Test-driving Mobility’s Future in Boulder, Colorado

The City of Boulder implemented the 'Door to Downtown' (d2d) pilot program, offering $5 discounts on rides via Lyft, Uber, and zTrip to encourage the use of mobility services over personal vehicles. The program aims to address immediate parking challenges and test the long-term price elasticity of demand for Mobility as a Service (MaaS). By bringing the cost of rideshare services down to the estimated $0.60 per mile cost of owning and operating an internal-combustion vehicle, the pilot explores whether consumers will switch to shared mobility when it reaches cost parity with car ownership.

• The 'Door to Downtown' (d2d) pilot program provides $5 discounts for rides to downtown Boulder using Lyft, Uber, or zTrip, with return rides discounted upon a minimum purchase from participating merchants. The program's immediate goals are to increase customer traffic for downtown businesses, improve safety, and alleviate parking shortages.
• Boulder faces significant long-term parking demand, estimating a need for 2,700 additional spaces by 2035. Meeting this demand would cost between $40 million and $67 million in construction, plus $800,000 in annual maintenance, creating a risk of these becoming 'stranded assets' as Mobility as a Service (MaaS) grows.
• The d2d pilot tests the price elasticity of demand by lowering the cost of mobility services to match the estimated $0.60 per mile cost of owning and operating a personal internal-combustion vehicle. This allows the city to determine if users will switch to shared services when they are at cost parity with driving and parking.
• RMI research indicates that shared, electric, and autonomous mobility services could reach cost parity with the total cost of owning, operating, and parking a personal car as early as 2018, driven by decreasing costs for automated driving technology and electric drivetrains.
• The d2d program has seen over 4,000 registrations. It is part of a broader trend of public-private mobility partnerships, including Uber's partnership with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority in Philadelphia, Lyft's 'last mile' partnership in Centennial, Colorado, and Commutifi's work at Denver Union Station.

APA

RMI (2017). Test-driving Mobility’s Future in Boulder, Colorado. https://rmi.org/resources/test-driving-mobilitys-future-boulder-colorado/

Chicago

RMI. Test-driving Mobility’s Future in Boulder, Colorado. 2017. https://rmi.org/resources/test-driving-mobilitys-future-boulder-colorado/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Test-driving Mobility’s Future in Boulder, Colorado |date=20 January 2017 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/test-driving-mobilitys-future-boulder-colorado/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2017testdriving, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Test-driving Mobility’s Future in Boulder, Colorado}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2017}, month = jan, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/test-driving-mobilitys-future-boulder-colorado/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }