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OPERATIONS, SAFETY, AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE
NOVEMBER 17, 2022
Subject
SUBJECT: FULL RESTORATION OF METRO BUS SERVICE (7 MILLION REVENUE SERVICE HOURS) AS PART OF DECEMBER 2022 SERVICE CHANGE
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE a status report on the full restoration of Metro bus scheduled service (7 million revenue service hours) effective December 11, 2022 as part of Metro's December 2022 service change.
Issue
ISSUE
Metro will return to a full 7 million revenue service hours (annualized) as part of the bus service change effective Sunday, December 11, 2022.This is the final phase of restoring the full pre-COVID 7 million revenue service hours (annualized) based on the NextGen Bus Plan approved by the Metro Board in October 2020. With these changes, annualized bus revenue service hours will increase from 6.7 million revenue service hours to 7 million revenue service hours, the final phase in restoring full scheduled service following the reduction made in February 2022 due to a shortage of bus operators.
Background
BACKGROUND
Metro's twice-annual service change program allows Metro to improve the customer experience through revised transit routes and schedules. However, since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, multiple service changes have been implemented to respond to the impacts on ridership and operator availability:
? At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, service levels were reduced by 30% in April 2020 from 7.0M annualized Revenue Service Hours (RSH) to 5.0M - representing the deepest cut in service during the pandemic. The reductions were made because of three factors: 1) 70% decline in bus ridership, 2) significant loss of sales tax revenues, 3) high service cancellation rates close to 20% due to operators' COVID infections, taking care of family with the virus, and childcare needs due to the Safer at Home orders.
? As ridership rebounded to about 50% of pre-C...
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