SamTrans Board of Directors Passes Operating and Capital Budgets

The San Mateo County Transit District Board of Directors unanimously approved Fiscal Year 2018 operating and capital budgets at its regular meeting on Wednesday. 

The District’s operating budget will be $147 million for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on July 1 and ends on June 30, 2018. This is a slight increase from the prior fiscal year, and requires the use of $5.4 million in “unrestricted” or reserve funds to bridge the gap. If current trends continue, the reserve fund could be depleted in about five years.

The operating budget allows the District to pursue and advance the main goals of its Five-Year Strategic Plan. Those include the achievement of financial integrity, improvement of multimodal transit services, investment in land use opportunities and ongoing refinement of business practices.

Along with passing the operating budget, the District’s Board of Directors also approved a capital budget of $16 million for FY2018. That includes funding to complete the procurement, operation and maintenance of 10 fully-electric buses, the first such vehicles in the SamTrans fleet. The capital budget also includes funds for a Traffic Signal Priority system for buses traveling on El Camino Real in San Mateo County, safety improvement projects on buses, and reporting and analytics software to better understand and anticipate ridership trends. In addition, the capital budget includes funding to complete a comprehensive Business Plan for the District.

The operating budget covers the day-to-day management of Transit District services. The capital budget funds long-term infrastructure and transportation improvement projects.