[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 158 (Thursday, August 14, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47641-47642]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-18939]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

[Docket No.: FTA-2008-0035]


National Transit Database: Natural Disaster Adjustments for 
Urbanized Area Apportionments

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Proposed New Policy on Natural Disaster Adjustments 
for Urbanized Area Formula Grant Apportionment Data

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SUMMARY: This notice provides interested parties with the opportunity 
to comment on the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) National 
Transit Database (NTD) proposed new policy on natural disaster 
adjustments to NTD data. If a transit provider suffers a marked 
decrease in transit service due to a natural disaster, FTA proposes to 
allow that transit provider to be ``held harmless'' in the 
apportionment of formula grants for urbanized areas. In this case, FTA 
would use the transit provider's data from the NTD report year before 
the natural disaster in the apportionment, but use data from the 
current NTD report year for all other transit providers. Under this 
proposed policy, FTA would only make this adjustment upon the request 
of the affected transit provider or the designated recipient for the 
urbanized area, and FTA would grant this request at its discretion 
based on the disaster's demonstrated severity and impacts. FTA proposes 
for this policy to take effect for the 2007 NTD Report Year, which is 
the data to be used in the FY 2009 apportionment of formula grants for 
urbanized areas.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 15, 2008. FTA 
will consider comments filed after this date to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments [identified by FTA Docket ID Number 
FTA-2008-0035] at the Federal eRulemaking Portal at: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
    Fax: 202-493-2251.
    Mail: Docket Management Facility: U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building, Ground 
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    Instructions: When submitting comments you must use docket number 
FTA-2008-0035. 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://www.regulations.gov 
including any personal identifying information.

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) was established by Congress 
``to help meet the needs of * * * the public for information on which 
to base public transportation service planning * * *'' (49 U.S.C 5335). 
To support this goal, recipients or beneficiaries of Urbanized Area 
Formula Grants (Section 5307) or Other Than Urbanized Area Formula 
(Section 5311) Grants are required to report to the NTD. Other 
providers of transit service in urbanized areas report voluntarily to 
the NTD. 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 $5 
billion of FTA funds under the Urbanized Area Formula Grants and Fixed-
Guideway Modernization Grants Programs. 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.

[[Page 47642]]

    FTA currently allows a transit provider that is severely impacted 
by a natural disaster to request a waiver from reporting to the NTD for 
the current year. This policy is based on the NTD Rule (49 CFR Part 
630), which provides for a waiver from the mandatory NTD reporting 
requirements if reporting to the NTD would cause ``unreasonable expense 
or inconvenience.'' When FTA grants such a waiver to an urbanized area 
reporter that has previously reported to the NTD, FTA automatically 
includes data from the last-available NTD report year for the reporter 
in the apportionment of formula grants for urbanized areas. However, 
FTA does not currently have policies or procedures that would allow it 
to use NTD data from a prior report year in the apportionment of 
formula grants for urbanized areas for a transit provider that is able 
to report for the current year.

II. Proposed Policy Change

    If a transit provider suffers a marked decrease in transit service 
due to a natural disaster, FTA proposes to allow that transit provider 
to be ``held harmless'' in the apportionment of formula grants for 
urbanized areas. The affected provider may request that their data from 
the NTD report year before the natural disaster occurred be used in 
place of data for the current report year in the apportionment. FTA 
would continue to use data from the current NTD report year for all 
other transit providers in the apportionment. The designated recipient 
for an urbanized area may also make this request on behalf of an 
affected provider. This adjustment would not be automatic, and FTA will 
not make this adjustment unless requested by the affected provider or 
the designated grant recipient for the urbanized area.
    Under the proposed policy, FTA would approve or deny the request 
for the adjustment at its discretion. FTA will base its decision on the 
following factors: (1) Whether a Federal disaster declaration was in 
place for all or part of the current report year, for either all or 
part of the transit provider's service area; (2) whether the adjustment 
request demonstrates that the decrease in transit service from the 
report year before the natural disaster is in large part due to the 
ongoing impacts of the natural disaster; and (3) whether the decrease 
in transit service reasonably appears to be temporary, and thus not 
reflective of the true transit needs of the urbanized area. FTA will 
not grant adjustment requests that do not address all of these factors. 
Adjustment requests should include sufficient documentation to allow 
FTA to evaluate the request based on these factors. FTA may request 
additional information from an applicant for an adjustment to evaluate 
the request based on these factors. If the adjustment request is 
granted, the NTD data in all publicly-available data sets and data 
products would remain unadjusted, and would reflect the actual NTD 
submission for the transit provider. The only adjustment would be in 
the data sets used for the apportionments of formula grants for 
urbanized areas.
    FTA proposes for this policy to take effect for the 2007 NTD Report 
Year, which is the data to be used in the FY 2009 apportionment of 
formula grants for urbanized areas. This policy would remain in effect 
for the 2008 NTD Report Year, and will be included in the NTD Annual 
Manual for the 2009 Report Year.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 8th day of August 2008.
James S. Simpson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E8-18939 Filed 8-12-08; 4:15 pm]
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