National Transit Database: Amendments to Urbanized Area Annual Reporting Manual, 45797-45800 [E8-18090]
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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 152 / Wednesday, August 6, 2008 / Notices
demonstration project is smaller than
expected: currently, 27 carriers are
operating 107 trucks. Although these
carriers have made 9,983 trips into the
United States, most of these carriers had
destinations in the commercial zones;
they have performed 1,272 long-haul
trips beyond the border zones.
Concurrently, many U.S.-domiciled
motor carriers have expressed concern
at the high cost of maintaining an
official legal representative in Mexico,
especially due to their belief that a
minimum of two years is needed to
develop sustainable business
relationships with Mexican shippers.
This has resulted in a limited number of
U.S. carriers participating in the
demonstration project. At the moment,
only 10 U.S. carriers are participating
and they are operating only 55 vehicles.
They have made 2,245 trips across the
Mexican border.
In order to ensure the demonstration
project can be reviewed and evaluated
on the basis of a more comprehensive
body of data, FMCSA has decided to
extend the project from one year up to
the full three years allowed by statute.
The U.S. and Mexico will continue to
limit the project to a maximum of 100
of each other’s motor carriers and will
provide for reciprocal authority. In
addition, the U.S. will require
participating Mexican carriers and
drivers to comply with all applicable
U.S. laws and regulations. The
extension will enable FMCSA to collect
and analyze a larger volume of safety
and operational data, which is the
fundamental goal of the demonstration
project. We believe an extension will
provide non-participating motor
carriers, both in Mexico and the United
States, added incentives to join the
project, knowing that their investment
in long-haul foreign operations will
have more time to mature and become
profitable.
Issued on: July 31, 2008.
John H. Hill,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E8–17946 Filed 8–4–08; 9:15 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
[Docket No: FTA–2008–0002]
National Transit Database:
Amendments to Urbanized Area
Annual Reporting Manual
Provider: Federal Transit
Administration (FTA), DOT.
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Jkt 214001
Notice of Amendments to 2008
National Transit Database Urbanized
Area Annual Reporting Manual.
ACTION:
SUMMARY: This notice announces the
adoption of certain amendments for the
Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA)
2008 National Transit Database (NTD)
Urbanized Area Annual Reporting
Manual (Annual Manual). On February
7, 2008, FTA published a notice in the
Federal Register (73 FR 7361) inviting
comments on proposed amendments to
the 2008 Annual Manual. This notice
provides responses to those comments,
and announces the adoption of certain
amendments for the 2008 Annual
Manual, as well as the adoption of some
amendments to take effect for the 2009
Report Year.
DATES: Effective Date: August 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
john.giorgis@dot.gov (e-mail). For legal
issues, Richard Wong, Office of the
Chief Counsel, (202) 366–0675
(telephone); (202) 366–3809 (fax); or
richard.wong@dot.gov (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. Recipients of
FTA’s Urbanized Area Formula Program
(Section 5307) and Other Than
Urbanized Area Formula Program
(Section 5311) are required by statute to
submit data to the NTD. These data are
used to ‘‘help meet the needs of * * *
the public for information on which to
base public transportation service
planning * * * ’’ (49 U.S.C. 5335).
Other transit providers in urbanized
areas report to the NTD under these
requirements on a voluntary basis for
purposes of including their data in the
apportionment of Urbanized Area
Formula Grants. FTA details the NTD
reporting requirements for urbanized
area transit providers in the NTD
Urbanized Area Annual Reporting
Manual (Annual Manual).
Currently, over 650 transit providers
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 and
the Fixed-Guideway Modernization
Grants Programs. These data are also
used in the annual National Transit
Summaries and Trends report, the
biennial Conditions and Performance
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45797
Report to Congress, and in meeting
FTA’s obligations under the
Government Performance and Results
Act.
In an ongoing effort to improve the
NTD Internet reporting system and to be
responsive to the needs of transit
providers reporting to the NTD, and to
the needs of the transit data user
community, FTA annually refines and
clarifies reporting requirements to the
NTD. This notice announces the
adoption of certain amendments for the
2008 Annual Manual, as well as the
adoption of some amendments to take
effect for the 2009 Report Year.
II. Comments and FTA Response to
Comments
On February 7, 2008, FTA published
a notice in the Federal Register (73 FR
7361) inviting comments on proposed
amendments to the 2008 Annual
Manual. FTA received responses from
seven commenters. Three of the
commenters made comments on the set
of amendments as a whole. One
expressed support for the package of
amendments as a whole and two
commenters suggested that most of the
proposed amendments should not take
effect until the 2009 Report Year, in
order to give reporters sufficient time to
prepare reports under the new
requirements. FTA agrees with the
commenters and will therefore delay
many of the proposed amendments until
the 2009 Report Year, particularly those
that impact relationships with
purchased transportation providers.
