Staff Report #8
August 27, 2025
To All Commissioners
Re: Financial Update – Conventional Transit Services – Operating Budget – July 31, 2025
Recommendation
That the report be RECEIVED for information.
Background
Set out in the table below is the Statement of Operations for Conventional Transit Services for the seven-month period ending July 31, 2025. The statement sets out actual to budget performance for the period.
London Transit Commission Statement of Operations – Conventional Transit Services Seven Months Ending July 31, 2025 (000’s omitted)
| Description | Actual | Budget | Amount Better (Worse) | Percent Better (Worse) | |
| Revenue | |||||
| Transportation | $ 22,464.5 | $ 22,516.7 | $ (52.2) | (0.2)% | |
| Operating | 1,359.6 | 1,223.4 | 136.2 | 11.1 % | |
| Transfers from reserves | 386.2 | 654.6 | (268.4) | (41.0)% | |
| Province-provincial gas tax | 5,651.2 | 5,826.2 | (175.0) | (3.0)% | |
| City of London | 29,867.0 | 29,867.0 | – | 0.0 % | |
| Total revenue | 59,728.5 | 60,087.9 | (359.4) | (0.6)% | |
| Expenditure | |||||
| Personnel cost | 38,329.7 | 38,878.0 | 548.3 | 1.4 % | |
| Direct bus maintenance | 5,982.9 | 5,777.5 | (205.4) | (3.6)% | |
| Fuel | 4,983.7 | 6,030.4 | 1,046.7 | 17.4 % | |
| Facility costs | 2,495.7 | 2,469.0 | (26.7) | (1.1)% | |
| Insurance | 3,646.6 | 4,151.5 | 504.9 | 12.2 % | |
| Contribution to reserves | 421.9 | 388.9 | (33.0) | (8.5)% | |
| All other material expense | 2,401.2 | 2,392.6 | (8.6) | (0.4)% | |
| Total expenditure | 58,261.7 | 60,087.9 | 1,826.2 | 3.0 % | |
| Net favourable/(unfavourable) | $ 1,466.8 | $ – | $ 1,466.8 | 2.4 % | |
As indicated in the above table, the conventional service has a net favourable operating budget performance to date of 2.4% or $1,466,800. An explanation of the key variances is set out below.
Revenue
- favourable operating revenues of $136,200 due mainly to higher than anticipated interest income,
- unfavourable transfers from reserves of $268,400 as the required contribution to cover insurance claims is less than budgeted, noting this decrease is offset below within the favourable insurance expenditure; and
- unfavourable Provincial Gas Tax allocation of $175,000 due to the 3.0% reduction in total expenditures.
Expenditures
- favourable personnel costs of $548,300 due primarily to the ongoing vacant positions in the Fleet & Facilities department along with corresponding benefit costs;
- unfavourable direct bus maintenance costs of $205,400 directly related to the outsourcing of repair work due to mechanical staff shortages;
- favourable fuel costs of $1,046,700 due mainly to lower than budgeted diesel fuel prices; and
- favourable insurance costs of $504,900 due to the lower than anticipated insurance program premium renewal ($236,600), as well lower than budgeted liability claim costs ($268,400) as noted above.
Ridership
The table below sets out actual to budget ridership performance as well as a comparison to the same period in the previous year.
Ridership Performance – Actual vs. Budget Seven Months Ending July 31, 2025 (000’s omitted)
| Description | Actual | Budget | Variance | % Variance | 2024 Actual | % Variance |
| Total Passengers (000’s) | 10,309.5 | 10,280.9 | 28.6 | 0.3 % | 11,195.1 | (7.9)% |
| Average Fare | $ 2.179 | $ 2.190 | $ (0.011) | (0.5)% | $ 1.981 | 10.0 % |
| Revenue Service Hours | 413.3 | 421.3 | (8.0) | (1.9)% | 408.5 | 1.2 % |
| Rides/Rev Service Hour | 24.9 | 24.4 | 0.5 | 2.2 % | 27.4 | (9.0)% |
Ridership is slightly above the year-to-date budgeted level but lower than 2024 levels for the same period due mainly to the reduction in tuition pass riders related to the declining enrollment of international students.
2025 service hours are slightly below budget due to limitations in bus availability for tripper buses. The 1.2% increase in service hours compared to 2024 actual is due to the implementation of the annualized 2024 service growth.
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