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Public Transit Ridership in the United States

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[quote user="schlimm"] [quote user="Sam1"]The agency recovered 38.9 per cent of its operating expenses before depreciation from the fare box and 28.9 per cent after inclusion of depreciation.  It recovered 48.1 per cent of expenses from total revenues before depreciation and 35.7 per cent after depreciation.  [/quote] Your "numbers" do not agree with Metra's even if depreciation is not counted, which by state law is not. <a href="http://metrarail.com/content/dam/metra/documents/Board_Information/July_2011_FinanceComte.pdf">http://metrarail.com/content/dam/metra/documents/Board_Information/July_2011_FinanceComte.pdf</a> A comparison of 2009 (above) vs 2010 reveals "Certain 2009 amounts have been reclassified to conform to the 2010 presentation." <a href="http://metrarail.com/content/dam/metra/documents/2010%20Metra%20Financial%20Statements.pdf">http://metrarail.com/content/dam/metra/documents/2010%20Metra%20Financial%20Statements.pdf</a> [/quote] I suggest you read the 2010 and 2009 audited financial statements.  Do the calculations. My calculations included only fare box and other operating revenues, i.e. the recover of all expenses through the fare box. Depreciation is a real expense. It must be recovered from someone.  The slides are for the 2011 budget. The numbers that count are the actual audited financial statement numbers. The latest numbers presented on Metra's website are for 2010. "Operating expenses exclude depreciation, payments with respect to public transportation facilities, costs for passenger security. Operating expenses also exclude payments of interest and principal on bonds and payments on other financial agreements."  This is laughable for a business person or any one with strong background in accounting and finance. In 2010 Metra received state operating subsidies of $3.4 million and federal operating subsidies of $29.8 million, which appear to have been left out of the slides.  The agency also received $229.5 million in capital grants from the state and federal governments. At the end of 2009 Metra had capital assets of $5.4 billion. Of this amount, $2.7 billion was provided by the federal government, $509 million by the Illinois Department of Transportation, $1.4 billion from the Regional Transportation Authority, and $6.4 million from Indiana.  Metra riders contributed $853 million or 15.7 per cent of the total capital for Metra. The system is heavily dependent on the federal government for its capital funds.  Even Amtrak does not try to eliminate the amortization of capital from its financials.
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