I could call to order this meeting of the Metrolinx Board of Directors and ask for a
safety briefing by Frank Castellan, our Chief Safety Security and Compliance Officer.
Frank, you're on. Good morning Chair McAllen, board members. So as a reminder your safety briefing
in the event of a fire alarm activation we're going to exit the building in an orderly fashion,
go downstairs and we will stage in front of the Metro customer service office in the corner of
in the building and wait for further instructions or wait for the all clear to be provided.
The event of an earthquake, we're going to drop, take cover until the shaking stops,
do an assessment, make a determination if we need to evacuate from that point.
In the event of a first aid situation, I will be your first aid provider.
I will ask Ms. Pena to contact the security office in 9-1-1, take appropriate measures.
As always, in the event of an active attack or a run-hide fight, I do want to remind you
that December is National Impairment Month.
not only things like alcohol, but medications, et cetera,
can impair your function and make you unsafe when you drive.
So please consider that during this holiday season.
That concludes your safety briefing this morning.
Thank you very much, Frank.
Next Pledge of Allegiance, and I've asked
Director Tremblay to lead us.
Thank you, roll call.
Director Wapner, Director Dutray, Director Marquez,
Vice Chair Taffy, Director Nguyen, Director Murphy.
Present.
Second Vice Chair Bergson.
Here.
Director Spiegel.
Director Middleton.
Present.
Director Vargas.
Present.
Director Tremblay.
Here.
Director Barger.
Director Corcoran.
Director Najarian.
Here.
Director Solis.
Director Hughes-Leslie.
Director O'Connor.
Here.
Director Allen.
Director Presiado.
Chair McCallum. We do have a quorum present. Thank you very much. This is our
public comment time. Do we have any public commenters? We do have a request
to speak from Pete Sluice. I've been fairly regularly speaking at the Metrolink board meeting since 2016
when the BNSF locomotives had a huge negative impact on my community. Metrolink
promised such actions would never again occur and I hope that your 2028
Olympic actions keep that promise. Unsurprisingly, since I spoke last
December, my short stretch of track has had two more fatal strikes. One was
apparently a suicide and the other was a cyclist. These have been recurring events
since inception. Two weeks ago our adjacent city of Covina also had a
fatality strike resulting in three-hour delays. Back in 2016, Metrolink
informed us they were addressing this issue with more signage, public service
announcements, and were looking at new technology. Obviously these approaches
have not worked. The Metrolink board did get involved in ensuring more safety and
and instituted a policy of requiring all new construction
at rail crossings to be raised to quiet zone standards.
What they left off was what to do between crossings
in communities such as mine.
There is already a technology which solves this,
that is quality fencing and sound walls,
which is the existing standard of Metro light rail,
both of which cover about half of each of every inch
on the Gold Line extension.
Vibration mats for the heavier rail is also needed.
Metro's rail safety results,
using their standards, have been excellent.
When Metrolink arrived, they replaced a once-a-week,
five-mile-an-hour train with 40 daily high-speed trains.
They did this after completely digging up
and replacing the existing rail in our community
in a major construction project,
and whether it should have required environmental studies
open to debate, but it wasn't done.
What also wasn't done was any infrastructure improvements
between crossings in our residential community.
What has followed is a continuous stream
of deaths, carnage, and disruption.
While our complaints have been categorized
as not in my backyard,
In reality, it is something that should not
be introduced to anyone's backyard
without proper mitigations.
No one on this board would welcome
what Metrolink introduced in their own backyard
in the manner it was done.
In my opinion, the current situation is an adversarial one
between Metro and Metrolink and our community.
When Metro is performing rail construction
for Metro in communities,
they utilize quality continuous fencing
and abundant sound walls protecting residences.
When Metro is doing Metrolink projects in our community,
do not even come close to those standards,
although the impact is even greater
and they say they don't have to.
They may legally be correct, but not morally.
We need this board to have MetroLink
adapt the same high standards and product
used by Metro Light Rail in our community
for the MetroLink lone-hale-to-white
double-track project between crossings.
Otherwise, I fear removing the horn safety feature
along with inadequate infrastructure and a blind curve
will result in a fatality rate
actually increasing with this project.
Fixing this will require the board to act like they did with the rail grade crossing standards.
It will not happen from the bottom up.
With no action we will miss the opportunity to address
safety with the proper infrastructure solution and unnecessary fatalities and disruption will continue.
Again I'd like to submit my comments for the record and I urge action on this lingering safety issue.
Thank you for your comments.
We go on to our regular calendar.
Staff has asked that item 6D be pulled,
so we will pull that from the calendar.
It's not ready for prime time, apparently.
So we will go on to action item 6A,
which is approval of the meeting minutes of November 17.
Is there a motion on the minutes?
We have a motion and a second.
Any objections?
Any abstentions?
Seeing none, it's an anonymous decision to approve the minutes.
Next, we have 6B, which is status of the 28 Olympic Games preparation and
coordination will be presented by Roderick Diaz, our director of planning and
development, and Jeffrey Dunn, director of government and community relations.
Roderick, you're on.
Hello, and members of the board.
At our October update to the board, members of the board inquired as to whether
the organizing committee of the 2028 Olympic Games
would directly subsidize any portion
of games-related augmentation of transportation service.
Staff shared this question with the L.E. 28 organization.
L.E. 28 clarified that the local games organizing committees
typically do not provide direct operation support
or incremental costs for public transportation
during any games period.
Instead, Games Period public transit operations
are typically paid for by a combination of fares,
which are expected to grow leading into
and during the Games Period,
and government funding, usually from contributions
from both the national or state levels.
Nonetheless, we are working with LA28
on various initiatives to attract more games-related users
to the Metrolink system and grow revenue
during the Games Period.
Namely, we are working with LA-28 to enable better trip planning tools to share information
with potential riders about transportation itineraries to encourage event-goers to use
the best available transit option, especially given that no onsite general parking will
be made available within a general given security perimeter of venues, essentially making venues
access for spectators car-free.
LA 28 is also suing broad transportation demand management initiatives to encourage
reductions in non-games related travel and encourage the use of public transportation
during the games period.
