[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 4, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9471-9473]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-4634]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

[Docket No: FTA-2008-0009]


National Transit Database: Policy on Reporting of Coordinated 
Human Services Transportation Data

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Final Policy on Reporting of Coordinated Human 
Services Transportation Data to the National Transit Database.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the Federal Transit Administration's 
(FTA) policy on the reporting of coordinated human services 
transportation data to the National Transit Database (NTD). On August 
12, 2008, FTA proposed a new policy clarifying how transit providers 
reporting to the NTD may include sponsored trips in their reports. FTA 
received two comments on the proposed policy and is now formally 
adopting the new policy.

DATES: Effective Date: March 4, 2009.

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 (49 U.S.C. 5307) or Other Than Urbanized Area 
Formula Grants (49 U.S.C. 5311) 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 providers in urbanized areas and over 60 State, 
Territorial, and Tribal Departments of Transportation representing over 
1,300 transit providers in rural areas report to the NTD through an 
Internet-based reporting system. Each year, performance data from the 
urbanized area submissions are used to apportion over $6 billion of FTA 
funds under the Urbanized Area Formula Grants and Fixed-Guideway 
Modernization Grants (49 U.S.C. 5309(b)(2)) Programs. These data are 
also used in the annual National Transit Summaries and Trends report, 
the biennial Conditions and Performance Report to Congress, in meeting 
FTA's obligations under the Government Performance and Results Act, and 
in public reports available on http://www.ntdprogram.gov.
    For many years, it has been FTA's policy to require urbanized area 
transit providers reporting demand response service to the NTD to 
exclude from their reports service data for certain sponsored trips. 
These trips were typically arranged and paid for by a third party for a 
specific group of clients (such as participants in programs like 
Medicaid, Head Start, sheltered workshops, or assisted living centers), 
and these sponsored trips were often not open to the general public at 
large. Excluding data for these trips from the NTD also excluded them 
from the calculation of the apportionment of formula grants for 
urbanized areas. In light of FTA's policies and guidance on Coordinated 
Human Services Transportation, FTA proposed to clarify this policy for 
the 2008 NTD Report Year to specify that transit providers are to 
report data for all of their demand response service as public 
transportation, except for those services that are defined as charter 
service under FTA's recently revised charter rule (49 CFR 604, 73 FR 
2326, January 14, 2008). FTA also proposed to require transit agencies 
in urbanized areas to separately report their ``regular unlinked 
passenger trips'' and their ``sponsored demand response unlinked 
passenger trips'' for demand response service.

II. Comments and FTA Response to Comments

    On August 12, 2008, FTA published a notice in the Federal Register 
(73 FR 47641) inviting comments on this proposed policy on reporting 
coordinated human services transportation data to the NTD. FTA received 
two comments on the proposed change.
    One commenter supported the proposed policy. A second commenter 
objected to this policy on the grounds that the policy would impose NTD 
reporting requirements on human services transportation providers that 
are coordinated through a brokerage operated by a reporting transit 
provider, and that the burdensome nature of the NTD reporting 
requirements on these small-scale human service transportation 
providers would result in a reduction in service from these providers. 
The commenter noted that almost all of the human services 
transportation providers coordinated through the brokerage received 
very little Federal funding, and that this Federal funding was usually 
not through the Section 5307 Program. The commenter also noted that 
many of the required NTD reporting elements are not currently collected 
at all, and the ridership metrics that are collected are not compliant 
with FTA Circular 2710.1A.
    Response: FTA clarifies that this policy only applies to what trips 
a transit provider reports to the NTD, but does not extend NTD 
reporting requirements to any other transit provider. The NTD requires 
a transit provider to report all transit trips provided using its own 
directly-operated equipment or through its own subcontractors. 
Coordinating a trip through a brokerage does not create a subcontractor 
relationship with the other human service transportation providers 
participating in a brokerage. Thus, such trips should not be reported 
to the NTD by a transit provider operating a brokerage. The only trips 
from the brokerage that the transit provider should report to the NTD 
are those referred to itself and carried out using its own directly-
operated equipment or using its purchased transportation 
subcontractors.

[[Page 9472]]

    If a transit provider wishes to benefit from the service data 
generated by trips coordinated through a brokerage, it may do so by 
requesting a separate NTD Identification Number (NTD ID) for making a 
consolidated report on behalf of the participants in the brokerage. The 
transit provider would then be responsible for ensuring that this 
consolidated report is fully in compliance with all NTD reporting 
requirements found in the Reporting Manuals and with the Uniform System 
of Accounts.
    FTA also wishes to clarify that it is not necessary for the 
ridership metrics of unlinked passenger trips (UPT) and passenger miles 
traveled (PMT) reported to the NTD to be collected as described in FTA 
Circular 2710.A. This Circular delineates requirements for reporting 
UPT and PMT data through statistical sampling when 100% counts of UPT 
and PMT are either unavailable or unreliable. Transit providers should 
report 100% counts of UPT and PMT to the NTD whenever they are 
available and reliable, and should not report this data to the NTD 
through statistical sampling in these cases. Almost all demand response 
systems keep records of their UPT sufficient to report a 100% count. 
Most demand response systems also record origins and destinations of 
their passengers, which may be used to generate a 100% count of PMT, 
and so avoid statistical sampling.

