[BoulderCouncilHotline] The Importance of Your Upcoming Vote on Fare Increases

[Young, Mary]

Dear Mr. Genova and Honorable Board of Directors,

First of all, thank you for convening the Pass Program Working Group (PPWG). As a member of the group, I know that it was a collaborative, fair and transparent process that achieved consensus among 25 diverse individuals of widely varying opinions. Thank you as well for staffing the group, it was very beneficial to have Heather McKillop and Michael Washington there to clarify and witness all of the discussions, agreements and recommendations.

With that, it was concerning to read Mr. Reed’s statement: “Other fares needed to be increased in order to afford this extensive low-income program.” A more accurate statement would have pointed out that, regardless of any new youth or low-income programs, RTD was already proposing fare increases for January 2019 in order to prevent up to 10% cuts in service. Based on this needed increase in fare box revenue, the RTD staff recommendation was to increase local fares from $2.60 to $2.90; regional fares from $4.50 to $5.00 and the airport fare from $9.00 to $10.00. In order to cover the two new programs the fare would only need to increase an additional $0.10 for local, $0.25 for regional and $0.50 for airport from the level proposed by RTD staff.

Said another way, 75% of the local fare and 2/3 regional fare increase was already planned and completely independent of the youth and low-income programs.

The recommendation to include Downtown Boulder in the same SLA as Denver is a decision with many consequences. As such, it was not studied or included in the PPWG recommendations. It is a decision of immense magnitude. At the very least, RTD should consult and vet it with those affected. To my knowledge neither has occurred.

With respect to the College Pass, if utilization pricing is to be implemented (as agreed to by the PPWG,) it should consider the category of students that will fall into the low income category, under 18 or both. Their fares should reflect what they would have paid at the farebox, consistent with a utilization pricing scheme.

The PPWG widely acknowledged the importance of RTD’s revenue from EcoPass, Neighbordhood EcoPass and College Pass (please see the attached document.) That revenue was estimated at $52 million or 30.3% of RTD’s total fare revenue in 2021. Not an insignificant amount.

The administrative proposal deviates perilously from the PPWG recommendation. The level of increases for the EcoPass and College Pass programs threatens their future sustainability as well as RTD’s. It is a foolhardy proposition and I urge you to please reconsider.

It is also profoundly critical that RTD staff present the proposed fare changes clearly and accurately. A decision without such information could irreversibly harm our entire region.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Mary Dolores Young
Boulder City Council
303-501-2439

"All ethics . . . rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts . . ." - Aldo Leopold

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