We also continue to pursue mechanisms that involve more formal arrangements with LA
28, such as a potential provision of a transit allowance to be included in the cost and purchase
of all event tickets.
Pre-paid mobility wallets such as this would enable,
encourage the use of regional transit alternatives.
Also, depending on the ultimate locations
of games workforce housing,
Metrolink may enter into contracts for bulk purchases
of public transportation tickets,
similar to our corporate partnership program.
LA28 is strongly supportive of securing state
and federal funds to support operations.
The LA-28 Games Management Executive's team of agencies has collectively provided mutual support for capital grants.
We expect the same strong level of support to continue and be extended to provision of more comprehensive support packages that include operations funding.
With that, I'll hand it over to Jeff Dunn to describe our advocacy efforts.
Good morning, Jeff.
Good morning, Chair. Thank you very much, Roderick, members of the board.
Last week, our CEO transmitted the letter attached to your board report to the President seeking a total of $651.9 million in federal support necessary to procure the additional rolling stock, maintenance and station platform enhancements, and increased operations needed to provide rail transportation
with the anticipated influx of passengers from the estimated 3 million people who will be attending, supporting, or in some manner linked to these car-free 2028 Olympic and Paralympic games.
As noted in the letter, the funding is requested as part of the President's budget submitted
to Congress each fiscal year, beginning in the next federal fiscal year, FY25, and subsequently
for each year thereafter in FY26, 27, and 28.
We have endeavored to provide an accurate estimate of need each year to provide only
the needed funding in the proper sequence to ensure that we can deliver these improvements
to provide seamless transportation for the games.
We are envisioning and intend to deliver half hour bi-directional service frequencies through
core parts of the Metrolink network to be the backbone of public transportation for
these car-free games.
Of the $651.9 million, we are requesting $239 million in the first fiscal year, that's FY25,
which includes $90 million to lease 13 six-car train sets comprised of 13 locomotives and
78 railcars.
We have requested to lease, rather than to purchase, the rolling stock because it is
unlikely even if we were able to secure funding as part of the President's FY 25 budget to
purchase the locomotives that they could be built, delivered, tested, and put into service
by the time of the games.
Thus, we have already entered into discussions with and will seek to procure existing rolling
stock from partner rail operators in California and throughout the country to fulfill this
need.
Additionally, as noted in the letter, we are requesting supplemental funding for maintenance
expansion to service the additional equipment and station platform relocation
from LA to Anaheim to accommodate a very significant increase in passenger
traffic through that corridor. It should be noted that this is in addition to the
approximately 13 phase one score projects that are presently fully funded
that Metrolink expects will be completed in time for the games providing
increased security, safety, and capacity across the network. Also we have
requested $179.9 million for additional operations to handle the surge in the
summer of 2028, including for necessary ramp up and ramp down, so we will only
request operational funding assistance for that which is required to provide
the additional needed service immediately prior to, during, and after the
Games. Finally, in addition to the federal ask, we are working with LA-28 and with
each of our local partners identified in your report as members of the Games
and Willardly executives group to communicate with the state, including this and successive
governors administrations, CalSTA and others to ensure state support for the region's transportation
needs as they become more well defined closer to arrival of the games.
We are working with these partners to organize the first of these coordinated advocacy meetings
early next year to meet in Sacramento with administration and CalSTA executive staff
regarding the region's shared olympics transportation and infrastructure needs
we will of course provide continual update to the board on this and all
advocacy undertaken
related to the olympics by metro lane
thank you this concludes our presentation we are available to answer any questions
thank you very much Jeff, Director Trevely
Mr. Chair I do not have questions but I have some pretty extensive comments
if it's alright, I would
Since I'm the one to blame for having this on the agenda and Roderick and Jeff, thank
you very much for your presentation.
I'll start off by saying that I love the Olympics.
I was privileged to attend several events back in 1984.
So I'm going to speak this morning in diplomatic speak and having carefully read the staff
report and no criticism of staff, the report was thorough.
But to put it diplomatically, I was astonished that LA-28 declined to come meet with this
Metrolink board.
I think their declination was completely unsatisfactory.
Given that public transit and Metrolink, and I would say Metro, I don't want to presume,
but Metro are critically important to the success of the 2028 games, LA-28 sticking
its head in the sand to me is nonsensical. I think it's also disrespectful to Metrolink.
It's disrespectful to Metro. The staff letter on page 21 talks about our capital investments
and infrastructure which are generally considered as quote-unquote part of the legacy of the
games, and I know that's apparently LA28's view of things, and my concern is so is the
a legacy of financial hardship on host cities and on ratepayers and taxpayers in those localities.
The November 29 letter, which was very well done by staff, I really appreciate it.
You'll note that on page two, it asks for $107.9 million in operational costs for readiness
for the games.
And Jeff, I thank you.
I appreciate you clarifying that that operational surge amount for FY28 is what I wrote is limited
to what is needed to provide for service during the games.
It is limited to just that.
That's the extra burden that this agency is going to have to bear.
The capital needs alone are over half a billion dollars, 544 million, according to this letter.
My point, bottom line, I've got two bottom lines, but the first one is our residents
should not bear that burden.
LA28 needs to step up.
Metrolink, in my view, should receive a dedicated portion of the licensing revenue stream or
other revenue that is sufficient to cover much of this operational cost. LA-28 and U.S.
Olympics, they can pick however they want to do it because there's a whole variety of
sources of revenue that are available to them in terms of television rights, licensing rights,
area. My real concern here is that we are in a completely new dynamic regarding public
transit. Look where we are from a budget standpoint. It is a completely—that makes it even more
imperative in my mind that we have—that LA-28 comes in and has a specific discussion
with us. I think we need their financial assistance. These services are being done for their benefit
as well as all of our benefits, and I don't want our taxpayers, our county, the folks
who put money into our county, our respective county transportation commissions to be left
holding the bag.
The staff letter I thought was interesting, LA 28 said well, gee, we will, and this is
buses on page 21, we will put you in a position where, well, maybe we will get advertisers
or sponsors to buy sideboards on your buses and your trains by engaging in this OOH marketing
guarantee program.
But that's insufficient.
So I would just say, speaking diplomatically, that I was put off after reading LA-28's response
that they would not meet with us.
If you go to the LA-28 website, it's really interesting to look at.
