[Federal Register: November 13, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 220)]
[Notices]
[Page 67247-67248]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13no08-98]
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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: Final Natural Adjustment Policy for Urbanized Area
Apportionments.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the Federal Transit Administration's
(FTA) National Transit Database (NTD) policy on natural disaster
adjustments for data used in urbanized area apportionments. On August
14, 2008, FTA proposed a new policy allowing transit systems suffering
a marked decrease in transit service data due to a natural disaster to
use their transit service data from a prior year in the urbanized area
apportionments. FTA received three comments on this policy change and
is now formally adopting the new policy.
DATES: Effective Date: November 13, 2008.
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. Some other
providers of transit service in urbanized areas report voluntarily to
the NTD for purposes of benefitting their local urbanized area in the
urbanized area apportionments. 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 $6 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.
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
630.10), 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
[[Page 67248]]
a waiver to an urbanized area recipient that has previously reported to
the NTD, FTA automatically includes data from the last-available NTD
report year for that recipient 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 urbanized area formula grants for a transit
provider that is able to report for the current year. This Notice
establishes such a policy for urbanized area reporters. This policy
would not currently apply to NTD reporters from rural areas, however,
as NTD data are not used in the apportionment of Other Than Urbanized
Area Formula Grants (Section 5311 Grants). These Grants are apportioned
solely on the basis of geographic data and population data from the
U.S. Census Bureau.
II. Comments and FTA Response to Comments
On August 14, 2008, FTA published a notice in the Federal Register
(73 FR 47641) inviting comments on its proposed policy for natural
disaster adjustments. FTA received three comments on this proposed
policy change. One comment supported the policy change. Two commenters
also supported the policy change and requested that FTA expand this
policy to include not just natural disasters, but also man-made
disasters, such as terrorist attacks, criminal activity, forest fires,
or disruptions to utilities. These commenters also requested that the
policy be made applicable for multiple years, rather than only the year
in which the disaster occurs.
Response: FTA agrees to make this policy applicable to all
disasters, both natural and man-made. FTA also notes that it always
intended for its proposed policy to be applicable for multiple years,
at FTA's discretion, and will clarify this in the final policy below.
III. Final Policy
If a transit provider suffers a marked decrease in transit service
due to a natural or man-made disaster, either the transit provider or
the designated recipient for an urbanized area may make a request to be
``held harmless'' in the apportionment of formula grants for urbanized
areas. If FTA approves the request, FTA will use data for the affected
providers from the NTD report year before the disaster occurred in
place of data for the current report year in the urbanized area
apportionments. FTA would continue to use data from the current NTD
report year for all other transit providers in the urbanized area
apportionment.
This adjustment would not be automatic and must be requested in
writing. FTA will approve or deny each request at its discretion based
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 request
demonstrates that the decrease in transit service from the report year
before the disaster is in large part due to the ongoing impact of the
disaster; and (3) whether the request demonstrates that the decrease in
transit service reasonably appears to be temporary, and not reflective
of the true transit needs of the urbanized area. FTA will not grant
adjustment requests that do not address all three 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. A request for an adjustment may only be made
for one year at a time. Requests for adjustment related to the same
disaster may be made in subsequent years, provided that the applicant
can continue to support its request based on the above 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.
This policy will take effect for the 2007 NTD Report Year, which is
the data used in the FY 2009 apportionments of formula grants for
urbanized areas. This policy will remain in effect for the 2008 NTD
Report Year, which has already begun, and will be included in the NTD
Annual Manual for the 2009 Report Year.
Issued in Washington, DC, this 31st day of October 2008.
James S. Simpson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E8-26888 Filed 11-12-08; 8:45 am]
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