Transit Times Volume 9, Number 1

8/8/2019 Transit Times Volume 9, Number 1

1/5

HE'11 0DA2.c, t

Year1s Deficit EasedAs Revenue l RidingSurpass Estimates

Business is better than AC Transitexpected - and even hoped for -during the past nine months, but theDistrict still will record a deficit atthe end of the fiscal year on June 30 .The deficit, however, won't be asbig as anticipated.This financial picture was given tothe Board of Directors this month byJohn F. Larson, treasurer-controller.Higher RevenueOn the basis of the District's operating experience during the first threequarters of the fiscal year, Larson disclosed that operating return was betterthan estimated.He credited the improved financialpicture to more people riding districtservice than projected, and higherrevenues from a recent fare increasethan anticipated.The District can expect to end theyear with an operating deficit of about$600,000 instead of the $983,000 itfaced before fares for children andtransbay commuters were raised Jan . l.The operating deficit, however, willbe met from current tax proceeds .Property taxes also are assessed by theDistrict for bond debt retirement andequipment renewal.Revenue for the nine monthsreached $10,342,292, a difference of

(Continued on page 4)

Federal Grant Helps..,MIVERSITY OJ,.CALIFQRNIA f,.nance rurcnase 0New 'Transit Liners'

A federal grant of $4lO,000 enabledthe District this month to order another30 new buses to keep pqce with operational needs.Congressman Jeffery Cohelan ofBerkeley said the grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development was made on condition itwould be matched by the District fromgeneral tax funds.The grant will cover half of the purchase price of $820,000, with possibility of enlargement in the futureto two-thirds of the cost, or $536,667 .

District directors authorized General Manager K. F. Hensel to take advantage of an option to buy the busesat the same price paid for a like number last year.Funds for Half

In seeking governmental aid, theDistrict pointed out it had reservefunds to cover only half the order.The new buses will include 20coaches carrying 51 passengers, andlO buses with a seating capacity of 45.With delivery, the District will have400 new Transit Liners in service, outof a fleet of 672 coaches. Nineteenolder models will be retired.

The District now will have spentnearly $11,300,000 on new equipmentsince it commenced operation in 1960.


2/5

Time to Tour!Leaflet DetailsRiding Excursion

ROSY IDEA - Mrs. Barbara Slover finds hillan d garden tour "just right" for her day.Free leaflets, suggesting a Spring

time excursion, were hung on "takeone" hooks on all district coaches thismonth as a ne w experiment in fostering bus riding for fun.Th e leaflets detail a self-conductedtour, starting from Latham Square indowntown Oakland to Berkeley, thento the Berkeley Rose Garden, Passengers are invited to spend an hour at thegardens before taking advantage of the"Stop-off and Go-again" transfer planto continue up the hill to Grizzly PeakBlvd.Th e leaflet suggests a relaxing trip

around the Grizzly Peak loop to enjoygardens an d the view, then debarkation to visit the Carbone Orchid Nursery before boarding the bus again forth e return to Berkeley.

Th e tour has been printed in purpleon a pink background to se t a mood ofroses and roaming. Th e leaflet includesillustrations of "what to see," as wellas information on what bu s to take,ho w to transfer, an d time points.

With the transfer plan, th e trip canno w be offered at a total cost of 40cents for the day's travels.

New Workers Join AC Transit FamilyEmployees hired recently include:

General OfficesTreasury: Marie Cook 20878 Rut

ledge Rd., Castro Valley, ticket clerk.Emeryville Division

Scheduling: Edward Chambers, 21522nd St., Richmond, traffic checker.

Maintenance: Joseph Hamrick, 529Buena Vista Ave., Alameda, Apt. 101;Ronald Sunseri, 3408 Davis St ., DarellWillis, 3558 Meadow St ., Dave Atkins,3474 Boston Ave., all Oakland, serviceemployees.

Bus Operators: Joe Estrada, 3430Peralta St., Oakland.

Richmond DivisionBus Operators: W. C. Fewell, 1346

23rd St., San Pablo.2

Seminary DivisionBus Operators: W. R. VrMeer, 10

Calabasas Rd., Watsonville; J.L. Weiss,1911 WIst Ave., Oakland; C. L. Clark,2000 36th Ave., Oakland; G . L. Keeling, 43328 Arkwood St., Fremont; M .J.Johnson, 1315 51st Ave., Oakland; C.D. McCormack, 7697 Starward Dr.,Dublin and K. R. Long, 2522 35thAve., Oakland. R. F . Voght, 4282Delaware St., Fremont; J. A. Johnson,21942 Rockford Rd., Hayward; W. D.Wade, 5116 Foothill Blvd., Oakland;Dennis Maddox, 10799 Pippin St.,Oakland; G. W. Keen, 1540 164th Ave.,Apt. 30, San Leandro; W. R. Teuber,1936 East 29th St., Oakland.Maintenance: J. D. Wilbur, 1368Hubbuard Ave., San Leandro.

