RTD directors Tuesday night approved an across-the-board fare increase for Jan. 1, but rejected a staff recommendation to boost minimum contract amounts paid by small employers in the Business Eco Pass program.
Regional Transportation District officials told the directors the minimum price for a small company acquiring Eco Passes for up to 10 employees should be equal to the cost of two annual transit passes instead of one, as is the case now.
With the program priced at the equivalent of one pass, if more than one employee at a small firm uses transit passes, RTD gets no additional revenue for that service, general manager Cal Marsella told board members.
Raising the minimum at least to the equivalent of two annual passes would help correct that inequity, he said.
But after hearing a flood of speakers blast RTD for proposing to tamper with contract minimums — especially without having precise ridership data — the board voted 10 to 4 to limit a Business Eco Pass price increase to 19 percent along with a $5 surcharge on trips to Denver International Airport — the skyRide.
Minimum left in place
In doing so, directors left in place a minimum contract price for small employers that will be slightly less than the cost of an annual pass for one rider in some cases.
Under the Eco Pass program, employers buy transit passes for all employees at a contracted discount price. They are good for all service — local, express, regional and skyRide.
The board’s decision Tuesday will raise regular local cash fares to $2 a ride from the current $1.75. The regular express fare will go to $3.50 from $3 and the regional fare to $4.50 from the current $4.
RTD officials say the fare increase is necessary because the agency has been hurt by rising fuel costs and lower-than-expected sales tax revenues.
The fare increase will boost the cost of a regular monthly local pass to $70 while the regular express pass will go to $128 a month and the regional pass to $164.
Student, access-a-Ride and senior/disabled/Medicare fares will rise proportionately.
Neighborhood passes hiked
Directors also approved a measure to increase the prices paid by homeowner groups in the Neighborhood Pass program by 19 percent and tack the $5 surcharge onto DIA rides.
About 35 neighborhoods, all in Boulder, participate in the Neighborhood Pass. To do so, residents band together to buy discounted transit passes in bulk for residents living within a defined neighborhood.
RTD officials believe the Neighborhood Pass formula is providing transit service at a too-heavily discounted price and they proposed a freeze on new neighborhoods joining the program until the agency gets accurate ridership data from “smart” fare cards, which may take two years.
Directors amended the moratorium request to allow neighborhoods that have started and can complete the process of joining the program by Oct. 31 to do so.
As many as 10 to 20 neighborhoods have begun the process, but Marsella said only two or three will likely be able to complete it by the deadline.
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