FTA will respond to all comments based
on each proposed amendment.
(a) Contractual Relationship (B–30)
Form
FTA proposed to revamp this form to
allow reporters to clearly report three
separate types of relationships: (1)
Traditional purchased transportation
contracts; (2) taxicab contracts for
demand response service; and (3) passthrough relationships. Under this
proposal, taxicab contracts for demand
response service would become a third
type of service under the NTD, with
reduced reporting requirements on the
S–10, and no reporting requirements for
the A–10 (asset inventory) form. FTA
received one comment in support of the
proposed changes.
FTA Response: Based on the above
comments requesting that changes
impacting the reporting requirements
for purchased transportation services be
delayed until the 2009 Report Year, FTA
agrees to delay implementation of this
amendment until the 2009 Report Year.
The above requirements will be
reflected in the 2009 Annual Manual.
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To support the transition to reduced
reporting requirements for taxicab
demand response contracts in 2009,
FTA will request that the following data
elements on the S–10 form be reported
separately for taxicab demand response
services from all other purchased
transportation demand response
services: Vehicles Operated in
Maximum Service, Vehicles Available
for Maximum Service, Vehicle Revenue
Miles, Vehicle Revenue Hours, Unlinked
Passenger Trips, ADA Unlinked
Passenger Trips, and Passenger Miles
Traveled. FTA will automatically grant
a waiver from this requirement for the
2008 Report Year to any transit provider
with both taxicab demand response
services and regular purchased
transportation demand response
services that is unable to report these
data separately for the taxicab demand
response services in 2008.
FTA received one other comment,
objecting to the reporting of contract
administration costs on the B–30.
FTA Response: FTA has long required
the reporting of contract administration
costs under the label of ‘‘other costs
incurred by buyer.’’ This is not a new
reporting requirement. The reporting of
contract administration costs is essential
for understanding the true costs of
purchased transportation services
relative to directly operated services. In
response to this comment, FTA will
amend the titles and definitions on the
B–30 form to make the reporting of
information more intuitive, but without
altering or increasing the existing
reporting requirements.
(b) Funds Expended and Earned (F–10)
Form
FTA proposed to only require transit
providers to separate funds earned and
spent on operations from funds earned
and spent on capital in the context of
fare revenues, other directly-generated
revenues (e.g. parking and advertising
revenues), contributed services (e.g.
services provided directly by another
government body), the various sources
of Federal funds, total state government
revenues, total local government
revenues, and total revenues from
independent political entities. FTA
proposed to retain the requirement to
continue to report total funds earned
from each separate type of tax at the
local and state levels.
Two commenters voiced support for
this proposal, proposing that FTA go
further and consolidate expenditure
reporting for the different categories of
directly-generated revenues (e.g. fares,
advertising, or concessions.)
FTA Response: FTA agrees with the
above comments and will adopt the
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suggestion to consolidate expenditure
reporting for the different categories of
directly-generated revenues on the F–10
Form. FTA will defer implementation of
this amendment until the 2009 Report
Year. The above requirements will be
reflected in the 2009 Annual Manual.
(c) Bonds and Loans
FTA proposed to eliminate the
requirement to report Bond and Loan
Payments separately for each category of
funding. Instead, FTA proposed
simplified bond and loan reporting that
would require transit providers to
report: (1) Year-beginning principal
outstanding; (2) new bonds and loans
(new principal and interest); (3) total
interest paid; (4) total principal repaid;
and (5) total year-end principal and
interest outstanding.
FTA received one comment in
support of this proposal. Another
commenter objected only to the
proposal to eliminate the source of
funds used to repay the bonds and
loans. A third commenter objected to
reporting interest expenses on the F–10
Form instead of on the F–40 Form.
FTA Response: FTA adopts the
suggestion to retain the reporting of the
source of funds used to repay bonds and
loans. FTA does not adopt the
suggestion to continue the reporting of
interest on the F–40 Form. FTA believes
that it would be much easier and more
convenient to have all reporting related
to bonds and loans in a single place.
Based on the above comments, FTA will
also defer implementation of this
amendment until the 2009 Report Year.
The above requirements will be
reflected in the 2009 Annual Manual.
(d) Uses of Capital (F–20) Form
FTA proposed to reduce the reporting
requirements by combining the
categories for Fare Revenue Collection
Equipment and Communication and
Information Systems into a single
category for Intelligent Transportation
Systems (ITS.)
FTA received one comment in
support of this proposal, and two
comments objecting to this proposal that
it was insufficiently defined.
FTA Response: FTA understands the
comments that the proposed Intelligent
Transportation Systems (ITS) category is
insufficiently defined and therefore
withdraws the above proposal. FTA will
reconsider its definitions for capital
expenditure reporting, and provide a
more comprehensive proposal for public
comment in a future report year.
