A frosty night aboard the Flatiron Flyer
Wisps of frozen breath linger under the streetlights as approaching headlights grow brighter. The bitter Boulder air nips at my fingertips, and I thrust my hands into my pockets in a poor attempt to warm them. A twinge of anticipation flutters through my body as the wheels come to a steady stop. The yellow bird stands brightly against the blue Flatiron Flyer Bus, and the front doors open with a subtle whoosh.
A collaboration between the Colorado Department of Transportation and RTD, the Flatiron Flyer travels an 18-mile route between Boulder and Denver, with exclusive non-stop access to each city through HOT lanes. About an hour trip from city to city, the Flatiron Flyer shaves 10–15 minutes off the commute of previous bus routes, and has been in operation since January 3rd of this year.
As I stepped onto the bus for the first time, a kind woman driving greeted me with a smile in the warm air. The fees to board the bus are fairly cheap: $4.50 one way and free for University students with access to an RTD College Pass. As I found a seat, the first thing that struck me was the smell. There are a multitude of negative smells associated with public travel. However, the Flyer smelled fresh, emanating the modernity of the bus through “new car smell.” The seats were clean, and covered in soft upholstery. Passengers quietly looked down at their phones as I passed, their faces illuminated from the tiny screen, the bus windows reflecting their Facebook pages.
I take a seat as the Flyer starts to move. The overhead lights turn off, and serene blue low-lights illuminate the aisles. It casts a dark and ethereal hue over the passenger’s faces, and as we merge onto the highway a second realization strikes me: silence. The engine calmly purrs along highway 36, and all that can be heard is the soothing, automated female voice announcing each stop along the route.
The Flatiron Flyer boasts a few new features that makes it a convenient way to travel. Every bus has overhead storage, and an outlet and USB port for charging electronic devices at each seat. In addition, each row has temperature control for when it’s too hot or cold. Each bus can carry up to eight bikes on the front, and they run on low-sulfur, clean diesel.
Glancing out the window, flashes of headlights whizz by in the blackness, and the Boulder darkness gives way to the glow of the Denver skyline. As a Colorado native, this route was one very familiar, but traveling on a bus offers a vastly different experience. Without having to worry about driving, I was looking at the same road I had seen for years with new eyes. Restaurants, houses, office buildings I had never seen before, the development of the entire Metropolitan area. This place had once been plains, and now functions as a bustling urban expansion. The Flatiron Flyer participates in this modernity, and pushes us forward into our interconnected age.
I look overhead at the sign displaying the stops, and gingerly pull on the rope to request my exit. The bus rolls to a smooth stop, without the horrifying screech of brakes that I have come to know from most bus services. The overhead lights flash on, destroying the previous blue serenity, but signaling my time to re-enter the real world. As I return to the biting frost, it occurs to me that I had lost track of how long my trip even took. In the late-night glow of the blue interior, it slipped away from me through the comfort and serenity of my travels. The Denver city lights towered in dazzling enormity above me, and my frozen breath trailed behind as I briskly walked on.
