Good morning everyone and welcome to our meeting, last one of the year.
We've been with our safety briefing by Hilary Consol, our chief safety and security appliance
officer.
Give us a safety briefing.
Good morning, Chairman Chief, you board of directors.
In the event we need to evacuate the boardroom, we'll exit the room, take the escalators down
to the lobby, we'll make an immediate right and we'll meet in front of the Metro customer
service center.
When evacuating the room, please be mindful of tripping hazards, chairs, backpacks, some
cords that may be lying around.
In the event of a medical emergency, we have an AED at the security desk, and we also have
predetermined staff that will render aid in Dow 911 if necessary.
In the event of an earthquake, please take cover under the desks and wait for the rumbling
to stop.
We'll assess the situation and see if further evacuation is necessary.
Also in the event of an active shooter scenario, we will deploy the run hide fight tactic. Thank you
Thank you
I've asked vice chair Brian Bergson to lead us a pledge. He is notably fashionably addressed
Dressed this morning. Please place your right hand over your Metrolinx
ugly sweater
And to the Republic for which it stands
One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all
Thank you, Vice Chair
Do we have any public comments? Oh, I'm sorry. I let's skip over that. I look around I see everybody
All right, let's do the official roll call director Nguyen
director go
Vice chair Burksen
director Spiegel
director Vargas
Director Malina second vice chair Tremblay
director angler
director barger
director Najarian
director Sandoval
director Solis
director Olson
director Allen
director O'Connor
director presciado
director McAllen
director Wapner
director do tray
director Marquez
Chair Chafee
President we do have a quorum present. Thank you. No do we have any public comment?
Yes, we have received two written public comments from Michael Mansurian regarding the Northridge station and
issues with the CSUN shuttle and a suggestion to relocate the station to Rosita Boulevard those
Comments will be emailed to the board after the meeting and we have one request to speak so I will call up Raul Naranjo
Welcome.
Good morning.
My name is Raul Aranjo, and I am a monthly Metrolink
writer on the San Bernardino line.
First of all, I want to thank Metrolink
for fixing the notification app.
So now I can see all the issues that
are going on with the San Bernardino line, which
happens all day long.
And last time I was here, I had asked you guys
to look into the scheduling of the San Bernardino line
and see who's responsible for that.
Nothing has changed at all since that time.
And so I kind of looked into it a little bit
and I found out that the main issue with the line
is that there is no buffer between the trains,
which means that if one,
as I brought this as a little demonstration,
which means like if one train is delayed,
then they all get delayed.
So, and there's no way to avoid that other than to cancel a train.
Once they cancel a train, then the other trains can get back and schedule,
which has happened very often that they do cancel a train to try
to restore the service to its normal time point.
So what that tells me is that the assembly line is running its maximum capacity
and it's still not being effective in keeping the trains on time.
so I don't think that you're gonna be ready for the upcoming Olympics that are
coming up other than that I guess a lot of people are gonna be late to their
venues when that happens so anyway for I guess for the rest of my time I'll just
leave this little toy playing no I'm just kidding if I don't see you guys
again Merry Christmas thank you thank you for comments all right no further
okay. We have some board member recognition for years of service. Mr.
CEO. Thank You Mr. Chair and good morning board members. So yesterday we had we
had at Metrolink we had an opportunity for our end-of-the-year celebration. We
gathered at our Pomona Operations Center. We had probably close to 200
members of our staff there and just enjoying Metrolink family time and one
One of the things we did was we were able to recognize years of service on the part
of our staff with a few 130-year member service, several 25s and a couple of 20s and a bunch
of others mixed in.
But we don't want our board members to go underappreciated for your service as well.
So we do have two recognitions, and we have our staff photographer here to make sure we
capture the moment. We have one and the board member's not here. Director Hilda
Selis has been on the board for 10 years but we do have another member of our
board who has been with us for 10 years and he's basking in a glow anyway right
now for other reasons. We'll get to later but I would like to recognize director
Walt Allen who also has been with the Metrolink board now for 10 years.
I didn't know I had been here that long. Come on up, sir.
