[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 217 (Friday, November 9, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63646-63648]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-22063]


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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 Final Amendments to the 2007 National Transit 
Database Urbanized Area Annual Reporting Manual.

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SUMMARY: This notice provides final notice of 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 reporting system and be 
responsive to the needs of NTD data users and of the transit agencies 
reporting to the NTD, FTA annually refines and clarifies the reporting 
requirements through revisions to the Annual Manual. On September 5, 
2007, FTA published a notice in the Federal Register (72 FR 17564) 
inviting comments on proposed amendments to the 2007 Annual Manual. 
This notice provides responses to those comments and announces the 
availability of the final 2007 Annual Manual.

DATES: Effective Date: November 9, 2007.

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 Results Act of 1993.
    In an ongoing effort to improve the NTD Internet reporting system 
and to be responsive to both the needs of NTD data users and the needs 
of transit agencies reporting to the NTD, FTA annually refines and 
clarifies reporting requirements to the NTD, as contained in the Annual 
NTD Module Reporting Manual. This notice announces the availability of 
the final 2007 Annual Manual.

II. Comments and FTA Response to Comments

    On September 5, 2007, FTA published a notice in the Federal 
Register (72 FR 17564) inviting comments on proposed amendments to the 
2007 Annual Manual. In this announcement, FTA proposed seven changes:
    (1) To require buyers of purchased transportation service from 
private providers to include the service in their own NTD report, and 
to no longer permit private providers of purchased transportation 
service to report separately to the NTD on behalf of the public 
provider of transit services;
    (2) To require that when one public transit provider purchases 
transportation services from another public transit agency, that either 
the buyer or the seller may report the service, but that the service 
must be reported as being ``directly operated;''
    (3) 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;

[[Page 63647]]