They have what they call the Games Plan page, and the Games Plan page says, among other
things, sustainability and fiscal responsibility are core to the Games Plan.
Well, that should apply to LA-28, as well as apply to everyone else who has to provide
services for it.
They have a page that's entitled About LA 28.
And they say, why is LA a good place to host the games?
And they say, LA is a city of optimism and creativity
and diversity.
I couldn't agree more.
It's built for large scale, live, global events.
There's an abundance of existing world class stadiums
and arenas funded by private investment.
Could not agree with that more.
But that's all true.
That's all true.
But there is nothing, crickets, on how people get transported
to the games until you get to the page that's entitled Who's
Paying for the 2028 Olympics and Paralympic Games?
And it says, and I quote, LA28 is privately
funded through domestic sponsorships, licensing,
hospitality, ticketing, philanthropy, and the IOC.
LA28 maintains a privately funded and balanced budget
that includes a $615.8 million contingency.
And what's really fascinating to me is it goes on to say,
and I quote, the LA-28 Games Transportation Plan
will aim to move athletes, games, stakeholders,
and fans efficiently to training and competition
while keeping LA residents moving reliably
through the region.
During the games, LA-28 will leverage
the abundance of public transit infrastructure
and world-class travel demand management systems
to effectively and efficiently bring people
to and from games events.
The Los Angeles region has extensive experience
implementing strategic travel demand management plans,
regularly managing road closures and traffic control
during major events, such as the Super Bowl, Oscars,
Grammys, and LA Marathon.
And then in a very interesting note, and I quote, it says,
quote, throughout the planning process,
LA 28 is working closely with key public transportation
agencies in the LA region, including the LA Mayor's Office,
LA Metro, LA Department of Transportation, Caltrans,
SCAG, separate from the games the LA region has invested
in the largest mass transit construction program
in the United States, and it goes on from there.
Well, I'm really curious.
If they're working closely with us,
and that's what they are telling the public,
then why won't they come to a meeting of the board
and answer questions about what our concerns are relative
to our ability fiscally to bring about these games.
My concern is, you know, I have this picture in my mind
of the gold and silver and bronze metal recipients standing on the podium under, what is it,
number one, number two, number three.
What I don't want is to have a five set podium stand for all the five county transportation
commissions and what they get is the bill and the fallout from an incredible and non-sustainable
operational budget.
So you can tell that I'm being diplomatic and it's Friday and I hadn't had enough coffee
yet but I think LA28 is paying lip service to Metrolink respectfully and so I have a
very specific request Mr. Chair that I hope the Chair will consider and that is that I
hope that the Chair given LA28's inconsistency I want them to come to the table.
I want you know what they're telling the public is one thing but they're not coming to meet
with us. My request is that the chair appoint an ad hoc committee and request of this board
and request again politely to meet with LA 28 directly. It could be within the context
of Metro as well. I mean, I don't mean to be presumptuous relative to Metro, but I think
they need to get to the table and they need to do it now. And they need to be better partners.
And I won't even spend the five minutes I could to tell you about the revenue stream
that comes in during these games.
All you have to do is go look at the International Olympic Committee website and see the $5 billion
that comes in as a revenue stream, $2.5 billion of which goes to support the games.
Why isn't that coming, some of that, to us in a dedicated revenue stream so we can afford
this?
So thank you for your patience in hearing my non-passionate or dispassionate concerns,
I think we need to hop on this now and I and my understanding anecdotally by the way is that LA 28 may be watching this on
Livestream, they won't come here
But they're watching it on Livestream
So I'm hoping that they're getting the message from at least one director that I think their response is completely
unsatisfactory and inadequate and I expect them to step up and
That's all for me right now. Thank you. I'm gonna go back and have another cup of thank you director trim Lee
I totally agree with you other comments
Ira now you got your light on
Just wondering do we agenda center can we give general direction right now? I
Have the authority to establish ad hoc committees. I have the authority to establish ad hoc committees. Yes
the other comments, I
Thank you for your
Looking into this and giving us all this good information. I I
appreciate your tact, but I agree with you totally, and I will establish the Nat Hawk
Committee and with Director Trimley and anyone else who would like to be on it
at least one more. We can't have probably more than two people because then
we'd run into quorum issues on committees. So is there anyone interested? I appoint
an ad hoc committee of Trimley and Alan Wapner to represent us, to request a direct meeting
and to be involved directly in any meetings with L.A. 28.
Because I think it's important, not that staff isn't doing a great job, you are, but
sometimes it takes some political people to be involved to make things happen.
So that's your charge, go make it happen.
Any other comments?
Go ahead.
No, because then you would have a quorum of some
of the committees and that would be a Brown Act violation.
Right, Mr. Attorney?
That's correct.
We don't want to trigger a quorum if we did
and we'd have to have full blown meetings
with notices that meet the Brown Act requirements.
So we have to have something less than a quorum.
country triggering a quorum quorum is six votes in three counties so the ad hoc
we're fine with Ventura and in the San Bernardino. Very good. This is a receive
and file so without objection the board will receive and file this item. Next we
We have item 6c San Juan Creek bridge replacement and this will be presented by Tammy Phillips
Contract and Compliance Administrator Tammy.
The proposed project would replace the existing bridge constructed in 1917 which has surpassed
its life expectancy and the current load capacity is below expected future load demands.
The bridge design includes full replacement of the existing bridge and a newer girder
bridge over the existing bikeway.
Bids were received from Flatiron West Incorporated, Herzog Contracting Corporation and Stacey
and Whitbeck.
Herzog Contracting Corporation and Stacey and Whitbeck's bids were determined to be
non-responsive.
Flat iron west was determined to be the lowest responsible responsible
responsible bidder. Next slide please. Staff recommends the board authorize the
chief executive officer to one negotiate and execute amendment number one to
cooperative agreement number C02540 between Southern California regional
Rail Authority and the Orange County Transportation Authority to amend the Southern California
Regional Rail Authority's fiscal year 2023 to 2024 budget by $22,578,258 to accommodate
the additional funding allocated by OCTA needed for the San Juan Creek Bridge replacement
project.
contract number C3153 to Flatiron West in the amount of 41,980,490 plus a 10% contingency
for a total not to exceed amount of 46,178,539.
