Guam mass transit a boon for some, a bane for others
Transit agency requests $2.3M more

After finally securing a long-term bus service contract and new buses to go with it, Guam’s mass transit authority appeared before lawmakers yesterday to request funding for next financial year that’s $2.3 million more than this year’s budget.

Executive Manager Enrique Agustin of the Guam Regional Transit Authority told lawmakers if GRTA doesn’t get the budget it requested, the agency would scale back operations to levels prior to the awarding of the long-term contract and "park" about half its fleet of vehicles.

Speaker Benjamin Cruz questioned Agustin and GRTA staff about the price of the long-term contract, which was awarded in November 2016, especially as to why the agency approved a contract that amounted to more than its approved budget for this fiscal year.

$3.6M budget, $4.3M contract

According to GRTA staff, GRTA’s overall budget for 2017 was $3.6 million, while the fiscal 2018 contract awarded to Kloppenburg Enterprises Inc. would amount to approximately $4.3 million. Agustin said the cost of the contract depended on how many buses were in operation.

Agustin said under the new contract, the government supplies the buses, pays for the fuel and covers maintenance costs, and that’s part of the reason for the higher budget request.

Kloppenburg’s part of the contract is to provide drivers, and the number of drivers need to be increased as GRTA’s fleet changed from 11 old buses to 18 new vehicles.

Agustin said to make use of the newly acquired buses, and to improve the island’s limited mass transit system, he signed off on the $4.3 million contract knowing the agency would be able to offset the shortfall with the remaining locally appropriated funds, federal grant money and money held in reserve by the Bureau of Budget and Management Research.

According to GRTA’s administrative officer, Myra Abaya, the projected shortfall for 2017 will "most likely" be covered by a combined funding source, including the $876,778 that was recently awarded by the federal government; $453,000 held in reserve and recently released by the administration; and the $648,965 remaining in GRTA’s accounts following operational costs from October 2016 to April 2017.

Scaled-back services


Agustin said if one of those funding sources had fallen through, GRTA would have resolved the shortfall by scaling back bus service.

Before November 2016, Agustin said GRTA operated a total of 11 buses, but these buses were frequently out of commission because of mechanical problems. With the award of the new contract and the use of the new vehicles into its fixed route service, Agustin said GRTA now operates a total of 18 buses, with three on standby.

After these improvements, Agustin reported a 19 percent increase in ridership, improved service to both the northern and southern regions, and the creation of an entirely new bus line designed to take passengers to high-demand destinations, such as the Department of Revenue and Taxation, the Barrigada post office and the Veterans Affairs office.

Agustin said if fiscal 2018’s funding remains at the 2017 level, GRTA would reduce operations.