’ notice.
If you drive to Boulder or the Tech Center you will use E-470, which is all electronic with no cash booths. Confirm how your rental company handles the tolls before you leave the counter.
The one option traffic cannot touch
The A Line runs on dedicated commuter rail track, not on the road network, and its scheduled 37 minutes is identical on every service day. The airport marks every road journey time with an asterisk for traffic and conditions. That is the honest case for the train, and it does not depend on a snow multiplier we cannot source.
What we could not confirm
The last A Line train in either direction. RTD’s timetable rows would not resolve and the figures in circulation conflict.
Typical Uber and Lyft fares to downtown. No official figure exists and the third party sources we found carry a fare error we can prove.
Rush hour and snow drive times. No official source publishes differentiated figures. We will not invent them.
Rental shuttle frequency and journey time, and the concession recovery fee percentage on the bill.
E-470 toll amounts.
The taxi flat rate discrepancy between the airport and Metro Taxi, and the airport access fee of 6.04 against 4.57.
Sources
- RTD, fares
- RTD, airport service
- RTD, A Line facts and figures
- Denver International Airport, ground transportation
- Denver International Airport, taxi flat rates
- Denver International Airport, ride share
- Epic Mountain Express, shuttle rates
- Peak 1 Express, Breckenridge airport shuttle
Sammie O publishes Germ Trips, a travel guide covering hotels, restaurants, airport transfers and chauffeur services. The guides aim for practical detail and a clear recommendation rather than an undifferentiated list. Where a town has no good option, the guides say so and point to the nearest one that does. Guides are AI drafted. A small number have been checked against official listings, and those say so on the page.
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