Staff Report #10
April 24, 2019
To All Commissioners
Re: Financial Update – Conventional Transit Services – Operating Budget – March 31, 2019
Recommendation
That the report be NOTED and FILED.
Background
Set out in the table below is the Statement of Operations for Conventional Transit Services for the three month period ending March 31, 2019. The statement sets out actual to budget performance for the period.
London Transit Commission
Statement of Operations – Conventional Transit Services
Three Months Ending March 31, 2019
(000’s omitted)
| Description | Actual | Budget | Amount Better (Worse) | Percent Better (Worse) | |
| Revenue | |||||
| Transportation | 8,817.9 | $ 8,990.2 | $ (172.3) | (1.9%) | |
| Operating | 376.2 | 363.0 | 13.2 | 3.6 % | |
| Transfers from reserves | 270.6 | 195.0 | 75.6 | 38.7 % | |
| Province – provincial gas tax | 2,280.3 | 2,280.3 | – | 0.0 % | |
| City of London | 5,745.7 | 5,745.7 | – | 0.0 % | |
| Total revenue | 17,490.6 | 17,574.2 | (83.6) | (0.5)% | |
| Expenditure | |||||
| Personnel cost | 12,015.7 | 12,042.2 | 26.5 | 0.2 % | |
| Direct bus maintenance | 1,642.7 | 1,659.6 | 16.9 | 1.0 % | |
| Fuel | 1,647.8 | 2,084.3 | 436.5 | 20.9 % | |
| Facility costs | 947.5 | 999.3 | 51.8 | 5.2 % | |
| Insurance | 158.0 | 150.0 | (8.0) | (5.3)% | |
| Contribution to reserves | 153.1 | 133.6 | (19.5) | (14.6)% | |
| All other material expense | 510.3 | 505.2 | (5.1) | (1.0)% | |
| Total expenditure | 17,075.0 | 17,574.2 | 499.2 | 2.8 % | |
| Net favourable/(unfavourable) | $ 415.6 | $ – | $ 415.6 | 2.4 % | |
As indicated, the conventional transit service to-date has a net favourable actual to budget performance of $415,600 representing approximately 2.4% of the total budget to-date of $17.6 million.
The major performance issues relate to:
Revenue
- unfavourable transportation revenue of $172,300 due to lower than budgeted ridership ($128,500) and a lower than budgeted average fare ($43,700) (mix of riders different vs. budget); and
- an increase in funding from reserves of $75,600 required to offset the unfavourable return-to-work program (personnel cost).
Expenditures
- favourable personnel costs due to fewer revenue service hours utilized ($99,000), offset by an increase in costs associated with the return-to-work program ($67,500);
- favourable fuel costs of $436,500 attributed to favourable fuel rates ($322,700) and favourable fuel consumption ($113,800); and
- favourable facility costs due to the reduced usage and rate of natural gas and hydro ($54,300).
Ridership
The table below sets out actual to budget ridership performance for the three months ending March 31, 2019 as well as comparison to the same period in the previous year.
| Description | Actual | Budget | Variance | % Variance | 2018 Actual | % Variance |
| Total Passengers (000’s) | 6,651.7 | 6,748.2 | (96.5) | (1.4)% | 6,663.4 | (0.2) % |
| Average Fare | $ 1.326 | $ 1.332 | $ (0.007) | (0.5)% | $ 1.309 | 1.3 % |
| Revenue Service Hours | 164.2 | 167.3 | (3.1) | (1.9)% | 159.0 | 3.2 % |
| Rides/Rev Service Hour | 40.5 | 40.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 % | 41.9 | (3.2) % |
A detailed analysis is underway as part of the Fare Strategy Review, all of which will be presented at a future Commission meeting.
Administration will continue to monitor the operating budget performance, including ridership, on a monthly basis.
Recommended by:
Mike Gregor, Director of Finance
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager