Answer:

FTA and FHWA’s shared planning regulation, found at 23 CFR 450 outlines federal expectations for statewide and metropolitan planning agencies in effectively engaging the public, including low-income and minority communities. Planning agencies are required to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies and, where necessary, improve public involvement processes to eliminate participation barriers and engage minority and low-income populations in transportation decision making. Grantees should develop and implement strategies for meaningful engagement of the community, including members of EJ populations as a part of the planning process. Through effective public engagement grantees are able to identify and understand the needs of the community as a whole, and incorporate those needs into transportation plans and programs. FTA’s regulation outlines MPO requirements for producing public participation plans with specific outreach strategies for transportation plan and program development that “describe explicit procedures, strategies, and desired outcomes for” public engagement, which includes low-income and minority populations, as well as a process for periodically evaluating the effectiveness of these outreach strategies. Direct outreach to individuals and engagement with organizations that represent members of the EJ community are methods to determine the needs and concerns of environmental justice populations. Reaching out to the EJ populations in their community is critical. Public engagement is not a one-size-fits-all approach and should be scaled to the specific impacts of the proposed action, as well as the resources available. Many agencies rely on formal meetings as the foundation of their public engagement plans because these are often required by law; however, agencies should consider going beyond the traditional methods of public outreach to incorporate innovative approaches that leverage the ever-changing communications environment in which we live. Effective communication methods include distributing flyers at the local community center, churches, or grocery stores, and posting information on vehicles, at bus stops, transit stations, and other locations frequented by riders. Materials also should be prepared for persons with limited-English proficiency. “Meaningful public engagement” does not mean that every issue or concern raised by the community must be resolved. However, it does mean that grantees work diligently to engage in a meaningful public dialogue with the communities impacted by the proposed action, listen to what they have to say, respond to their comments and concerns, and incorporate their comments into the transportation decision-making process where practicable.

Answer:

If mitigation is not possible, FTA encourages grantees to involve the EJ community in identifying acceptable alternatives, such as betterments or enhancements of a project.

Answer:

FTA recognizes that landscaping is an integral and functional element of many transit facilities.  For example, landscaping can be used to aid in the absorption or drainage of storm water, prevention of erosion, support of structures on a steep grade, minimization of noise impacts, protection of habitat,  provision of shade in hot climates, channeling of pedestrian or vehicle traffic, definition of publicly accessible and inaccessible areas, and many other purposes.  In interpreting the term “functional landscaping” under this provision of law, FTA draws a similar distinction, as with art, between functionally appropriate landscape design and landscape elements installed solely for visual or aesthetic appeal.
For example, an eligible landscaping expense would include the installation of shade trees near a passenger station entrance.  Likewise, FTA would allow the use of grant funds to install dense shrubs surrounding the area containing the transit system’s electrical equipment.  FTA would expect the grantee to select particular varieties of trees and shrubs that are well-suited for the particular location and climate.

Answer:

This means that FTA will consider a recipient’s acceptance of a standard base flood elevation of one foot above FEMA’s best available flood hazard information as a minimum requirement for funding under this program. All recipients must indicate how this floodplain management guideline has been considered in project selection and design.

Answer:

FTA recommends that grantees conduct a quantitative evaluation of the distributional, system-level EJ impacts of the collection of projects in the long-range plan and that plan level distributions translate to the TIP level. One option for this would be to use the most recent Census and land use data available, supplemented by any local surveys, to identify the areas where low-income and / or minority populations live, work, and play. By overlaying the geographic location of proposed investments, including access points to those investments, grantees may determine whether a proportionate share of anticipated investment will serve those who are minorities and / or low-income. It is important to determine whether a new project will provide a proportionate level of access to members of the EJ community.

Answer:

For the purposes of the EEO Program, "requests or receives" means the FTA formula or competitive grants that an entity was awarded in the previous fiscal year for capital, operations, or planning expenditures. For this monetary threshold, FTA is not interested in the expenditures or grant drawdowns by an agency.

Answer:

This prohibition applies to all FTA programs and grants, including all programs authorized under Chapter 53 of Title 49, U.S.C. and other programs for which FTA serves as the grant making agency (e.g. TIGER).

Answer:

Much of FTA’s transit bus automation research will be funded by the Public Transportation Innovation Program (Section 5312).  FTA will be supporting up to seven demonstrations over the next five years. Additionally, there may be opportunities for agencies to participate in peer exchanges and communities of practice to share lessons learned and best practices.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) offers funding through the ATCMTD grant program - we anticipate that program will continue through fiscal year 2020.

There has been significant state and local investment in automation, and additional state funding may be available.

Answer:

EJ populations include minority or low-income populations.