We now move to our regular calendar. Our first item is a consideration of
approving our minutes of November 14. Any changes, corrections, additions? See
None may have a motion to approve their second in the abstention
Nope the objection seen on motion carries minutes are approved
Our next item is a construction maintenance agreement
with desert Express enterprises also known as bright line West and for that we have
Katie Thorpe our pretzel engineer for capital and third-party construction will make a presentation
Morning chair and members of the board next slide, please
Board approval is required to execute a construction and maintenance agreement between Brightline West and the Authority next slide
So Brightline West is constructing a high-speed rail line from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga
This high-speed rail line involves a viaduct and a terminus station on the Authority San Gabriel
Subdivision from approximately mile post 42 to 43 next slide, please
It is recommended that the board authorize the chief executive officer to negotiate and execute
The construction and maintenance agreement between Brightline West and the authority in the amount of three million fifty eight thousand three hundred thirty one dollars and ten cents
Of Brightline West funding for authority support services to the construction of the Brightline West project
Next slide are there any questions?
board members questions
Is my understanding there's no budget impact as a third-party funded agreement that is correct. Yeah, okay. They have a motion to approve
In a second any objection abstention seen in motion is a is it carries and it is approved
And we come to a memorandum
understanding city of Glendale
For the Glendale water and power temporary spur truck and for that we have Logan candle or
Campbell sorry a special services employee
If you present and also Katie Thorpe, I think be joining or just do just you both of you. All right
Logan's actually a grad on career track and the engineering department
So I thought this would be a good experience for him to present. This is a project that he has been championing
All right
Good morning chair members of the board next slide
Please this years that approval is required to execute the agreement between the city of Glendale and the authority for construction of the Glendale
water and power temporary spur track next slide
This per track will facilitate the delivery of three large generator engines to the site of the Glendale water and powers
construction project at the Grayson power plant the authority will perform the
Plans and specifications as well as construction of the spur track and it will be removed after all three deliveries are complete
next slide
It is recommended that the board authorize the chief executive officer
to negotiate and execute the memorandum of understanding between the city of Glendale and the authority providing
966 thousand one hundred and fourteen dollars of city funding for Authority construction and support services for the project next slide
That concludes my presentation. I'll be happy to answer any questions questions board members
seeing none an action item may have a motion moved and seconded any objection
abstention seeing none motion carries it is approved thank you now we have an
agreement with the Peterson ranch mitigation bank with a royal semi
bridges scour protection protections our project and we'll have a presentation
from Sean Lopez our railroad civil engineer morning chair committee members
the board. Next slide please. Since these bridges were built in since 1953 they've
endured several decades, decades of several storm events and significant
periods of rain underneath these bridges and therefore you know you know
which caused scouring and even erosion or considered erosion underneath the
structures of the, structural support of the bridges when,
which if left unchecked, pose a serious risk
to the structural integrity of these bridges.
And so, as part of that, the goal is to install riprap,
which is layers of crushed rock in an effort
to armor the bridge for, and protect them
from future scouring for many more decades.
Next slide, please.
Because these types of improve, this type
of improvement directly impacts the channel
and the ROASIMI is considered or classified as Waters of the U.S.,
we must comply with all federal and state environmental
regulations and, you know, based on what we, you know,
pose in terms of impacting in our, you know, impacts to the water,
to the ROASIMI underneath the bridge within the channel.
We are, you know, we are ordered to purchase establishment
and re, sorry, enhancement and re-establishment credits
with Peterson Ranch in order
to fulfill those permit conditions.
Next slide please.
Therefore, it is recommended that the board authorize the CEO
to execute an agreement with the Peterson Ranch
on the amount of $1.817 million to purchase these credits
for the originally four World Bridges Scour Protection project.
Next slide.
Any questions?
Questions, board members?
I don't see any.
Who can second it?
Any objection, abstention?
Seeing none, item is approved.
Thank you.
We come to our next item, which is a construction
and maintenance agreement with the City of Laguna and the Guell
with the Crown Valley Parkway Overpass Widening Project
and all third will make a presentation for us.
Good morning, Chairman and board members.
So the city of Laguna Niguel is looking
to widen the existing Crown Valley Parkway overpass
structure that crosses above our orange subdivision
to allow traffic improvements in the vicinity.
Authority support services provided to the project
will include project coordination and railroad
protection, to protect the trains operating underneath the work site. Then
upon completion of construction the city will continue to maintain the entire
structure. Next slide please. So it's our recommendation that the board
authorize the chief executive officer to negotiate and execute the construction
and maintenance agreement between the authority and the city of Laguna Niguel
For the amount of one million five hundred and thirty nine thousand eight hundred and eighty five dollars of city funding
For the authority support services to the Crown Valley Parkway overpass widening project next slide, please
So thank you very much. And are there any questions at all questions board members?