(e) Operating Expenses (F–30) Form
FTA proposed to combine the object
classes for Fuels and Lubricants and
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Tires and Lubes, as well as the object
classes for Taxes and Miscellaneous
Expenses. FTA also proposed to: (1)
Eliminate the reporting of Fuels and
Lubes object classes under the NonVehicle Maintenance and General
Administration operating functions; (2)
eliminate reporting of the Utilities object
class under the Non-Vehicle
Maintenance operating function; and (3)
only permit the Casualty and Liability
and Miscellaneous Expenses object
classes to be reported under the General
Administration operating function.
FTA received three comments, all
objecting to various parts of the
proposal that would have unintended
consequences. Two of the comments
specifically recommended that Fuels
and Lubricants be retained as a separate
object class. One of the comments noted
that restricting the reporting of Casualty
and Liability object class to the General
Administration function was in conflict
with the guidance in the Uniform
System of Accounts (USOA). One
comment suggested that all object
classes for which there is not a specific
interest should be consolidated into a
single object class for Other Expenses.
FTA Response: FTA withdraws its
proposal for combining object classes.
FTA will evaluate the suggestion to
consolidate unneeded object classes into
a single object class for Other Expenses,
and consider proposing it as an
amendment for public comment in a
future report year. FTA will also only
restrict certain object classes to being
reported under certain functions to the
extent that those restrictions are
explicitly defined in the Uniform
System of Accounts.
(f) Operating Expenses Summary (F–40)
Form
FTA proposes to eliminate collecting
Funds Not Applied, Depreciation,
Amortization of Intangibles, Interest
Expenses, Leases, and Reconciling
Items. FTA received two comments
objecting to these changes. Both
comments suggested that these items
should be retained, along with a
requirement that these lines must be
used to reconcile a transit provider’s
NTD report with their audited,
published accounts.
FTA Response: FTA agrees with the
commenters and withdraws its
proposal. FTA will consider proposing
an amendment to require the use of the
F–40 Form to reconcile a reporter’s NTD
reports and their audited published
accounts for a future report year.
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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 152 / Wednesday, August 6, 2008 / Notices
FTA received no comments on these
proposals.
FTA Response: FTA adopts the above
proposals. These requirements will
appear in the 2008 Annual Manual.
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(g) Operator’s Wages (F–50) Form
FTA proposed to discontinue this
form, and received one comment in
favor of this proposal.
FTA Response: FTA adopts the
proposal. The F–50 form will be
eliminated for the 2008 Report Year.
(i) Employee Resources (R–10) Form
(h) Service (S–10) Form
FTA proposed to replace the reporting
of Total Actual Hours and Total Actual
Miles with the reporting of Deadhead
Hours and Deadhead Miles.
Additionally, FTA proposed to
eliminate the reporting of Charter
Service Hours and of School Bus Hours
and to add the reporting of Other Hours
and Other Miles.
FTA received one comment in
support of these changes. Another
comment supported the proposal, but
recommended that Other Hours and
Other Miles be dropped from the form
entirely, as this information was
unnecessary. One comment from a very
large transit provider objected that the
reporting of Deadhead Hours and
Deadhead Miles would be overly
burdensome, and recommended
retaining the reporting of Total Actual
Hours and Total Actual Miles.
FTA Response: FTA agrees with the
last commenter, and will retain the
reporting of Total Actual Hours and
Total Actual Miles. In order to facilitate
FTA’s desire to reduce the confusion
surrounding the definition of Total
Actual Hours and Total Actual Miles on
the S–10 Form, FTA will add autocalculated lines for Deadhead Hours
and Deadhead Miles on the S–10 Form
for the 2008 Report Year. This will not
impact reporting burden, and will
clarify the relationship between
Revenue Hours and Total Actual Hours
and between Revenue Miles and Total
Actual Miles. FTA withdraws its
proposal to replace Charter Hours and
Schoolbus Hours with Other Hours and
Other Miles.
FTA also proposed to eliminate
collecting information on Deadhead
Hours, Deadhead Miles, Time Service
Begins and Time Service Ends for
´
vanpool, jitney, and publico services.
FTA also proposed to drop reporting of
peak data on service times and vehicles
in operation for ferryboat, aerial
´
tramway, jitney, and publico services.
Finally, FTA proposed to exempt rail
systems with 9 or fewer rail vehicles
operated in maximum service (peak
hour service) from the requirement to
report Average Weekday Unlinked
Passenger Trips and Actual Passenger
Car Revenue Miles by four time
categories: Weekday AM Peak, Weekday
Midday, Weekday PM Peak and
Weekday Other.
