Denver Commuters Will Soon Be Able To Buy RTD Tickets In The Uber App

Hart Van Denburg

Denver-area residents and visitors will soon be able to buy RTD tickets in the Uber app.

Both Regional Transportation District and Uber are celebrating the move, which Uber said is the first such collaboration between the ride-hailing app and a transit agency.

Studies show Uber, Lyft and other similar apps can actually cut down the number of people using rail and buses. That controversy flared up last month when Uber’s public offering filing suggested the company hoped to eventually act as "an alternative to personal vehicle ownership and usage of public transportation," news site Jalopnik reported.

But RTD spokeswoman Laurie Huff maintains that there's an upside for the agency.

"We see a huge benefit here in terms of exposure. Certainly, it's broader exposure. We expect, or we hope, that that could have an effect on our ridership,” Huff said.

The ride-hailing giant has said it wants to complement public transit, Head of Transit David Reich maintains.

"We're really trying to make it easier for people to move around their cities. We are trying to be complementary of public transportation. And we're showing that with our actions.” Reich said.

Uber users should see the new RTD ticket option in their app over the next few weeks in a staggered release.

In January, Uber integrated RTD transit routes into the app.