STATE AUDIT FINDS METRO TURNAROUND IMPRESSIVE

May 19, 2009

More riders, lower operating costs, better fare box recovery, more miles between road calls – all are findings of a recent, state-mandated performance audit of METRO.

The audit, performed by Booz Allen Hamilton, measured METRO’s performance from FY2005-FY2008. The results were then compared to marks set between FY2001-FY2004, the previous state-required audit.

Among the findings:

• Ridership was up 3 percent versus a 5 percent drop system-wide in the previous audit
• Fare box recovery was up 8 percent versus a 29 percent decrease
• Miles between road calls was up 3 percent versus a 22 percent drop
• Operating costs increased at a rate 8 percent  lower than the Consumer Price Index versus 19 percent higher in the previous audit

“We were impressed with the turnaround that we’ve seen from the last performance audit,” auditor Cyndy Pollan told METRO’s Board of Directors at its April board meeting.  “We felt that METRO has improved its management practices, and as a result, achieved the efficiencies and effectiveness that the performance audit looks for.”

The audit looked at a number of indicators including METRO’s data collection and measurement of key performance indicators, its compliance with applicable state laws, and the efficiency and effectiveness of its bus and light-rail maintenance functions.

“One of the things METRO has paid attention to in the audit period is to focus on service improvements in an effort to both control costs and to increase ridership,” Pollan said. “The effect is to increase and improve efficiency and service effectiveness.”

The auditors credited METRO’s strategic planning and on-going performance monitoring for the agency’s turnaround, as well as its implementation of new technologies to measure its operations. 

In addition to past performance, the auditors also looked to METRO’s future, recognizing plans and activities underway at METRO and their relevance for METRO’s future, which includes the construction of five light-rail lines.

METRO “should be well-positioned to move forward in the next four years,” Pollan told the Board.

Pollan also praised the quarterly reports prepared for METRO’s Board, saying they are “some of the best that I’ve seen produced by any transit agency. I’ve showed (METRO’s Quarterly Board Reports) to other transit agencies to show them what they could do better.”

To view a PDF of the Executive Summary of the FY05-08 audit, click here.

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