[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 6, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7030-7031]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-2162]


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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 [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. 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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