Move in second again. This is a third party funded agreement
Any objection abstention seen on motion carries in and the item is approved. Thank you
Now we have we've been waiting for
Our federal state and local legislative program. So let us know how we're doing and what the other folks are doing to us, please
Thank You chair. Chiefy. Good morning members of the board
I'm here to present Metrolinx 2026 legislative program for your consideration
This platform, which you approve every year, provides guidance and direction to staff to pursue advocacy
for Metrolink before federal, state, and local legislative and regulatory bodies to advance
priority policies and objectives beneficial to the railroad in the coming year.
The legislative program builds upon the previous year's board-directed priorities with further input provided by Metrolink's internal departments,
each of the member agencies, stakeholder partner agencies at the federal and state levels, and Metrolink's federal and state
advocates with whom we work closely
to advance its provisions.
Because 2026 is the second year of session
in both the US Congress and the state legislature,
there are no significant or expansive changes in policy
priorities or objectives from those you approve for 2025.
I know you are mindful of how challenging
it is to pass policy and funding before these legislative bodies.
And as such, oftentimes it isn't the second year
of the session when things you've been working on the first year
can come to fruition, and that is certainly
our hope this year.
Next slide, please.
This year, we highlight the priorities shown
on the slide first to secure support
for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
2026 is a pivotal year for this because to pass
and obligate funding, complete final planning,
procure necessary equipment and supplies,
and implement needed capital security
and operations upgrades, meaningful support
needs to be secured this year to allow sufficient time to implement by the game in 2028.
Additionally, we will prioritize the need to protect the historic levels of funding
in the current transportation authorization law, the IIJA, so they are not reduced or
repurposed in the successor authorization bill that will be considered in 2026 as the
IIJA expires.
Finally, as noted on the slide, Metrolink will pursue all opportunities to maintain
and advance its leadership role within the industry in sustainability, being the first
passenger railroad to fully convert to renewable fuel and the first to implement a hydrogen-powered
zero-emission passenger train just this year. As a proven leader in sustainability and innovation,
we will look to build upon that role at every opportunity.
Our work in Olympics advocacy has been consistent throughout this year and we will continue
to amplify this effort in 2026, Metrolinx ad hoc committee board members, CEO, strategy
and government relations staff, and federal advocates have been working in DC throughout
this year to make our needs known and pursue all potential funding, including through the
FY26 appropriations process, the surface reauthorization bill, grant funding from Homeland
Security for games-related safety and security needs, and any stand-alone vehicle that may
may move in 2026.
We are working with our partners in the regional transportation community, with LA-28, as well
as individually with the MetroLink congressional delegation and the administration to advocate
support for our game's needs.
We will continue to keep the board fully apprised of these efforts working with and through
its appointed ad hoc committee.
With respect to Goal 2 on the slide, we will continue advocacy for full appropriations
at levels authorized under the IIJA or higher.
with the advocacy goals expressed by APTA and other partners.
We will also seek new funding strains for regional rail,
whether through expanded eligibility from existing programs
or through new programs created under the new law.
We will continue to work with TNI committee members,
including the rail subcommittee chair,
who has already expressed support
for including a time extension in the next surface bill
for the excess liability insurance cap procurement,
so important to commuter rail operators across the country.
In addition, we will seek augmented regulatory mechanisms
to enhance on-time performance from our freight partners
on our shared network.
Finally, I would note that we have removed the PEPRA
provision from the 2025 legislative program
from this year's platform due to a federal court determination
that California's PEPRA law does not
infringe on its represented employees'
collective bargaining rights, as asserted
by the Department of Labor under the prior administration,
and with assurance from the current administration
that this issue will not be pursued further.
Next slide, please.
At state level, with respect to the first goal,
emphasis will be placed on protection.
All indications are it will be a difficult budget in 2026.
And we fully expect to play defense on existing funding,
both for out-of-year funding commitments made
in the 2024 state budget SB125 bill,
directing generous grant funding to the transportation sector,
or funding from the state's Cap and Invest program,
especially should admissions, auctions, revenues recede as they have in recent auctions where reauthorization of the program was uncertain.
Now that the program has been extended, we will seek generous funding for our sector, which is so critical to meeting the goals of Cap and Invest,
so that we can offer generous state-funded subsidies for low-income and student programs to continue expanding our writer base and recovery.
As with our federal advocacy, sustainability, regulatory enforcement to improve on time
and performance will remain priorities with added emphasis on proactive rather than reactive
resiliency funding, which will also be a priority so that we can hopefully mitigate known issues
likely to occur or recur such as the San Clemente Bluffs before not after they do.
