The Unlimited Access Pass Working Group continues to make progress in an effort to resolve long-standing disputes between RTD staff and pass advocates.
Attached are the minutes from the May Working Group meeting. As you can see from the minutes, a key focus of Working Groups discussions continues to be Eco-Pass pricing. It is critical to come to some resolution on this issue, as RTD staff and the Board are not likely to support further expansion of the unlimited access pass programs, like the Eco-Pass, unless they believe these passes are equitably priced.
As the meeting minutes indicate, both RTD and Boulder County staff presented information indicating that “pricing of EcoPass do not deviate greatly from cost recovery.” I have attached some of the documents that support this conclusion and the detailed analysis of Boulder County staff, based on RTD’s data.
The critical issue on the table is the RTD staff concern that small companies appear to pay an excessively low price for the Eco-Pass as compared to their average higher rate of use. RTD staff believes it is easier for these small companies to determine whether or not they will save by purchasing Eco-Passes for everyone in the office (v. subsidising monthly passes only for the employees who use transit). Reaching a consensus position on how to address this concern will be a key focus of the next Working Group meeting.
It is worth noting that the Working Group’s activities are occurring amidst RTD’s current financial tribulations. Check-out ”Rising above the Transit Paradox” that you can access from the home page of this web site for more details on RTD’s budget woes: www.johntayer.org. Suffice to say, RTD staff and the Board are searching for solutions to the current budget crisis . . . and Eco-Pass pricing is in the cross-hairs. (One Director quote in the following story hints at the scrutiny Eco-Passes are likely to receive: http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_9470072).
With this in mind, the Working Group is scheduled to meet twice in July. The purpose of the first meeting will be to respond to RTD budget balancing concepts that include Eco-Pass pricing adjustments. It is hoped that the Working Group’s discussions will inform the final proposal that RTD staff presents to the Board, particularly if the Working Group members can arrive at a consensus position on pricing issues.
In summary, after a slow start, the Working Group appears to be on the cusp of addressing some historic juggernauts. Resolving these issues will have important short and long term implications for how to equitably price Eco-Passes and other unlimited access passes. Ultimately, it is hoped that the Working Group can move beyond this critical issue and begin to consider measures for expanding unlimited access pass offerings.
Stay tuned . . . and please feel free to share your own insights on the Working Group’s efforts or on Eco-Pass issues, generally.
Meeting Summary Document: Unlimited Access Pass Working Group: May 26 Meeting Summary
RTD Staff Presentations:
City of Boulder and Boulder County Staff Analysis: Analysis of 2006 Eco Pass Boardings and Revenue
Subscribe to Email Updates
Subscribe to RSS Feed
john@johntayer.org