[Federal Register: February 6, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 25)]
[Notices]
[Page 7030-7031]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr06fe08-105]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
[Docket No: FTA-2007-0012]
National Transit Database: Strike Adjustments for Urbanized Area
Apportionments
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.
ACTION: Final Strike 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 strike adjustments. On
March 12, 2007, FTA provided notice to NTD reporters that it was
changing its policy on strikes, to permit transit agencies to request
an adjustment to their NTD data that are used in the apportionment of
Urbanized Area Formula Grants to offset the effect of strikes,
retroactive to the 2005 Report Year. This policy was also announced in
the Federal Register Notice of the Urbanized Area Formula
Apportionments for Fiscal Year 2007, which was published on March 23,
2007. FTA then formally invited the public to comment on this policy
change through a notice published in the Federal Register on November
21, 2007. FTA received one comment on this policy change, and is now
formally adopting the new policy.
DATES: Effective Date: February 6, 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) is the Federal Transit
Administration's (FTA's) primary database for statistics on the transit
industry. Congress established the NTD to ``help meet the needs of * *
* the public for information on which to base public transportation
service planning * * *'' (49 U.S.C 5335). 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 $4 billion of FTA funds under the Urbanized
Area Formula Grants Program. 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.
For many years, it was FTA's policy to not adjust performance data
submitted to the NTD to offset the effect of strikes. On March 12,
2007, FTA provided notice to NTD reporters that it was changing its
policy on strikes, to permit transit agencies to request an adjustment
to their NTD data that are used in the apportionment of Urbanized Area
Formula Grants to offset the effect of strikes, retroactive to the 2005
Report Year. This policy was also announced in the Federal Register
Notice of the Urbanized Area Formula Apportionments for Fiscal Year
2007, which was published on March 23, 2007. FTA invited the public to
comment on this policy change through a notice published in the Federal
Register on November 21, 2007.
FTA proposes to allow urbanized area transit agencies to request
that their NTD data submissions be adjusted to offset the effects of
strikes for purposes of the apportionment of Urbanized Area Formula
Program Grants. Requesting transit agencies must provide FTA with
documentation for the duration of the strike. FTA will then use the
transit agency's NTD submissions to project performance data for the
time period in question. These projections would then be added to the
transit agency's NTD submission in the data sets used by FTA for the
calculation of the apportionments of Urbanized Area Formula Program
Grants (Section 5307 and Section 5309 Grants). In all publicly-
available data sets and data products, an agency's NTD data would
remain unadjusted and would reflect the actual NTD submission for the
agency.
FTA proposes this policy change because the Section 5307 and
Section 5309 Grant Programs are fundamentally designed to support the
capital needs of transit agencies in urbanized areas. As such, various
performance data are used to approximate the relative capital needs of
the various urbanized areas. These capital needs are unaffected by
strikes, even though strikes may
[[Page 7031]]
produce a substantial decrease in the performance data for an urbanized
area.
Further, FTA proposes to make this policy retroactive to the FY
2005 Report Year, to allow urbanized areas that were negatively
impacted by strikes in the 2005 and 2006 Report Years in the formula
apportionment to avail themselves of this new policy.
II. Comments and FTA Response to Comments
FTA received one comment on this proposed policy change, inquiring
as to how retroactive strike adjustments will be handled.
FTA Responds: FTA has made its new strike adjustment policy
retroactive to the FY 2005 Report Year. Transit agencies that
experienced a reduction in service reported to the NTD due to a strike
in FY 2005, FY 2006, or FY 2007 may request an offsetting adjustment in
their service data for purposes of the FY 2009 Urbanized Area Formula
Apportionment by May 1, 2008. (Service data for FY 2007 will be
adjusted in these cases.) Transit agencies experiencing a strike-
related service reduction in subsequent years must submit their request
for an adjustment along with their original NTD submission.
Issued in Washington, DC, this 1st day of February 2008.
James S. Simpson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E8-2162 Filed 2-5-08; 8:45 am]
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