Answer:

Coordinating individual human service transportation programs makes the most efficient use of limited transportation resources by avoiding duplication caused by overlapping individual program efforts and encouraging the use and sharing of existing community resources.  In communities where coordination is made a priority, citizens benefit from more extensive service, lower costs and easier access to transportation. Coordination can improve overall mobility within a community, particularly when human service agencies are each providing transportation to their own clients. It works by eliminating the inefficiencies within disparate operations and service patterns that often result from a multiplicity of providers. Greater efficiency helps to stretch the limited (and often insufficient) funding and personnel resources of these agencies. When appropriately applied, coordination can lead to significant reductions of operating costs (per trip) for transportation providers. People in need of transportation also profit from enhanced transportation and higher quality services when operations are coordinated.

Answer:

The Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Emergency Relief (ER) Program is authorized by Congress and enables FTA to reimburse public transit operators in the aftermath of an emergency or major disaster to help pay for protecting, repairing, or replacing equipment and facilities that may suffer or have suffered serious damage. The program also funds the operating costs of evacuation, rescue operations, or temporary public transportation service during or after an emergency.

Under the ER Program, FTA may make grants for capital projects to protect, repair, or replace damaged assets, and for operating expenses incurred while responding to a declared emergency or major disaster.

Answer:

In the spring of 2014, FTA extended pre-award authority for costs associated with the environmental review, as well as design and engineering expenses for selected projects. These costs may remain eligible for reimbursement or may count towards the local match, regardless of the date incurred. Pre-award authority for other costs is extended as of September 22, 2014.
Consistent with FTA policy on pre-award authority, a project must have met all applicable Federal requirements prior to incurring expenses. The recipient assumes all risk and is responsible for ensuring that all applicable federal program and grant requirements are met to retain eligibility. Recipients are also advised that incurring certain project costs prior to NEPA completion may render the entire project ineligible for Federal assistance. Therefore, FTA strongly encourages all recipients to consult with the appropriate FTA regional office regarding the anticipated environmental review requirements and the applicability of Federal conditions and requirements before incurring expenses under pre-award authority with the hope of future reimbursement.
Note that any expenses incurred for projects that were NOT selected may not be reimbursed under the Emergency Relief program, but may be eligible for reimbursement under FTA formula programs such as Section 5307.

Answer:

FTA encourages the use of a wide variety of tools to engage the public. Social media should not replace traditional public meetings, but can be a very useful supplement that provides greater opportunity to engage the public. Be sure to establish a policy (it can be brief) to outline expectations for users about how their input will be considered and whether comments submitted via social media are considered “official” comments and will be included in the administrative record. TCRP Synthesis Report 99, Uses of Social Media in Public Transportation provides helpful case studies and information.

Answer:

Human services transportation (HST) includes a broad range of transportation service options designed to meet the needs of transportation disadvantaged populations, including older adults, people with disabilities, and/or individuals with lower income. Individuals have different needs and may require different transportation services depending on their needs, the size of the community they live in, and the options available. 

Public transit, available for all, is one form of HST. Other HST providers serve limited populations such as agency or institutional clients or schools. HST providers include public and private providers of transportation services, social service agencies, community health centers, aging and disability organizations, public health departments, behavioral or mental health centers, criminal justice programs, veteran’s transportation programs, vocational rehabilitation programs, schools, advocacy groups, faith-based communities, and more. 

HST includes, but is not limited to:

• Dial-a-ride (i.e., responding to individual door-to-door requests)
• Human service agency transportation  
• Mileage reimbursement to volunteers or program participants 
• Neighborhood shuttles 
• Non-emergency medical transportation funded by Medicaid or other sources
• Public transit (including paratransit)
• Transportation vouchers (e.g., transit passes, taxis, etc.) 
• Volunteer transportation services 
• Escorted (i.e., door-through-door or hand-to-hand) transportation services

Human service agencies that provide transportation services have uniquely different missions. One agency may provide employment services while another may focus on the delivery of health care services as their primary mission. Coordinating HST can be highly beneficial to local communities.
 

Answer:

Heavy maintenance generally refers to occasional or periodic maintenance on facilities, such as track work, or cleaning a station and making minor repairs to that station after the storm, as opposed to restoring vehicles to operable status. Repairing vehicles seriously damaged in the storm to an operable status is an eligible expense.

Answer:

FTA encourages the use of a locally developed threshold, such as that used for FTA’s grant program, or a percentage of median income for the area, provided that the threshold is at least as inclusive as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines. Public Law 112-141 (MAP-21), revises 49 U.S.C. § 5302 to include a definition of “low-income individual” to mean “an individual whose family income is at or below 150 percent of the poverty line, as that term is defined in section 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2), including any revision required by that section, for a family of the size involved.” The definition in chapter 53 does not have broad applicability to FTA or DOT programs, such as Title VI and Environmental Justice. FTA’s Title VI circular uses the more narrow definition: a person whose median household income is at or below the HHS poverty guidelines. This is the same definition DOT uses in the environmental justice order and other documents. In FTA’s Environmental Justice circular, we encourage recipients to use a more inclusive definition, but do not require the more inclusive assessment as long as the HHS poverty guideline is applied.

Answer:

Under Department of Transportation (DOT) Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations at 49 C.F.R. Section 37.3, “service animal” is defined as “any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability, including, but not limited to, guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals with impaired hearing to intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, or fetching dropped items.” DOT ADA regulation 49 C.F.R. Section 37.167(d) requires transit entities to permit service animals to accompany individuals with disabilities in vehicles and facilities. Appendix D to Section 37.167 contains further important information on service animals. It is important to note that while the U.S. Department of Justice has amended the definition of “service animal” for purposes of its ADA regulations under Titles II and III of the ADA, for state and local governments and places that are open to the public, the definition under DOT ADA regulations for transportation has not changed. Therefore, members of the public may find that some service animals may no longer be considered service animals once they leave a transportation system.

Answer:

The Coordinating Council on Access & Mobility (CCAM) is an interagency federal national initiative that supports states and their localities in developing coordinated human service delivery systems. In addition to state coordination grants, CCAM provides state and local agencies a transportation-coordination and planning self-assessment tool, help along the way, technical assistance, and other resources to help their communities succeed.

Answer:

The unit of geographic analysis is the area impacted by the proposed action. Depending on the nature of the proposed action, the unit of geographic analysis may be a governing body’s jurisdiction, a transit provider’s service area, a neighborhood, Census tract, or other similar unit. However, when establishing the boundaries of the geographic unit, grantees will want to be careful not to choose boundaries that artificially dilute or inflate the affected minority population and/or low-income population. Through the statewide or metropolitan planning processes, FTA recommends that grantees conduct an evaluation of the system-level EJ impacts of a collection of projects in the long-range plan. When projects move from a long-range plan into the short-range Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) or State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), they are assumed to be reasonably assured of funding and ready for implementation. At that point, for projects that include Federal funds or involve a Federal approval, local agencies and project sponsors are required to evaluate the projects under NEPA. When considering EJ principles for individual projects, the geographic unit for comparison may need to be smaller than the entire geographic area covered by the long-range plan depending on the project and its likely impacts. Grantees will want to make sure that aggregating results at the regional level does not obscures critical local details. Grantees are encouraged to work closely with the FTA Regional Office in establishing an appropriate unit of geographic analysis.

Answer:

The term ‘private provider of public transportation by vanpool’ means a private entity providing vanpool services in the service area of a recipient of assistance under Chapter 53 using a commuter highway vehicle or vanpool vehicle.

Answer:

Local (municipal/state) statutes or regulations, or company policy, will generally determine whether a taxi company or shared mobility operator provides shared-ride or exclusive-ride service. Not all shared mobility services are shared-ride services. For example, if the local regulation or company policy permits the driver to determine whether or not a trip may be shared (for example by declining to accept an additional passenger where there is capacity) the service is not shared-ride. Similarly, if the regulation or policy requires the consent of the first passenger to hire a taxi or shared mobility operator to be obtained before the taxi or shared mobility operator may take on additional riders, the service is not shared-ride.
In essence, services which can be reserved for the exclusive use of individuals or private groups, either by the operator or the first passenger’s refusal to permit additional passengers, is exclusive-ride service, and is not shared ride. Not every trip needs to be shared-ride in order for a provider to be considered a shared-ride operator, but the general nature of the service must include shared rides. A recipient passing funds through to a taxi company or shared mobility operator should request documentation from the company to assure the company is providing shared-ride service. 

