Piper Darlington, director of the Colorado Transportation Investment Office (CTIO), briefed the commission on the tolling equity program and a CTIO annual review included in the meeting packet.

Darlington said transit‑pass distribution increased about 22% last year. By contrast, the toll‑credit element has been harder to scale because it requires sign‑up; CTIO staff reported a barrier to entry that reduced participation. To broaden eligibility, CTIO changed the toll‑credit eligibility metric from a federal poverty‑level measure to an area median income threshold.

CTIO also entered a partnership with The Connector (operated by the City and County of Denver) to fill gaps in evenings and weekends, Darlington said, and plans to roll out that on‑demand service shortly. The review showed transit passes were easier for residents to access (no sign‑up barrier) and therefore more heavily utilized than expected.

Commissioners asked whether CTIO lessons could be applied to the I‑270 corridor; Darlington said CTIO has prior multimodal and tolling models to draw on (including US‑36 and I‑25 examples) but emphasized the need to lower barriers to sign‑up and offer optionality between transit and toll credits.

Darlington and commissioners agreed to further workshop CTIO's budget presentation and to clarify long‑term obligations tied to toll revenues and reserves.