India Officials Inspect Freeway Train

The district rolled out a carpet oftransit experience this month fortw o of India's top transportation leaders, Lakhmi Chand Dharmani an d Papanna Ramachandrappa.

Th e exchange turned ou t to be on eof mutual reward - an d surprises.

While th e visitors collected extensive information on AC Transit's operations, th e district learned, in turn,that it wasn't necessarily "first withth e most."

Th e State of Mysore, for instance,has some 16 double-buses in city andintercity service. The latest "roadtrain" was built by the Mysore StateRoad Transport Corporation after sixmonths of experimentation with olderbuses attached together, according toRamachandrappa.Th e double units are popular in thecity of Bangalore because they carrymore people - 92 to 94, with no morethan 10 standees by law - the transportation manager explained.Different from AC Transit's articulated bus, Mysore's twin units are justthat, separate coaches with no passthrough. Th e first unit pulls th e secondunit in a truck-and-trailer arrangementpossible under th e slow speedsobserved.

Th e men enjoyed riding the district's Freeway Train at a speed more

OVERSEAS VISITORS- Two of India's transportation managers areintroduced to AC Transit's Freeway Train by,from left, Transporta-tion Manager D. ]. Potte r an d H . D. White,operations assistant.Visitors were L. C. Dharmani and Papanna Ramachandrappa.than double that of their own buses,bu t could point to a specialty of India'snew intercity road train. I t sleeps 34passengers in the same luxury offeredby a train, including an attendant,pushbell service and seat belts to preventriders from rolling ou t of their bus-sidebeds.

Dharmani, who designed an d builtthe first air conditioned coach in Indiafour years ago, could also ad d thatrevenue is no problem in his country.Buses are well patronized; there is nolack of riders.

In his role with th e Punjab StateDepartment of Transport, Dharmanidesigns equipment, supervises 2,000state owned buses, 6,000 privatebuses, and 14,000 trucks. He enforcesthe vehicle code an d th e safety code -and that includes supervision over theissuance of commercial driving li censes and the highway patrol. Hesets th e speed laws - an d sees toenforcement.

While on the property, the Indianationals checked ou t all phases ofoperations, including maintenance,stores, scheduling, safety, treasury andaccounting, communications and theTransbay Transit Terminal in SanFrancisco.Their only regret: a day and a halfwasn't nearly long enough to visit.


3/5

Buses Safe r Than EverTRAFFIC ACCIDENTSPER 100,000 MILES PASSENGER ACCIDENTS THOUSANDS OF MILESOPERATED PER ACCIDENTER 1,000,000 PASSENGERS CARRIED

7 ~ - + - __ --+__+-----I __ + - ~ __1 __l O ~ ~ ~ 1Of---f----b6-+ --+ - - I

5 ~ - + - - 4 - - - ~ - + - - ~

1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965A look at five years of statistics disclosed this month that AC Transit hasmade marked improvement in accident frequency - and passengers areriding safer than ever.Figures compiled by Safety Engi

neer G. G. Wadsworth showed a general downward trend in traffic andpassenger accident frequency sincethe District went into business in 1960.

Similarly, miles operated pe r accident have steadily climbed upward,resulting in an impressive record.Th e accent on safety has continued

to P


4/5

My daughter and myself are com-muters from San Lorenzo . . . 1 ha d anopportunity to ride the "caterpillar,"as 1 call th e ne w bu s . . . 1 enjoy it verymuch an d 1 think it is the latest intransportation . . . nice comfortable ride. . . in this trip, the driver handled thebus perfectly . . . we have good drivers,that's for sure, friendly an d courteousalways . ..

Joseph ArimborgoSan Lorenzo

1 want to thank a bus driver (J. M.Boysen) for his courtesy an d kindnessin leaving a B timetable for me in myletter box. . 1 appreciate such kind-ness .. .

Mrs. E. MaffeyOakland

1 wish to thank you for hiring th eme n you do . . . 1 was on my way tochurch, going down MacArthur inmy car. When 1 came to the intersec-tion at Coolidge, 1 didn't realize thatmy engine was on fire. One of your busdrivers rushed over an d desperatelytried to beat the flames out. I t wasfortunate that someone came by witha fire extinguisher, because th e flameswere too high by this time to beatou t . . . 1 just had to le t you know thatthe AC drivers are A-OK in my book . ..

