Staff Report #7
April 27, 2022
To All Commissioners
Re: Financial Update – Conventional Transit Services – Operating Budget – March 31, 2022
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, 2022. 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, 2022 (000’s omitted)
| Description | Actual | Budget | Amount Better (Worse) | Percent Better (Worse) | |
| Revenue | |||||
| Transportation | $ 6,243.4 | $ 6,419.2 | $ (95.8) | (1.5)% | |
| Operating | 281.0 | 287.5 | (6.5) | (2.2)% | |
| Transfers from reserves | 281.0 | 281.0 | – | 0.0 % | |
| Province-provincial gas tax | 2,396.0 | 2,396.0 | – | 0.0 % | |
| City of London | 6,671.6 | 6,671.6 | – | 0.0 % | |
| Total revenue | 15,953.0 | 16,055.3 | (102.3) | (0.6)% | |
| Expenditure | |||||
| Personnel cost | 12,550.3 | 12,666.4 | 116.1 | 0.9 % | |
| Direct bus maintenance | 2,123.1 | 1,962.8 | (160.3) | (8.2)% | |
| Fuel | 2,188.6 | 2,139.6 | (49.3) | (2.3)% | |
| Facility costs | 979.3 | 1,008.8 | 29.5 | 2.9 % | |
| Insurance | 281.0 | 281.0 | – | 0.1 % | |
| Contribution to reserves | 75.7 | 69.0 | (6.7) | (9.7)% | |
| All other material expense | 840.7 | 871.4 | 30.7 | 3.5 % | |
| Total expenditure | 19,038.7 | 18,998.7 | (40.0) | (0.2) % | |
| Net cost | (3,085.7) | (2,943.4) | (142.3) | (0.7)% | |
| Safe Restart program(1) | 3,143.9 | 2,943.4 | 200.5 | 6.8 % | |
| Net favourable/(unfavourable) | $ 58.2 | $ – | $ 58.2 | 0.3 % | |
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 0.3% or $58,200. An explanation of the variances is set out below.
Revenue
- unfavourable transportation revenue of $95,800 that is due to lower average fare compared to budget. When the revenue budget is prepared it is based on assumptions of ridership in each of the fare categories. While the actual number of riders might be equal to budget, if the ridership chose to utilize fare categories differently than budgeted, a revenue variance will result. Given that ongoing fluctuations in ridership and resulting fares are still significantly impacted by the ongoing pandemic, shortfalls in 2022 are eligible for funding from the Safe Restart program.
Expenditures
- favourable personnel costs of $116,100 due to the delay of replacing vacant positions and related benefit costs;
- unfavourable direct bus maintenance and servicing costs of $160,300 due to timing of repair work vs. budget along with the increased costs for many replacement parts; and
- unfavourable fuel costs of $49,300 due mainly to increased diesel fuel prices.
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.
Ridership Performance – Actual vs. Budget Three Months Ending March 31, 2022 (000’s omitted)
| Description | Actual | Budget | Variance | % Variance | 2021 Actual | % Variance |
| Total Passengers (000’s) | 2,660.4 | 2,659.7 | 0.7 | 0.0 % | 1,484.2 | 79.2 % |
| Average Fare | $ 2.377 | $ 2.414 | $ (0.037) | (1.5)% | $ 3.063 | (22.4)% |
| Revenue Service Hours | 155.3 | 154.6 | (0.7) | (0.4)% | 154.2 | 0.7 % |
| Rides/Rev Service Hour | 17.1 | 17.2 | (0.1) | (0.4)% | 9.6 | 78.0 % |
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