Today, in a unanimous vote, the RTD Board accepted the recommendations of the Pass Program Committee (a.k.a. The Eco Pass Committee) . . . officially ending the moratorium on the Neighborhood Eco Pass program.

Of course, termination of the Neighborhood Eco Pass program moratorium was just one facet of the Committee’s comprehensive recommendations concerning a future pricing framework for the Eco Pass programs.  The staff memo, that you can access at the link below, provides all of the details.  In summary, the Committee’s work establishes a method for using the ridership data from RTD’s future Smart Card system to price Eco Passes.  This new formula guarantees that RTD will receive a revenue return that directly correlates to the transit services it provides, while maintaining the bulk rate purchasing characteristics that make the Eco Pass program such a valuable tool for building ridership.

The most immediate impact of tonight’s RTD Board decision, though, is the agreement to lift the Neighborhood Eco Pass moratorium.  This will provide the opportunity to form new Neighborhood Eco Pass groups, beginning in 2010.  It also will enable existing groups to expand, something that I have heard is a pressing need for many neighborhoods.  Finally, aside from lifting the moratorium, another immediate impact of the Eco Pass Committee recommendations is the agreement that RTD will not raise the price for Eco Pass products, beyond an increase for all of RTD’s other fare media, until we begin collecting the Smart Card data.   

As I said tonight to my RTD Board colleagues, their acceptance of the Eco Pass Committee recommendations is a major milestone for the Eco Pass program.  It will help us to move beyond battles over ridership data and pricing and on toward getting more Eco Passes into the hands of more transit riders.  That is the next goal I look forward to pursuing!

For more information on these Eco Pass developments, check-out the story by Heath Urie in today’s Daily Camera: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/ci_13605358.

I can not end this post without a note of great appreciation to the many folks who worked to forge the Eco Pass Committee recommendations.  First and foremost, it was a working group of RTD staff along with representatives from the City of Boulder, Boulder County, the University of Colorado and others who did the heavy technical lifting.  Since the going wasn’t always easy, at either the staff or the Committee level, I also want to compliment the able facilitation of the Osprey Group principals, John Huyler and Dennis Donald. 

Finally, I extend a personal thanks to the Eco Pass Committee members, including fellow Board colleagues Noel Busck, Bill James, and Bill Christopher, along with Boulder County Commissioner Will Toor, Aylene McCallum from the Downtown Denver Partnership, Roger Armstrong from Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods, and Ken Burns from Smith-Barney.  They deserve great recognition for their patience with a long and complicated process.   I believe the end result, though, is testament to their valuable contribution.

Eco Pass Committee Reccommendations