Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Project funding gap is in part due to bids to install tracks, build shelters and buy ticket machines being $26 million to $44 million higher than estimated by the city.

As a result, the Portland Bureau of Transportation faces a shortfall in funding the streetcar's $8.9 million annual operating budget.

University representatives on the City of Columbia’s Transit System Task Force advised Mayor McDavid against increasing the student fee for the system. The Mayor says if Columbia Transit does not generate more revenue, the city could be forced to cut $800,000 of funding.

In an effort to close a $101 million shortfall in its 2012 operating budget, the agency will cut unionized and non-unionized positions. Front line, unionized positions will be eliminated through attrition.

MBTA hopes to raise revenue to fill a projected $150 million budget gap for the 2013 fiscal year.

The public hearing was planned in anticipation of a substantial shortfall in the agency's working capital for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012.

The bus route and schedule cuts will be announced next week and presented to the board for approval before going into effect in September.

The new policy raises fares by .25 cents every five years at two-year and three-year intervals. A re-evaluation of the agency's finances is mandated before any of the scheduled increases take effect.

The latest plan to save the struggling rail service would likely propose using funds typically used for transit maintenance and money earmarked for construction projects.

As a result of the economic recession and failure of Proposition 1, the Board of Commissioners directed staff to implement a 35 percent reduction in service by October 2011 to address the agency's budget shortfall.