Sustainable Transportation

For the Summer 23 term, enrolled students will have their entire Transit Pass Fee waived. We've made the decision to waive this fee for a multitude of reasons such as lower than anticipated contract prices with RTD, a likely Fare Free period from our State legislatures, and smart card system updates.

Transit passes will also remain active during the Summer 23 term for students who were enrolled and fee-paying during the Spring 22 term. This includes summer term graduate student employees and those that graduated in the Spring 22 term.

Please be patient as we work through the administrative challanges of waiving this fee and smart card managament. If you have further questions or encounter problems with your card, please let us know at buspass@colorado.edu

Please don't submit a waiver request for the Summer 23 term as this will be waived automatically through the Bursar's office. For those wishing to waive their fee in future terms, please see this website for eligibility requirements on refunding your Bus Pass Fee through the Environmental Center's Bus and Bike Program.

First please look at their card to make sure there is no damage to the card (hole punched, been washed, chewed up, gouged, bent or cracked) that would cause the card to need to be replaced.

Once you have verified that there is no damage, please make sure you are properly tapping your card: 

- To tap you must hold their card flat against the validator for a count of three. 

- Swiping a card will cause it to be “Invalid” since the system can’t read the card.

- A card will tap “Invalid” if tapped twice within 4 minutes and the screen will show “Card Already Tapped” this is a built in feature to prevent people from passing their card back.

- Sometimes tapping a card while it is in a wallet or up against another type of card or in a plastic sleeve can cause “Invalid” please tap card by itself.

Real-time location tracking for CU Boulder’s Buff Buses is now available via the Transit app, the same mobile app where you can track RTD and HOP buses, B-Cycle and more. The Transit Mobile App is available for free at mobile app stores.

The most common problems that we deal with include cards not assigned to the correct user, deactivated cards, and defective cards. The Buff OneCard office isn't able to research student card issues e-mail buspass@colorado.edu instead. Pass Issuance and Replacement RTD College Passes are issued to incoming students upon move-in. If you need a bus pass and are a fee paying student, visit the Buff OneCard office in C4C. If you lost your card they can replace it for $10.