One-seat rides from Aurora to DEN are rare; AT is one.
RTD Bus Route AT runs between Denver International Airport’s Jeppesen Terminal and Aurora/east Denver, mainly serving I-70 and Tower Road stops along the way. It’s a niche play: useful if you live or work close to one of its limited stops and want a single ride straight to the airport without transferring to the A Line train at Peoria or 38th & Blake.
Most AT trips start or end at the Jeppesen Terminal Level 5 bus island, alongside other RTD routes and regional coaches. You pay standard RTD regional fare (check current dollar amount on RTD’s site or app) and can use the same MyRide card or barcode you’d use on light rail or the A Line. The bus is post-curb, not post-security, so you still pass through TSA after being dropped at the terminal.
Service frequency is the catch: AT has a limited schedule compared with the 15-minute daytime headways on the A Line. Reddit regulars point out that some runs line up with employee shift changes at DEN more than with big flight banks, so you might see awkward gaps at mid-day or late evening. One rider summed it up: handy if your home is on the route; otherwise, the A Line plus a transfer usually wins.
Late-night coverage also thins out. A Line service stretches to roughly every 30 minutes deep into the night, but AT does not; Aurora-based passengers complain that very late arrivals often mean the last AT has already left, nudging them into a Lyft or Uber that can run $40–$70 to the eastern suburbs. Build a buffer if you’re landing after 10–11 p.m. and hoping to catch the bus.
Regulars sometimes play it asymmetrical: AT into work for a 6 a.m. shift, then A Line plus a local Aurora bus or a short rideshare home when their clock-out time misses the return trip. That combo costs less than a full rideshare in both directions and still keeps airport parking completely off the table.
- Practical tip: Pull up the exact AT timetable for your flight day, then back-time your departure; if you can’t match a bus within a 30–45 minute window, default to the A Line plus a local bus or rideshare instead.