[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 19, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2980-2981]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00851]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

[FTA Docket No. FTA 2022-0002]


National Transit Database Census Reporting Clarifications

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration, Department of Transportation 
(DOT).

ACTION: Notice; Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice provides interested parties with the opportunity 
to comment on changes to the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) 
National Transit Database (NTD) reporting requirements as they relate 
to Urbanized Areas (UZA). Each year, transit systems use data from the 
Census Bureau to update their basic information (B-10) form indicating 
what urbanized areas and rural areas they serve, and also to complete 
their Federal Funding Allocation (FFA-10) form distributing their 
service data across those urbanized and rural areas. The Census Bureau 
is expected to define new UZAs based on 2020 Census data in calendar 
year 2022. FTA proposes that for NTD Report Year 2021 (RY 2021), 
transit systems would be required to complete a B-10 and FFA-10 form 
based on the UZAs from the 2010 Census, as usual. If the Census Bureau 
releases new UZAs prior to October 1, 2022, then transit systems would 
be required to complete new B-10 and FFA-10 forms as an addendum to the 
annual report at that time.

DATES: Comments are requested by February 18, 2022. FTA will consider 
all comments received before the close of business on the comment 
closing date. To the extent practicable, FTA may also consider comments 
received after that date.

ADDRESSES: You may file comments identified by docket number FTA-2022-
0002 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: Send comments to Docket Management Facility; U.S. 
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building 
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.

[[Page 2981]]

     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room 
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET, 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: Fax comments to Docket Management Facility, U.S. 
Department of Transportation, at (202) 493-2251.
    Instructions: You must include the agency name (Federal Transit 
Administration) and Docket Number (FTA-2022-0002) for this notice, at 
the beginning of your comments. If sent by mail, submit two copies of 
your comments.
    Electronic Access and Filing: This document and all comments 
received may be viewed online through the Federal eRulemaking portal at 
http://www.regulations.gov or at the street address listed above. 
Electronic submission and retrieval help and guidelines are available 
on the website. It is available 24 hours each day, 365 days a year. 
Please follow the instructions. An electronic copy of this document may 
also be downloaded from the Office of the Federal Register's home page 
at https://www.federalregister.gov.
    Privacy Act: Except as provided below, all comments received into 
the docket will be made public in their entirety. The comments will be 
searchable by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or 
signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, 
business, labor union, etc.). You should not include information in 
your comment that you do not want to be made public. You may review 
DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published 
on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or at https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Coleman, National Transit 
Database Program Manager, FTA Office of Budget and Policy, (202) 366-
5333, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Transit Database (NTD) is the 
Federal Transit Administration's (FTA's) primary database for 
statistics on the transit industry. Each year, transit systems use data 
from the Census Bureau to update their basic information (B-10) form 
indicating what urbanized areas and rural areas they serve, and also to 
complete their Federal Funding Allocation (FFA-10) form distributing 
their service data across those urbanized and rural areas. In 
implementing the 2010 Census, FTA required transit systems to complete 
only one FFA-10 form for the 2011 annual report (76 FR 30997). Transit 
systems were not required to complete an FFA-10 form based on the UZA 
definitions from the 2000 Census. Instead, transit systems filled out 
one FFA-10 form for their 2011 annual report during the summer of 2012, 
following the release of the 2010 Census UZA definitions in spring 
2012.
    In 2021, the Census Bureau announced that the new UZA definitions 
from the 2020 Census will not be released until summer 2022 or later. 
These UZA definitions are necessary for the NTD to create apportionment 
files. Federal law requires FTA to use the most recent urbanized area 
definitions from the Census Bureau (49 U.S.C. 5302(23)) in formula 
funding apportionments.
    For the 2021 annual report, NTD reporters have already begun 
completing an initial FFA-10 and B-10 forms using existing 2010 Census 
definitions. For Report Year 2021, FTA proposes to require transit 
systems to submit the B-10 and FFA-10 forms using 2010 Census data by 
the normal NTD annual report deadline. If the Census Bureau releases 
new urbanized area definitions prior to October 1, 2022, FTA would 
require transit operators to submit new B-10 and FFA-10 forms using 
2020 Census data as an addendum to the annual report. Collecting this 
addendum based on 2020 Census data is necessary to allow FTA to meet 
the UZA definition found in 49 U.S.C. 5302(23) and produce 
apportionment data files that support the apportionment of formula 
funds. If the Census Bureau releases new urbanized area definitions on 
or after October 1, 2022, then FTA would not require the form addendum 
and would instead integrate the new urbanized area definitions into the 
2022 reporting process.
    To minimize reporting burden, transit operators will not have to 
fill in the addendum from scratch. The addendum will pull in as much 
data as possible from the initial FFA-10 and B-10 forms completed using 
2010 Census UZA definitions, based on unchanged or minimally changed 
UZA boundaries.

Nuria I. Fernandez,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2022-00851 Filed 1-18-22; 8:45 am]
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