07-13-2016, 12:00 PM
(07-13-2016, 11:21 AM)timc Wrote:(07-13-2016, 09:24 AM)MidTowner Wrote: Oh, you’re right. So some of the freed-up capacity will be used for the Ottawa iXpress, meaning it will create new ridership there. But I am assuming ridership gains will be pretty small across the system, while we introduce this huge extra cost of Ion. Our “farebox recovery ratio” will go way down, won’t it?
ION isn't being operated by GRT, so I don't think that it should enter into any farebox recovery metric. But I'm not an accountant.
Revenue is going to be collected by one agency still.
I would consider it proper to consider the entire system, regardless of who operates what parts, when calculating the recovery ratio.
If GRT is not planning on cutting back on drivers/revenue hours, then in 2017(/18?) the total cost of our transit system is going to increase by the cost of ION operations. It's pretty safe to say that day 1 will not see an equal increase in ridership, so the global recovery ratio is going to take a hit.