[Federal Register: August 14, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 158)]
[Notices]
[Page 47641-47642]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr14au08-63]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
[Docket No.: FTA-2008-0035]
National Transit Database: Natural Disaster Adjustments for
Urbanized Area Apportionments
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of Proposed New Policy on Natural Disaster Adjustments
for Urbanized Area Formula Grant Apportionment Data
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SUMMARY: This notice provides interested parties with the opportunity
to comment on the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) National
Transit Database (NTD) proposed new policy on natural disaster
adjustments to NTD data. If a transit provider suffers a marked
decrease in transit service due to a natural disaster, FTA proposes to
allow that transit provider to be ``held harmless'' in the
apportionment of formula grants for urbanized areas. In this case, FTA
would use the transit provider's data from the NTD report year before
the natural disaster in the apportionment, but use data from the
current NTD report year for all other transit providers. Under this
proposed policy, FTA would only make this adjustment upon the request
of the affected transit provider or the designated recipient for the
urbanized area, and FTA would grant this request at its discretion
based on the disaster's demonstrated severity and impacts. FTA proposes
for this policy to take effect for the 2007 NTD Report Year, which is
the data to be used in the FY 2009 apportionment of formula grants for
urbanized areas.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 15, 2008. FTA
will consider comments filed after this date to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments [identified by FTA Docket ID Number
FTA-2008-0035] at the Federal eRulemaking Portal at: http://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Fax: 202-493-2251.
Mail: Docket Management Facility: U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building, Ground
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140,
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Instructions: When submitting comments you must use docket number
FTA-2008-0035. This will ensure that your comment is placed in the
correct docket. If you submit comments by mail, you should submit two
copies and include the above docket number. Note that all comments
received will be posted, without change, to http://www.regulations.gov
including any personal identifying information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For program issues, John D. Giorgis,
Office of Budget and Policy, (202) 366-5430 (telephone); (202) 366-7989
(fax); or john.giorgis@dot.gov (e-mail). For legal issues, Richard
Wong, Office of the Chief Counsel, (202) 366-0675 (telephone); (202)
366-3809 (fax); or richard.wong@dot.gov (e-mail).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The National Transit Database (NTD) was established by Congress
``to help meet the needs of * * * the public for information on which
to base public transportation service planning * * *'' (49 U.S.C 5335).
To support this goal, recipients or beneficiaries of Urbanized Area
Formula Grants (Section 5307) or Other Than Urbanized Area Formula
(Section 5311) Grants are required to report to the NTD. Other
providers of transit service in urbanized areas report voluntarily to
the NTD. Currently, over 650 transit agencies in urbanized areas report
to the NTD through an Internet-based reporting system. Each year,
performance data from these submissions are used to apportion over $5
billion of FTA funds under the Urbanized Area Formula Grants and Fixed-
Guideway Modernization Grants Programs. These data are also used in the
annual National Transit Summaries and Trends report, the biennial
Conditions and Performance Report to Congress, and in meeting FTA's
obligations under the Government Performance and Results Act.
[[Page 47642]]
FTA currently allows a transit provider that is severely impacted
by a natural disaster to request a waiver from reporting to the NTD for
the current year. This policy is based on the NTD Rule (49 CFR Part
630), which provides for a waiver from the mandatory NTD reporting
requirements if reporting to the NTD would cause ``unreasonable expense
or inconvenience.'' When FTA grants such a waiver to an urbanized area
reporter that has previously reported to the NTD, FTA automatically
includes data from the last-available NTD report year for the reporter
in the apportionment of formula grants for urbanized areas. However,
FTA does not currently have policies or procedures that would allow it
to use NTD data from a prior report year in the apportionment of
formula grants for urbanized areas for a transit provider that is able
to report for the current year.
II. Proposed Policy Change
If a transit provider suffers a marked decrease in transit service
due to a natural disaster, FTA proposes to allow that transit provider
to be ``held harmless'' in the apportionment of formula grants for
urbanized areas. The affected provider may request that their data from
the NTD report year before the natural disaster occurred be used in
place of data for the current report year in the apportionment. FTA
would continue to use data from the current NTD report year for all
other transit providers in the apportionment. The designated recipient
for an urbanized area may also make this request on behalf of an
affected provider. This adjustment would not be automatic, and FTA will
not make this adjustment unless requested by the affected provider or
the designated grant recipient for the urbanized area.
Under the proposed policy, FTA would approve or deny the request
for the adjustment at its discretion. FTA will base its decision on the
following factors: (1) Whether a Federal disaster declaration was in
place for all or part of the current report year, for either all or
part of the transit provider's service area; (2) whether the adjustment
request demonstrates that the decrease in transit service from the
report year before the natural disaster is in large part due to the
ongoing impacts of the natural disaster; and (3) whether the decrease
in transit service reasonably appears to be temporary, and thus not
reflective of the true transit needs of the urbanized area. FTA will
not grant adjustment requests that do not address all of these factors.
Adjustment requests should include sufficient documentation to allow
FTA to evaluate the request based on these factors. FTA may request
additional information from an applicant for an adjustment to evaluate
the request based on these factors. If the adjustment request is
granted, the NTD data in all publicly-available data sets and data
products would remain unadjusted, and would reflect the actual NTD
submission for the transit provider. The only adjustment would be in
the data sets used for the apportionments of formula grants for
urbanized areas.
FTA proposes for this policy to take effect for the 2007 NTD Report
Year, which is the data to be used in the FY 2009 apportionment of
formula grants for urbanized areas. This policy would remain in effect
for the 2008 NTD Report Year, and will be included in the NTD Annual
Manual for the 2009 Report Year.
Issued in Washington, DC, this 8th day of August 2008.
James S. Simpson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E8-18939 Filed 8-12-08; 4:15 pm]
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