CITY OF POMONA
COUNCIL REPORT
May 19, 2025
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Anita D. Scott, City Manager
Submitted By: Meg McWade, Public Works Director
SUBJECT: RECEIVE AND FILE POMONA VALLEY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY GET ABOUT SERVICE REDUCTION DISCUSSION RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the City Council take the following action:
Receive and file discussion regarding Pomona Valley Transportation Authority’s (PVTA) Get About program reduction.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The Pomona Valley Transportation Authority (PVTA) provides for the Get About program in Pomona and throughout its four member Cities to provide transportation services to seniors and persons with disabilities. In FY 2024-25 when PVTA awarded a new contract for services. Due to the new contract, Pomona’s proposed contribution increased to $3.6 million, which is $1.1 million more than the current fiscal year and $2 million more than 2022-23. Because the City will only receive approximately $3.9 million in Proposition A revenue in Fiscal Year 2025-26, and this revenue is also utilized for maintenance, security, and repairs at the City’s two transit stations, as well as bus shelter maintenance, the member Cities, and Pomona particularly, cannot afford to continue Get About at the same level of service as in prior years without significantly depleting other transportation funds. PVTA is holding a Public Hearing on the matter on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, at 11 am at the Palomares Community Center in Pomona.
SB1439/GOVERNMENT CODE §84308 APPLICABILITY:
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DISCUSSION:
Background
The Cities of Claremont, La Verne, Pomona, and San Dimas created the PVTA on October 5, 1977, to provide funding for expanded transportation services to senior and disabled individuals in the area known as the Pomona Valley. The PVTA provides these services through Get About, San Dimas Dial A Cab, Claremont Dial A Ride, Pomona Group, Ready Now, and One Step Over the Line.
The Get About service is the most widely used service in Pomona due to its convenience and low cost to residents. The cost to passengers of Get About is $1 per one way trip, and this cost has remained constant for over thirty years. There is also a Get About Extended service that goes out to Glendora and Covina for $2.00 per one way trip.
Other services PVTA offers include the Ready Now program, which provides for a taxi/Uber type model for residents where they can call and request a ride for $4.50. The One Step Over the Line program provides for trips outside of the immediate service area into San Bernardino County.
These services provide trips for approximately 700 Pomona residents a year with mobility and non-mobility issues. Mobility includes riders that use mobility devices such as wheelchairs, canes, walkers, oxygen, and service animals. Non-mobility users are able to walk and move independently on their own. The table below depicts a six-month snapshot. It is estimated that 70 percent of trips are “essential trips” that include doctor’s appointments.
Data provided by PVTA shows that many users use Get About daily. One user has used it over 1,000 times in FY 2024-25, and over 100 users have used it over 100 times in FY 2024-25.
Costs of trips are calculated in terms of “Revenue Hours.” Revenue hours are the time a vehicle is actively in service, picking up and dropping off passengers. The relationship between trips and revenue hours is not linear. In relation to passenger trips, revenue hours can depend on a number of factors such as how many passengers are in the vehicle, trip length, and scheduling. In FY 2023-24, PVTA ran about 90,000 one-way trips, which equated to 28,000 revenue hours for the year, averaging 3.2 trips per revenue hour. The 28,000 revenue hours are shared between the four Cities in the PVTA, and Pomona’s share comprises about 67 percent of the ridership.
Over the last several years, costs related to Get About have increased, but not at the same rate as the last year. In FY 2024-25, PVTA entered into a new service agreement that was a 27 percent increase over previous hourly and fixed costs. During the last five years, transit agencies have been impacted by a significant increase in transit operating costs driven by large increases in operator labor costs. In addition, ridership has increased over the last few years since Covid.
As depicted below, costs to have PVTA service at the same level, for the City of Pomona have increased from $1.6 million in FY 2022-23 to $3.6 million in 2025-26. Revenue sources, however, have not increased, which will be discussed in greater detail below.
The updated preliminary budget provided to the member Cities in March 2025 asked that each City contribute the following to Get About:
PVTA Member City
Proposed FY 2025-26
Claremont
$593,688
La Verne
$808,029
Pomona
$3,635,035
San Dimas
$445,129
Based on the updated preliminary budget, the member Cities collectively decided that measures must be taken in order to lower costs because it was not within their respective budgets nor sustainable at current levels.
