[BoulderCouncilHotline] Draft Letter from Council to RTD on Pass Program Working Group Recommendations

[Hagelin, Chris]

Dear Council,

Last Tuesday you received an update on RTD's Pass Program Working Group (PPWG) from Council member Mary Young, who was the city's representative on the group.  The purpose of the PPWG was to evaluate RTD pass programs, including the Eco Pass and College Pass programs.  After over a year of work, the PPWG delivered a set of recommendations to RTD's Senior Leadership.  On April 24th, the RTD Board will be conducting a study session on the PPWG recommendations.  Following the Council member Young's update, city staff was asked to draft a letter that will be sent to RTD senior leadership and the RTD Board on the city's positions on those recommendations.

Attached to this email is the draft letter for your review as well as the official set of recommendations that the PPWG delivered to RTD leadership and board in March 2018.

If you have any comments or questions about the recommendations or the city's letter, please send them to me by end of day, April 19th so we have time to incorporate any changes and submit the letter to RTD by April 24th.

Thank you for your time,

Chris Hagelin, Sr. Transportation Planner
City of Boulder
hagelinc at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:hagelinc at bouldercolorado.gov>
303 441 1832




The draft letter is also included here:


On behalf of the Boulder City Council, I would like to extend a warm and sincere thank you to RTD staff, Pass Program Working Group (PPWG) volunteers, and consultants. It is clear from the recommendations that their time, dedication and concerted effort was thoughtful, thorough and fruitful.



The City of Boulder supports the recommendations of the RTD Pass Program Working Group. We are grateful for the PPWG's recognition and retention of the EcoPass as an important revenue and ridership generation tool. The proposed low-income pass and youth pass are especially important to increasing equity of transit access. The youth pass will have a significant impact on creating access to both school and related after school activities, as well as in creating life-long transit users.



We also recognize and agree with RTD staff and Board of Directors that there is still much work to be done. The City of Boulder would welcome the opportunity to be involved in the implementation of the consensus decisions of the PPWG.  Specifically, and directly derived from the recommendation statement, we would like to be part of:



1. individual discussions, in good faith, aimed at retaining the colleges and universities in the College Pass program and appropriately transitioning to the full value of the service for contract pricing

2. developing a new methodology in setting initial pricing for neighborhoods and reducing barriers to entry

3. regularly updating Service Level Areas (SLAs), and EcoPass pricing to reflect the updated SLAs



The city would welcome the opportunity to work with RTD, as well as other partners, in creating the program for the Low-Income and Youth Pass. These partnerships could potentially address the implementation challenges of incorporating the income verification component of the Low-Income Pass or consideration of the overlap of the College Pass Program populations with both new pass programs. We are also interested in helping establish a methodology for how Master contracts would include the PPWG recommendations.



Once again, thank you for the time and effort invested by all parties in the evaluation of these important programs. Your hosting of a working group that represented such a broad variety of perspectives and provided the public with a way to engage in the conversation demonstrated a sincere commitment to your mission.


Sincerely,





Suzanne Jones, Mayor
City of Boulder



Chris Hagelin, Sr. Transportation Planner
City of Boulder/GO Boulder
1101 Arapahoe, Second Floor
Boulder, Colorado 80302
303 441-1832
hagelinc at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:hagelinc at bouldercolorado.gov>
www.goboulder.net<http://www.goboulder.net>

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