OCTA approves $1.76B budget for FY2025

The Orange County Transportation Authority's (OCTA) board in California yesterday approved a balanced budget of $1.76 billion for fiscal-year 2025, which begins July 1.

The approved budget makes significant investments in public transit, totaling 52% of the overall budget, according to an OCTA news release.

Overall, the budget represents a $58 million increase (about 3.4%) over the previous year’s budget. This mirrors a similar budget increase last year, which followed two years of budget cuts largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the release said. The complete budget can be found here.

Rail-related items in the budget include:

• planning for the current economic climate, while maintaining strong reserve levels; 
• funding Metrolink service and implementing the rail-service optimization model; and 
• advancing planning studies for solutions to protect the California coastal rail line.