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VTA Biennial Budget Preserves Service
| Release Number: | nr06-02 |
| Release Date: | Jun 05, 2009 |
VTA Board Balances Budget with Cost Saving Strategies, New
Revenue, and Fare Increases
San Jose, Calif. — In response to the current economic downturn facing the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), last night the VTA Board of Directors unanimously adopted the FY 2010 and FY 2011 budget preserving bus and light rail service; the plan balances revenue shortfalls with cost saving strategies, new revenue, and fare increases. A significant decline in sales tax revenues and California’s elimination of State Transportation Assistance (STA) funding for transit operations contributed to VTA’s $30 million deficit over the next two fiscal years.
VTA’s approved budget sets forth numerous cost cutting strategies including reducing contracted services and pursuing labor savings through discussions with its unions. The labor saving strategies include wage freezes and furloughs.” We have worked with our partners to come up with solutions that have the least impact to our passengers, which was a priority for us,” said Michael T. Burns, VTA General Manager. “We are pleased to have worked out agreements with some of our unions, and will continue to discuss opportunities for achieving labor savings which are required to close the budget deficit.”
The VTA adopted budget plan also identifies new revenue sources including decreasing Board member meeting stipends, utilizing stimulus funds for preventative maintenance, and allowing advertising on light rail vehicles.
Fare increases include fixed route, paratransit, and Eco-Pass fares. The increased fares are aligned with other public transit fares in the Bay Area. Fixed route cash fare increases from $1.75 to $2.00 for an adult one way fare with proportional increases in the monthly and day pass prices.
The paratransit one way trip base fare will increase from $3.50 to $4.00. From the public meetings, VTA listened to paratransit riders and will continue to offer premium services which riders were willing to offset costs; the increased cost to $16 is less than a taxi fare. Paratransit is a transportation service for disabled individuals.
Eco-Pass rates will increase 20 percent. An example of an increase is from $120 to $144 for an organization which has employees/residents under 99 people. Eco-Pass is an annual pass discounted available to organizations with a large number of employees or residents. All fare changes will be in effect beginning January 1, 2010.
VTA is among the many transit agencies including BART, SFMTA, AC Transit, Caltrain, and SamTrans that has or will implement a fare increase in response to the downturn economy. “During these tough economic times, we had to make some difficult decisions, however, we made strategic decisions that will continue to serve the residents of Santa Clara County with a quality transportation system,” said Dolly Sandoval, VTA Chair. “We are determined to seek federal funding to secure our financial future.”
The VTA Board consists of 12 Board Directors, 2 Ex-Officios, and 5 Alternates. The VTA operating budget for FY 2010 is approximately $353 million and for FY 2011 is approximately $360 million. There are 2,085 VTA employees. There are four bargaining units at VTA; they are the Transportation Authority Engineers and Architects Association (TAEA), Association of Federal, State and Municipal Employees (AFSME), Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU). There is also a non representative group which consists of management and their support staff. The last significant change to VTA fares took effect in September 2007 when VTA reduced pricing for all day passes and for Youth and Senior/Disabled monthly passes. The last single-ride fare increase implemented by VTA occurred in January of 2005 and in January 2004 for Eco-Pass.
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About VTA
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is an independent special district that provides sustainable, accessible, community-focused transportation options that are innovative, environmentally responsible, and promote the vitality of our region. VTA is responsible for bus, light rail and paratransit operations; congestion management; specific highway improvement projects; countywide transportation planning and provides these services to cities throughout the county including Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Palo Alto San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga and Sunnyvale. VTA continually builds partnerships to deliver transportation solutions that meet the evolving mobility needs of Santa ClaraCounty.
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