Staff Report #7
September 26, 2018
To All Commissioners
Re: Financial Update – Specialized Transit Services – Operating Budget – August 31, 2018
Recommendation
That the report be NOTED and FILED.
Background
Set out in the table below is the Statement of Operations for Specialized Transit Services for the eight month period ending August 31, 2018. The statement sets out actual to budget performance for the period.
London Transit Commission
Statement of Operations – Specialized Transit Services
Eight Months Ending August 31, 2018
(000’s omitted)
| Description | Actual | Budget | Amount Better (Worse) | Percent Better (Worse) | |
| Revenue | |||||
| Transportation | $ 369.3 | $ 416.9 | $ (47.6) | (11.4)% | |
| Province – provincial gas tax | 1,406.9 | 1,406.9 | – | 0.0 % | |
| City of London | 3,444.0 | 3,444.0 | – | 0.0 % | |
| Total revenue | 5,220.2 | 5,267.8 | (47.6) | (0.9)% | |
| Expenditure | |||||
| Personnel cost | 630.9 | 618.7 | (12.2) | (2.0)% | |
| Contract service cost | 4,597.7 | 4,551.8 | (45.9) | (1.0)% | |
| All other material expense | 97.2 | 97.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 % | |
| Total expenditure | 5,325.9 | 5,267.8 | (58.1) | (1.1)% | |
| Net favourable/(unfavourable) | $ (105.7) | $ – | $ (105.7) | (2.0)% | |
As indicated, the service has a net unfavourable operating budget performance to-date of 2.0% or $105,700 made up of the following:
Revenue
- unfavourable transportation revenue of $47,600 due to lower than budgeted ridership ($32,900) and lower than budgeted average fare ($14,700) (mix of riders different vs. budget)
Expenditures
- unfavourable labour costs relating to vacation timing and overtime costs $12,200
- unfavourable contract costs of $45,900 due to the August 1, 2018 contracted rate increase ($52,600) offset by fewer than budgeted service hours ($6,700)
Ridership
The table below sets out actual to budget ridership and other performance related measures as well as a comparison to the same period in the previous year.
| Description | Actual | Budget | Variance | % Variance | 2017 Actual | % Variance | |
| Eligible passenger trips | 191,736 | 209,600 | (17,864) | (8.5)% | 186,380 | 2.9 % | |
| Attendant/companion trips | 23,410 | 24,000 | (590) | (2.5)% | 17,912 | 30.7 % | |
| Total Trips | 215,146 | 233,600 | (18,454) | (7.9)% | 204,292 | 5.3 % | |
| Average fare | $ 1.717 | $ 1.785 | $ (0.068) | (3.8)% | $ 1.771 | (3.1)% | |
| Service Hours | 95.570 | 95,710 | 140 | 0.1 % | 88,375 | 8.1 % | |
| EPT per service hour | 2.01 | 2.19 | (0.18) | (8.4)% | 2.11 | (4.9)% | |
| Total trips per service hour | 2.25 | 2.44 | (0.19) | (7.8)% | 2.31 | (2.6)% | |
| Total Registrants | 8,724 | 8,320 | 4.9% | ||||
The lower than budget eligible passenger trips is related to the trips per hour being less than budgeted, which is a reflection of a number of factors including:
- distance of trips being taken (longer trips are more difficult to accommodate in a shared schedule)
- periods of day and day of week which trips are taken/required (fewer trip requests in a period result in less rides per hour)
- schedule efficiency overall
All of the aforementioned factors are monitored and schedules are adjusted accordingly in an effort to ensure that scheduled hours by time of day and day of week best match demand.
Administration will continue to monitor operating budget performance reporting on same on a monthly basis including providing recommendations as may be appropriate.
Recommended by:
Mike Gregor, Director of Finance
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager