The Denver Post
October 1, 2008, Jeffrey Leib

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. ...

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_10604545