Staff Report #1
September 17, 2024
To All Members of the Accessible Public Transit Service Advisory Committee
Re: 2025 Operating Budget Program
Recommendation
That the report be NOTED and FILED
Background
At the August 28, 2024 meeting, the Commission approved the 2025 Operating Budget Program for public transit services as follows:
| Category | Conventional | Specialized | Total |
| Revenue | $ 54,089,900 | $ 939,300 | $ 55,029,200 |
| Expenditures | 102,026,400 | 15,973,700 | 118,000,100 |
| City of London | $ 47,936,500 | $ 15,034,400 | $ 62,970,900 |
The operating budgets set out in the table above include the costs associated with the growth hours approved by municipal council as part of the 2024-2027 Multi-Year Budget Process. Details with respect to what is included in each of the service budgets are set out in the remainder of this report as well as in Enclosure I.
Conventional Transit Service
The conventional transit operating budget accounts for 86% or $102.0 million of the total $118.0 million transit operating investment. The approved budget includes the addition of 18,000 annualized service hours in 2025, which will be implemented in September 2025.
Operating Revenue Investment
The approximate $54.090 million in identified operating revenues is comprised of:
- $40.892 million in transportation revenue which is directly related to ridership and fares;
- $2.089 million in operating revenues – primarily associated with advertising contracts for shelters, buses and benches and investment income including earned on reserve funds;
- $1.122 million transferred from reserves in support of operating investment; and
- $9.988 million Provincial Gas Tax allocation.
The above sources support 53.0% of budget operating expenditure investment in 2025, which is consistent with that included in the multi-year budget.
Operating Expenditure Investment
The overall operating expenditure investment for 2025 is budgeted to increase by 5.3% or approximately $5.134 million vs. 2024 projected actual results. The 5.3% increase is comprised of:
- $3.006 million in unit price and base program increases for such items as fuel, energy, insurance and personnel costs. These increases account for a 3.1% increase in overall investment;
- $1.115 million pertaining to the 2024 flow-thru service improvements that had been implemented in September 2024 along with $1.204 million for the 2025 service improvements scheduled for September 2025, noting the 2025 budget includes the addition of approximately 18,000 additional service hours in each of 2024 and 2025; and
- $0.191 million reduction in base program changes.
Specialized Transit Services
The specialized transit operating budget accounts for 13.5% or $16.0 million of the total $118.0 million transit operating investment. The approved budget includes the addition of 10,000 annualized service hours for 2025, which will be implemented in January 2025.
Operating Revenue Investment
The increase of $0.053 million in transportation revenue in the reassessed 2025 operating budget is the result of re-alignment of revenue to match ridership projections, which are higher than originally anticipated in the multi-year budget.
Operating Expenditure Investment
As set out above, overall operating expenditure investment for the 2025 specialized transit service is budgeted to increase by 9.3% or $1.36 million versus the 2024 projected actual results bringing the total operating investment to $15.034 million. The 9.3% increase results from:
- $0.548 million in unit price increases for contracted service and personnel costs;
- $0.440 million relating to the flow-thru impact of 2024 service improvements;
- $0.805 million relating to the approved 2025 service growth slated to be implemented in January 2025 increase; and
- $0.429 million reduction in base program changes due to the one-time 2024 contribution to reserves as a result of the 2024 projected surplus.
Next Steps
The Commission-approved budgets have been forwarded to civic administration for inclusion the in 2025 budget deliberation process for Municipal Council.
Enclosure
I – 2025 Operating Budget Public Transit Services
Recommended by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager