Short Range Transit Plan 2008-2013 - Omnitrans

RESOLUTION NO.
A RESOLUTION ADOPTING OMNITRANS FISCAL YEARS
2008-2013 SHORT RANGE TRANSIT PLAN (SRTP).
WHEREAS, Omnitrans’ Mission is to provide the San Bernardino Valley with comprehensive
public mass transportation services which maximize customer use, comfort, safety, and satisfaction while
efficiently using financial and other resources, in an environmentally sensitive manner;
WHEREAS, transit is important for the economy, community, air quality, congestion mitigation
and overall mobility;
WHEREAS, Omnitrans seeks to expand its value to the San Bernardino Valley in the above
areas, by becoming a more critical and useful part of the transportation infrastructure;
WHEREAS, population, housing and job growth in the region require increasingly proactive
planning to ensure that transit can expand to meet the resulting demand;
WHEREAS, rising fuel costs and increasing concerns about climate change make it prudent to
create the most versatile and useful transit system possible, by providing an alternative to driving;
WHEREAS, Omnitrans also recognizes the importance of transit to meeting lifeline mobility needs
throughout the region, including but not limited to the mobility needs of seniors and persons with
disabilities;
WHEREAS, all-day, early morning, and late evening transit service at reasonable frequencies is
crucial to enable employees to reach their job sites,
WHEREAS, Omnitrans, like many transit agencies, is currently experiencing declining ridership
and increasing operating costs, and must restructure its routes and schedules to better serve the
community and to respond to a decline in operating speeds due to increasing congestion;
WHEREAS, the Short Range Transit Plan provides budgetary guidelines for a six-year period, in
this case Fiscal Years 2008-2013;
WHEREAS, the Short Range Transit Plan identifies three scenarios – Constrained, Partially
Constrained, and Unconstrained, where additional funding necessary to meet the mass transit needs of
the San Bernardino Valley has been identified, but not secured;
WHEREAS, the Constrained Scenario that is described here does not fully draw-down the funds
potentially available to Omnitrans which varies somewhat from the industry-standard definition.
WHEREAS, the Omnitrans Board of Directors reaffirms its desire to provide the resources
needed to ensure the achievement of a 25% farebox recovery ratio by 2013 to provide a buffer against
future cost increases and ridership decreases while ensuring the continued receipt of available operating
funds;
WHEREAS, the resulting Short Range Transit Plan is a culmination of information from meetings
with the Omnitrans Board of Directors, member City and County staff, our customers, county and
community groups representing the social needs of the community Omnitrans serves, and both internal
and contractor staff;