[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Neighborhood Eco Pass

[kohls at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Appelbaum, Matt

Colleagues -- A couple of weeks ago, the Camera reported that the city's transportation department would be contributing an additional $20,000 to the neighborhood Eco Pass program to help offset the increased costs imposed by RTD.  That was the first I had heard of this, and it of course came on the heels of our discussions of how limited our transportation revenues are.

While the neighborhood Eco Pass program no doubt provides much good, as pass-holders are presumed to use transit more frequently, I think we need to reconsider the city contributions.  This is an issue for next year that I'll bring up at the council retreat (although like a number of "smaller" issues, I'm afraid this one will get lost; as an aside, we need a way to track "small" issues that council is interested in but that don't rise to the top ten).

However, it's hard to think of another program where the beneficiaries are quite so self-selecting, and which is not based on need/income.  (Note that we do not allow, for example, wealthier neighborhoods to implement traffic-calming devices even if paid for by the residents, since that would lead to the obvious unfair outcomes.)  Originally, I had assumed that the city's contributions were only for the first year or two, in order to get things going in each neighborhood, but in fact we continue to contribute permanently, apparently even increasing those contributions.

Given the considerable deficit in transportation revenues, I think we need to take another look at this program and decide whether it is still a top priority, and if so, how we can make it far more equitable.  I know we've considered providing Eco Passes to "virtual" neighborhoods of lower-income folks, for example, if RTD would allow it.  But whether or not that happens, the broader concept needs a review.

--Matt