Front Range

Denver's buses and trains are run by a regional district

Local rules Denver County Denver special districts sales tax

The buses and trains in metro Denver are not run by the city alone. They are run by a regional special district that crosses many local borders.

Denver is inside the Regional Transportation District, known as RTD. It is a separate unit of government that covers much of the Denver and Boulder metro area, including parts of several counties. RTD runs the metro bus network and the light-rail and commuter-rail lines, including the train out to the airport. It is funded in part by a sales tax collected across its service area.

Why a newcomer should know this: RTD service follows the district’s boundary, not the city limits. The district covers most, but not all, of the metro area, so a neighborhood just outside it may have little or no RTD service, even if it feels close to Denver. The transit sales tax is also one more small piece of the rate you pay at checkout, and it is part of why metro sales-tax rates differ from rural ones.

Service and fares change. For routes and how the district works, start with RTD’s official site; for the sales-tax side, see the Colorado Department of Revenue’s local sales-tax pages and the state’s special-district information.

Sources

Official or primary sources used for this note. Local details can change, so confirm before acting.

Reviewed: June 12, 2026 rtd-denver.com Colorado Department of Revenue Colorado Dept. of Local Affairs

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