Annual RTD Update
Stockton Community Improvement & Crime
Prevention Committee
Alex Clifford, CEO
February 28, 2024
Our primary mission is to provide a safe, reliable,
and efficient transportation system for the region.
Our vision is to be the transportation service
of choice for the residents we serve.
Mission and Vision
1 Who We Are and Our Service Area
• San Joaquin County’s regional
transportation provider
• Special district (not municipal transit)
as defined in PUC 50000-50507,
initially serving the Stockton
Metropolitan Area and amended in
1994 to include the entire county
• RTD services a large geographic
area:
• Over 1,400 square miles
• ~ 790,000 population
2 Quick Snapshot
• Employees: 306 Full-time equivalents (FTEs)
• Revenue Vehicles: 137
• Operating Budget: $53.2 million
• Ridership: Current ridership is approximately 2.3 million and trending higher, down from 3.7 million annual passenger trips pre- pandemic (FY19)
3 Projected FY24 Operating Budget
Personnel Cost Amount %
Represented Employee Wages 13,143,268$ 25%
Represented Employee Fringes 10,548,381 20%
Non-Represented Employee Wages 7,290,913 14%
Non-Represented Employee Fringes 4,722,671 9%
Workers' Compensation and
Unemployment Benefits 1,148,971 2%
Total Personnel Cost 36,854,204$ 69%
Non-personnel Cost
Services 4,815,580$ 9%
Materials & Supplies 3,669,899 7%
Utilities 1,270,443 2%
Insurance 1,938,589 4%
Taxes & Licenses 289,031 1%
Purchased Transportation 2,299,663 4%
Operating Contingency 500,000 1%
Miscellaneous Expenses 1,568,215 3%
Total Non-personnel Cost 16,351,419$ 31%
Total Operating Expenses 53,205,623$ 100%
4 Where Does RTD Get its Funding?
Funding comes from four main sources:
• Federal Government
• Formula and Discretionary Grants
• State Government
• Local Transportation Funds (LTF)
• State Transit Assistance Funds (STA)
• Low Carbon Transit Operations Program (LCTOP)
• Local Government
• Measure K (half-cent sales tax in San Joaquin County) • Farebox, advertising, school partnerships, property tax, etc.
Funding typically falls into one of two categories:
• Capital Funds—Formula and Discretionary
• Operating Funds—Formula (typically)
5 RTD Budget Summary — Operating Revenues
6 RTD Services
RTD provides many types of services:
• Commuter service to Sacramento and Dublin BART Station • Five Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Corridors
• Traditional fixed-routes within the Stockton Metropolitan Area (SMA) • County and Metro Hopper deviated fixed-routes
• Shared Mobility On-Demand (Van Go!)
• Americans with Disability Act (ADA) Paratransit
7 County and Metro Hoppers
• County Hoppers provide
service between Stockton,
Lodi, Lathrop, Tracy, Manteca,
Ripon, and Escalon. Including
deviated service in rural areas
only.
• Metro Hoppers serve the City
of Stockton
• Metro Hoppers provide a
mobility option for ADA
passengers through deviation
within a mile from the route
8 Post-COVID Ridership
9 Pre- & Post-COVID Ridership
10 State of Good Repair: Annual Capital Budget Estimate 11 Revenue Vehicle Fleet
12 Inflation: Bus Cost Comparison By Manufacture and Type 37%
24%
40%
19%
Cost increase when
comparing a 2018
Gillig Hybrid Bus to a
2023 Gillig Hybrid Bus.
Cost increase when
comparing a 2018 Gillig
Hybrid Bus to a 2023
Gillig Battery Electric Bus.
Cost increase when
comparing a 2022 Gillig
Battery Electric Bus to a
2024 Gillig Battery
Electric Bus.
Cost increase when
comparing a 2024 Gillig
Battery Electric
Bus to a 2024 New Flyer
Fuel-Cell Electric Bus.