Next slide please.
And this concludes my presentation.
I am happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, Tammy. Questions? Comments? This is an action item. Could I have a motion?
Jeffy moves.
You can't second. Same county.
We have a second.
Any objections to the motion? Any abstentions? Seeing none, that's unanimous vote.
To approve.
Next we have 6E
Contract for Software and Maintenance for Simulation and Validation of a Positive Train Control
Breaking Algorithm Presented by a Bichoy
Besto... How do you say your last name?
Bichoy Bistadros, you're on. Bistadros... Bistadros
Say your first name again?
Bichoy Bistadros, Senior Contract and Compliance Manager. Next time I'll remember. Go ahead.
and members of the board.
Before moving forward, I'd like to point out a correction
to the contract number on both the board item report
and presentation.
The correct contract number is H1677-24 instead
of H1667-24.
This item 60 is recommendation to award contract number H1677-24
to MX V-Rail for simulation and validation software
of the PTC breaking algorithm and modeling
of next generation train control technologies.
Next slide please.
At the board meeting on September 22, 2023,
under item 12J, the board authorized staff
to commence negotiations with MXV Rail
to establish a new sole source contract.
To ensure the proficiency and safety
of the 30s PTC system, it is essential
to have reliable means to validate the PTC breaking algorithm
as new software versions are released.
The authority needs a new contract
that would allow continued validation support
of the PTC breaking algorithm as well as modeling of analysis
of next generation trained control technologies.
Next slide please.
It is therefore recommended that the board authorize the CEO
to award contract number H1 677-24 to MX V-Rail
for a base contract term of five years
with annual renewal options at the discretion of that 30
and for an amount not to exceed $3 million
for the base contract term.
This concludes my presentation.
The train control system manager,
Hi Rodriguez and I are happy to take any questions
you may have.
Thank you, Beshara.
Any questions, comments?
This is an action item?
I'm sorry, thank you, Mr. Chair.
So if I have this right, the hardware
is going to be used by a new software system.
Is that correct?
The simulators themselves, we're going to continue keeping.
It's for the breaking algorithm validation of the PTC software.
Any others?
Is there a motion on this item?
We have a motion and a second.
Any objections?
Any abstentions?
Seeing none, it's unanimous.
Approval, thank you.
Thank you.
Next, we have positive train control, simulators, software,
and hardware maintenance.
Again, Bishua, you're up.
This item is a recommendation to award contract number MS331-24 to Corey Zinc
for PTC simulators software and hardware maintenance
and to purchase new PTC simulators.
Next slide please.
At the board meeting on September 22, 2023 under item 12L, the board authorized staff
to commence negotiations with the Cori Zinc
to establish a new sole source contract.
To ensure proper crew training
and to be compliant with the authority's
regulatory requirements,
a new multi-year maintenance contract is needed
with the authority's existing trained simulator vendor.
The new contract will allow for PTC software upgrade
for simulators, training, maintenance
of both software and hardware,
and delivery of new PTC simulators.
Next slide, please.
It is therefore recommended that the board authorize the CEO
to award contract number MS 331-24 to Corey Zinc
for a base contract term of five years
with annual renewal options.
Joy, bear with me for a moment.
I, this is, I think, the slide deck for the prior item.
So those of us that were trying to follow along
here at home.
Angie, do you have a...
Is it the same slide deck?
We're under 6F?
Yes, I don't have the updated slide deck.
So we do not have a slide deck for this item?
No, we don't. For the simulator?
The purchase of the simulator?
No, I don't have it available.
Sets of slides provided.
Bear with us, board, please.
I wanna make sure that the staff report is obviously
the correct staff report and Bouchoui's presentation covers the primary issue so Mr. Chair we can
go ahead and proceed and I don't know if the presentation that was sent out to the full
board has the correct slide deck or not but nonetheless we can go ahead and proceed given
the staff presentation and the board report.
Yes go ahead.
Okay go ahead Bouchoui sorry about that.
It is therefore recommended that the board authorize CEO
to award contract number MS31 to Corey Zink
for a base contract term of five years
with annual renewal options at the discretion of the authority
and for an amount not to exceed five million dollars
for the base contract term.
This concludes my presentation.
Regent, I am happy to take any questions you may have.
Very good.
Thank you, Vishoy.
Any comments or questions?
This is an action item.
Can we have a motion?
I'll move, and I'll second.
Any objections to the motion?
Any abstentions?
Seeing none, that's unanimous.
Approval.
Next, we have a purchase order for grapple
and lubrication trucks.
Recommendation to award a contract presented by Dorothy
Kent arrow and
Compliance administrator and Eric
Argosian our senior manager of facilities and the fleet man and maintenance
Please go ahead
The authority requires new trucks for the maintenance of its right-of-way the two grapple trucks are needed to replace the existing aging
Vehicles which have reached their end of service life
Truck is needed to lubricate equipment along the row including switches and rails an invitation for bids
with specific aftermarket customizations was issued on October 8, 2008 and sent out to over 1,000 registered firms.
Bidders had the option to bid for any or all of the trucks requested.
Three bids received by November 6th, I'm sorry, three bids were received by the November 6th deadline.
All bids were found to be responsive and responsible.
The recommended award was found to be fair and reasonable, being 11.05% below the authority's estimate.
Next slide, please.
Therefore it is recommended that the board authorize
the CEO to award purchase order number PO
for two freight line or gravel trucks
and one Ford F550 lubrication truck
to custom truck one source LP,
DBA custom truck equipment LLC,
and a total amount of $1,124,147.81.
This recommendation is subject to the resolution
of any time limit.
This concludes my presentation
and the facilities and fleet senior manager
Any questions? I guess I'm not seeing one point one million. Other comments or
questions just just for the record and future I don't know what a or a
lubrication truck is so when you do report on these kinds of items in your
slides in the staff reports go ahead and tell us what these two trucks do
absolutely grapple truck is a class 8 large semi truck that has a bed flat bed
on it with big grapples, essentially, and it aids to pick up ties, help out with right-of-way
work, essentially a crane with a grapples.
Lubrication truck is a pickup truck with a utility bed on it.
