GDT > RTD Rider’s Guide > Routes > Route 38 – 38th Avenue Crosstown
Please fill in our quick (less than 30 seconds) survey to support our campaign for RTD to reroute bus route 38 to serve Union Station.
Route 38, ’38th Avenue Crosstown’, runs from the Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge to Central Park Station via Downtown Denver.
This route was merged with route 34 to create a single route running between Wheat Ridge – Ward Station to Central Park Station via Downtown in May 2023. The reason for this was to provide bathrooms for operators at both end points.
Map & Schedule
Route 38 operates 7 days a week. Frequency is generally 30 minutes throughout the day, dropping to 60 minutes in the evenings.
Vehicles Used
The route is jointly operated by RTD and TransDev using Gillig 40ft Low Floor transit buses from Platt Garage, Denver and Commerce City Garage respectively..
Ridership
| Year | Route 34 | Route 38 | Total |
| 2018 | 327,000 | 559,000 | 886,000 |
| 2019 | 310,000 | 550,000 | 860,000 |
| 2020 | 210,000 | 375,000 | 585,000 |
| 2021 | 186,000 | 345,000 | 531,000 |
| 2022 | 218,000 | 406,000 | 624,000 |
| 2023 | 84,000 | 638,000 | 722,000 |
| 2024 | – | 781,000 | 781,000 |
Note: Figures from 2023 include former Route 34 riders.
Proposal to Reroute Via Union Station
To better connect with other rail & bus services, GDT proposes an amendment (shown in red) to reroute buses on to Wewatta St between 15th St and Park Ave W to serve the ‘Union Station Overground’ stops at 17th / Wewatta St. This change is proposed in accordance with GDT’s Downtown Bus Plan.
Status: Proposed
Sample Email – Just copy and paste to send…
Click here to email RTD about this.
To: service.changes@rtd-denver.com
Cc: greaterdenvertransit@gmail.com
Subject: Bus Route 38 – Proposal to Reroute to Union Station
Dear RTD Service Development Team,
I am writing to express my support for the proposal to reroute bus route 38 on to Wewatta St between 15th St and Park Ave W to serve the ‘Union Station Overground’ stops at 17th / Wewatta St as this will aid transfers to other rail & bus services.
Yours sincerely,
<Name>
Please fill in our quick (less than 30 seconds) survey to support our campaign for RTD to reroute bus route 38 to serve Union Station.
The Future
A proposal to split the route back into 34 and 38, this time at 30th & Downing Station, was initially floated for the August 2025 service changes, but then postponed due to ADA compliance issues with the bus gates at 30th & Downing.
GDT’s Downtown Bus Plan agrees the route should be split, however it says that Route 38 buses from West 38th Ave should serve 15th and 17th streets Downtown before terminating at Civic Center Station. The plan also says Route 34 buses from Bruce Randolph Ave should be diverted to run north on Downing Street to terminate at 38th & Blake Station. This will give the neighborhoods located east of Downing Street a fast connection to Union Station via the A Line.