A low-cost policy to speed Colorado’s shift to sustainable, affordable communities

August 27, 2025 | Max Nardo, SWEEP and James Flattum, Greater Denver Transit
This report was originally published at Housing Forward Colorado (a SWEEP project).

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In the 1990s, Colorado’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) launched its EcoPass program, offering unlimited transit passes in bulk at significant discounts to businesses, neighborhoods, apartment buildings, and colleges. The program has grown in popularity, with some of the largest regional entities such as the University of Colorado Boulder, the City and County of Denver, and DaVita, providing EcoPasses to their students and employees as a benefit and cost-effective strategy to reduce traffic, pollution, and parking demand while increasing transit use.

Compared to the Business Ecopass program, the Neighborhood EcoPass (NECO) program – available for apartment buildings and neighborhoods – has been less successful despite costing 90% less than the standard monthly RTD pass. To address this low uptake, the Colorado legislature passed Senate Bill 25-161, which aims to make EcoPasses a standard amenity in apartment buildings.

In this piece, we’ll explore the benefits of RTD’s NECO program and the opportunities created by SB25-161 to expand participation, thereby increasing access to low-cost public transportation in the Denver region. To understand why this matters now, we’ll first look at how this fits into Colorado’s climate and housing goals.