Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Beginning Jan. 1, 2014, administrative employees will contribute an average of 2% of their salaries to their pensions. That contribution will increase each year until employees are paying 100% of their employee share by Jan. 1, 2017. The plan will result in an $8.2 million savings to taxpayers over the three-year period.

Said that increasing fares would be unreasonable, since they believe buses are poorly maintained and often run late. Officials say the agency needs to raise fares about 25% every four years to help cover operating costs.

Funds will be spread among 23 projects to add new bike lanes and trails, build bridges and crossings for cyclists, improve signs and add bike racks.

The OCTA recently received statewide recognition as Paratransit System of the Year for its ACCESS paratransit service, which provides more than 1.3 million trips annually for seniors and persons with disabilities.

Acquired Saddle Creek South, an 84-acre piece of property in south Orange County as part of the Environmental Freeway Mitigation Program, a comprehensive plan to preserve and restore open space.

The half-cent sales tax, collected over the past two decades, provided $1 billion for Metrolink service and senior and disabled bus fare stabilization. On April 1, the first half-cent of what is estimated to be $15 billion over the next 30 years will be collected for Measure M2.

Agency's board will cut an additional 8 percent if a sizable amount of state funding doesn't "materialize."

Will Kempton served as head of Caltrans for the past five years, where he oversaw 50,000 lane miles of state highways, an annual budget of nearly $14 billion and $10 billion worth of transportation improvements under construction.

OCTA has been bracing for this hit during the months of ongoing state budget negotiations by adding a fare increase of approximately 25 percent in January, making minor cuts to bus services, and implementing a hiring freeze and cutting capital expenses.

The Careers in Transportation Day program featured presentations from various speakers on each aspect of the transportation industry and a tour of an OCTA bus base that covered the maintenance training program, facilities maintenance and bus operations.