Boulder releases 2025 employee survey: resident drive-alone rates fall, non-resident commutes stay long

City of Boulder staff presented the 2025 Boulder Valley Employee Survey results to the Transportation Advisory Board on June 8, saying the longitudinal dataset continues to inform local mobility policy and program design.

The survey returned about 1,100 responses and shows an overall single-occupant vehicle (SOV) primary-mode share of 66%, a rebound in EcoPass access to 39% and telework reported by 56% of respondents for the week of the survey. "This year, we had about 1,100 respondents," said Chris Hagelin, the presenter from the City's transportation team. He told the board that Boulder-resident employees' SOV share has declined to roughly 49% while non-resident employees remain near 80% and average nearly 19 miles one way to work.

Why it matters: the Boulder Valley Employee Survey is a three-year, longitudinal instrument the city has run since 1991. Staff said the dataset helps evaluate long-term trends (mode shift, telework, vehicle electrification) and guide investments and programs such as EcoPass, vanpool subsidies and TDM measures.

Survey details and caveats: staff described a methodological change in 2025: for the first time the survey included a self-select (open) link in addition to the usual employer-selected sample. Board members asked whether that self-select module skewed results and noted differing respondent counts in report tables (781 and 765 on some slides). Hagelin said municipal employees are always surveyed (a separate internal municipal-employee report exists) and that some tables report question-level respondent counts because not all participants complete every item. He added the raw self-select responses were on the order of a few hundred but that the study's statistical weighting process is applied to ensure representativeness. "We can certainly look at that and dive deeper into it," he told the board in response to a request to run side-by-side analyses.

Key findings cited by staff: - Overall primary-mode SOV: 66% of survey respondents reported SOV as their primary work-trip mode (presented as a near-term reversal from pandemic-era changes). - Boulder-resident SOV share: about 49% (continuing a downward trend for residents). - Non-resident employees: stable near ~80% SOV; average one-way commute roughly 19 miles, with many living outside RTD service areas. - Telework: 56% reported teleworking at least once during the survey week; employees teleworking 4—5 days/week tended to maintain that level. - EcoPass access: rebounded to 39% of employees having employer- or neighborhood-provided passes. - Vehicle types: notable increase in hybrid/plug-in adoption among drivers (gas-powered share of vehicle trips to work fell from 93% in 2017 to ~74% in 2025 among drivers).

Program follow-ups: Hagelin announced development of a public dashboard (vendor: Polco) to make the longitudinal data interactive and accessible. The dashboard will host 1991—present data, crosstab tools and a prototype AI assistant ("Polly") to answer public queries. Hagelin said the city will also publish the resident modal-shift travel diary this fall and invited board feedback on dashboard prototypes.

Board reaction and next steps: board members recommended clearer communication about which respondents are municipal employees versus private-sector participants, asked Polco to run analyses separating self-select from employer-sampled responses, and urged explanatory text and interpretation be included in the public dashboard so users do not misread raw tables. Hagelin agreed to supply additional breakdowns on request.

The Transportation Advisory Board did not take formal action on the survey at the meeting; staff said the full report and dashboard prototypes will be posted and shared for comment.