Next slide, please.
In local matters, our commitment to providing any assistance to our local jurisdictions
to pursue quiet zones where it is safe and appropriate to do so remain a priority for
Metrolink as it does for so many of our station cities.
We will also advocate as much as possible for regional and local distribution of state
funds rather than prescriptive state allocation, in addition to expeditious review of right-of-way
access permits, which costs time and money when unduly delayed at the local level.
priorities are unchanged from 2025. Next slide please. Thank you for your time and
consideration. We respectfully ask your approval of Metrolinx 2026 legislative
program and I'm happy to answer any questions from the board if you have any.
Thank you again. Questions for board members. I don't see any I'd point out in
very nicely laid out and a legislative program is part of our program
materials. Some of it we may have it online, some of you may have it actually
Which I do and it's beautifully laid out and so I like that this again is an action item may have a motion to approve
We didn't second it any objection abstention is seen done motion proves. Thank you for your help and work
Now we come to a series of receiving file items. I think we can move through them pretty quickly
So I'm gonna start and just go in order we have our contract
Expiration Performance Audit.
We'll have Elizaz Lazardi make a presentation for us.
Good morning, Chairman and Board members.
Next slide, please.
Internal audit completed the Contract Expiration Performance
Audit.
The audit is included in the fiscal 25 board approved audit
plan.
The objective of the audit was to evaluate the effectiveness
of the internal controls to prevent use of contracts
beyond their authorized term.
There are two findings and four recommendations.
Until audit will be tracking the corrective actions
to address the findings.
This concludes my item.
Happy to answer if you have any questions.
Question.
We're very inquisitive board this morning.
Seeing no questions, this is a receive and file item.
Thank you presentation.
Our next item again is the receive and file.
Quarterly KPI report.
And Henning Eichler, our senior manager,
They give us his marketing insights and analytics,
that is your title.
So that's what we want to hear.
Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
This item presents the results for our KPIs
for the first quarter of FY26.
Next slide, please.
We're starting with the safety and security KPI.
We have seen a 12% increase in the safety incident rate
compared to a year ago, which reflects
increase in the number of trespasser strikes. At the same time, the rate for
security incidents fell by 20% from a year ago, which reflects fewer reported
unruly passengers. Next slide please. Moving on to service reliability. Our raw
OTP, that is the passenger OTP, ranged from 78.2% in August to 81.0% in
July with an average for the quarter of 79.6% which is down from 82.4% a year
earlier. Next slide please. Your report also provides more detailed breakdown by
month and I'm just gonna go over these real quick. This is for July. Next slide
please. For August. Next please. And September. All these are also available
available in your mail-out.
Next, please.
Now we're moving on to the access and mobility measures.
Metrolink service helped avoid
27.2 million vehicle miles traveled,
which represents 8.2% less than a year ago,
which is due to the lower student ridership in Q1.
The student share of ridership in Q1 was 23.1%,
which is down from 28.4% and of course that is due to the end of the free student adventure
pass. However, our share of riders by low-income riders increased from 3.3% to 3.7% and the
share of senior and disabled riders increased from 17.1% to 19.3% which indicates the greater
accessibility of metering service for these populations. The average fair
revenue increased 19% over the same quarter a year ago or by 27% over the
average for the full year. This concludes my report. The additional information is
available in your handout. Are there any questions? Questions. Seeing none again
Receive a file item. Thank you at the presentation
All we have another receive and file item a work preliminary actually working capital fund report
the quarter ending September 30th and for that we have Vivian of Ella our
director assistant director finance
Good morning. Good morning committee members
board members and chair
Next slide, please
The Q on ending balance for the working capital fund was fifty point four million
The quarters activity consisted of the annual payout of interest to member agencies in August and the regular monthly
accumulation of interest in the working capital
Account as an updated we initiated advance and repayment activities on the working capital fund principal balance last month
In November and that activity will be shown on the next quarterly report next slide, please
This slide shows a 12-month trend of working capital fund balances, which at this point
only reflects deposit and interest activity through September 2025.
Next slide, please.
This final slide shows interest for Q1 for each member agency and cumulative interest
earned on working capital funds to date.
Next slide, please.
That's the end of my report.
If you can answer any questions.
Questions, directors?