It's specifically fabricated to hold bulk grease, so it can be dispensed at the...
good point thanks for bringing that up any other comments questions this is
an action item need a motion we have a motion is there a second and we have a
second excuse me the objections to the motion any abstentions
Seeing none, it's unanimous approval.
And thank you very much.
We're on to item 6-H, financial results
for the four months ending October 31st,
ridership revenue and operational results.
And Christine Wilson, our senior manager of finance,
is going to give us all the good news, right Christine?
Right, absolutely.
All right, go ahead.
So these are the financial results
for the four months ended October 2023,
ridership revenue and operating results.
I wanna point out that at the time this report was produced,
we did not have the final figures on the performance
of the Student Adventure Pass pilot program.
Therefore, the number on these charts
do not reflect that performance.
We do, however, have the information now,
and I will describe the differences to you.
Beginning with November reporting, which you will see in January,
the Student Adventure Pass amounts will be included in the report as we present it to you.
Next slide please.
I'm your honor already.
This slide shows a monthly ridership performance beginning in January.
The green bars are the actual ridership while the dark blue line is the forecast produced
by Sperry Capital as used in our FY24 budget.
You'll note that the month of October appears to show a ridership reduction.
This is because the student adventure pass amounts are not included and some
of the students who formerly bought tickets switch to the free pass.
If the student adventure pass amount were included here, you would see a recovery
of 50 percent rather than the 41 percent that is shown on this chart, which would be an
increase from September of 2 percent. So it would have gone from 48 percent recovery in
September to 50 percent in October. Next slide, please. This slide shows the four-year recovery
since the beginning of the COVID-19. And with the student adventure pass, the 41 percent
for October would instead be 50%.
Next slide, please.
This slide shows revenue comparisons
of the first four months of 24.
Once again, with the student adventure pass included,
October would be larger, so let's look at the numbers
in terms of actual amounts.
Next slide, please.
This FairVox revenue chart shows the actual revenue
as compared to budget.
Without the student adventure passes, you can see
that the month of October is under budget by just over 100,000,
which is probably representative of students
who moved to the adventure pass.
With the adventure pass included, the revenue number
for October increases by $685,000 for the month,
which is then almost $600,000 over budget.
This creates a month recovery of 53 percent and a year
to date recovery of 47 percent.
with revenue year to date over by 1.1 million.
Next slide, please.
This slide shows the monthly comparison of ridership
without the adventure pass.
Once again, let's go to the actual numbers.
Next slide, please.
This chart compares forecasted ridership
to actual ridership.
As you can see, the month of October
without the adventure pass shows a short 1238,000.
However, when the adventure pass is added in of 110,000,
the actuals are over forecast by 72,000
and at a recovery of 51.1% for October.
Year to date, the ridership is over forecast by 225,000,
a recovery of 47% with the student adventure pass included.
Next slide, please.
Through October, total operating revenue is 20.2 million over-planned by 2.9 million
if we include the adventure pass.
The revenue number increases to 20.9 million if we include the student adventure pass.
Total expenses are 89.8 million or 11.2 million below plan.
As always, we caution you that these amounts are based on accruals, not actuals.
Next slide, please.
This chart shows the receivables outstanding for member agencies at October 31, 2023.
As of this date, most of these amounts have been cleared up.
Metro in particular is completely cleared up.
The others are down significantly.
Next slide, please.
We move now to Arrow service.
Next slide, please.
Today's revenue for ARRO is $74,000, ridership 26,000.
Next slide, please.
So, this is the operating statement for ARRO services.
Once again, the revenue is 78,000.
Expenses are 4.4 million or $1.9 million under budget.
Support required is therefore under by 1.9 million.
That concludes my report.
May I answer any questions?
Thank you, Christine.
With the payment of those arrears,
what does our reserve look like right now?
I know we had something go out to the board director
saying we were below our goal in reserves.
And so Metro Lake doesn't have a reserve,
but the board put a threshold on us.
And coming out of, so November,
we would still be below that number.
But for December, we're above the number.
Very good, thank you.
Thank you.
This is a receiving file.
Are there any questions or comments on this?
Or are you want to speak or are you just lazy?
Well, can I ask about the Antelope Valley line?
Do you have any specific ridership numbers on that
since we've increased services as last month?
I'll go ahead and take this, Christine,
because we do have very current information.
Again, we did expand service on the Antelope Valley line
on October 23rd and every week.
Every week since then, it has continued to grow.
Most recently, as of last week,
we are, our average daily ridership is up 18,
nearly 18% on the Antelope Valley line alone
from where we were with the prior service.
So we are seeing a couple point increases every week.
And this is at a time in the year
where we typically see ridership start to drop off
because of holidays.
So it is absolutely, riders are responding
to the increased level of service most definitely.
That's good news.
Very good news.
Any other comments or questions?
This is a receiving file without objection.
That's what we'll do, thank you, Christine.
Next we have a quarterly fuel purchase program update
to presented by Alex Barber, our senior manager of finance.
Alex.
Good morning, this is a receiving file report
for the first quarter of FY 24, fuel purchase program.
The purpose of the fuel hedge is to minimize budget risk
resulting from the purchase of fuel at the SPART basis
and to seek an overall low fuel cost in the long term.
Next slide, please.
As of September 30th, 2023,
the authority's hedging account had a value of 14.9 million,
an increase of 1.8 million from June 30th, 2023.
This includes earned interest totaling 164,000.
Next slide, please.
This concludes my presentation and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Any questions?
Seeing none, this is a receive and file. Thank you very much.
Without objection, that's what we will do.
Next we have a customer experience update for July through October, presented by Sabrina Davis, our Director of Marketing and Partnerships. Sabrina.
Good morning, Chair McKellen and members of the board.
I will jump right in.
Next slide, please.
On July 1, we expanded Ventura County Line Weekend Service
to include Sunday service,
now operating on the Ventura County Line seven days a week
for the first time in Metrolinx history.
We saw weekend ridership increases of over 200%
and revenues were up over 50% compared to the previous year.
Next slide, please.
Highlighting again, the Antelope Valley expanded service that took effect on October 3rd when we wrote this report we initially saw increases of 9% in weekday ridership that's jumped up to 18% and weekend ridership has increased as well.
We also were proud to open our new Vista Canyon station in partnership with the city of Santa.
Next slide please.
In August of 2023 we relaunched our low income discount program as Mobility For All.
As a result of the campaign, we did see ticket sales increase by 13.8% in August
and 21.2% in September.
From the inception of the program, Metrolink has seen total tickets sold at over 120,000
through October 31st.
Next slide, please.
Sabrina, real quick, if you could go back one slide,
just an observation that some of the board members may see.
You'll see that in the last bar,
I guess that would be October,
you see a drop in the number of tickets purchased.
That happens to coincide with when we launched
the Student Adventure Pass program.
So we believe that students were taking advantage
of the lower income fair program first.
Now they have the opportunity
to use the Student Adventure Pass,
which is no charge to the user.
So, I think that we believe explains the drop
in this one month is that students have gone
from the Mobility For All program
to the Student Adventure Pass program.
Sorry to interrupt.
No worries, thank you.
On Monday, October 9th,
Metrolink launched the Student Adventure Pass,
the LC Top Grant funded program
allowing students to ride for free.
We partnered with over 35 colleges and universities
and school districts to introduce the program to students.
Our street team attended over 20 on-campus events
throughout October, and during the first three weeks
of the campaign, we saw the creation
of almost 17,000 new student mobile app accounts.
Next slide, please.
The response from students has been tremendous.
We would like to share a comment from one
of our new student writers with you with a short clip.
I love Metrolink because it's a great resource for students that don't have transportation or that need to take the train every day.
So I'm very happy that I got my pass today and I will be taking the train every day now.
Next slide please.
On October 4th, the customer experience team also launched the California Clean Air Day offering free rides system wide for the first time in Metrolink's history on this day.
this day one of the board approved annual free fair days for Metrolink. To
mark California Clean Air Day the CX team partnered with UCR to create a
community mural using smog eating paint with over 50 participating
community members and UCR students. The event gained extensive media coverage
reaching an audience of over 2.8 million people and I have a short one-minute
video to share with you about the event.
Today, you can ride Metrolink trains for free.
Today is California Clean Air Day, and one of the most effective ways to help reduce
poor air quality is by reducing the number of vehicles on the road.
Ecologically, it's tremendous.
I mean, it saves me 60 miles of driving.
Today we're here in celebration of the clean air day.
Climate change and air pollution are all kind of tied together, and so we're all coming
together, and the mural's a good symbolization of that.
With the paint itself, it's a company out of Chile that's called Fotio.
It's a paint additive that you can add to the paint.
like a small game of paint. Moving to like car alternatives like the train it feels better to
be making a contribution to the world than like wasting time in a car. So I'm actually a commuter
here at ECR I definitely take the Metrolink wherever I go that is a great way to go around
and I think the Metrolink is super helpful in that but it does help clean the air.
I'm proud to say that Metrolink reached a new post-pandemic ridership record on that day of
over 26,000. Next slide please. And last but not least the Metrolink team was honored to accept
the APTA Advil Grand Prize Award in the best marketing and communications to support ridership
or sales category at the Transform conference in Orlando, Florida. And this honor was in recognition
of the 2022 Customer Appreciation Day campaign
featuring CEO Darren Kettle's dad joke video.
And accepting the award on behalf
was a very valued member of our Metrolink marketing team,
Brett Hawkins, who is here.
Take a bow.
Brett has been the project manager
for a customer appreciation day campaign
for the last five years, so we're really proud.
And that concludes my presentation.
I can answer any questions.
Thank you very much.
How's the holiday train going?
Oh, it's amazing.
It's tremendous.
The ridership, the rider reaction,
the number of new people were getting on board.
The smile on kids' faces, it's just, it's very rewarding.
It's a lot of work, but worth it, definitely.
Is the train full?
Yes, all six out of eight trains have pretty much sold out.
Very good.
Yeah.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for asking.
Any comments or questions?
First of all, congratulations on the award.
And it's very exciting to see everything that's going on,
and looking forward to next year, especially for new groups.
Very good.
Thank you, Sabrina.
This is a receive and file without objection.
That's what we will do.
Next, we'll go on to our December legislative update,
presented by Jeffrey Dunn, our Director of Government and Community Relations. Jeff,
you're up again. Alright, thank you. Good morning Chair McCallum, members of the
Board. Next slide please. As noted in your report, we are reaching out to local
elected officials to provide updates on Metrolink service related to the various
districts and constituencies that they serve. These include, most recently,
elected official meetings to share the efforts undertaken by Metrolink at its
central maintenance facility to mitigate and improve community impacts and to
advise the status of needed minor repairs at the Northridge station that
we're working with the city of LA to ensure that they're completed. We will
meet later this month with assembly majority leader emerita Eloise Gomez
Reyes to share the good news of the arrow project in her district and to
inform about the planned transition of current DMU vehicles to zero emission
multiple units or ZIMU in 2024. Metrolink is partner and operator of the
service for SBCTA, which will debut the rail vehicle next year that uses a hybrid hydrogen
fuel cell and battery technology to propel the vehicle, turning hydrogen to electricity
and emitting water as exhaust. This will be the nation's first zero-emission rail vehicle
and passenger service.
Also as noted in your report, our Community Relations team is distributing the attached
infographics to elected officials or elected offices at all levels, local, state and federal,
throughout the MetroLink delegation
and asking that they share
through their communications platforms
to inform constituents about the full range
of new fare products MetroLink now offers
to increase ridership and make our service
more accessible to all.
These include our senior and disabled passenger fares,
our mobility for all low-income discounted fare,
the student adventure pass, $10 weekend kids ride free pass,
and the $10 holiday pass for unlimited all-day travel
during recognized federal holidays.
state matters. Next slide please. The big news is the two tours of Metrolink
projects led by our CEO Mr. Kettle and Metrolink project delivery and
operations staff of the Fullerton station, Orange Thorpe crossing and
discussion of the Fullerton Interlocutor project on November 27th and
the downtown Burbank station and Burbank junction speed improvements
project just completed on time and on budget this month. Metrolink hosted
California Senate Los Angeles corridor resiliency subcommittee chair Katherine Blake sphere for both tours and
Senators Josh Newman Tom unburg and assembly member Sharon quirk Silva with Metrolink vice chair and Orange County supervisor
Doug chafee and Fullerton mayor Fred young for the Fullerton tour and senators Ben Allen and Carolyn Minjavar
For the Burbank tour also with staff representing senator Anthony portentino attending and Burbank mayor
Constantine Anthony, and Burbank Council member Tamala Takahashi.
