Those who recall last fall’s fierce debate over some proposed structural changes to the Eco Pass programs (the common term for what RTD categorizes as Unlimited Access Pass products) might remember that one outcome was the commitment to form a Board committee that would work to determine an equitable pricing formula for Eco Passes.   Following-up on this commitment, Board Chair Lee Kemp recently formed the Ad Hoc Eco Pass Committee, naming me as Chair.  The other four Board representatives are Noel Busck, Bill Christopher and Bill James.

The Eco Pass Committee had its first meeting last Tuesday, focused on organizational issues.  First, and this is a given with the appointment of four Board members, all meetings of the committee will be open to the public.  That means all interested parties are invited to attend each meeting.   I will try to keep this website up to date on the latest meeting schedule, though we don’t yet have a firm date for our next meeting.

Another issue we discussed at our first meeting was the appointment of additional individuals to represent various interests in the Eco Pass debate on our committee.  We settled on a diverse group of four additional members, including Boulder County Commissioner Will Toor.  The other three representatives are not yet official, but likely will include a representative from the Downtown Denver Business Partnership, a representative from the Capitol Hill Neighborhood Association, and a local businessman with a financial background. 

Other items of discussion at the Eco Pass Committee’s first meeting included the deadline for our activities and the process for public input.  Regarding the deadline for our work, most agreed that October was a good target.  However, some cautioned that they don’t want to interfere with debate over a potential November FasTracks vote, so they urged us not to rush things. 

My goal for the work of the Eco Pass Committee, though, is to develop an Eco Pass pricing formula in the absence of ridership data, when there is no clear picture of “winners and losers.”  (We expect that ridership data from the new fareboxes that RTD is ordering should come on line early in 2010.)  In that way, it is my hope we will develop a sustainable pricing formula, that both RTD staff and Eco Pass advocates can support.  This will allow us to move beyond the regular debates about the price for the Eco Passes and move toward further expansion of the program. 

As to the issue of public input, the committee members seemed to agree that they want to give everyone a fair chance to present their different perspectives.  Director Busck even characterized our role on the committee as a jury, hearing-out all the different view-points before rendering a judgement.  At the same time, there wasn’t much support for the standard three minute public comment periods at the beginning of each meeting.  In the end, we asked the committee facilitators, John Huyler and Dennis Donald, to provide us with their own recommendations based on initial feedback from the committee members.

That summarizes the results of our first meeting of the Ad Hoc Eco Pass Committee.  Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions regarding the work of this committee.  Otherwise, I urge you to stay tuned to this site for further updates.