Costs in Small Public Transit Systems in Oregon

JOSHUA CRAINCE 458 : PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

SYSTEMSJUNE 4 , 2009

Costs in Small Public Transit Systems in

Oregon

Objectives

What are the funding sources?How much does it cost to provide service?Is this any different from a large transit

agency?Does scale really matter?

To examine several small transit systems in Oregon and learn:

How Are Small Transit Systems Different?

Serve smaller populations Lower population density Small cities or counties

Generally offer lower quality of service Less frequent service Smaller service area and fewer destinations Might be primarily para-transit or commuter

serviceHigher operations cost per trip

Fares may or may not cost more than a larger transit system

Study Systems

Rogue ValleyTransportation District Bend Area Transit Columbia County Rider

Study Systems

RVTD BAT CCR

Service Population 150,000 75,290 43,560

Service Area (mi2) 158 32 657

Population Density (persons/gross acre) 1.5 3.7 0.1

Annual Passenger Trips 1,000,860 299,614 66,819(estimated)

Annual Transit Trips per Capita 6.7 4.0 1.5

RVTD BAT CCR TriMet$0

$1,000,000

$2,000,000

$3,000,000

$4,000,000

$5,000,000

$6,000,000

$7,000,000 Annual Budget

Operating Costs

Capital Costs

RVTD BAT CCR TriMet$0

$50,000,000

$100,000,000

$150,000,000

$200,000,000

$250,000,000

$300,000,000

$350,000,000

$400,000,000

$450,000,000

$500,000,000 Annual Budget

Operating Costs

Capital Costs

Budget

Revenues

Operating Grants;

2873293; 45%

Capital Grants; 169698; 3%

Local Sources; 2050572;

32%

Farebox Revenue; 1143744;

18%

Other Revenue; 131194; 2%

RVTD Revenues

Operating Grants;

1307044; 41%

Capital Grants; 304630; 10%

Local Sources; 1402606;

44%

Farebox Revenue; 157780; 5%

Other Revenue$14,525

0.5%

BAT Revenues

Operating Grants; 495732;

51%

Local Sources;

194171; 20%

Farebox Revenue;

138512; 14%

Other Rev-enue;

137926; 14%

CCR RevenuesOperating

Grants; 60439790;

13%

Capital Grants; 60440000;

13%

Local Sources; 245074717; 54%

Farebox Revenue; 54117025;

12%

Other Revenue; 31776889; 7%

TriMet Revenues

Revenue – Grants

RVTD BAT CCR TriMet0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Percent of Total Revenue from Grants

Operating GrantsCapital Grants

RVTD BAT CCR TriMet0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Percent Costs Paidby Grants

OperationsCapital In-vestments

Revenue – Non-Grant Sources

RVTD BAT CCR TriMet0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Percent of Non-Grant Revenue Sources

Local SourcesFarebox RevenueOther Revenue

RVTD BAT CCR0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Average Service Speed (MPH)

RVTD BAT CCR0

10,00020,00030,00040,00050,00060,00070,00080,000

Revenue Service Hours

Revenues and Expensesby Mile and Operating Hours

RVTD BAT CCR0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000Revenue Service Miles

RVTD BAT CCR$0.00 $1.00 $2.00 $3.00 $4.00 $5.00 $6.00 $7.00 $8.00

Operating Expensesper Mile

RVTD BAT CCR$0.00

$20.00

$40.00

$60.00

$80.00

$100.00

Operating Expenses per Hour

Fare Structures

  RVTD BAT CCR TriMet

Fare(single trip) $2.00  $1.00  $1.50

(Flex Route)$4.80

(to Portland) $2.30 

Fare(month pass) $70.00  $30.00  N/A $106.80  $86.00 

Trips to Month Pass Recovery 35.0  30.0  N/A 22.3  37.4 

Average Fareper Passenger Trip $1.14  $0.53  $2.07  $0.59 

Fare Revenue

  RVTD BAT CCR TriMet

Annual Passenger Trips 1,000,860 299,614 66,819

(estimated)  91,186,336

Percent Farebox Revenue 18% 5% 14% 17%

Fare Revenueper Hour $16.77  $4.43  $8.06  $21.76 

Fare Revenueper Mile $1.15  $0.43  $0.26  $1.64 

Fare Revenueper Passenger Trip $1.14  $0.53  $2.07  $0.59 

Agency Costsper Passenger Trip $6.48  $10.64  $16.37  $4.98 

Local Costsper Passenger Trip $3.32  $5.26  $7.04  $3.63 

Trip Costs and Transit Use

  RVTD BAT CCR TriMet

Agency CostsPer Passenger Trip $6.48  $10.64  $16.37  $4.98 

$4.00 $6.00 $8.00 $10.00 $12.00 $14.00 $16.00 $18.00 1

10

100TriMet

RVDT

BAT

CCR

R² = 0.821061823233649

Trips per Capita by Cost per Trip

Average Cost per Trip

Annu

al T

rans

it T

rips

per

Cap

ita

Conclusion

All public transportation systems are different. RVTD finances are more like TriMet than BAT despite

being a similar size transit agency.Smaller transit agencies rely less funding

from local sources, more on grants.Small does not necessarily mean low farebox

returns.Less use means higher costs per trip.

More transit use per capita allows for higher efficiency.

Perspectives

Despite a large percentage of grants, small transit systems still spend more local money per trip than TriMet.

It is really expensive to provide transit to small cities and counties.

Yes, scale really matters.

Questions

?