Although Mr. Kettle can give you more detail on the topics that were covered, Metrolink
was able to show and explain how both the Burbank and Fullerton projects will be pivotal
to improving throughput and service, not only on the respective lines of these projects,
but the network-wide benefits that are accrued and enhanced by each of them.
Metrolink was also able to provide direct messages to and answer questions from state
lawmakers on a wide range of topics such as the need for continued operations funding
beyond the generous flexible operations funding provided this year's state budget, the status
of the score phase one and Olympics preparedness projects and needs in the coming years, and
state regulatory oversight process improvements that may help ensure better project delivery
and sustainable operations in the future.
MetroLink will follow these successful events by attending the field hearing of the Los
send subcommittee in San Clemente later this month as the legislature continues to direct
attention and resources to the corridor and passenger rail service throughout Southern
California region.
Next slide.
In federal matters, in addition to the Olympics budget letter, a request letter to President
Biden covered in the previous report to you this morning, Metrolink continues to seek
bipartisan support of its congressional delegation members for its application for eight additional
tier 4 locomotives under the Reconnecting Communities Program Neighborhood Access and
Equity Grant Program that is established under the IIJA, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
As reported to you previously, this application seeks $44.7 million in matching funds to the
$51.7 million of state Carl Moyer program funds already secured by Metrolink to procure
eight additional tier 4 locomotives, allowing Metrolink to retire eight of its remaining
tier two locomotives and bring the fleet total to 48 tier four locomotives over 90% of its fleet.
Metrolink already has by far the largest tier four fleet of any passenger rail operator operator in California.
Currently we have a letter of support from Senator Padilla and
signatures from over a dozen members of the Metrolink congressional delegation with an additional six members targeted for support
hopefully with signature commitments by next week. Additionally we hope and expect to receive a support letter from Senator Butler as well.
The decision for award of this application is mid-February and we will keep you apprised
as the grant process moves forward.
With respect to appropriations, there has been no substantive development in the movement
of the T-HUT Appropriations Bill in either the House or the Senate since our report to
you in November.
We remind that Congress has until January 19 expiration of the first of the two-tier
continuing resolution to pass this and other appropriations bills to fund the federal government
or risk government closure and potential across-the-board cuts
mandated by the debt ceiling raising legislation passing in June of this year.
We will keep you apprised to the appropriations deliberations in Congress
which will impact both formula and discretionary grant funds
Metrolink is eligible for and will receive.
This concludes my report. I'm able to take any questions. If you have any, thank you.
Thank you, Jeff, for your report. Any comments or questions from board members?
As usual, very thorough, thank you.
It's a receive and file, and without objection,
that's what we will do.
Next we have a capital program status report
presented by Justin Fournale,
our chief program delivery.
Justin.
Thank you, Chair McMillan.
Good morning, board members.
Next slide, please.
Taking a look at our capital program portfolio here,
we have, for our state of good repair program,
153 active projects with a budget of just over $400 million.
And then with our new capital program, which includes SCORE, we have a budget of $1.1
billion on 97 active projects.
Next slide, please.
I want to highlight just a couple of the accomplishments that we've had with our capital program.
First with SCORE, as Jeff mentioned previously, our Burbank Junction project has been substantially
completed.
Our project serves both the Antelope Valley
and the Ventura County Line project, our lines.
That project essentially increases throughput
and speed through that junction
as one of the first big score programs that we're finishing.
In addition, the Orange County Line,
we completed construction
on the Avery-Tissongs signal project.
Next slide, please.
Moving over to our state of good repair program,
the Bombardier Car Rebuild Program
is moving along quite nicely.
We have received 18 of the refurbished cars
and those are all on service.
And then I wanna point out that early next week
we will be receiving the first car
that has our new branding incorporated
as part of the refurbishment of those cars,
which you can see in the photos here.
Next slide please.
Moving on with our City Good Repair Program
on the Ventura line.
We are anticipating by the end of this month
wrapping up a structures project.
You can see a couple of the photos here
refurbishment of those structures that was funded back in FY21 and then I also
want to remind the board that at the end of this month from December 26th
through the 29th we will have a service outage and that is to support our Union
Station modernization and rehabilitation project. It's a three-year
project and so this is the final signal cutover and testing that will be
occurring during that time. We're taking that opportunity to also do some other
maintenance at Union Station and then also complete some additional work on the
Sandburg-Gina line and the Antelope Valley line. We're working closely with
our contractors, we're meeting with them weekly to go over work plans, look at
their contingency plans to ensure that we don't have any hiccups during that
outage, and then our customer service team has also been putting out quite a
big press to notify our passengers, our customers with a goal that no one will
be left on a platform without a train arriving during that outage. That
concludes my presentation I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Justin.
Any questions? I don't really have a question. I just look forward to the
video afterwards of the two seconds which you guys can handle in a
couple of days. Thank you. I wrote in on one of the refurbished
bombardier cars today. It was very nice. Good to hear. Thank you. Mr. CEO, you got
light on. You want to say anything? Oh, you're anticipating. Any other comments or questions?
Seeing none, this is a receive and file, and that's without objection. That's what we'll
do. Thank you, Justin. Now to the highlight of any board meeting, the CEO's report.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let's go to the next slide. So just a little bit, we wanted to share,
and we're happy to do this with other board members.
After our last board meeting, we took a couple
of board members on a tour.
Both Directors Wynn and Director Tremblay joined us first to,
we took action earlier today on simulators.
We now have, if Director Tremblay ever wants to,
and Director Wynn, want to drive trains,
they're now fully certified by testing on the simulator.
So they joined us at the simulator which is right around the corner.
It's very convenient if anybody is interested in driving a train for fun.
We also went out to the central maintenance facility where the directors had a chance
to see all that happens at CMF I hope and had, I understand they had a good experience.