Thank you for presentation to receive and file item now we come to our
fiscal year
2026 monthly report is this is that right fiscal year? Okay? Yeah, that's right started month report for ridership revenue and
financial results for October 2025
And yes, I like your hat again. Thank you so appreciate that
Christine Wilson our assistant director of finance will make the presentation. Good morning chairman chafee, and thank you and good morning members of the board
Next slide, please
this slide shows this
System-wide ridership the columns are the actual ridership while the dark line is the budget as you know
We are currently in the process of obtaining an updated forecast
through October ridership forecast is 3.0 million a
73 percent recovery while the actual is 2.3 million or a 57 percent recovery
643,000 less than forecast next slide, please
Here is the revenue
through October budget
Budgeted revenue is 17 point 9 million or a 64 percent recovery
Actuables are 14.5 million, a 52% recovery,
and under budget by 3.4 million.
Next slide, please.
This slide shows ridership again,
but with a comparison to last year.
The columns show base ridership in the lower,
darker portion of the columns and subsidized ridership
in the upper, lighter portions of the column.
Last year's subsidized ridership
was the Student Adventure Pass, offering free ridership,
while the subsidized ridership this year
is primarily a youth discount of 50%.
This ridership slide is by line.
Oh, next slide, please.
This ridership slide is by line.
It displays last year actual, which is the brown column.
Your actual for this year, which is blue,
and the forecast, which is green in each separate column.
The amounts are year to date through October.
Next slide, please.
This slide shows systematic ridership,
system-wide ridership, revenue, rather, by month
with the budget, the dark line.
Next slide.
This slide, year to date, by line shows revenue,
actual revenue for last year, for this year,
and the budget for each line.
Next slide, please.
These next slides are ridership by month by line for each line.
Next slide.
Next slide.
So to the financial results.
Total operating revenue through October is $20.8 million
under budget by $3.3 million or 14%.
Total expenses are $106.3 million
under budget by 10.7 million or 9%.
Overall member agency support required is currently
in surplus by 7.3 million.
The major expense categories which are under budget are
as shown on the slide.
Next slide.
These next slides show the details
of the operating statement which are in your packet.
Next slide.
Next slide.
This shows the pass-through accounts receivable as of October.
Our total 75.5 million, and these are primarily membership report payments,
and the MOUs to support the payment of these amounts are in process.
Next slide.
Our available cash as of October 31st is 54.5 million,
which is above the board specified threshold.
Next slide, please.
Next is to arrow service.
This slide shows arrow ridership by month through October for this year.
Next slide, please.
This shows fair revenues by month for each month through October for arrow.
Next slide.
Financial results.
Total revenue is $162,000 under budget by 52,000 or 24%.
Total expenses are $5.1 million under budget by $924,000 or 15%.
Support is $5 million under budget, $5 million in under budget by $872,000 or 15%.
Next slide.
That concludes my report.
May I answer any questions?
Director has a question.
Well, it is what it is.
So thank you for letting us know.
Well, you have some work to do, obviously.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Again, as a receiving file item.
And now we go on to our December legislative update.
Anna Denneke, am I saying that right?
Yes.
OK.
Impressive.
Good morning, Chair Chafee and members of the board.
Next slide, please.
On November 17th, Senator Monique Lamone began her role
as the 50th President Pro Tem of the State Senate.
The state legislature is currently in recess
and will convene for the second year
of the session on January 5th.
This week, the California Legislative Analyst's Office
released new analysis showing that the recent declines
in quarterly cap and trade auctions are forecasted
to contribute to a $1.8 billion shortfall next year
between what lawmakers have allocated for cap and trade
priorities and cash on hand.
As a reminder, SB 840, which was signed into law in September,
creates a new three-tiered system of greenhouse gas
reduction fund expenditures.
