December, 2004

The following actions were taken by the RTA Board of Directors at their monthly meeting on December 16, 2004.

Review of Proposed Fare Adjustment to Continue in January

Originally slated for approval at the December 16 RTA Board of Directors meeting, the proposed RTA fare adjustment vote was postponed to the January 27 board meeting in order to study how lesser fare increases would affect RTA's ability to meet state regulations that require a certain portion of the operating costs be recovered through passenger fares.

RTA staff will work with project consultant Booz Allen Hamilton in developing financial models to examine the effect of lower than proposed General Day Pass and Senior/Disabled Dial-A-Ride cash fares on agency revenue.

In recent years, rising operating costs have made it more difficult for RTA to reach the required recovery of operating costs through existing passenger fares thereby putting the Agency's funding in jeopardy.

2005 Officers Elected

City of San Jacinto Mayor Jim Ayres was voted in as 2005 Chairman of the Board.  He is the first representative from San Jacinto to hold this position in RTA's 27-year history.  City of Beaumont Councilman Jeff Fox was elected to the position of First Vice Chairman and City of Norco Councilman Frank Hall will assume the position of Second Vice Chairman. 

Director Ayres has served on the RTA Board for five years.  During that time he has been actively involved on the Board, serving on the Administrative Committee, the Executive Committee and the Bus Rapid Transit Ad-Hoc Committee.  He also served as Chairman of the Board Operations Committee and was Board First Vice Chair in 2004. 

RTA's Employees of the Year

CEO Larry Rubio announced the recipients of RTA's most coveted award, Employee of the Year.  The honor is given out every year in the Administrative, Maintenance and Operations divisions.  The Administrative employee of the year is selected through a vote by the executive staff, while the Maintenance and Operations departments select the recipients through an incentive program.  Employees earn points for things like good attendance, no accidents or injuries and participation in employee activities. 

The Administrative Employee of the Year is Lynn Robertson, full time Coin Counter.  The Maintenance Department had a two-way tie with the honor going to Jack Henry and Joe Guerra.  The honor of Coach Operator of the Year went to Chuck Monroe. 

For more information, contact: Scott Richardson, Director of Marketing (951) 565-5170