6Debbie DeBueOakland

. . . 1 want to send you a note of ap-preciation . . . 1 went from my home inKensington to Redwood Rd . an dMountain Blvd., using four buses inan hour and 20 minutes .. . 1 wasn'tsure ho w to get there, bu t 1 carried amap and your drivers were all informed and courteous . . .

Mrs . L. R. LeinbachBerkeley

. . . 1 left my purse on the F bus fromSan Francisco when 1 got off ... inBerkeley . . . 1 immediately called th elost and found and was told to call at6 p.m. when the driver came in, which1 di d . . . the purse was turned in bythe driver, J. A. Lopez an d everythingwas intact . . . 1 want you to know howmuch his honesty an d integrity meantto me .. .

Dorothy MillerLivermore

My husband and 1 went to Oaklandyesterday and would like to commenton the driver G. L. Reeves .. . he wassuch a good driver an d was so cour-teous to everyone, we thought youwould like to know about it . . .

We have used the bus for tw o yearsand have only had one or two driversthat were the least bi t unpleasant, an dsince we have ba d days once in a whileourselves, we thought that was whatwas wrong with them . . .Mr. an d Mrs. C. I. TisdaleCastro Valley

AC / transit PASSENGER REVENUE ... COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS YEAR1.240 ,0001,220 ,0001,200 ,0001,180 ,0001,160.0001,140 .0001,120 ,0001,100 ,0001,080 ,0001,060 ,0001,040 ,0001,020,0001,000 ,000

980 ,000960 ,000940 ,000

I.- \\,,' VI[I

z


5/5

At an adjourned regular meetingApr. 27, the Board of Directors: Purchased 30 new buses, subjectto Federal approval of application formatching funds, on motion of DirectorRinehart. (Story, Pg. 1). Approved increase in dues toAmerican Transit Association, on motion of Director Warren. Extended service on Lines 15A(Coolidge Ave.) and 93 (HesperianBlvd.), on motion of Director Berk. Authorized preparation of preliminary design for new downtownpassenger shelter, subject to participation by merchant organizations and theCity of Oakland, on motion of DirectorBerk.

"* "* "*At the regular meeting May 11, theBoard of Directors: Authorized Safety Engineer to accept appointment as participatingmember of Executive Committee of

Published monthly by theALAMEDA-CONTRA COSTA TRANSIT DISTRICTlatham Square Building 50 8 Sixteenth Street

Oakland, California 94612 Telephone 654-7878BOARD OF DIRECTORS

WILLIAM H. COBURN, JR. . . . PresidentWard IJOHN McDONNELL.

Ward IIIROBERT M. COPELAND .RAY H. RINEHART. .WILLIAM E. 8ERK . .WM. J. BETTENCOURT.E. GUY WARREN . .

Vice PresidentDirector at largeDirector at large

Ward IIWard IVWard V

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERSKENNETH F. HENSEL . General ManagerROBERT E. NISBET . . . AttorneyJOHN F. LARSON. . . . TreasurerControllerGEORGE M. TAYLOR. SecretaryALAN l. BINGHAM . Public Information Manager

L -____________ 5 - - - - - - - - - - - - ~

National Safety Council, on motion ofDirector Warren. Increased monthly salary of Operations Assistant to the GeneralManager to $1,173, on motion of Director Rinehart.

Transit Information Only Flip of a Page AwayTransit information was featured ina "best seller" again this month - the

new Oakland telephone book.A system map of AC Transit serviceand a description of individual linesare at the beginning of the yellow pagesection, after the postal zone maps forOakland and Berkeley.

The data, on Pages 3, 4 and 5, bringsinformation on what bus to take to the450,000 customers who received thenew book from Pacific Telephone. I tAlameda-Contra Costa Transit District

Latham Square BuildingOakland, California 94612

also puts bus riding help no furtheraway than the nearesttelephone booth.

The space, provided as a publicservice, gives bus information for thesame area covered in the phone book,from EI Cerrito, through Oakland andAlameda to San Leandro.

Detailed information on "what tosee and how to get there" also isavailable in a free, four-colored mapwhich can be obtained by callingTransit Information.

BULK RATEU. S. PostagePAID

Oakland, Calif.Permit #2105

Return Requested a A R B ~ R A J HUDSONL 1 ~ R A R t A N . BUREAU PUS A D ~ U31VERStlY OF CALIFBERKELEY CALIF r

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Transit Times Volume 9, Number 1