    (4) To require those few transit agencies that service one 
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 they serve on the federal funding 
allocation form;
    (5) To require transit agencies to separate funds, which were 
previously reported as ``Other FTA Funds,'' into different categories 
for each FTA program in their NTD report;
    (6) To create a standard form for submitting the Chief Executive 
Officer's (CEO) certification; and
    (7) To require all transit agencies, beginning with the 2008 report 
year, 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.
    FTA received eight comments on the proposed amendments to the 2007 
Annual Manual. Four comments were received regarding the proposed peak 
rail data collection, two comments were received on the proposed 
sampling requirements for small urbanized area transit agencies, and 
one comment each was received on the proposed changes to the allocation 
of funding form, the collection of funding data by specific FTA 
programs, and the standard form for filing CEO certifications. No 
comments were received on either of the two proposed changes regarding 
the reporting of purchased transportation services. Additionally, FTA 
received comments on two issues that were not addressed in the Federal 
Register Notice. Specifically, these comments concerned the 2007 
reporting deadlines, and the circular providing guidance for the 
sampling of unlinked passenger trip and passenger mile traveled data in 
vanpool operations. FTA hereby responds to these comments in the 
following order: (a) Rail Peak Service Data; (b) Sampling Requirements 
for Small Urbanized Area Transit Agencies; (c) Allocation of Funding; 
(d) Collection of Funding Data by Specific FTA Programs; (e) the CEO 
Certification Standard Form; (f) the 2007 Reporting Deadlines; and (g) 
Vanpool Sampling Requirements.
(a) Rail Peak Service Data
    FTA received four comments on its proposal to collect peak service 
data for rail transit systems. Two comments asked that this requirement 
be made optional for the 2007 and 2008 report years, as 2007 and 2008 
data have already been collected without regard to peak data. One of 
these comments also suggested that FTA institute a size threshold to 
require peak data only from large rail transit agencies, and asked if 
the peak service data requirement would apply to atypical rail modes, 
such as inclined plane. One comment expressed concern about the burden 
this requirement would impose on small transit agencies that operate 
only motorbus and demand response service.
    FTA Responds: FTA adopts the commenters' suggestion to make this 
reporting requirement voluntary for the 2007 and 2008 report years. 
Therefore, FTA will grant a reporting waiver for the peak rail service 
data requirement to any transit agency that requests one for the 2007 
or 2008 report years. FTA also agrees not to apply the peak rail 
service data requirement to atypical rail systems. The peak rail 
service data collection will only apply to heavy rail, light rail, or 
commuter rail systems. FTA will consider implementing a size threshold, 
likely to be a threshold to exempt rail systems with 9 or fewer 
vehicles, for the 2008 Report Year. FTA will invite further comments on 
such a size threshold as part of a future announcement in the Federal 
Register regarding proposed amendments to the 2008 Annual Reporting 
Manual for urbanized area transit agencies. For the 2007 and 2008 
Report Years, any small rail systems will be able to get an automatic 
reporting waiver from the peak rail service requirements. FTA reminds 
the commenters that this proposal concerns only rail systems, and that 
this proposal does not apply to small transit agencies operating only 
motorbus and demand response services.
    One comment was received from a commuter rail transit agency that 
indicated that it collected tickets by hand on-board the trains, and so 
could not easily collect and report unlinked passenger trip data by 
time of day. Two comments suggested that some transit agencies could 
comply with FTA's proposal only by applying estimation factors to their 
actual total ridership counts. One comment asked if FTA would define a 
consistent peak service period across all rail agencies, or if each 
rail agency could define its own peak period.
    FTA Responds: FTA has updated the final 2007 Annual Manual to 
reflect the following guidance: Each rail transit agency may define its 
own peak period, based upon those times of a day at which it operates 
trains on shorter headways, relative to the rest of the day. Further, a 
rail transit agency may define an entire run of a train as being either 
``peak'' or ``off-peak.'' As such, it would not be necessary for a rail 
transit agency to determine which persons boarded an individual train. 
Instead, peak service data could be provided based on the entire data 
for a given run of a train. Only if a rail transit agency is unable to 
collect even this data, a reasonable allocation factor may be used.
(b) Sampling Requirements for Small Urban Transit Agencies
    FTA received two comments on its proposal to require all transit 
agencies that are not required to sample every year to do so every 
third year. Previously, some transit agencies in small urbanized areas 
were only required to sample every fifth year. One small transit agency 
and one State public transportation association urged FTA to reconsider 
this proposal, arguing that the proposal would be too burdensome on 
small transit agencies.
    FTA Responds: FTA declines to adopt the commenters' suggestion to 
reinstitute a five year passenger mile sampling cycle for transit 
agencies in small urbanized areas. The previous requirements, with 
separate five year and three year sampling cycles for certain 
reporters, caused a great deal of confusion to reporters, and some 
transit agencies ended up sampling in the wrong year. Simplified 
requirements will ultimately benefit all transit agencies. Furthermore, 
the five-year sampling cycle was previously instituted at a time when 
transit performance data were not used for the apportionment of 
Urbanized Area Formula Grants (Section 5307 Grants) to small urbanized 
areas. With the passage of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient 
Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) in 2005, 
however, transit performance data are now used in the apportionment of 
Section 5307 funds through the Small Transit-Intensive Cities (STIC) 
Grant Program. As such, there is a greater need for high-quality 
passenger mile data in small urbanized areas, as passenger mile data 
for a transit agency in a small urbanized area impacts the Federal 
funding for transit not just in its own urbanized area, but in all 
other small urbanized areas, through the STIC apportionment formula. In 
order to reduce reporting burden, FTA currently only requires transit 
agencies to sample passenger miles so as to achieve 95% confidence with 
10% precision. With a five-year sampling cycle, however, routine 
sampling errors can negatively impact STIC apportionments for five 
years until a new sample is conducted.

