SR-11-C (29)
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Counol Meetmg March 13. 1984
J<(ev"~~&. pa8-e's
Santa Mon~ca. Cal~fornla
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MAR 1 319M
and Serv~ce Company under a contract approved by the CIty CouncIl, ~Ith sub-
stantIal Input from the TransportatIon Department staff. The Short Range
Trans~t Plan ~s prepared In accordance wIth gUIdelInes developed by ~ITA,
SCAG and LA-eTC.
In lIne wIth the SRTP gUIdelInes, the doc~ment descrIbes and evaluates eXIstIng
condItIons of ~unIcIpal Bus LInes serVIce and facIlit~es and then presents a
fIve-year fInancIal plan (Chapter 3), IncludIng revenues by source, expendItures,
mIles of serVIce to be operated and capItal proJects to be pursued. ATE notes
In summarIZIng the eXIstIng condItIons that Santa MonIca serVIce is characterIzed
by hIgh productIvity and effIciency, that 27% of all trIps to dOh~town Santa
MonIca are made by bus, that on-tIme performance Improved by 3%, and that the
faCIlIty expanSIon now underway should alleVIate problems relatIng to the lack
of capaCIty of the current maIntenance faCIlIty. The report goes on to note
that passengers WIll declIne through FY 1984-85 due to fare and serVIce com-
pet~tlon WIth SeRTO and Culver CIty, but that passengers KIll rIse begInnIng
In FY 1985-86 as SCRTD fares rIse to a prOJected 85~ level at the end of the
Fare ReductIon program and MunICIpal Bus LInes fares remaIn at SOc through
FY 1988.
The LACTC reqUIres that the plan include S-year operatIng and capItal fInanCIal
prOJectIons for FY 1985-1989 based upon assumptIons It has developed. ~ pro-
Jectlon of proposed fares and fare revenues ~s also reqUIred.
~s part of developIng the finanCIal projectIons for FY 1984-85, It IS assumed
that the ~unlclpal Bus LInes 1'111 contlnue ltS partIclpatlon In the PrOposItlon
A Fare Reductlon program. The recom~ended Plan proposes that the current fares
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f(ev\'sd. (1Qgt'.s
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MAR 1 3 1984
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TD:JfH'HD.cb
Council \Ieeting March 13, 1984
Santa MonIca, Cal1fornia
remaIn In effect through FY 1988, when the base fare would be ra1sed frON SO~
to 65tt. ThIS long perIod of fare stabILIty assumes that Santa Mon1ca ~ill
receIve Its fair share of PropositIon ~ D1scret1onary funds when the Proposl-
tIon A Fare Reduct10n program ends on June 30, 1985. The L~CTC will be con-
slderIng possIb1l1ties for the allocatIon of the DiscretIonary funds this
year and WIll make a dec1S1on In ~ovember 1984.
~t the request of LACTC, we have also included a scenar10 for future year
operatIons based on the assumptIon that none of the PropOSItion A DIscretionary
fundIng made avaIlable begInnIng 1n FY 1985-86 WIll be allocated to bus opera-
t10ns 1n the County. Under thIS peSSImIstic assumption, Municlpal Bus L1nes
base fares would rise to 75~ In FY 1985-86 and to Sl.00 In FY 1987-88. for
comparatlve purposes, It IS estlmated that SCRTD base fares In FY 1985-86
under thIS scenario would be as h1gh as Sl.30
In our op1n1on, 1t 1S extremely
unl1kely that thIS SItuatIon W1ll come to pass,
It should be noted that the financial f1gures FY 1983-84 are based on the
current year's budget, However, actual expenses are expected to be well
below budget.
In VIew of Santa Mon1ca's poor exper1ence w1th the rel1ab1l1ty of advanced de-
SIgn buses, the fIve-year capltal program includes the selectIve rehabilltat10n
of older B1g Blue Buses as well as the early replacement of 37 Grumman Flx1ble
buses purchased ~n 1979 and 1980
The program Involves the use of cap1tal
reserve funds accumulated by the MunIcipal Bus Lines over the pa~t several
years for the replacement of 20 of these buses in FY 1984-85 and 17 1n FY
1985-86.
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