dcrider
November 4th, 2008, 07:34 PM
Take a look at this innocent presentation (http://www.metro.net/board/Items/2007/01_january/20070117F&BItem16Handout.pdf) that describes the deficit.
There is a blog (http://weridela.com/2008/10/08/measure-r-or-massive-service-cuts/) that is tracking Measure R right now.
A report on the Metro web site quietly confirms what many of us have known for some time… the structural deficit keeps ballooning. From a projected structural deficit of $1.8 billion between 2008 and 2018, the projected operating deficit now stands at nearly (http://www.metro.net/board/Items/2007/01_january/20070117F&BItem16Handout.pdf)$2 billion (http://metro.net/board/Items/2008/10_October/20081015F&BItem10.pdf) over the next ten years, and over $2.1 billion when capital expenses are included. The deficit alone is projected to be $134.1 million.
Measure R, if it passed, would provide $2.1 billion to backfill this deficit, although a good percentage of this money will be siphoned off to other transit operators through the complicated Formula Allocation Procedure (http://web.archive.org/web/20070623190048/www.socata.net/gm/archives/00000044.shtml). Still, Metro would receive the lions’ share of the funding, and combined with reallocation of capital funds (now funded by Measure R) to operating expenses, and some small fare increases every few years, the amount of revenue is likely adequate to cover the current system and some additional service.
But should it fail, you would be looking at 1.06 million hours of cuts on the bus side…. the equivalent of lopping off all Sunday service, or shutting down the Orange, Green, and Gold lines. Come July 2010, assuming this scenario holds and only service cuts are made, you would see an additional 800,000 service hours cut back, or the equivalent of shutting down all service after 6 pm. The other option would be to jack up fares across the board by about 50% next year (in addition to the already approved fare increase) and another 40% in 2010, more than doubling fares from today.
...
If Measure R fails, as many folks think it will, be prepared to see planning for service cuts start the next day, and an accelerated public hearing process. Depending on the timing of the process, the normal February public hearings could be moved up a month, with the June “shakeup??? moving up a couple of months to buy some time and save some money...
more (http://weridela.com/2008/10/08/measure-r-or-massive-service-cuts/)...
Essentially people are encourages to vote for Measure R. Not sure where the money will come from though.
There is a blog (http://weridela.com/2008/10/08/measure-r-or-massive-service-cuts/) that is tracking Measure R right now.
A report on the Metro web site quietly confirms what many of us have known for some time… the structural deficit keeps ballooning. From a projected structural deficit of $1.8 billion between 2008 and 2018, the projected operating deficit now stands at nearly (http://www.metro.net/board/Items/2007/01_january/20070117F&BItem16Handout.pdf)$2 billion (http://metro.net/board/Items/2008/10_October/20081015F&BItem10.pdf) over the next ten years, and over $2.1 billion when capital expenses are included. The deficit alone is projected to be $134.1 million.
Measure R, if it passed, would provide $2.1 billion to backfill this deficit, although a good percentage of this money will be siphoned off to other transit operators through the complicated Formula Allocation Procedure (http://web.archive.org/web/20070623190048/www.socata.net/gm/archives/00000044.shtml). Still, Metro would receive the lions’ share of the funding, and combined with reallocation of capital funds (now funded by Measure R) to operating expenses, and some small fare increases every few years, the amount of revenue is likely adequate to cover the current system and some additional service.
But should it fail, you would be looking at 1.06 million hours of cuts on the bus side…. the equivalent of lopping off all Sunday service, or shutting down the Orange, Green, and Gold lines. Come July 2010, assuming this scenario holds and only service cuts are made, you would see an additional 800,000 service hours cut back, or the equivalent of shutting down all service after 6 pm. The other option would be to jack up fares across the board by about 50% next year (in addition to the already approved fare increase) and another 40% in 2010, more than doubling fares from today.
...
If Measure R fails, as many folks think it will, be prepared to see planning for service cuts start the next day, and an accelerated public hearing process. Depending on the timing of the process, the normal February public hearings could be moved up a month, with the June “shakeup??? moving up a couple of months to buy some time and save some money...
more (http://weridela.com/2008/10/08/measure-r-or-massive-service-cuts/)...
Essentially people are encourages to vote for Measure R. Not sure where the money will come from though.