Lafayette residents and employees can receive a FREE $50 RTD MyRide
transit pass

Boulder County, Colo. - Thanks to Elise Rooney, Lafayette residents and
employees will be eligible to receive a $50 RTD MyRide transit pass that they
can use on all buses and light rail. The passes will be available for pickup
during the month of July and there is no expiration date for the use of the
funds. Ms. Rooney submitted the winning proposal for the Boulder County
Transportation sponsored Lafayette
“No Fare Contest” that sought ideas on how to improve
transit ridership and reduce air pollution in and around Lafayette, Colorado.
For her amazing idea, Ms. Rooney will receive a $3,000 cash award.

As a daily commuter into Lafayette for work, she saw
the “No Fare” contest as the perfect opportunity to get involved in the
community, while working to decrease traffic and air pollution.

“The concept of the contest was exciting,” exclaimed
Ms. Rooney. “It provided community members with a voice on how the grant funds
could be spent, which made sense as these are the same people that will ideally
utilize the proposed solution and public transportation around the region. Last
year, I helped my employer, Rockton Software, become a Green Certified Business
through the Lafayette Green Business Program. This program challenges local
businesses to make improvements to their water and energy usage, as well as
encouraging employees to practice more sustainable transportation habits. This
is when an environmentally sound LED light bulb when off in my head. These
environmentally conscious businesses would be a great place to initiate the ‘green
movement.’ Not only would their employees appreciate the free RTD passes, but I
suspected that they would use them as well.”

How
to pick up the $50 MyRide Card

All
Lafayette residents and people who work in Lafayette are eligible to receive a
MyRide card. Up to 1,000 $50 prepaid MyRide cards will be distributed at the
Lafayette Public Library – 775 W. Baseline Road – at the following times:

• Wednesday, July 26 from 1:30 to
  3:30 p.m. in the Downstairs Meeting Room
• Friday, July 28 from 2:30 to 4:30
  p.m. in the Conference Room
• Sunday July 30 from 2:30 to 4:30
  p.m. in the Conference Room/Children’s Area
• Monday, July 31 from 5 to 8 p.m. in
  the Lobby

Recipients will be asked to fill out a short
registration form before immediately receiving their new $50 MyRide card on the
spot.

RTD
MyRide Cards

RTD’s
MyRide Card is the newest way to pay your fare. It is a cashless, stored-value
card for use on almost every RTD service. Simply tap the card on the reader
inside the bus or light rail car and your fare is automatically deducted from
your account balance. Visit www.rtd-denver/myride
for more information.

Contest
and Funding Information

Boulder
County Transportation received a $100,000 grant from the Regional Air Quality
Council (RAQC) to increase transit ridership in Lafayette and reduce air
pollution on high ground-level ozone days. As part of that grant, and in
conjunction with the RAQC’s Simple Steps.
Better Air program, the county sought out innovative ideas from the
community on how to structure a fare subsidy program that will increase bus use
by Lafayette residents and employees. The contest was open to the general
public, excluding Boulder County employees. Contest entrants needed to be 18
years or older to submit an idea, or have express written permission from a
parent or guardian.

More information about the contest is available on
the contest
website.

The top three ideas were chosen by a selection panel
composed of members from the City of Lafayette, Boulder County, the Regional
Air Quality Council, and RTD.

For more information,
contact Scott McCarey, Boulder County Transportation Multi-Modal Division
Manager, at smccarey@bouldercounty.org
or 720-564-2665.

About Simple Steps. Better Air.

Simple Steps. Better Air. (SSBA) is a program
of the Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC)
– the lead air quality planning agency for the nine-county, Denver Metro/North
Front Range area. Through increased outreach and public awareness about ground-level
ozone pollution, SSBA aims to create behavior change around air quality issues,
and in doing so, motivate more Coloradans to take action in reducing
ozone-causing emissions. Find more simple steps to decrease ozone pollution,
sign up for ozone alerts, or log your vehicle trips and ozone-cutting actions
in our unique tracking system at www.SimpleStepsBetterAir.org.