[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 172 (Thursday, September 6, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51295-51297]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-17564]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

[Docket No: FTA-2007-28960]


National Transit Database: Amendments to Urbanized Area Annual 
Reporting Manual

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Proposed Amendments to the 2007 
National Transit Database Urbanized Area Annual Reporting Manual.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice provides interested parties with the opportunity 
to comment on changes to the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) 
2007 National Transit Database (NTD) Urbanized Area Annual Reporting 
Manual (Annual Manual). Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 5335, FTA requires 
recipients of FTA Urbanized Area Formula Grants to provide an annual 
report to the Secretary of Transportation via the NTD reporting system 
according to a uniform system of accounts (USOA). In an ongoing effort 
to improve the NTD

[[Page 51296]]

reporting system and be responsive to the needs of the transit agencies 
reporting to the NTD, FTA annually refines and clarifies the reporting 
requirements through revisions to the Annual Manual. At this time, FTA 
is not accepting comments on the NTD Rural Reporting Manual. Comments 
will be accepted by FTA on the NTD Rural Reporting Manual under a 
separate Federal Register Notice, which will be forthcoming.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 9, 2007. FTA will 
consider late filed comments to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments at the following Web site: http://dms.dot.gov. Follow the instructions there for submitting comments to 
the DOT electronic docket.
    Fax: 202-493-2251.
    Mail: Docket Management System; U.S. Department of Transportation, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
Washington, DC 20590.
    Hand Delivery: To the Docket Management System; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building Ground 
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
    Instructions: When submitting comments electronically to the 
Department's Docket Management System (DMS) Web site located at http://dms.dot.gov, you must use docket number FTA-2007-28960. 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://dms.dot.gov including any personal identifying 
information. This means that if your comment includes any personal 
identifying information, such information will be made available to 
users of DMS. You may review the Department's complete Privacy Act 
Statement in the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 
19477), or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For program issues, John D. Giorgis, 
Office of Budget and Policy, (202) 366-5430 (telephone); (202) 366-7989 
(fax); or [email protected] (e-mail). For legal issues, Richard 
Wong, Office of the Chief Counsel, (202) 366-0675 (telephone); (202) 
366-3809 (fax); or [email protected] (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. Recipients of FTA's Urbanized Area Formula Program (section 
5307) and Other Than Urbanized Area Formula Program (section 5311) are 
required by statute to submit data to the NTD. These data are used 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.
    In an ongoing effort to improve the NTD Internet reporting system 
and to be responsive to the needs of the transit agencies reporting to 
the NTD and the transit community, FTA annually refines and clarifies 
reporting requirements to the NTD. This notice provides interested 
parties with the opportunity to comment on changes to FTA's 2007 
Urbanized Area Annual NTD Module Reporting Manual (Annual Manual). For 
purposes of comparison, the 2006 Urbanized Area Annual NTD Module 
Reporting Manual can be reviewed on the NTD Web site, http://www.ntdprogram.gov.

II. Proposed Changes in the 2007 Annual Manual

Basic Information Module

    FTA proposes two changes to the Basic Information Form (B-10). 
First, for the 2007 reporting cycle, FTA proposes to require purchasers 
of transportation services from private providers to report all the 
data for these services in the purchaser's NTD submission. Previously, 
the sellers of purchased transportation services could report 
separately in some cases. This change will unify all data for a given 
transit agency into a single report.
    Second, for purchased transportation services between two public 
NTD reporting agencies, FTA proposes to require the service to be 
reported as directly operated service. Either the public transit agency 
that is buying the service or the public transit agency that is selling 
the service may choose to report the service, by mutual agreement of 
the parties, but the service must be reported as directly operated 
service. This change is being made because the purpose of collecting 
separate data for directly operated and purchased transportation 
services is to allow an assessment of the costs and benefits to public 
transportation agencies in using private companies as providers for 
public transportation services in their operations. Including some 
public transportation agencies as providers of purchased transportation 
services, however, confuses this purpose. FTA notes that the 
apportionment of section 5307 funds is based on the urbanized area 
where the service is provided, and is therefore not affected by which 
agency reports the service.