Answer:

Title VI is a statutory and regulatory requirement and all FTA grantees must comply with the provisions of Title VI. The Title VI Circular can be found here. Title VI requirements are broader in scope than environmental justice and grantees should be careful not to mix the two. While they overlap, engaging in an EJ analysis under transportation planning and NEPA provisions will not satisfy Title VI requirements, as outlined in both Circulars. Similarly, a Title VI analysis may not necessarily satisfy environmental justice requirements (one reason is that Title VI does not include low-income populations).

Answer:

Executive Order 13330, signed by President Bush on February 24, 2004, established the Interagency Transportation Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility (CCAM), which was originally chaired by former Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta. The Council’s purpose is to coordinate the 130 federal programs across nine federal departments that provide funding to be used in support of human services transportation. The Council is comprised of 11 CCAM members, including the U.S. Departments of Transportation, Health and Human Services, Labor, Education, Housing and Urban Affairs, Agriculture, Justice, and Interior and the Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration, and the National Council on Disabilities.

Answer:

Funds made available for the FTA Emergency Relief Program are available until expended, and thus do not have a lapse date. Once obligated, funds must be expended within 24 months. FTA is working to resolve questions and concerns regarding this issue and will post information as it becomes available.

Answer:

The FHWA and FTA joint planning rule (23 CFR 450.324) provides that "emergency relief projects" that do not involve substantial functional, locational, or capacity changes are not required to be included in the TIP/STIP. For purposes of FTA's Emergency Relief Program (ERP), "emergency relief projects" may include recovery funded projects, and if applicable, integral resiliency-elements for the said specific recovery projects. Generally, it does not apply to stand-alone or auxiliary resiliency projects funded out of a project sponsor's local priority resiliency allocation or future competitive resiliency allocations. For these category of projects and others that would not qualify under the exception, grantees must ensure the projects funded under this program are included in the TIP and STIP prior to incurring costs.To qualify for this exception, the grantee must certify in writing that the project funded under FTA’s ERP does not involve substantial functional, locational or capacity changes and that the local share is available. The Grantee must submit this documentation to FTA in order for the project to be considered eligible for federal participation. If a Grantee is unsure whether a project qualifies as one of the exceptions, it should contact the FTA. If during the grant award process the FTA determines that the exception does not apply to a specific project that the Grantee certified, then that project must be programmed on the TIP/STIP. Absent a certification stating that the project qualifies as one of the exceptions or a previously issued waiver, the FTA expects projects funded under FTA’s ERP be included in the TIP/STIP prior to incurring costs.

Answer:

Recipients affected by Hurricane Sandy may request an FTA Administrator determination that certain terms and conditions not apply when the requirement(s) will limit a recipient’s or sub-recipient’s ability to respond to an emergency or major disaster. Recipients must follow the procedures as set forth in 49 CFR part 601, subpart D when requesting such a determination or seeking a waiver of administrative requirements. The docket is available on www.regulations.gov, and the docket number for calendar year 2013 is FTA–2013–0001. More information is available in the Notice of Availability of Emergency Relief Funding.

Answer:

FTA does not require a stand-alone EJ analysis for the S/TIP. Chapter IV of the Circular describes how environmental justice considerations at the planning level, which extend to the S/TIP, are addressed primarily through data collection and comparative analysis, and public engagement.
As projects are prioritized from the plan into the S/TIP, and then selected from the S/TIP for implementation, it is assumed that a S/TIP would be equally reflective of EJ considerations as the plan from which it is derived. FTA expects that projects that primarily benefit an EJ community would be equally likely to move forward into implementation as any other project.

Answer:

Congress appropriated $330 million for FTA’s Emergency Relief Program in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-123), signed into law on February 9, 2018.

Answer:

There is no fixed starting date for eligible costs, since different parts of the region may have started preparations at different times. Costs that were incurred in preparation for the storm's landfall during the time that the storm was forecast to hit an affected area are eligible for reimbursement at a 90% Federal share under this announcement unless otherwise noted.