When University of Colorado juniors Rachel Kindsvatter and Erin Rasey boarded the bus to Boulder at Market Street Station, they both used their RTD CollegePass to pay the $5 fare. But while Kindsvatter takes summer classes and pays a transportation fee as part of her tuition, Rasey does not ? so her pass shouldn't have worked.
Because computer systems connecting new electronic fare cards with student enrollment data are not ready, thousands of metro-area students can enjoy free rides.
Students not enrolled in summer session should have been cut off in late May and have their service remotely reinstated in early August if they are returning to school. While the Regional Transportation District is able to cancel passes, it cannot temporarily suspend them yet.
RTD spokesman Scott Reed said a contractor is responsible for the delay and that RTD hopes to fix the problem by Monday .
Kindsvatter said word has gotten around about the freebie. Graduate student Scott Schafer, who was riding on the same bus, said he had taken more rides because of the blunder affecting approximately 40,000 passes given out to students at the University of Colorado, the University of Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Community College of Denver and the Colorado School of Mines, among others.
"It's not a great surprise that there will be some issues," Reed said. "This is part of the ongoing process of developing a huge change in how we track and calculate our fares."
RTD started Stage 1 of the Smart Card pilot Jan. 1, throwing out the old sticker system and bringing in electronic fare cards for all CollegePass and EcoPass holders.
"Some students called and said, 'I paid the fee and my roommate is riding the bus for free,' " said Brandon Smith, transportation manager for CU-Boulder, which holds the largest CollegePass contract.
Smith said he had turned down an offer by RTD to cancel all unsuspended cards indefinitely and give out new passes to students in the fall.
"The goal is to have people riding the bus, not to make it difficult," Smith said.
Katharina Buchholz: 303-954-1753, kbuchholz@denverpost.com
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