$1 billion of that funding is reserved for California high
speed rail, and 1 billion is reserved for legislature discretion each year as
part of tier 2. Tier 3 includes among other priorities 400 million annually
for TARCP and 200 million annually for LC TOP. But if GGRF auction proceeds
continue to come in low, both TARCP and LC TOP can expect to receive
substantially less than the dollar amounts stipulated in SB 840. Next slide
please. For the federal update Congress reached an agreement to reopen the
government on November 13th 38 days after spending authority lapsed. The new
CR expiration date is January 30th. This date allows lawmakers more time to
develop and pass full year spending bills. As a reminder the Senate fiscal
year 26 transportation HUD proposal which passed out of appropriations in
July, includes 68 million for capital and operating assistance for public
transportation systems supporting the Olympic Games. Senate leadership is
currently trying to develop a strategy for moving the fiscal year 26 T HUD bill
to the full Senate floor, after which the legislation would need to be
conferenced with the House. The House Tea Head package was also passed out of
committee in July and is awaiting a vote by the full chamber. The House bill does
not include funding for Olympics host transit agencies but it does provide
750,000 in community project funding also known as earmarks for Metrolink
requests. 250,000 is available for the following projects. A Royal Simi Bridge
Scour mitigation project requested by Representative Brownlee, updating and
replacing customer information systems at the Glendale and Burbank stations
requested by Representative Friedman, and then modernizing the CIS systems and
installing track and signal technology along the AVL requested by
Representative Whitesides. Several of you wrote letters of support for our
applications in these areas and we thank you. Chief Strategy Officer Paul Hubler
and Special Projects Director Michael Litchie traveled to Washington last week to attend
a meeting at USDOT for transit agencies involved in hosting the 2026 World Cup.
While there, Paul and Michael also met with Congressman Calvert and the offices of Aguilar,
Torres, and Kim to discuss our Olympics funding request.
And then finally, Chief Security Officer Hilary Consacal participated in a press conference
hosted by Congresswoman Laura Friedman late last month,
announcing the introduction of a transit security bill.
The Safe and Affordable Transit Act would provide 240 million
over five years for more police officers and safety measures
for the nation's public transit agencies.
Thank you.
Last slide.
I'll now take your questions.
Questions?
Again, I don't see any.
Again, this is a receiving file, so thank you for the report.
Thank you.
Here we come to the CEO's officer. So mr. Kettle, you're on
Here we had one more item. It was the
Item, so sorry. I mentioned Hillary consul. He wants his time in the spotlight. So here we are
He's back from the beginning
He's book ending the meeting right? Good morning chairman JP
directors
When comparing FY 20 next slide, I'm sorry when comparing FY 25
Q4 to FY26, Q1, we've experienced a 47% reduction
in Metrolink train strikes.
This includes trespasser, pedestrian, and vehicle strikes.
Next slide.
This slide shows the strike data broken down by county
comparing the same time period.
We have seen a reduction of train strikes
in four out of the five counties.
Next slide.
Here's the same data, again, broken down by line,
Compared to FY26, Q4 to FY20, I'm sorry,
FY25, Q4 to FY26, Q1.
The Ventura-Analope Valley, Orange,
and IEOC lines have seen reductions.
The 91 Paris line has stayed remained flat,
and then you'll see the San Bernardino and Riverside's
line saw a slight increase in strikes.
Those are primarily due to homeless populations
and trespassers, so we're working on that
with our right-of-way enforcement teams.
Next slide.
So, ferry evasion is, there was a 15% increase
in ferry evaders, which is actually that's positive,
and I'll explain why.
The increase is due to a new task force
that was implemented by our security team.
The task force has made up of allied security guards
that perform additional fare enforcement
on station platforms prior to the train's arrival.
The additional fare checks have been the additional fare checks that have been performed have also
resulted in a negative 8% or an 8% decrease in unruly passengers because what we found is a lot of fare evasion or fare evaders that
board the train and interact with the conductors it gets it
Rises to it escalates to a level that the passenger becomes unruly so the when we attack the fare evaders
It reduces the unruly passengers on our line. So that was the that's the reason for the increase in the the fare evasion
next slide
So here's the NT NTD. It's a national transit database reporting for FY 26 q1
I'm happy to report that there were no major incidents during this time period
We have 50 percent of assaults were non major and then the other 50 percent were non major physical next slide
So, this slide shows the proactive law enforcement activities by county conducted by LASD.
Law enforcement deployment is data-driven to address the problem areas on our system.
Next slide.
Again, this is the same data presented to you by line for FY26, quarter one.
You'll notice that the Antelope Valley and the San Bernardino lines have the highest
number of law enforcement activities.
to remind you again the law enforcement's deployment is data driven to address problem
areas on our system. Next slide. Next slide, I'm sorry. So this is a new slide. This slide
shows the proactive law enforcement activities for San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department
for the San Bernardino and the Arrow Lines. This is their performances between Montclair
and the Redlands University.
Next slide.
So, happy to announce we've seen a significant reduction
in rule violations.