13 Current Capital Needs
2-5 HydrogenFuelCellElectricLocal-40’
TotalCost: $3,200,000-$8,000,000
ElectricHybridBus RapidTransit -40’
TotalCost: $15,700,000
ElectricHybridLocal-40’
TotalCost: $5,300,000
HopperCutawaysMetro
TotalCost: $4,950,000
HopperCutawaysUnitedCerebralPalsy
TotalCost: $3,375,000
11 5
22 15
14 New Focus: Underserved Neighborhoods
• 61 Census Tracts in the City of Stockton identified as “Lower Income” (up from 51 in 2010) • And Census Tracts outside the City of Stockton. (~28% are lower income) • San Joaquin County “Lower Income” = $37,482 - $59,970/year (~$18/hour - $29/hour) 1 • Average rent in San Joaquin County is $1,589/month or $19,068/year 2 • Cost of owning a car (no payments): $6,417/year
($2,390/year for gas; $1,500/year for maintenance; $762/year for registration, fees & taxes; and $1,765/year for insurance) 3 After taxes and other deductions, what’s left for food, clothing, health care and other? How RTD can help:
A RTD 31-day bus pass costs $3,000/Year for the family (2 adults and 3 students) 1 - California Department of Housing & Community Development 2 - Bestneighborhood.org
3 - Nerdwallet.com
15 Demographics
RTD is located in the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, a non-attainment area under the federal Clean Air Act. 16 What’s Next? - 2024
• Implement Five Bus Fuel Cell Electric Bus Pilot in early 2024 • Implement hydrogen fueling trailer in early 2024
• Service Expansion: Add service to several routes in underserved neighborhoods in January 2024.
Greater span of service and increased frequency of service – initial focus in Hispanic/Latino neighborhoods (Stockton 43% Hispanic and RTD ridership is 29% Hispanic) • Apply for state, federal and local capital grants to replace the aging fleet and to keep up with a state of good repair. Seek a major operations/capital funding commitment from SB 125. • Seek federal Congressionally Directed Spending Requests (earmarks), if they are available • Implement VISA/Mastercard contactless fare payments & continue aggressive marketing of the Vamos app for fare payments – Reduce customer dependency on cash & coins, paper fare media and ticket vending machines.
• Award County Services contract – Done in January 2024 • Continue to grow ridership – Produce quality bilingual marketing materials • Educate elected officials about the threat to transit funding Valley Link presents. When it comes to Valley Link in San Joaquin County…Ask Why?
17 THANK YOU
18 Valley Link in SJ County…WHY?
Valley Link is asking for $35 million of San Joaquin County’s SB 125 Where does a 2025 3.3 million
ridership come from?
“Modeling suggests…?”
Commuter rail is expensive to
operate. Rail operating costs
include maintenance of way:
2022 NTD Data
RTD: $ 201.04/Hr.
$15.51/Pass.
ACE: $ 1,167.58/Hr.
$79.73/Pass.
Where are the commuter rail
riders?
Working from home…will they
ever return full-time to the office?
• ACE ridership today is less
than 50% of pre-pandemic
ridership
• Chicago Metra approx. 56%
• RTD ridership is close to 70%
recovered.
Valley Link alignment in SJ County 100% mirrors (duplicates) the ACE alignment. How about instead of Valley Link we offer timed train-to-train connections from ACE to Valley Link somewhere near the County line, thereby costing SJ County little to no money and achieving the same goal? The Feasibility Report
suggests that the capital
& operating funding in SJ
County is TBD…says SJ
county might need a
sales tax measure.
Note Final Feasibility Report is dated October 2019.
BEFORE THE PANDEMIC. What has happened since the
pandemic? Loss of ridership, inflationary impacts on
labor, goods/materials and services and a large
population working from home full-time & hybrid.
Why isn’t anyone asking for an updated Feasibility Study (before SJ County spends a penny)?
Valley Link 2019 construction cost estimate for just the San Joaquin County leg in YOE $s is $784 M - $1.046 B ($44.8M - $59.8M/Mile) –
17.5 miles Mountain House to Lathrop. Assuming you believe this number, given the pandemic inflationary impacts on labor, goods/materials and services, shouldn’t the construction estimate be updated to reflect a post-pandemic estimate?
Feb. 2024 19
RTD Facilities
Downtown Transit Center (DTC)
Union Transfer Station (UTS)
Hammer Transfer Station (HTS)
County Transportation Center (CTC)
Regional Transportation Center (RTC)
Mall Transfer Station (MTS)
20 RTD Planning: Addressing Challenges
Challenge: Old and inadequate facilities
21 RTD Planning: Addressing Challenges
Challenge: Old and inadequate facilities
22 RTD Planning: Addressing Challenges
Challenge: Old and inadequate facilities
23 RTD Planning: Addressing Challenges
Challenge: Old and inadequate facilities
24 RTD Planning: Addressing Challenges
Challenge: Old and inadequate facilities
25