[[Page 63648]]

A three-year sampling cycle will provide additional data to improve the 
overall quality of the passenger mile data used in the apportionment of 
Federal funds. FTA recognizes that sampling for passenger miles may be 
burdensome on transit agencies, particularly small ones. As such, FTA 
is undertaking an effort to revise its sampling guidelines, so as to 
reduce some of the reporting burden. FTA notes that the new sampling 
requirements will not impact transit agencies until the 2011 report 
year, as transit agencies on both the five-year and the three-year 
cycle were already required to sample for the 2008 report year under 
the old cycles.
(c) Rail Peak Service Data
    One comment requested further direction on FTA's proposal to expand 
its Federal Funding Allocation form to require transit agencies 
servicing one large urbanized area and two or more small urbanized 
areas to allocate their service data across the various small urbanized 
areas. (For NTD purposes, a large urbanized area is one with 200,000 or 
more in population, and a small urbanized area is one with less than 
200,000 in population.) Previously, FTA's Federal Funding Allocation 
form only accounted for transit agencies serving one small urbanized 
area, not two or more. This comment expressed concern about the burden 
of conducting this allocation for the commenter's own agency.
    FTA Responds: FTA notes that the above comment came from a transit 
agency that serves two large urbanized areas, and only one small 
urbanized area. As such, the revised guidance does not apply to this 
transit agency. FTA notes that transit agencies should allocate data 
across various small urbanized areas in the same way in which many 
transit agencies already allocate data across various large urbanized 
areas. Additionally, FTA will provide guidance on this allocation 
through the 2007 Annual Manual, through NTD training sessions, and 
through technical assistance available from NTD validation analysts.
(d) Collection of Funding Data by Specific FTA Programs
    FTA received one comment in support of its proposal to collect 
funding data separately for each FTA Program, rather than through a 
catchall category for ``Other FTA Funds.''
    FTA Responds: FTA thanks the commenter.
(e) CEO Certification Standard Form
    FTA received one comment on its proposal to create a standard CEO 
Certification Form. This commenter was concerned that the standard CEO 
Certification Form would not be able to accommodate its practice of 
filing its NTD report before receiving the final report from its 
auditor.
    FTA Responds: FTA notes that its proposed CEO Certification Form 
includes options 3a and 3b, each of which provides for a transit agency 
to file its NTD report before receiving the final report from its 
auditor.
(f) 2007 Reporting Deadlines
    FTA received one comment that the ordinary reporting deadlines for 
transit agencies with 2007 fiscal years ending on or before June 30, 
2007, would not be attainable, given that the 2007 Annual Reporting 
Manual was pending public notice-and-comment.
    FTA Responds: FTA agrees with this comment, and establishes the 
following 2007 NTD Reporting Deadlines for transit agencies with 2007 
fiscal years ending on or before June 30, 2007:
    Report Due Date: November 30, 2007.
    Waiver Request Deadline: November 30, 2007.
    Last Date to Receive Report Revisions: May 1, 2008.
    Report Closeout: May 15, 2008.
    FTA does not change the deadlines for transit agencies with 2007 
fiscal years ending after June 30, 2007. FTA further reminds transit 
agencies that pursuant to 49 CFR 630.6 NTD reporters may request a 30-
day extension for submitting their reports.
(g) 2007 Reporting Deadlines
    FTA received one comment proposing revised guidance for sampling 
passenger miles for vanpool service, which are currently covered by the 
Circular UMTA C 2710.21, issued in 1988.
    FTA Responds: The original Federal Register Notice announcing 
proposed amendments to the 2007 Annual Manual did not mention vanpool 
sampling guidelines or Circular UMTA C 2710.21. As noted above, FTA is 
currently considering revising its sampling guidance, and will take 
this comment under advisement in developing any such guidance. FTA will 
invite public guidance on revised guidance, once it has been developed.
    The final 2007 Reporting Manual, as amended, may be found on the 
Internet at http://www.ntdprogram.gov.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 6th day of November 2007.
James S. Simpson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E7-22063 Filed 11-8-07; 8:45 am]
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