Peak Service Data

    FTA proposes to require rail transit agencies to report Average 
Weekday Unlinked Passenger Trips and Actual Passenger Car Revenue Miles 
by four time categories: Weekday AM Peak, Weekday Midday, Weekday PM 
Peak and Weekday Other. Previously, FTA only required rail transit 
agencies to report Average Weekday Unlinked Passenger Trips and Actual 
Passenger Car Revenue Miles without distinction as to time of day. This 
data requirement is being added to support the biannual Conditions and 
Performance Report (C&P Report), which is jointly prepared by FTA and 
the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The C&P Report requires FTA 
to provide estimates to Congress of the Nation's transit physical 
conditions, operational performance, and future investment needs. FTA 
currently measures the capacity utilization of transit rail systems 
based on the capacity utilization of the system as a whole at all times 
of the day and during all days of the week, without regard to peak 
ridership demands. As a result, FTA may be understating the current 
capacity utilization of transit rail systems, and thus underestimating 
the Nation's future investment needs for rail transit. FTA plans to use 
rail transit agencies' average passenger trip length in conjunction 
with this data to compare peak passenger miles with peak vehicle 
revenue miles to determine peak capacity utilization. By collecting and 
analyzing this peak data, FTA plans to determine if there is greater 
need for additional rail transit capacity than previously realized.

Federal Funding Allocation

    FTA proposes to require those few transit agencies that service one

[[Page 51297]]

urbanized area over 200,000 in population (large urbanized area) and 
two or more urbanized areas under 200,000 in population (small 
urbanized areas) to separately allocate their operations, operational 
expense, and fixed guideway data among each of the urbanized areas 
under 200,000 in population that it serves. Previously, the NTD only 
accounted for a transit agency servicing one large urbanized area and 
one small urbanized area. It did not account for a transit agency 
servicing one large urbanized area and two small urbanized areas. This 
change will address that oversight, and provide data that can be used 
for the apportionment of Small Transit Intensive Cities (STIC) Grants, 
as required by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient 
Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU).

Financial Module

    FTA proposes to require transit agencies to separate funds that 
were previously reported as ``Other FTA Funds'' into different 
categories for each FTA program. Previously, the NTD required FTA funds 
only to be reported as either Urbanized Area Formula Funds (section 
5307), Capital Program Funds (section 5309), or as Other FTA Funds. The 
additional categories being proposed by FTA are:
     FTA Metropolitan Planning (section 5303);
     Clean Fuels Program (section 5309);
     Special Needs of Elderly Individuals and Individuals with 
Disabilities Formula Program (section 5310);
     Other Than Urbanized Area Formula Program (section 5311);
     Jobs Access and Reverse Commute Formula Program (section 
5316);
     New Freedom Program (section 5317); and
     Alternative Transportation in Parks and Public Lands 
(section 5320).
    This requirement is designed to improve the NTD's usefulness as a 
source of information for public transportation planning purposes by 
providing greater detail as to the sources of funds that are available 
to transit agencies. Additionally, this requirement is designed to 
support measurement of performance for the various FTA grant-making 
programs.

Declarations

    FTA proposes to create a standard form for submitting the Chief 
Executive Officer's (CEO) certification. Previously, CEOs submitted a 
letter to the NTD as their certification. In prior report years, many 
transit agencies have submitted CEO certifications that did not conform 
to all of the requirements for certification. By creating a standard 
form, FTA seeks to ensure the uniformity of CEO certifications, and to 
simplify the CEO certification process for reporters.

Sampling Requirement

    FTA proposes, beginning in 2008, to require all transit agencies to 
conduct a statistical sample of average trip lengths (used for 
calculating passenger miles traveled) every three years, unless they 
are a large transit agency that is already required to sample every 
year. Previously, FTA only required some agencies to sample every five 
years. FTA proposes to require transit agencies that previously sampled 
only once every five years to now sample every three years in order to 
ensure the accuracy of passenger mile data used in the apportionment of 
funds, particularly in regard to the Small Transit-Intensive Cities 
(STIC) apportionment. Further, by moving most transit agencies to a 
single cycle for mandatory sampling, FTA will reduce confusion in 
regards to sampling requirements. FTA notes that 2008 was already going 
to be a mandatory sampling year for all transit agencies on both the 
three year cycle and the five year cycle.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 29th day of August 2007.
James S. Simpson,
Administrator.
 [FR Doc. E7-17564 Filed 9-5-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-57-P