Answer:

Accessibility requirements for fare vending machines are established by the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (ATBCB or “Access Board”), the Federal agency responsible for developing minimum guidelines for accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These guidelines were updated by the Access Board in 2004, and incorporated into Department of Transportation (DOT) Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations as the enforceable standard for transportation in November 2006; specific requirements may therefore differ slightly, depending upon when the fare machine was made and installed. The current standards are found in Section 707 of the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines, which can be found at https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/buildings-and-sit…. In particular, Section 707 discusses fare machine requirements such as clear floor space, operable parts, privacy, and speech-enablement.

Answer:

FEMA will close out your grant request and FTA will work with you to develop your grant application. Documentation gathered and developed for FEMA assistance, such as Project Worksheets (PWs) will be accepted as applicable for documents required for FTA ER grants.

Answer:

If the expenses have already been paid out of a contingency in the budget, then they are Category 1 expenses and do not require documentation of budgeting, which is for future expenditures. For future expenditures to be paid from a contingency, there should be some documentation showing either budgeting or approval of the use of the contingency line item (Board meeting minutes, for example). This documentation should be included in the initial proposal.

Answer:

Yes. There are a number of tools available across the federal agencies that FTA encourages grantees to consider. Links are available on FTA’s EJ webpage. The EPA EJ View took is available on the EPA EJ webpage.

Answer:

Communities with existing one-call centers are encouraged to apply for a VTCLI grant to expand their services. Such communities should detail how the planning and design process will incorporate veterans groups and needs that have not been addressed by the current one-call services.

Answer:

For the ABFE+1/FEMA Best Available+1 requirement, applicants must submit documentation showing that they have identified the appropriate flood hazard area and the best available base flood elevation for the project location, or locations, as applicable. Applicant must also provide an explanation of how a proposed project was designed to make the asset resilient based on this flood hazard information. Applicants should cite the relevant FEMA map source and/or FEMA flood insurance study for the project location.

Answer:

If a grantee is seeking credit towards its local share with the use of Federal funds, they must provide the following information:
Year of Purchase
Vehicle Identification Number
(A) Cost of Van
(B) Amount of federal financial assistance
(C) Required local match
(D) Amount of state or local assistance beyond the match requirement
(E) Amount to be used as credit for this grant A-B-C-D
Certified Statement to verify van is being used in grantee’s service area

Answer:

If a grantee is seeking credit towards its local share without the use of Federal funds, they must provide the following information:
Year of Purchase
Vehicle Identification Number
(A) Cost of Van
(B) Amount of state or local financial assistance
(C) Amount available as credit (A-B)
(D) Amount used as credit for previous grants
(E) Amount to be used as credit for this grant (C-D)
Certified statement to verify van is being used in grantee’s service area

Answer:

Commuter highway vehicle and vanpool vehicle are vehicles with seating capacity for at least six (6) adults (not including the driver); and at least 80 percent of the mileage use can be reasonably expected to be for the purposes of transporting commuters in connection with travel between their residences and their places of employment.

Answer:

A transit-related employee is "an employee of an FTA applicant, recipient, subrecipient, or contractor who is involved in any aspect of an agency’s public transit operation funded by FTA." (Circular Section 1.6). Agencies are required to count all part-time employees and employees with collateral duties who support the transit program, including those who contribute time to other programs. (Circular Section 1.4). Therefore, a transit-related employee is anyone "who is involved in any aspect of an agency’s public transit operation" and not just those who plan routes and drive buses. Those who provide transit oversight, civil rights oversight, accounting, and grants management, for example, would all be considered transit-related employees if their work touched the transit program.

The following are some examples of transit-related employees:

• A city planner involved in planning bus routes would be counted as part of the recipient’s transit-related workforce, but a city planner involved only in land use would not be counted.
• A budget analyst who processes payments for the transit program in addition to other responsibilities.
• An employee focusing on grants management who handles grant applications for several city programs, including transit programs.
• An HR officer managing staffing at a transit agency or managing transit staff as part of a city or county program.
• An employee providing civil rights oversight at a transit agency or State DOT.
• A security guard or facilities staffer at a transit-specific building or subway station would be a transit-related employee, while a security guard or facilities staffer at a State DOT building would not.

Answer:

Whether an adverse effect is “disproportionately high” on minority and low-income populations depends on whether that effect is (1) predominantly borne by an EJ population, or (2) will be suffered by the EJ population and is appreciably more severe or greater in magnitude than the adverse effect that will be suffered by the non-EJ population. It is important to note that determinations of disproportionately high and adverse effects take into consideration the mitigation and enhancement measures that are planned for the proposed action.