Caltrain’s Board of Directors unanimously approved balanced operating and capital budgets for Fiscal Year 2016 at the rail agency’s monthly board meeting on June 5.
The $139.2 million operating budget approved by the Board includes $19.7 million in funding contributions from Caltrain’s three partners — the San Mateo County Transit District, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and the City and County of San Francisco.
Caltrain’s operating budget covers the day-to-day functions of the rail system. The agency has experienced nearly five years of monthly ridership increases. It recently began operating six-car trains to help deal with capacity issues that are putting a significant strain on the system.
Caltrain’s farebox recovery rate — the percent of operations paid for by passenger fares — is more than 60 percent, a rate that is one of the highest in the nation among public transit agencies. Despite the high return rate, it still means that roughly 40 percent of Caltrain’s operating budget must be funded through other sources.
Caltrain’s operating budget does not include a dedicated source of funding for the agency: a substantial percentage of costs must be paid out of the general funds of the three partners.
Going forward, Caltrain will continue to work with its partner agencies, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and other stakeholders in an attempt to identify and secure a permanent, dedicated funding source for future operations.
Caltrain’s $200.8 million capital budget will be funded through a combination of federal, regional and state grants, along with $5 million contributions from each of its partner agencies.
The Caltrain capital budget covers long-term infrastructure improvement and maintenance projects. For the next fiscal year, the capital budget will pay for the replacement of signal equipment and the beginning of construction costs for the South San Francisco station improvement project and the Los Gatos Creek Bridge replacement project, among other undertakings.
The capital budget also includes funding for the Caltrain Modernization Program (CalMod), which will electrify the railway by 2020, a process that will upgrade the performance, operating efficiency, capacity and safety of the system.
The 2016 Fiscal Year begins on July 1.
