Transit costs out of control, Nickel warns

[A. Wong]

Transit costs out of control, Nickel warns

New fare policies expected next month

Gordon Kent

The Edmonton Journal

Thursday, February 22, 2007

EDMONTON - An auditor's report shows Edmonton Transit is "bleeding money" and takes 50-per-cent more tax dollars to operate than it did five years ago, Coun. Mike Nickel said Wednesday.

He cited statistics indicating the system covers a smaller percentage of its costs from fares and advertising than the national average, while using its buses and train cars fewer hours each year than do nine other Canadian centres.

He told a council committee meeting that transit's financial performance has been "egregious."

"The way this department has been bleeding money, it's out of control. There's no other way to describe it."

But transportation general manager Rick Ducharme warned that people must be careful interpreting the numbers, saying Edmonton Transit has a smaller gap between expenses and revenues than required by councillors 10 years ago.

The booming provincial capital faces the extra costs of extending bus service to new subdivisions, where it will take several years to build up passenger loads, he said.

But focusing only on the bookkeeping ignores the benefits of public transit, such as saving on road construction and helping the environment by reducing the use of private vehicles, Ducharme said.

"You can't just say, 'Here are the costs and revenues of transit.' It's like a social service," he said.

"You want to make a city healthy? You have to pay for it."

The report by city auditor David Wiun showed the typical transit bus was used 2,076 hours in 2005, by far the lowest "fleet utilization" of 10 large Canadian municipalities, while at the same time about one in five routes was approaching overload.

The amount of tax money required to run Edmonton Transit rose 50 per cent from 2001 to 2006, he wrote, to $109 million from $71 million.

The draw on city coffers would be cut by $12 million a year if the system boosted the proportion of its costs paid out of the fare box from the current 47 per cent to the average 55 per cent recorded by the 10 big municipalities, Wiun calculated.

Nickel said he was concerned about those figures, along with surveys showing that despite rising ridership fewer than one in 10 people travelling around Edmonton use public transit.

"You tell me if this is being managed right or wrong. I think we have serious problems."

But transit manager Charlie Stolte said buses will spend more time on the road and maintenance costs will drop once 200 old vehicles are replaced by 2008.

He'll release a report on possible new fare policies March 8, with another study on services and ways to increase the number of passengers due by the end of the year.

"There are areas we can pick up our socks on. That's what we're working on."

gkent@thejournal.canwest.com

© The Edmonton Journal 2007

[A. Wong]

You should write a letter to the Journal.

>>have noticed that those 93 units sure seem to be in shops a lot

One burned down too, so that's even less fleet utilization. I keep seeing the same ones on the road, so I have a few duplicates already.

[captaintrolley]

Yes you should write to the Journal ! Exactly what you have written. Buses in the shops are also not being utilized (fleet utilization) when they are sitting around needing repair.

[M. Parsons]

Speaking of utilization and what not... Does anyone know if 721 (accident victim) is still kicking around anywhere? It was at a city lot north of Westwood at one point.

[Michael Marriott]

I doubt any of these factors are taken into consideration. All that matters is that Nickle gets his soundbite, and retains his image as looking after every tax dollar.

>buying the 6 hybrids at 750k each which could buy approx 18 regular busses

I'm going to have to call you on this one. $750k for a hybrid, times 6 comes to $4.5 million. According to which report you read, a diesel costs $400-500k. Going with the higher figure (which is likely more accurate), $4.5 million would get you 9 regular buses. If you're talking life cycle costs, however, then batter replacement would probaly allow you to get a few more regular buses for the cost of a hybrid.