I will let them speak for that but it was a, we really did have the privilege of being able
to show them around and see what was going on at both facilities.
Next slide.
And as Mr. Dunn indicated, we did have a couple of tours
with state legislators.
The top picture there is when we were down at Fullerton.
This was at Orangethorpe, grade crossing, where we had, again,
the members that Jeff had indicated.
And then earlier this week, on Monday, we did another tour,
again, with Senator Blakespear,
but in this case it also included Senator Ben Allen,
who actually does not have a district that has Metrolink service in it.
He's just really passionate about public transit and came out and was a very,
very healthy conversation for them to see what's going on.
This was again at the Burbank Junction project that Justin just mentioned,
we're putting just the final finishing touches on.
Next slide. We had questions about the holiday express train.
We hear a little bit about the success and particularly we first of all like to thank
our partners and member agency RCTC for going really an extra mile and purchasing tickets
for the Paris Valley train that they provided to residents of Riverside County.
It was the first time we'd run trains, done the holiday train on the Paris Valley line
So, very well received there and of course,
San Bernardino Line was a tremendous success last weekend.
Very quickly, I'm going to read an email I received yesterday regarding the holiday train.
Hi, Darren.
Last Saturday, my wife, daughter and granddaughter joined me on your holiday express train ride.
We boarded in Rancho Cucamonga and went to Covina and then turned around
and had the most enjoyable time.
Your team did an outstanding job of creating
a memorable experience for our family,
and I'm sure all families on the ride.
The ticketing and the boarding were very smooth.
The train was exceptionally clean,
and the experience, especially the holiday entertainers,
such as Santa Claus, were joyful.
Before we boarded Metrolink,
and many other organizations and Metrolink had booths
handing out information, leading fun experiences
for the children, all in all,
the event was a complete success.
Thanks to your team for such a wonderful program.
We certainly hope to do it again if it's offered best wishes
for continued success of Metrolink.
It was received from Randall Lewis,
the Senior Executive Vice President of the Lewis Group.
So, someone who is really passionate also
about Southern California.
So, my thanks to our team for putting that together
because that's how we performed and it's,
when I get that kind of email, it's a good day.
As Justin mentioned, we have the system-wide service suspension at the end of the month.
The communications team is doing, again, full court press, getting the word out.
We have seat drops.
We have social media.
We are doing everything we possibly can to reach that moonshot goal that no one shows
up at a platform expecting a train December 26th through the 29th.
So we're going to continue to hear that messaging as well throughout the rest of December.
Next slide.
Okay.
I'd like to – this is just a special recognition.
We have – I think the board knows we – you know, we have a number of contractors that
perform work for us at Metrolink.
One of them is Herzog Corporation.
And they are the contractor that takes care of our – maintains our right-of-way, takes
takes care of our tracks and signal and does a number of other activities.
We had a situation that I want to inform the board about.
We talk about safety being foundational at Metrolink.
Just real briefly, you see the gentleman's name here, Juan Sanchez.
Juan is here.
He's joined us today.
Can you just stand up, Juan?
this is what Juan experienced. Juan was, he's a track inspector, and so he gets to
toodle around on high rails all over the region. High rail is a truck that's on the tracks
that is going and checking things and just keeping an eye on everything, making sure
that the track is in good condition. Juan experienced a situation a few days ago where
while he was on the high rail in I believe Laguna Niguel area there was a 15 year old
daughter or 15 year old young lady lying on the tracks.
Juan came across the individual, he stopped of course tops his truck, he got out tried
talking to her, called dispatch, she then sent out sheriffs and she was you know she
she was taken away from the tracks.
So there's things in our system
that you just don't know what's gonna happen.
Every day is something different.
But it's people like Juan that obviously do the right thing.
And so Juan, thank you on behalf of Metrolink,
you represent us well.
After the board meeting, we'll ask Juan to come up
and take a picture with the board leadership
if we could as well, so.
I think that is it on my slide deck.
It is.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm certainly happy to take any questions.
Any questions of our CEO?
Very good.
Board member comments.
We're at Mr. Priscilla.
You know, I wanna thank all my colleagues here.
This has been a very enjoyable year.
It's been my first year,
and this is one of my favorite boards to come to.
Thanks to all of you, and as well as all of our staff.
It was been amazing.
Everybody always attending our meetings.
Thank you, I love having conversations here.
I just want to show you the greatest of holidays.
And I want to give a quick shout out
to one of our counterparts, which we also sit,
this is probably why he's not here.
But today is, it'll be an event for an anniversary celebration
on the milestone for Foothill Transit
celebrating 35 years.
So thank you, sir.
Thank you, everyone.
Any other comments?
Yes, go ahead, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. A couple things, I wanted to especially thank staff, too many people
to acknowledge, but just know that I really enjoyed and found valuable my time on the
simulator. My tour of the central maintenance facility gave me a far greater understanding
of the challenges. We have an excellent staff. And I'll note that my time on the simulator
was humbling there is no truth to the rumor that I invited LA 28 staff to
accompany me and they respectfully declined happy holidays to everybody and
ditto to what Victor just said thank you so when are you going to drive a train I
don't think that's going to happen anytime soon thank you I'll leave it to
people far more experienced and competent than me there's comments very
Good. I'll go on to Chair's comments.
Brightline West received $3 billion recently.
And so that makes their connection into Rajakukamanga and the Metrolink system real.
So I've asked our CEO to give us an update on our interactions with Brightline West
and the planning that we're doing there.
And hopefully we'll have something in like February to come to the board
and present information on that connection that we're going to be making.
And it's now that they got money, it's a real event going to be happening.
I also want to point out that Daniel Chavez, our alternate from Ventura County resigned
from the Metroland Board last week to focus
on his professional commitments to his home county.
And we thank him for his nearly three years of service
and wish him well in the future endeavors.
He will be missed, I'm sure.
Also, I wanted to wish everyone a very happy Merry Christmas
and a happy and joyous Hanukkah, which started yesterday.
And wish you all a great new year.
It's going to be a year full of challenges,
but it'll be a much better year than this one, I hope, and pray.
So with that, all I have left to say is go Blue, Michigan, beat Alabama.
We have no closed session, so we are adjourned.
Thank you.