Report to/Rapport au :
Transit Commission
Commission du transport en commun
May 3, 2012
3 mai 2012
Submitted by/Soumis
par : Marian
Simulik, City Treasurer/Trésorière municipale
Contact Person / Personne
ressource: Joanne
Farnand, Manager, Financial Services/ Gestionnaire, Services financiers
Finance
Department/Service des finances
(613) 580-2424 ext./poste 22712, joanne.farnand@ottawa.ca
SUBJECT:
|
2012
OPERATING AND CAPITAL BUDGET Q1 – TRANSIT COMMission STATUS REPORT |
OBJET :
|
Budgets de fonctionnement et des immobilisations 2012–T1 – Rapport
d’étape du ComMission du transport en commun |
REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That the Transit Commission receive this report for
information.
Recommandation du rapport
Que le Commission du transport en commun prenne
connaissance du présent rapport.
Background
Quarterly operating / capital status reports are prepared as part of the
reporting framework approved by Council.
Operating reports present actual year-to-date revenues and expenditures
against the amounts budgeted for the corresponding period. Year-end forecasts are also presented in the
second and third quarter reports.
Capital reports provide detailed listings of the capital
projects/programs currently in progress.
DISCUSSION
FINANCIAL UPDATE
Operating Budget
Transit Services
has reported an unfavourable variance of $0.75 million or 1.4% over budget for
the three-month period ended March 31, 2012.
Conventional Transit operations expenditures accounted for the majority
of the over-variance while Para Transpo results were largely on track for the
quarter.
Table 1, below,
summarizes the operating expenditure and revenue results by branch along with
the comparable period in 2011 for reference.
The explanations and analysis for the major variances are discussed as
follows:
Transit Operations
Transit Operations
was $0.4 million or 1.0% higher than budget during Q1. Lower than expected attrition; higher rates
of absenteeism; and additional hours incurred as a result of traffic &/or
road incidents all contributed to spending over budget of approximately $0.8
million in compensation for bus operators.
These expenditures were incurred in order to maintain the service
reliability and address the needs of strong ridership growth when compared to
last year.
These over expenditures, as noted above, were partly offset by the
favourable expenditure variance of $0.2 million in O-Train operations due to
lower repair and maintenance requirements in the quarter for train tracks and
vehicles; as well as reduced training expenditures of $0.2 million as a result
of the reduced hires of bus operators in the quarter.
Actual expenditures were $2.8 million lower when compared to the same
period for the previous year. The
decreased level of expenditures includes savings realized from route
optimization implemented in September, 2011.
Transit Maintenance
Transit Maintenance
reported an unfavourable expenditure variance of $0.3 million or 1.0% above
budget at Q1. Revised processes
including changes in maintenance shifts and locations and conducting staff
training outside of normal working hours resulted in overtime costs being over
budget. Transit Maintenance experienced
an under-spending in other non payroll expenditures including maintenance
services by outside vendors, materials, parts and tools given the fact that
most new buses acquired in recent years remain under warranty coverage.
Actual expenditures were $1.1 million lower than for the same period in
the previous year attributed to new buses and the route optimization
implemented in September, 2011.
Diesel Fuel
Fuel expenditures
exceeded year-to-date budget by $0.4 million or 3.8%. This unfavourable variance was attributed to
increased fuel volume consumption resulting in over expenditure of $0.5 million
offset by the favourable price variance of $0.1 million.
A larger proportion
of high capacity vehicles within the fleet,
overnight engine idling required due to outdoor storage, and
underachieved fuel efficiency for fleet vehicles all led to higher than
expected fuel consumption during the first quarter.
Fuel costs were slightly higher than the same quarter in the previous
year despite prices which were on average 10.7% higher reflecting the reduction
in fuel volume attributed to the route optimization implemented in September,
2011.
Transit Projects
& Facilities Maintenance
Actual expenditures were overspent by $0.3 million or 3.3% above planned
during the first quarter within Facility Operations. This was largely a timing issue as a 2011
year-end invoice from a vendor was received late and not recorded until 2012.
Management and Administration
Management and Administration (comprised of the General Manager’s
Office, Service Design, Marketing, Customer Service & Innovation, and
Transit Safety & Enforcement branches) had a favourable expenditure
variance of $0.3 million or 4.8% under budget as of March 31, 2012. This savings was primarily attributed to
compensation savings as a result of delays in filling vacant positions in
Training, Customer Service, and Transit Enforcement areas.
Revenues
OC Transpo reported a favourable revenue variance of $0.26 million or
0.5% over the budget on the Conventional Transit operations during the
three-month period ended March 31, 2012.
The majority of this favourable variance was due to higher than expected
of $0.21 million in advertising and sundry revenues such as bus sales and Sno-bus shuttle services for Winterlude
and, to a lesser extent, from a slight favourable variance of $0.05 million in
passenger revenues.
It should be noted that ridership to the end of first quarter was
266,366 rides (1.0%) above budget and 302,048 rides (1.1%) above the comparable
period in 2011. Meanwhile, the
favourable passenger revenues were also offset by the lower average fare of
approximately 1.3¢
or 0.8% ($1.57/trip per budget versus $1.55/trip per actual results) given
higher numbers of adult and student pass sales and decreased ticket sales.
Capital Budget
Table 2 below, which provides a summary of the capital projects by
category, identifies the authority amount approved by Council, amount spent
and/or committed at March 31, 2012, and the overall percentage spent. Specific details by capital project are
included in Document 1 appended to this report.
Table 2
RURAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no rural
implications.
CONSULTATION
The purpose of this
report is administrative in nature and therefore no public consultation is
required. Transit Services was consulted
in the preparation of this report.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no legal impediments to receiving this report for information.
RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
There
are no risk implications.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
As outlined in the
report.
ACCESSIBILITY
IMPACTS
There are
no accessibility impacts in the report.
Technology
Implications
There are
no technology implications.
TERm of council
priorities
FS2 - Maintain and
enhance the City’s financial position
TM1 - Ensure
sustainable transit services
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Document 1 –
Transit Capital Works in
Progress
DISPOSITION
The results of operations contained in this report have been incorporated in the 2012 Operating Budget Status Report – Q1 - Corporate Status Report, which was presented to the Finance and Economic Development Committee on May 1, 2012.