Downtown Denver Partnership Releases 2025 Travel Survey Report
- Downtown Denver Partnership
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
The Downtown Denver Partnership has published the results of its 18th annual Travel Survey, conducted in fall 2025. The survey tracks evolving employee commuting patterns and mobility perceptions in Denver's downtown core, and generated over 3,000 responses, providing comprehensive insight into current travel behaviors and emerging trends.
The 2025 results underscore the critical role that safety and cost play in how people commute as 43% of downtown employees use modes other than driving alone when they commute to their office. Despite substantial investments in multimodal infrastructure - including the expansion of bike lanes, dedicated bus lanes, and increased security personnel - public perception of these improvements remain varied, even when actual user experiences may be more positive. At the same time, the impact of remote and hybrid work has heightened sensitivity around commuting costs, making it more important than ever to ensure that commuting options are convenient, affordable and flexible.
What downtown employees are saying:
Cost drives alternative transportation choices: Among employees who use non-car modes for commuting, 33% cite downtown parking costs to be a consistent barrier.
Reliability remains a barrier to using public transit: Over 43% of respondents would increase their transit use if service frequency and reliability improved.
Protected infrastructure encourages cycling: Nearly 30% of respondents reported they would bike more if they had access to protected bike lanes across their route. With the majority of respondents citing risk of collision with a vehicle as their primary safety concern.
Investment in transit safety is imperative: Despite 25% of downtown employees citing safety as a transit barrier, nearly 40% of riders report improvements following RTD's recent safety investments.
The Downtown Denver Partnership remains committed to developing a safe, accessible and efficient mobility network that supports diverse transportation options for all downtown commuters. In the past few years, the Partnership advanced several key initiatives which included:
Leading the vision of a secure bicycling parking hub near Union Station to give cyclists a secure place to store their bikes while working downtown.
Leading the 2025 Downtown Area Plan, a comprehensive vision plan that will guide the future of downtown and include key transportation improvements.
Serving on the Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) Accountability Committee and successfully advocated in favor of SB26-150, which will bring additional subject matter expertise to the RTD board.
Advocating for the renewal and expansion of the Denver Downtown Development Authority and supporting investment projects that will catalyze economic growth and revitalization in the center city.
Conducting a comprehensive off-street parking study.
Playing an active role in shaping policies to improve transit safety and access by testifying during the 2025 and 2026 State Legislative sessions.
The Downtown Denver Travel Survey continues to serve as an essential measurement tool for evaluating the impact and effectiveness of mobility-related policies, programs and infrastructure investments. These insights directly inform the Partnership's ongoing efforts to create a more connected, sustainable downtown transportation network.
For questions about the survey or the Partnership’s mobility efforts, please contact Max Gesten, mobility@downtowndenver.com.