Scrawl Safety and Operations have partnered and have created
with, we've created a robust field operational testing
schedule in collaboration with our contract, contract employee,
or contract management, I should say,
to ensure that our contract employees are performing their
jobs safely. Next slide. There was a slight increase in employee injuries from FY25 to
Q4 to FY26 Q1. None of the reportable injuries were severe and the safety and compliance
team is working with our contractors to ensure that these injuries do not reoccur. A lot
of them have been three of them were slips trips and falls one was a cut
laceration to the hand and I think two were I can't remember the other two but
I can get you that information if you like. Next slide. So the system safety
department we continue to do a lot of training not only with the contract
staff our employees is we also perform training with external law enforcement
enforcement and fire departments we've trained 59 or we had 59 training classes
that we've held over the last quarter and we've trained 489 participants next
slide please and that's my presentation I'll take any questions questions to
records again no questions and receive it file thank you the report our chief
executive officers report all right now it's my turn thank you mr. chair so I
So I have a few items and then I have one off script item that I want to bring it to
the board's attention.
So next slide please.
This first item is just want to make the board aware.
We had a bit of a, I'll call it a perfect storm incident the day after Thanksgiving
with one of our trains, an Orange County Line train.
Again day after Thanksgiving and I've shared with some of our board members that some of
the reasons we've had some challenges with on time performance has been related to mechanical
issues, particularly related to parts, accessing parts.
We had a fairly significant mechanical failure.
I'd call it catastrophic, just outside of Los Angeles Union
Station on the day after Thanksgiving, a day when we're
normally, we have fewer crews and running fewer trains.
And the nature of this catastrophic failure shut down
the entire train to the point where there were no lights.
it's related to the fuel system on our trains.
And when that catastrophic failure occurs,
and we've had a few of them, it shuts down everything.
Unfortunately, it took some time to respond.
And even though we were just outside Union Station,
and we had riders decide to take action on their own.
And they self-evacuated from our train just outside
of Union Station.
And ultimately, we did have law enforcement
that was able to come out and help facilitate moving
those folks that self-evacuated.
But it is not something that should be occurring.
Our conductor was walking the train,
communicating the challenge with our passengers,
but again, was not able to use the PA system
and that kind of thing as we would normally
communicate, so that we're having to walk a dark train
communicating with our riders.
Again, it took more time than it should have.
And passengers, our riders, took matters into their own hands.
Normally, this would have risen to the level
of a board of communication on that Friday.
But again, we had, I'll call it, skeleton crew across the board.
And we simply didn't communicate this
as we could have or should have.
So I wanted to make sure the board was aware of it.
Self-evacuating on the ride away is extremely dangerous.
And what we have been doing now,
recognizing this latest mechanical challenge
that's ahead of us is we do start to see a signature occur
about how this is going to potentially happen.
We are working with our law enforcement partners
to get ahead of this so that we actually,
should we run into a situation
where we have catastrophic failure, entire breakdown,
we'll have our law enforcement unit out there
to one, either safely evacuate the train,
or two, remind anybody that's attempting to self-evacuate
that it is a violation of the law to self-evacuate,
to be on the right of way,
and obviously they become a trespasser.
And my concern, and I've raised this
with our chief operating officer,
we wanna be more responsive if we have a catastrophic
failure, that we have a protect locomotive or a protect train set out there quickly
so we don't have passengers onboard an unpowered train.
So just wanted to bring that to your attention.
It is not something that we want to see where we're, of course, that situation occurring,
but also making sure, because there was some social media attention that came to this,
And we don't want you hearing news through social media first.
We want you to hear it through us first, even when these types of events occur.
So my apologies, board members, for the way that all played out.
Next slide.
As we discussed, as Anna Denneke mentioned, Paul and Michael Litchie were in D.C. with
some of the discussions related to FIFA World Cup.
We now have some certainty.
We certainly know the tickets are very, very expensive.
That's been the latest news.
Going to the LA SOFA, you're going to have to pay $2,500 for the cheap seats.
So maybe we won't have people riding our trains.
I don't know.
But we do know this.
We do have this information related to schedules.
And our teams are already working on how we would be able to provide support for people
that want to go to the World Cup games and use our trains.
So we have our work ahead of us, but now we can actually
do some planning with some certainty.
And then, again, we have eight games.
So the Holiday Express event series
has been wonderfully successful.
Trains are sold out.
You can see a very, very happy director, Pam O'Connor, again,
wearing the most fashionable of all sweaters
you could possibly imagine.
Pam was on one of our LA trains this past weekend.
This weekend, we are fully booked
on our Orange County Line trains.
Director Go, I know, is going to be on that train.
These have been just wonderfully successful,
a lot of support, so much joy.
And I was, as usual, the first time we hit,
the first trains, they're a little bit of a guinea pig.
We figure out a few things that we need to make sure we
solve for the next one.
But it has been a great success.
And I will be out at our Simi Valley
train in a couple of weeks.
So really, operations team, customer experience team,
across the board, and Metrolink staff volunteering
are having a great time.
And it is a wonderful, wonderful event.
So hopefully, some of you have tickets, others of you
tickets and will be able to join us. Next slide. So the only other item I
wanted to bring to your attention this just came to came to me yesterday
another good news story. We talked a little bit about you know our student
adventure paths and what a great success it was and unfortunately such a success
that it tapped out our grant funds but what has also become a success story is
we just broke a record of active student mobile accounts. We are nearly almost
25,000 active school mobile accounts as of November.
This is up from 20,000 in September.
So we are seeing students using the mobile accounts
and taking advantage of the 50% discount.
So it's been a great, good news story.
And as was discussed a little bit,
we thought we were going to see a larger drop in student
participation on trains with the student adventure
pass the free ride going away we have seen a decline but not to the level we
had so students are continuing to take advantage of that opportunity mr. chair
that concludes my remarks thank you thank you for that now board members
have an opportunity to comment yes mr. Marquez thank you sir appreciate it I
know public safety is very important to me and obviously that situation that
happened just after Thanksgiving don't we have a backup system as far as with
Communication being able to communicate if all the electricity does go out or emergency lighting
We do have emergency lighting
That's the only thing that is powered is much like you would see on an airplane the aisle lighting is is illuminated
So that is the only backup we have we have no other power on board. There's no other separate generator
So all we have is that minimal minimal power for?
aisle lighting
Okay, again if we could maybe look at a backup as far as with communication because that's real important. We need to communicate with our
Passengers we may have to go back to bull horns or something along those lines on every train. So, thank you, sir
Thank you for their question
director perciado
Yeah, I'm more. I just wanted to wish everybody happy holidays
And thank you again for the ugly sweaters. I actually didn't wear mine today because I've been wearing it at almost every event
I know Tim loves seeing me with it
But actually what something that was really fun and funny
some some of you attended a Mary jingle event that happened at the fairplex and
Metro was there for the transit was there and they're all great friends
But none of them all of them were all very very jealous of the sweaters
So Metro link was definitely being represented well and appreciate it all
I missed out that you guys had your
The event with the employees in Pomona, but you know, I'm very grateful for it
And if anybody is in Pomona, just a nice shout out is that we in downtown
We we have a fundraising for youth scholarships for cease candies
So if anybody wants one or wants any just let us know. Thank you. Thank you
You know the directory boards? Yes, I'm there so it was great
Thank you for your fashionable state New York picture. There was wonderful
I was really thrilled and happy and enjoyed participating in the first holiday express
train out of Union Station.
It was really great in the south patio, decked out for the holidays, and you had family members
there decked out for the holidays.
I love the families in the matching pajamas.
And you had a range of folks on the train and participating, including, you know, from
the youngest, kids in strollers, babies being held, toddlers, great elementary and high school
as well as the other end of the spectrum.
I wasn't alone at the older side of the spectrum
because it was a contingent
from Metro's travel buddy group there.
So you saw single adults, you saw pairs of adults,
you saw families, you saw children.
It was really great, great events.
So excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed it,
and I do have a photograph of myself with Santa Claus.
Boy, that's something that really treasure.
Director Sandoval.
Thank you, Chair.
I was just gonna add to what Director Preciado
was sharing, aside from the sweater,
is over at Pomona North Station on December 20
from 2 PM to 10 PM as part of Metro's activation of stations.
There's going to be a great program there of music, food,
of resources that are available to the community.
But all you have to do is get on either the MetroLink line
or the light rail line, A-line, to come on over.
on a Saturday. I just want to let you know and this is an effort by Metro to
activate more of its stations to really utilize it as a place where people can
come together and experience culture and all the great things that come with it.
So just everyone is invited this coming December 20th, Saturday December 20th.
Thank you for the invitation. Now there is a special recognition here. I think
Director Allen, I'm glad that he stuck around
for the 10-year anniversary here.
Now, he also got married recently.
I'd like to extend congratulations.
And hopefully the 10-years experience here
will help make your marriage a success as well.
And just wonderful, and you had a great honeymoon,
I understand.
And I just wish you every success you can.
Thank you very much.
Where'd you get the photo?