Capital Planning Notes

Consistent with MTC’s guidelines, project costs are presented in year of expenditure. For purposes of this SRTP, all costs were escalated by 3% annually.

The largest single program in the capital plan is Corridor and Facility Enhancements at roughly $575 million. The primary driver is the E.14^th Street/International Blvd./Telegraph Avenue Bus Rapid Transit project with an undelivered element of roughly $230 million. The other noteworthy capital programs include operating facility expansion at $117 million and other corridor enhancement projects totaling $95 million.

Revenue Vehicle Replacement is the second largest program category totaling roughly $485 million. The fleet replacement is based on the existing fleet configuration which will change after the 2010 service adjustments are solidified. Staff does not believe that the service changes will affect the near term revenue vehicle replacements, and the new fleet composition will be factored into the next SRTP. The current model assumes that all standard transit vehicles are replaced on 14-year intervals and over-the-road coaches on 16-year intervals, which are consistent with MTC’s funding plan. Paratransit vehicles are replaced on 7-year intervals. It further assumes that a certain portion of replacements will be more fuel efficient diesel-electric hybrid vehicles and that beginning in 2013, the California Air Resource Board’s (ARB) Zero Emission Bus regulation will be implemented. The ARB Zero Emission Bus regulation requires that 15% of new or leased buses be zero emission for public transit providers who operate more than 200 buses in their fleet.

Facility and Station Maintenance is the third largest category which is roughly $65 million over the 10 year period. The Central Maintenance (roughly $12 million) and Emeryville Faculties (roughly $17 million) require the most rehabilitation work. Other large programs include Intelligent Transportation, Communications, and Information Management at $49.7 million with primarily one large ticket project, the Computer Aided Dispatch and Automatic Vehicle Locator (CAD / AVL) upgrades in years 2013 and 2014 totaling $29 million ; Safety and Security at $23 million with bus cameras $7.7 million and surveillance equipment at transfer stations being the key drivers.

The service vehicle fleet has also not been adjusted to address the new vehicle policy adopted by the AC Transit Board in December. The new policy restricts the number of vehicles that are assigned to specific persons. Consequently, some non revenue vehicles will be retired and not replaced. Finally, the District has lagged at replacing older vehicles in reasonable time frame so the replacement vehicles were staggered in order to accommodate projected revenues figures. Once the new service fleet compilation is developed and older vehicles are retired, a new policy for replacement intervals of 4-8 years (depending on mileage) for automobiles and 8-10 years for heavy duty service vehicles will be implemented.

Detail on Revenue Assumptions

The Plan provides a year by year revenue projection for anticipated capital revenues. All revenues, with the exception of those classified as “unidentified anticipated” are revenues that the AC Transit can reasonably expect. Because the Capital Improvement Plan element of the SRTP is not required to be fiscally constrained, additional revenues totaling roughly $448 million, the difference between projected projects and anticipated revenues, were added to the total revenues. This averages roughly $45 million a year and is not unrealistic with new revenues expected to be available through motor vehicle and gasoline fees, high occupancy toll lanes, and new environmental funding to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

· Federal Funds - Anticipated federal funds include Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5307 revenues for bus replacements, 10% flexible set-aside funds (the MTC formula that distributes 10% of the FTA Section 5307 funds on ridership and revenue factors). Also included in the federal funds are the Federal Emergency Management Administration’s (FEMA) Homeland Security Funds. AC Transit also included revenues from the region’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Surface Transportation Program (STP) and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program that MTC committed to the transit capital shortfall in Transportation 2035. The other federal programs listed are revenues already received or committed are for specific projects that are either not yet fully funded or have not commenced that have been included in the CIP.

· State Funds – State funds include STIP funds to address AC Transit’s projected transit capital shortfall, Bus Rapid Transit Project, and the Richmond Parkway Park and Ride, all of which are committed to AC Transit in the Alameda or Contra Costa Countywide Plans or are programmed in the STIP. Also included is three types of Proposition 1B Infrastructure Bond Funds: Transit Security (TSSSDRA); Public Mast Transit (PTMISEA), and State Local Partnership (SLPP). A portion of our commitment to the Transbay Center will be funded through the TSSSDRA and SLPP funds and they have been deducted from the total revenues available, which is reflected accordingly in the capital revenue projections. The balance of State funds are those received from the California Air Resources Board for the new hydrogen station in Emeryville.

· Local funds – Local funds include Regional Measure 2 bridge tolls committed to the Bus Rapid Transit project. AC Transit also receives AB 664 Bridge Tolls to match FTA 5307/STP/CMAQ-funded capital projects. The program is significantly oversubscribed and we receive roughly half of the match needed for the bus replacement program. Because of how they are used, the AB 664 funds are included with the FTA 5307 funds. In addition, the balance of the Measure B commitment to the Bus Rapid Transit project is included as well as FTA Section 5307 funds committed to AC Transit, SamTrans, and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority for the Advanced Zero Emission Bus Program, to free up other operating revenues for this project.