Staff Report #9
October 25, 2023
To All Commissioners
Re: Financial Update – Specialized Transit Services – Operating Budget – September 30, 2023
Recommendation
That the report be NOTED and FILED.
Background
Set out in the table below is the Statement of Operations for Specialized Transit Services for the nine-month period ending September 30, 2023. The statement sets out actual to budget performance for the period.
London Transit Commission Statement of Operations – Specialized Transit Services Nine Months Ending September 30, 2023 (000’s omitted)
| Description | Actual | Budget | Amount Better (Worse) | Percent Better (Worse) | |
| Revenue | |||||
| Transportation | $ 356.9 | $ 422.1 | $ (65.2) | (15.4)% | |
| Province-provincial gas tax | 1,354.3 | 1,354.3 | – | 0.0 % | |
| City of London | 6,914.4 | 6,914.4 | – | 0.0 % | |
| Total revenue | 8,625.6 | 8,690.8 | (65.2) | (0.8)% | |
| Expenditure | |||||
| Personnel cost | 961.1 | 999.9 | 38.8 | 3.9 % | |
| Contract service cost | 6,620.6 | 7,565.8 | 945.2 | 12.5 % | |
| All other material expense | 113.6 | 125.1 | 11.5 | 9.2 % | |
| Total expenditure | 7,695.3 | 8,690.8 | 995.5 | 11.5 % | |
| Net favourable/(unfavourable) | $ 930.4 | $ – | $ 930.4 | 10.7 % | |
As indicated in the above table, the service has a net favourable operating budget performance to date of 10.7% or $930,400. An explanation of the variances is set out below.
Net Operating Costs
- unfavourable transportation revenue of $65,200 due to lower ridership than planned;
- favourable personnel costs of $38,800 due to timing of vacancies and less than anticipated overtime; and
- favourable contract service costs of $945,200 due to lower than budgeted service hours utilized.
Ridership
The following table sets out actual to budget ridership and other performance related measures as well as a comparison to the same period in the previous year.
Ridership and Other Statistics Actual vs. Budget Nine Months Ending September 30, 2023 (000’s omitted)
| Description | Actual | Budget | Variance | % Variance | 2022 Actual | % Variance | |
| Eligible passenger trips | 178,104 | 195,400 | (17,296) | (8.9)% | 155,066 | 14.9 % | |
| Attendant/companion trips | 12,758 | 22,300 | (9,542) | (42.8)% | 10,260 | 24.3 % | |
| Total Trips | 190,862 | 217,700 | (26,838) | (12.3)% | 165,326 | 15.4 % | |
| Average fare | $ 1.870 | $ 1.939 | $ (0.069) | (3.6)% | $ 1.936 | (3.4)% | |
| Service Hours | 95,474 | 108,981 | (13,507) | (12.4)% | 90,929 | 5.0 % | |
| EPT per service hour | 1.87 | 1.79 | 0.07 | 4.0 % | 1.71 | 9.4 % | |
| Total trips per service hour | 2.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 0.0 % | 1.82 | 10.0 % | |
Administration will continue to monitor the operating budget performance reporting on same on a monthly basis including providing recommendations as may be appropriate.
Recommended by:
Mike Gregor, Director of Finance
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager