By: Libi Uremovic | Original Article at patch.com
The City of Beaumont Does Not Have Insurance to Cover Bus Service To and From Schools.
It was disclosed at the July 7, 2015 Beaumont City Council Meeting that the City is using public buses to transport students to and from school. Beaumont City Manager, Elizabeth Urtiaga, states to Council that the City calls Students ‘Youth Riders’ because the City does not have the insurance coverage to transport children.
Councilman White is also under the impression that the Beaumont Transit Program breaks even.
Incorrect.
Beaumont Transit Financial Statements Page 6 state that that Transit Authority ran at an Operating Loss of $1.5 Million in 2013 and a $2 Million Operating Loss FYE 2014.
City of Beaumont Council Meeting July 7, 2015: http://podcast.ci.beaumont.ca.us/CC_2015-07-07_agenda.htm
Agenda Item 4.d Short Range Transit Plan: http://www.ci.beaumont.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/25813
City of Beaumont Transit Financial Statements: http://www.ci.beaumont.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/24272
July 7, 2015 Beaumont City Council Meeting Transcript
71:00 Urtiaga: The Riverside County Transportation Commission requires Transit Operators to file a Short-Range Transit Plan every year with the Commission. It is a two-year plan or budget. It outlines what the operator is going to do with the State Money for that upcoming fiscal year.
73:00 Urtiaga: We’re adding Saturday Service to the commuter link that goes to the MetroLink Station and the Loma Linda VA Hospital.
75:00 Urtiaga: Our service area includes Cherry Valley, Beaumont, Banning, and all the way into the Morongo Desert Hills Outlet and the Casino. We’re going to expand outreach efforts to our senior citizens, schools, and major employers. We’ll continue to expand outreach efforts to veterans and active service members. Right now active service members ride all Beaumont pass transit busses for free. All they have to do is show a current military ID or be in uniform and we don’t ask any questions. We take them wherever they need to go, no charge. Veterans are at a discounted rate.
76:00 Urtiaga: RCTC has approved the draft RTP that’s presented tonight. The Commission approved it at their June 10th meeting, so the money has been set aside. We have asked for $2,832,840. Some of that’s for Capital Grants, some of that’s for the local transportation funding; part of it’s operations, part of its capital improvements.
80:45 White: The Students are a big part of this, correct?
81:00 Urtiaga: They are. We prefer to call them “Youth Passengers” because, by law, we can not; we are not student transportation, so we refer to them as ‘youth passengers’. They’re about 60-65% of our passenger base.
White: And the presentation at the time of the Budget; is that going to give us a breakdown? I’d like to see a breakdown on student numbers, what the net is from students.
Urtiaga: There were over 200,000 passengers transported last year. I can tell you exactly how many are youth passengers, how many are seniors, how many are active. We track daily.
White: Do you keep track of the number of people that get off, say at one of the schools?
Urtiaga: The GPS tracking program does that. If you have a particular stop it would be easier. We have over 200 bus stops throughout the service area.
82:00 White: Do we get any subsidies from the School District?
Urtiaga: No.
White: We buy our natural gas from their station?
Urtiaga: Yes. And when they’re down we buy it from the City of Banning.
White: When we buy it from the School District, do we get a discount on it?
Urtiaga: No.
White: A number of years ago the school district was struggling financially, because of Prop 32 I believe it was. At that time they decided to cut busing. One of the reasons they cut busing was that they knew that the City could pick up the slack.
83:00 White: At that time the kids took cuts to the number of kids per classroom and we made a lot of sacrifices. Now the City is struggling financially and I don’t see the School District giving back. To solve our problems we’ll need help from everyone in the community, including the School District. I’d just like to see what options there are. I understand that this is one of those things where really nothing comes out of our Budget, right?
Urtiaga: No, it’s completely from the State. 10% of the operating expenses are required by law to come from the passengers.
White: There’s other ways the School District can help us because we’re really doing a big service for them. I understand that it’s not costing us and I understand that the number of passengers the students bring in is maybe the reason we have busing service right now.
84:00 Urtiaga: It saved the program.
White: Yes, I understand that. I just want to go on record saying that we’re going to need some support from the School District on a number of issues and this is one where I think they could help out. In the future I’d like to talk about joint-facilities use agreements, stuff like that. They made a lot of promises to the community about some of the projects they’ve built and they have never given back the number of kids per classroom. Every time I open the paper we’ve got new and more Administrators. I never see an article in the newspaper about an Administrator retiring. I would like to get the numbers on Students.
85:00 Utiaga: I can bring back the youth ridership. And just to add to your comment. As a parent; it was a little unnerving to think that my children might have to ride public transit to and from school. But over the years we have found that the Students, the Youth Passengers, that are graduating at the high school are very familiar with public transit. They know how to read ridership maps. And I’m hopeful that when they go off to college or they move to other cities, that if they get stuck they can say: “Hey, I can take a bus. I know how to read a map and I know how to pay.”
Utiaga: I had some reservations at first; as a parent. I do believe that public transit is a good thing.
White: I understand. I’m not worried about the safety of the kids. I know we have good drivers. I know we have good buses. It’s just that we’re going to need a lot of help in the coming years.
Utiaga: I’ll bring the passenger counts back to you quickly.