Revenue Source
Los Angeles County Metro Proposition A
Proposition A was approved by voters in 1980 and is a ½ cent sales tax that is utilized to fund transportation programs. In the City of Pomona, Proposition A is used to fund maintenance at the two transit centers, bus shelter maintenance, and the Get About Program. Over the last several years, revenue for Proposition A has remained relatively consistent at around $4 million dollars while costs have increased significantly for several contractual items. In FY 2024-25, the City was projected to receive $4.2 million in Proposition A funding, but as the year has progressed, it is now estimated the City will only receive about $4 million. Below is a snapshot of the FY 2024-25 budget. In order to fund Get About last year at a proposed $2.5 million and fund the new bus shelter maintenance contract for part of the year, the City had to unappropriate funding fund reserves and from a CIP. While $461,524 was budgeted for this FY as the bus shelter maintenance contract started in the middle of the FY, next year’s costs will be $860,000. As it is, the City will be unable to fund the full amount of the new bus shelter maintenance contract out of Proposition A, and will have to utilize other eligible transportation funds next year in order to fund it as it is, or reduce the contract scope. Below is a budget summary of uses for Proposition A funding in FY 2024-25.
Prop A Uses FY 2024-25
Budget Category
Amount
Description
Personnel and Benefits
$311,493
Portions of 8 staff including 80 percent of a Facilities Maint. Tech dedicated to transit centers.
Required Dues and Trainings
$41,240
COG Membership is only expenditure
Utilities
$72,000
Water and Gas/Electric
Maintenance
$830,643
Bus shelter cont., landscape maint, vandalism, janitorial, other contractual services, tools/equipment Security
$654,150
Security at transit centers
Metrolink/Get About Ticket Subsidy
$50,000
City provides 50% discount when purchased at City Hall (formerly at Downtown Station) Recreation Trip Transportation
$65,000
Pomona Group
Get About
$2,523,706
City of Pomona’s 2024-25 contribution
Other Costs
$23,115
Info Sys allocation, Bldg Automation, City Attorney
Total FY 2024-25
$4,571,347
As depicted above, Proposition A cannot afford to absorb an increase in the Get About budget to $3.6 million. A discussion of other potential funding sources and how they are currently used is attached as Attachment No. 1.
Other Cities Providing Larger Share of Get About Costs
The other member Cities of the PVTA were presented with the option to provide for additional funding to offset Pomona’s shortfall. They did not agree to do this, and have also expressed that they too are facing budget constraints and agreed that they need to lower the costs for their respective Cities.
Next Steps
Service Reduction
The four member Cities of PVTA have been working with Staff of PVTA to come up with a solution that will address, not only Pomona’s inability to fund $3.6 million towards Get About, but also the budget shortfalls they too are facing as their shares towards the overall costs of the Get About program have also substantially increased, and also being mindful of the effects any proposal will have on the residents who use this service.
Several scenarios have been presented to the staff of the four member cities, and it has been determined that the scenario that brings the Get About service in line with each of our respective budgets is to reduce the service hours from an annual amount of 28,000 to 15,000 for Get About. Reducing revenue hours to 15,000 decreases the number of one-way trips available to residents by about 50 percent for Get About. In order to mitigate this, the mobility manager is going to work with users of Get About to try to help them with trip coordination and consolidation and encourage users to utilize Ready Now if they are able, and the Access Busses for those that are eligible Ready Now, provides a taxi type service to residents and would more likely be utilized by those without mobility devices. The Access program can be utilized by those who are eligible with a mobility device. In addition, more essential trips, like doctor’s appointments, will be prioritized over potentially less essential trips. Further, the service provider, Transdev, is utilizing new software that will allow them to set fixed hours available per day for each City so that each City can receive their fair share of hours based on proportionate usage and contribution. The other Cities also had the option to pay additional for additional hours for their respective Cities, but they determined that their budgets also did not allow them to fund additional hours and that 15,000 revenue hours shared among the four Cities was necessary. It should be noted that Claremont’s share is less because they provide vehicles that are used by all Cities they have funded through a grant as a portion of their match.
The table below illustrates the cost savings of the reduction from 28,000 revenue hours to 15,000 revenue hours.
Cities
Original FY 2025-26 Budget Based on 28,000 Revenue Hours Updated FY 2025-26 Budget Based on 15,000 Revenue Hours Claremont
$593,688
$336,692
La Verne
$808,029
$458,249
Pomona
$3,635,035
$2,061,498
San Dimas
$445,129
$252,441
Decrease Hours of Operation
In line with reducing revenue hours, it is proposed that the hours of operation will change accordingly. To be presented at the PVTA Public Hearing on May 20 will be a proposal to reduce the hours of operation accordingly:
Current Hours
Proposed Hours
Weekdays
6:00 AM to 7:30 PM
8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Saturday
8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
8:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Sunday
7:30 AM to 5:00 PM
No Sunday Hours
It is anticipated that these hours will still serve those with the most critical needs for doctor appointments, but will help moderate usage in order to stay in line with the 15,000 revenue hours.
