[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 220 (Thursday, November 13, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67247-67248]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-26888]


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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: Final Natural 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 natural disaster 
adjustments for data used in urbanized area apportionments. On August 
14, 2008, FTA proposed a new policy allowing transit systems suffering 
a marked decrease in transit service data due to a natural disaster to 
use their transit service data from a prior year in the urbanized area 
apportionments. FTA received three comments on this policy change and 
is now formally adopting the new policy.

DATES: Effective Date: November 13, 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) 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. Some other 
providers of transit service in urbanized areas report voluntarily to 
the NTD for purposes of benefitting their local urbanized area in the 
urbanized area apportionments. 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 $6 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.
    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 
630.10), 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

[[Page 67248]]

a waiver to an urbanized area recipient that has previously reported to 
the NTD, FTA automatically includes data from the last-available NTD 
report year for that recipient 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 urbanized area formula grants for a transit 
provider that is able to report for the current year. This Notice 
establishes such a policy for urbanized area reporters. This policy 
would not currently apply to NTD reporters from rural areas, however, 
as NTD data are not used in the apportionment of Other Than Urbanized 
Area Formula Grants (Section 5311 Grants). These Grants are apportioned 
solely on the basis of geographic data and population data from the 
U.S. Census Bureau.

II. Comments and FTA Response to Comments

    On August 14, 2008, FTA published a notice in the Federal Register 
(73 FR 47641) inviting comments on its proposed policy for natural 
disaster adjustments. FTA received three comments on this proposed 
policy change. One comment supported the policy change. Two commenters 
also supported the policy change and requested that FTA expand this 
policy to include not just natural disasters, but also man-made 
disasters, such as terrorist attacks, criminal activity, forest fires, 
or disruptions to utilities. These commenters also requested that the 
policy be made applicable for multiple years, rather than only the year 
in which the disaster occurs.
    Response: FTA agrees to make this policy applicable to all 
disasters, both natural and man-made. FTA also notes that it always 
intended for its proposed policy to be applicable for multiple years, 
at FTA's discretion, and will clarify this in the final policy below.

III. Final Policy

    If a transit provider suffers a marked decrease in transit service 
due to a natural or man-made disaster, either the transit provider or 
the designated recipient for an urbanized area may make a request to be 
``held harmless'' in the apportionment of formula grants for urbanized 
areas. If FTA approves the request, FTA will use data for the affected 
providers from the NTD report year before the disaster occurred in 
place of data for the current report year in the urbanized area 
apportionments. FTA would continue to use data from the current NTD 
report year for all other transit providers in the urbanized area 
apportionment.
    This adjustment would not be automatic and must be requested in 
writing. FTA will approve or deny each request at its discretion based 
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 request 
demonstrates that the decrease in transit service from the report year 
before the disaster is in large part due to the ongoing impact of the 
disaster; and (3) whether the request demonstrates that the decrease in 
transit service reasonably appears to be temporary, and not reflective 
of the true transit needs of the urbanized area. FTA will not grant 
adjustment requests that do not address all three 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. A request for an adjustment may only be made 
for one year at a time. Requests for adjustment related to the same 
disaster may be made in subsequent years, provided that the applicant 
can continue to support its request based on the above 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.
    This policy will take effect for the 2007 NTD Report Year, which is 
the data used in the FY 2009 apportionments of formula grants for 
urbanized areas. This policy will remain in effect for the 2008 NTD 
Report Year, which has already begun, and will be included in the NTD 
Annual Manual for the 2009 Report Year.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 31st day of October 2008.
James S. Simpson,
Administrator.
 [FR Doc. E8-26888 Filed 11-12-08; 8:45 am]
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