III. Final Policy

    This policy shall take effect for the 2008 NTD Report Year, so that 
any transit provider wishing to take advantage of this policy for the 
2008 NTD Report Year may do so. Since many transit providers have 
already begun completing their 2008 NTD Reports, however, FTA will also 
accept any reports from the 2008 NTD Report Year made under the old 
policy. This policy will take effect for all agencies beginning with 
the 2009 NTD Report Year. Any transit provider unable to comply with 
this policy for 2009 may request a waiver for up to one year from FTA 
through the efile functionality of the NTD Online Reporting System.
    Transit providers should report all demand response services 
provided to individuals as public transportation services, regardless 
of whether the trip was sponsored in whole or in part by a third party, 
except for those services that are defined as charter service under 
FTA's recently revised charter rule (49 CFR Part 604, 73 FR 2326, 
January 14, 2008). Service that meets the definition of charter service 
must be reported on a quarterly basis to the charter registration Web 
site, as required by the charter rule, and data for these trips should 
not be reported as revenue service to the NTD.
    Charter service is defined, in part, as ``transportation provided * 
* * at the request of a third party for the exclusive use of a bus or 
van at a negotiated price,'' with the caveat that ``charter service * * 
* does not include demand response service to individuals.'' Transit 
providers reporting to the NTD may distinguish their demand response 
services, particularly their sponsored demand response service, from 
charter service by a number of factors:
    (1) Charter service is exclusive, whereas demand response service 
is shared-ride. If the transit provider may mix passengers from a trip 
sponsor with other demand response passengers on the same trip, then 
the trip is shared-ride service, and service data for that trip should 
be reported to the NTD as public transportation.
    (2) Charter service is service to a group, whereas demand response 
service is service to individuals. Service to individuals can be 
identified by a vehicle trip that includes multiple origins, multiple 
destinations, or both, even when the clients have exclusive use of the 
vehicle. Some demand response sponsored trips carried out as part of a 
Coordinated Human Services Transportation Plan, such as trips for Head 
Start, assisted living centers, or sheltered workshops, may be provided 
on an exclusive basis, but are provided to service multiple origins to 
a single destination, a single origin to multiple destinations, or even 
multiple origins to multiple destinations. Transit providers should 
report service data for these trips to the NTD as public 
transportation.
    (3) Charter service is for a specific event or function, whereas 
demand response service is regular and continuing. Some demand response 
sponsored trips carried out as part of a Coordinated Human Services 
Transportation Plan may be exclusive, and may be for a group from a 
single origin to a single destination, but may occur on a frequently 
reoccurring basis, such as daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Transit 
providers should report service data for these trips to the NTD as 
public transportation.
    (4) Demand response service may also include certain trips that are 
exclusive, for a group, from a single origin to a single destination, 
and that reoccur on a less-frequent basis than once per month, so long 
as these trips are arranged and operated under the same terms and 
conditions as the demand response system for individuals. These terms 
and conditions include advance notice requirements, service windows for 
pick-up and drop-off, and price.
    Service carried out by the demand response units of transit 
providers that are exclusive, for a group, from a single origin to a 
single destination, for a single event, and not under the usual terms 
and conditions of the demand response system for individuals should be 
considered to be charter service. Transit providers should report these 
services to the charter registration Web site. The following diagram 
provides a visual representation of this guidance.
    Transit providers reporting to the NTD must specifically exclude 
from their reports on revenue service any service that meets the 
definition of ``charter service'' under the charter rule, and thus, 
must be reported to the charter registration Web site. This exclusion 
includes charter service legally provided to a Qualified Human Services 
Organization (QHSO), as provided for by the charter rule.
    Transit providers reporting to the NTD must report their regular 
unlinked passenger trips and their sponsored unlinked passenger trips 
separately for demand response service, but not for any other modes of 
service. Regular unlinked passenger trips would refer to those demand 
response trips that are arranged and paid for by individuals, even when 
those individuals pay the fare with user-side subsidies, such as 
coupons or passes provided a QHSO. Regular unlinked passenger trips 
would include all demand response trips provided pursuant to the 
requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Sponsored 
unlinked passenger trips would include all trips where the transit 
provider is directly reimbursed in whole or in part by some third party 
that has helped arrange for the trips. This distinction would make 
reporting of these services for urbanized area transit providers 
consistent with the reporting of these services for transit providers 
in rural areas to the Rural NTD. Since this proposal is being announced 
late in the 2008 Report Year, FTA will grant a waiver from reporting 
separately regular and sponsored unlinked passenger trips for the 2008 
Report Year to any NTD Reporter that requests such a waiver.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 20th day of February 2009.
Matthew Welbes,
Acting Administrator.
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[FR Doc. E9-4634 Filed 3-3-09; 8:45 am]
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