Eliminate the One Step Over the Line Service
The One Step Over the Line service provides transportation for residents to doctor appointments outside of the immediate service area throughout San Bernardino County. This program is very costly, and alternatives are available and can help be coordinated with the mobility manager. For example, Get About and Ready Now can transport people to the Montclair Transfer Center or the Montclair Mall, where they can connect with San Bernardino County’s Access program that provides paratransit services throughout San Bernardino County.
Raise Fares
Fares for Get About have been $1.00 since 1985. At the April 30, 2025 Board Meeting, the Cities were presented with potential fare increases that ranged from $1.25 to $3.00. The Cities decided that $2.75 would be reasonable to propose for Get About as this matches LA County Metro’s Access service fare. While raising fares is not projected to substantially increase revenues, thus offsetting each City’s share, it is projected to control demand since revenue hours are being proposed to be reduced to 15,000. Below is a summary of fares and their proposed increases.
Service
Current Fare (One Way)
New Fare (One Way)
Get About
$1.00
$2.75
Get About Extended
$2.00
$3.75
Ready Now
$4.50
$4.50
Other Potential Strategies to Reduce Costs
The service provider, Transdev, indicated that one way to reduce costs would be to allow for their vehicles to park locations within the service Cities, such as the City Yard, which would reduce their costs as they are currently housed in Ontario. Further adding to a cost savings would be to be able to utilize City fuel. The City of Pomona may want to offer space at the City Yard as an additional means of reducing costs.
Shandy Dittman
Public Works Fiscal and Project Manager
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 – Analysis of Other Potential Funding Sources Attachment 2 – Presentation
POTENTIAL FUNDING SOURCES FOR GET ABOUT AND CURRENT USAGE Proposition C, Measure R, and Measure M
The City receives other annual funding allocations through Los Angeles County Metro from Proposition C, Measure R, and Measure M.
Proposition C was approved by Los Angeles County voters in November 1990 as a half-cent sales tax to support projects and programs developed with Proposition A funds and, in particular, was to provide funding to help improve and expand the rail system started with Proposition A funds. The City mainly utilizes Proposition C for street projects in transit corridors and is proposing to appropriate approximately $1.3 million to the Garey Avenue Rehabilitation project and $1 million to the Holt West project in FY 2025-26. There is less Proposition C going to CIP next FY due to moving some of the costs of the new bus shelter maintenance contract to Proposition C as Proposition A cannot sustain the full amount, even if Get About was not increasing from last fiscal year.
Measures M and R are widely used for street-related operations and CIP projects. Measure M is a half-cent sales tax measure approved in 2016 to provide funds to ease traffic, repair local streets and sidewalks, expand public transportation, earthquake retrofit bridges and subsidize transit fares for students, seniors, and persons with disabilities. Measure R was approved in 2008 as a half-cent sales tax to finance new transportation projects and programs and accelerate those already in the pipeline.
Measures M and R have been approved by the City to be utilized for both street operations and CIP projects. In FY 2025-26 expects to receive approximately $2.8 million in Measure M and $2.4 million in Measure R. These revenue sources fund programs such as Graffiti Abatement, Street Maintenance, Traffic Paint and Sign, Traffic Signal and Street Light Maintenance, Landscaped Median Maintenance, Street Tree Maintenance. In FY 2025-26, both funds will be additionally funding street maintenance and Street Tree Maintenance as the Gas Tax (another streets funding source) does not provide for enough revenue to fund all of the streets related programs in it. Any revenue left over is allocated to CIP Projects. In Fiscal Year 2025-26, the City is proposing to allocate nearly $2 million of Measures M and R to provide for partial funding for various CIP projects including ADA Path of Travel and Curb Ramps, Safety Improvements at Grade Crossing, Bike Path at San Jose Creek, as match towards the ATTAIN grant the City received, Pomona Multi-Neighborhood Pedestrian and Bicycle Improvements, and two new projects related to bicycle and pedestrian safety.
If an additional $1.5 to $2 million is utilized from these funding sources to help fund Get About, there will be very little left to fund capital improvements to the City’s streets. It should be noted that the City’s streets needs far outweigh the funding available.
General Fund as a Potential Funding Source
On February 3, the City provided a presentation of the updated ten-year financial forecast at the City Council meeting. It provided a forecast that took into account the possible effects of the proposed “Pomona Kids First” initiative (Measure Y) and the possible effects of the proposed initiative petition to reduce the Transactions and Use Tax (TUT) rate from 0.75 percent to 0.5 percent. The anticipated effects of both, particularly the effects of Measure Y, are significant, as the City is required to set aside 10 percent of unrestricted general fund to fund Measure Y, resulting in cuts to all General Funded Public Works funding. With these initiatives in place, there is no General Fund available to provide for the increased costs for Get About.
Discussion Regarding PVTA Get About Costs
Attachment No. 1