Mr. Les White

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  www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_9292709?source=most_emaile - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 5/17/2008    Last Visited: 5/18/2008  

  "We've got routes with severe capacity problems," Metro General Manager Les White said."We need additional service.We need additional buses."
  
  Ridership across the Metro district -- which carries people from Watsonville to Boulder Creek and over the hill to San Jose -- has jumped from 4.4 million riders last year to an estimated 4.6 million, a 3.5 percent increase, White said.
  
  Most dramatic, he said, is the increased ridership on Highway 17 routes, which have seen a 23 percent spike on weekend ridership and an 8.3 percent increase overall from last year.
  
  There were about 440 passengers on an average Sunday in April this year, compared with 341 in April of last year, White said.
  
  Commuters like Kera Copelyn, who started taking the bus this week to her job at Everest College in San Jose, said she would rather park her car and pay $4.50 each way for a bus ticket over the hill than fill the tank.
  
  Copelyn said she had been spending $1,100 a month between her car payment, insurance and
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  Higher ridership, however, has had its drawbacks for the transit district, White said.It has magnified the need to replace old buses, some with a million or more miles on them, and expand service.
  
  At least 10 local route buses need to be replaced and five additional buses are needed for the 10 daily round trips over Highway 17, White said.Each new bus costs roughly $450,000, according to White.
  
  But the Metro district also is feeling the pinch of state budget cuts, and badly needed new vehicles will have to be put off for at least another year, according to the Metro board.
  
  An announcement earlier this week from Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger about the state budget and impending program cuts means the transit district could lose $3.2 million in state funding for next year, White said.
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  That means buying new buses, adding new routes and hiring more drivers are out of the question, White said.

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  www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_9750507 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/1/2008    Last Visited: 7/2/2008  

  The district has reserves due largely to an unexpected surge in sales tax revenue last year, Metro General Manager Les White said.
  
  "We set aside that money to use during an economic downturn," White said Monday."We're in the negative with the 2009 and 2010 budgets, so we're using our reserves."
  
  The expected negative budgets are blamed largely on a dismal 0.3 percent sales tax growth predicted for 2009, district officials said.
  
  Raising passenger fares or cutting routes to balance the budget is not an option at this point, White said.

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  www.thevalleypost.com/article.php?id=412 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/18/2007    Last Visited: 8/4/2008  

  For METRO director Les White, watching sales taxes rise and fall can be cause for woe or jubilation.
  
  "In 2001 and 2002, it dropped dramatically," White said."It's been coming back at a rate of about 2 percent to 3 percent a year."
  
  Last year, the tax for METRO raised $17.6 million of the agency's $37.6 million budget, accounting for 46.8 percent of the total budget.And, as the state continues to divert state funding for transit to other uses, the district will likely become increasingly reliant on sales tax revenues.
  
  "The [METRO] board has not redirected any money to the capital budget from sales tax, but that's something they will be considering over the next couple years if we get no relief on the state level," White said.

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  www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpi - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 11/19/2002    Last Visited: 2/5/2008  

  Les White, a former county manager in San Jose, Calif., said he saw some of the same things when he was brought in to resuscitate the United Way Silicon Valley."Some of what I read about in Washington, D.C., sounded so familiar," he said.

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  www.cabinc.org/drscfocussept99.html - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 2/1/2002    Last Visited: 10/25/2002  

  Board of Directors of the SCMTD and to Les White, General Manager, SCMTD, 370 Encinal Street, Suite 100, Santa Cruz, Ca. 95060, would be in order.Later, the North Coast Transportation Group will be contacting individual Administration and Board members in order to answer their questions regarding the Davenport-Bonny Doon Bus situation.

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  www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_9741905?source=most_viewed - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 6/30/2008    Last Visited: 7/1/2008  

  "Our challenge for the future is how to provide additional service," Metro General Manager Les White said Sunday.

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  www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=37767 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/10/2007    Last Visited: 9/15/2007  

  At least 30 old buses would not be replaced, and service during peak hours would drop from 83 buses on the road to about 55 by 2012, said Les White, Metro's general manager.
  
  Up to 30 ParaCruz vans, which serve elderly passengers and those with disabilities, might not be replaced, either, White said.According to district estimates, Metro could lose $25 million to $27 million in capital money over the next 10 years.This year, White said, the agency will receive $2.2 million of the $5.3 million expected.
  
  "The bus fleet is a real problem," White said.Some buses up for replacement have nearly a million miles on them, and won't run for many more years.In addition, White said, state law demands that Metro's older, diesel-powered buses be retired by 2012 and replaced with cleaner-burning, compressed natural gas models.

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  www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/September/07/loc - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/7/2007    Last Visited: 9/8/2007  

  At least 30 old buses would not be replaced, and service during peak hours would drop from 83 buses on the road to about 55 by 2012, said Les White, Metro's general manager.
  
  Up to 30 ParaCruz vans, which serve elderly passengers and those with disabilities, might not be replaced, either, White said.According to district estimates, Metro could lose $25 million to $27 million in capital money over the next 10 years.This year, White said, the agency will receive $2.2 million of the $5.3 million expected.
  
  "The bus fleet is a real problem," White said.Some buses up for replacement have nearly a million miles on them, and won't run for many more years.In addition, White said, state law demands that Metro's older, diesel-powered buses be retired by 2012 and replaced with cleaner-burning, compressed natural gas models.

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  www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/September/06/bre - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/6/2007    Last Visited: 9/7/2007  

  At least 30 old buses would not be replaced, and service during peak hours would drop from 83 buses on the road to about 55 by 2012, said Les White, Metro's general manager.Up to 30 ParaCruz vans, which serve elderly passengers and those with disabilities, might not be replaced, either, White said.According to district estimates, Metro could lose $25 million to $27 million in capital money over the next 10 years.This year, White said, the agency will receive $2.2 million of the $5.3 million he expected.
  
  "The bus fleet is a real problem," White said.Some buses up for replacement have nearly one million miles on them, and won't run for many more years.In addition, White said, state law demands that Metro's older, diesel-powered buses be retired by 2012 and replaced with cleaner-burning, compressed natural gas models.

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  www.thevalleypost.com/article.php?id=274 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 6/5/2007    Last Visited: 8/4/2008  

  METRO General Manager Les White said the proposed cuts would be "devastating."
  
  About $3.1 million would be cut from METRO's annual operating budget, and White said the wording of the proposal appears to make the shifts permanent.

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