Staff Report #5
September 29, 2021
To All Commissioners
Re: Financial Update – Conventional Transit Services – Operating Budget – August 31, 2021
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 eight-month period ending August 31, 2021. The statement sets out actual to budget performance for the period.
London Transit Commission Statement of Operations – Conventional Transit Services Eight Months Ending August 31, 2021 (000’s omitted)
| Description | Actual | Budget | Amount Better (Worse) | Percent Better (Worse) | |
| Revenue | |||||
| Transportation | $ 12,051.4 | $ 14,622.2 | $ (2,570.8) | (17.6)% | |
| Operating | 774.2 | 675.8 | 98.4 | 14.6 % | |
| Transfers from reserves | 572.3 | 748.0 | (175.7) | (23.5)% | |
| Province-provincial gas tax | 6,188.4 | 6,360.4 | (172.0) | (2.7)% | |
| City of London | 21,105.5 | 21,105.5 | – | 0.0 % | |
| Total revenue | 40,691.8 | 43,511.9 | (2,820.1) | (6.5)% | |
| Expenditure | |||||
| Personnel cost | 34,694.4 | 35,141.5 | 447.1 | 1.3 % | |
| Direct bus maintenance | 4,270.1 | 4,386.9 | 116.8 | 2.7 % | |
| Fuel | 4,102.5 | 4,252.6 | 150.1 | 3.5 % | |
| Facility costs | 2,163.2 | 2,217.6 | 54.4 | 2.5 % | |
| Insurance | 3,214.9 | 3,457.0 | 242.1 | 7.0 % | |
| Contribution to reserves | 220.1 | 201.1 | (19.0) | (9.5)% | |
| All other material expense | 1,640.1 | 2,047.1 | 407.0 | 19.9 % | |
| Total expenditure | 50,305.4 | 51,703.8 | 1,398.4 | 2.7 % | |
| Net cost | (9,613.6) | (8,191.9) | (1,421.7) | (2.7)% | |
| Safe Restart program(1) | 10,718.9 | 8,191.9 | 2,527.0 | 30.8 % | |
| Net favourable/(unfavourable) | $ 1,105.3 | $ – | $ 1,105.3 | 2.1 % | |
Notes: (1) Actual Safe Restart allocation subject to final reconciliation and submission of claims to the Province
As indicated in the above table, the conventional service has a net favourable operating budget performance to-date of 2.1% or $1,105,300. An explanation of the variances is set out below.
Revenue
- unfavourable transportation revenue of $2,570,800 due to the continued COVID-19 impacts, noting this variance will be eligible for application of Safe Restart Funding and included within the Safe Restart program line item;
- unfavourable transfers from reserves of $175,700 due to less than budgeted claims costs to date; and
- unfavourable Provincial Gas Tax funding due to less than budgeted total expenditures.
Expenditures
- favourable personnel costs of $447,100 due mainly to the delay of replacing vacant positions and related benefit costs as well as the reduction in rehab work assignments;
- favourable direct bus maintenance and servicing costs due to timing of repair work vs budget;
- favourable fuel costs of $150,100 due to reduced prices and improved fuel mileage;
- favourable facility costs of $54,400 due to lower than budgeted hydro and gas expenditures;
- favourable insurance costs of $242,100 due to favourable year-to-date claims costs and slightly lower than budgeted insurance program renewal; and
- favourable other materials of $407,000 due to lower COVID-19 related expenditures than budgeted.
COVID-19 related variances will be monitored in connection with the Safe Restart funding and overall Safe Restart Reserve Fund and separate reports will be provided detailing actual submissions to the Province.
Ridership
The table below sets out actual to budget ridership performance as well as comparison to the same period in the previous year, noting that ridership numbers in 2020 began to see a significant decline in late March 2020 due to the onset of the pandemic, while 2021 has continued that trend.
Ridership Performance – Actual vs. Budget Eight Months Ending August 31, 2021 (000’s omitted)
| Description | Actual | Budget | Variance | % Variance | 2020 Actual | % Variance |
| Total Passengers (000’s) | 4,084.2 | 5,583.8 | (1,499.6) | (26.9)% | 10,110.0 | (59.6)% |
| Average Fare | $ 2.919 | $ 2.619 | $ 0.301 | 11.5 % | $ 1.349 | 116.3 % |
| Revenue Service Hours | 397.9 | 393.7 | (4.2) | (1.1)% | 388.7 | 2.4 % |
| Rides/Rev Service Hour | 10.3 | 14.2 | (3.9) | (27.6)% | 26.0 | (60.5)% |
Administration will continue to monitor the operating budget performance, with the focus on COVID-19 as well as general operating impacts on a monthly basis.
Recommended by:
Mike Gregor, Director of Finance
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager