County : OCTD Reports Record Total of Riders in May

The number of passengers using county buses hit an all-time high in May, the Orange County Transit District said Monday in presenting a rosy picture of its fiscal year that ended June 30.

“The indications are that we’re growing well, and we’re hoping all the trends continue,” said James P. Reichert, OCTD’s general manager.

Reichert told OCTD directors at their regular meeting that more than 3 million riders used the buses in May and more than 36.6 million people rode buses during the fiscal year.

The total amounted to a 7.1% increase in ridership over the previous fiscal year, Reichert said in his fourth-quarter report. Nationally, he said, ridership increases averaged .5% to 1% annually.

The report also showed that operating expenses rose 3.9%, but Reichert said the increase was still below the 4.5% inflation rate in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area.

The cost of the system for every hour of vehicle service was $51.86, nearly $15 per vehicle-service hour less than in the Los Angeles system and near the lower end of the scale of costs statewide, he said.

The single thorn in the rosy picture, he said, was the cooperative agreement with the Southern California Rapid Transit District, which supplies service primarily in northern Orange County. The agreement entails a cost to OCTD that is higher than the cost of OCTD service elsewhere.