Horse cars were first operated in Denver in 1871, by the Denver Horse Railroad Co. In 1872, the company was renamed the Denver City Railway Co. A second company began operating in 1888, the Denver Electric & Cable Co. That company introduced an unsuccessful electric streetcar operation. In 1890, a successful electric streetcar operation was introduced on South Broadway. In 1899, the two companies merged into Denver City Tramway, and in 1900, electrification was completed. These lines were narrow gauge. In 1914, Denver City Tramway was reorganized as the Denver Tramway Corp.
The Denver & Intermountain Railroad was an interurban line operating between Denver and Golden, evolving into Denver Tramway bus route 84, and finally RTD route 9.
Only Denver local routes are listed. Not listed are express routes, all of which were created after the 1971 public takeover. Also not listed are suburban and regional routes identified with letters, and Boulder routes numbered in the 200's, and Longmont routes numbered in the 300's. These routes were previously operated by private companies other than Denver Tramway.
Complete information is not available for the Denver transit route histories. Information is complete for conversion dates from streetcars to trolleybuses. Dashed lines indicate routes converted directly from streetcars to motor buses. And except for the East 28th Avenue route which went from trolleybuses to motor buses in 1948, all trolleybuses were converted to motor buses in May and June, 1955.
Former route numbers are listed in three columns, according to the route numbers as of 1930, 1950, and 1973 respectively.
Denver Tramway basically had a typical hub and spoke route network, focusing on downtown Denver. And for routes operating on numbered avenues, route numbers usually corresponded to the avenue number. In the 1970's, the bus route network was transformed into more of a grid system. Although many routes diverted off the grid streets to serve downtown Denver, most notably during the rush hours. During the 1970's, all local routes were assigned new route numbers corresponding to the street address number, in hundreds. As in most cities, a standard block is 100 address numbers, and numbered streets correspond to those address numbers, in 100's. Broadway is 0 east and west, and has a bus route number 0 (zero).
Route Route Denver Tramway Trolley Motor Number Name Route Numbers Bus Bus 0 South Broadway 3 3 3 6/ 4/50 1955 1 West 1st Avenue 75 58 50 5/12/46 1955 1 Knox Court 75 75 75 -------- 9/ /49 1 Kalamath 50 50 50 5/12/46 1955 1 Galapago 64 50 50 5/12/46 1955 1 East 1st Avenue 4 4 4 -------- 1940 3 Alameda Crosstown 76 59 59 New Bus 1929 3 Franklin 29 5 5 -------- 6/ 4/50 6 East 6th Avenue 6 6 6 11/ 7/48 1955 6 North Pecos 39 23 5 -------- 1940 8 North Broadway/Huron 74 66 60 New Bus 1929 9 West 10th Avenue 84 84 84 -------- 7/ 2/50 10 East 12th Avenue 13 13 13 6/ 2/40 1955 10 East 11th Avenue 11 11 6 6/ 2/40 1955 11 East Mississippi 58 22 17 -------- 1930 11 West Exposition 50 New Bus 12 North Washington 74 73 73 -------- 7/23/28 12 North Downing 73 73 73 New Bus 1929 12 South Downing 73 73 73 New Bus 1929 14 West Florida 17 New Bus 15 East Colfax 14 14 14 6/ 4/50 1955 15 Aurora 14 21 14 -------- 10/10/32 16 West Colfax 61 61 64 -------- 9/ /49 20 East 17th Avenue 40 40 40 6/ 6/48 1955 21 Evans Crosstown 8 8 8 10/ /49 1955 24 University Crosstown 9 9 New Bus 28 28th Avenue 28 28 28 11/ 1/47 1955 28 Park Hill 41 28 New Bus 1930 28 West 29th Avenue 29 11 8 6/ 2/40 1948 28 West 23rd Avenue 23 23 4 -------- 1940 29 Riverbend 60 60 New Bus 30 South Federal 60 New Bus 31 North Federal 55 New Bus 32 West 32nd Avenue 8 5 28 -------- 7/ 2/50 32 East 22nd Avenue 23 50 50 -------- 1940 36 Fort Logan 60 60 New Bus 38 West 38th Avenue 38 13 13 6/ 2/40 1955 38 Stout 62 64 64 -------- 9/ /49 38 East 38th Avenue 64 64 64 -------- 9/ /49 40 Colorado Blvd Crosstown 15 15 New Bus 44 West 44th Avenue 28 28 6 11/ 1/47 1955 44 East 40th Avenue 61 61 75 -------- 9/ /49 47 Coliseum Crosstown (disc.) 66 66 60 -------- 1940 48 East 48th Avenue 76 23 New Bus 52 West 52nd Avenue 23 5 New Bus 52 South Pearl 8 8 8 10/ /49 1955 65 Monaco Crosstown 19 New Bus 73 Quebec Crosstown 15 19 -------- 6/ 7/30 100 Kipling Crosstown 16 New Bus
In 1893, the Denver & Intermountain Railroad completed a steam powered interurban line between Denver and Golden. In 1901, Denver City Tramway formed a subsidiary Denver & Northwestern Railroad, which constructed interurban lines from Denver to Leyden and to Golden. Those lines were completed in 1903 and 1904 respectively. In 1909, Denver City Tramway acquired the Denver & Intermountain Railroad and electrified the route. The Denver & Intermountain Railroad would be the only standard gauge electric railway in Denver, as all the local lines were narrow gauge. In 1914, Denver City Tramway was reorganized as the Denver Tramway Corp.
These routes were eventually assigned numbers by Denver Tramway. Route 81 was a short turn version of route 82, operating between Denver and Arvada. Route 82 was the Denver & Northwestern interurban route to Leyden, which was eventually cut back, no comparable route presently exists. That route had existed more importantly to transport coal from Leyden to the Denver Tramway power plant. Route 83 was the Denver & Northwestern interurban route to Golden, and route 84 was the Denver & Intermountain Railroad route to Golden. Two routes to Golden were considered unnecessary at the time, so route 83 was cut back, leaving the more direct route 84 to serve Golden. The Denver & Northwestern interurban routes exited Denver via 32nd Avenue, which had a local streetcar and later bus route. The interurban railway service was converted to buses on 7/2/50. Under the RTD route numbering system based on address numbers and numbered streets, the 32nd Avenue local bus route became RTD route 32.