The RTD board is currently considering a plan to increase fare rates in a way that will have the most adverse impact upon the poorest members of our community.
Boulder Homeless Services Collaborative (BHSC) is the joint action arm of Bridge House, Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, and Boulder Outreach for Homeless Overflow. These service organizations provide shelter and services for the homeless members of our community. We believe the proposed fare increases would disproportionately increase burdens on Boulder’s poor.
In fact, most homeless people in Boulder can rarely afford to ride the bus with current fares, let alone with a fare increase. The many homeless and working poor people that we serve struggle not only to get the transportation they need to obtain the basic necessities of life, but to access the services that enable them to obtain employment, health care, and housing. Our three agencies paid more than $45,000 last year for bus fare for our most vulnerable clients, to help them get to appointments for services essential for improving their circumstances. Those who received this benefit are the ones for whom walking across town is difficult or impossible due to disabilities, injuries or illness. We barely scratched the surface of the need.
Contrast this with the EcoPass program available through many neighborhoods and employers. A typical neighborhood EcoPass provides every member of a family with unlimited bus rides for less than $100 a year. The current cost of a local monthly pass for someone without the benefits of the EcoPass is $79. The proposal currently under consideration by the RTD board would increase the monthly pass cost to $104.
We may all agree with the public policy benefit of providing incentives for more affluent people who would otherwise drive to use public transit. But is it good public policy to charge a poor person who has no alternative but to use public transit more than 10 times what the lucky EcoPass holder pays?
In recent meetings of our three organizations we have identified transportation as one of the top barriers to helping our clients get out of the cycle of homelessness. A person who must walk back and forth across our town for help in obtaining the basic necessities of life will have little energy or time left in their day to work on the things they must do in order to move out of homelessness. We also support the point of view that transportation is directly related to smart, long-term solutions for affordable housing and sustainable social service resources. If ample access to transportation exists it is easier to site housing and services across a community rather than in a single area.
RTD raised local fares 20 percent in 2006, while raising the price of an EcoPass only 10 percent. In 2008 came a 12.8 percent increase in local fares, followed in 2009 by a 14 percent local fare increase. In 2011 local fares were increased again, by 12.5 percent. During that time the Consumer Price Index rose only about 16 percent. And remember, most of RTD’s revenue comes from state sales and use taxes and federal transit grants, not from the fare box. Does RTD really need to gouge the poor in the manner proposed? We think not.
Other communities have worked to address this issue. In Longmont, funding from the city and Boulder County has been used to make all local bus service in the city free to everyone. Is this a solution that could work in Boulder? The city already provides subsidies to RTD for service enhancements. Now is the time to work together with RTD to end the crazy irony of our current fare structure.
George Epp is board chair of Bridge House. Nancy Brinks is board chair of Boulder Outreach for Homeless Overflow. Jeff Kahn is board chair of the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless.