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FTA proposed to add reporting of
Paid Non-Work Hours to this form. This
data was previously reported on the
F–50 Form, which is being dropped.
FTA received two comments objecting
to this proposal, arguing that the
proposal is burdensome and that there
is no compelling interest in collecting
data on pay for work hours vs. non-work
hours.
FTA Response: FTA withdraws this
proposal.
(j) Maintenance Performance (R–20)
Form
FTA proposed to drop the reporting
requirement for Total Labor Hours for
Inspection and Maintenance, as this
information is already reported in the
R–10 Form. FTA also proposed to
require that this form be completed by
transit providers for purchased
transportation service, as it is currently
only required for directly operated
services. FTA received two comments in
favor of this proposal.
FTA Response: FTA adopts the
proposal to eliminate the reporting
requirement for Total Labor Hours for
Inspection and Maintenance for the
2008 Report Year. FTA defers adopting
the proposal to make this form required
for purchased transportation services
until the 2009 Report Year. This
guidance will be reflected in the 2008
Annual Manual and the 2009 Annual
Manual, respectively.
(k) Energy Consumption (R–30) Form
FTA proposed to drop the lines on
this form for certain rarely-used fuels,
specifically, Methanol, Bunker Fuel, and
Grain Additive. These fuels would still
be reportable under the Other Fuels
category. FTA also proposed to require
that this form be completed for
purchased transportation services (it is
currently only required for directly
operated services).
FTA received one comment in
support of this proposal, with the caveat
that it should not be made effective
until the 2009 Report Year.
FTA Response: FTA agrees to adopt
the above proposal, effective in the 2009
Report Year. This guidance will be
reflected in the 2009 Annual Manual.
(l) Stations and Maintenance Facilities
(A–10) Form
FTA proposed to require expanded
reporting of the multi-modal nature of
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45799
transit stations. FTA also proposed to
require motorbus, trolleybus, and light
rail services to report the number of
stops and shelters in their systems.
FTA received two comments objecting
to the above proposal as being overly
burdensome, and as raising a number of
difficult issues in defining exactly what
facilities should be reported.
FTA Response: FTA withdraws this
proposal. FTA will re-evaluate the
concerns regarding definitions of this
proposal and ways to minimize the
reporting burden of this proposal for a
future report year.
(m) Transit Way Mileage (A–20) Form
FTA proposed to merge this form with
the Fixed Guideway Segments Form
(S–20 Form). FTA received two
comments objecting that although the
forms both collect data on fixed
guideways, merging the different data
elements of the two forms would create
a significant increase in reporting
burden. Additionally, while a large
number of fixed guideways are included
on both forms, some fixed guideways
(e.g. sidings and parallel tracks) only
appear on the A–20 Form, whereas
other fixed guideways (e.g. HOV lanes)
only appear on the S–20 Form.
FTA Response: FTA withdraws this
proposal. FTA will re-evaluate ways to
eliminate the duplicate data collections
on the A–20 and S–20 forms while
minimizing reporting burden for a
future report year.
(n) Revenue Vehicle Inventory (A–30)
Form
FTA proposed to simply collect
whether the vehicles are compliant with
the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA Accessible), and to not separately
collect those vehicles that are ADA
Accessible by virtue of having lifts and
those that are ADA Accessible by virtue
of having ramps or low floors. FTA also
proposed to stop collecting Total Miles
on Active Vehicles During this Time
Period, as this information is
infrequently used, is duplicative of
information on total miles collected on
the S–10 Form, and cannot be used as
a measure of total miles from the
previous year. FTA noted that it was
retaining collection of Average Lifetime
Miles per Active Vehicle as a measure of
asset condition and age.
FTA received two comments in
support of this proposal. A third
comment also asked FTA to consider
allowing reporters to estimate the
Average Lifetime Miles per Active
Vehicle when the vehicles have been
acquired through a merger with a
private operator, and the actual mileage
is not available.
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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 152 / Wednesday, August 6, 2008 / Notices
FTA Response: FTA adopts its
proposal, but will defer implementation
until the 2009 Report Year. This
guidance will appear in the 2009
Annual Manual. FTA also adopts the
commenter’s suggestion for allowing
estimation of Average Lifetime Miles per
Active Vehicle in the case described.
That guidance will appear in the 2008
Annual Manual.
Federal Funding Allocation (FFA–10)
Form
FTA proposes to make this form
required for all transit providers serving
more than one urbanized area, or an
urbanized area and a non-urbanized
area in order to support the
apportionment of Small TransitIntensive Cities (STIC Grants.)
FTA received two comments in
support of this proposal.
FTA Response: FTA adopts this
proposal for the 2008 Report Year. This
guidance will appear in the 2008
Annual Manual.
Issued in Washington, DC, this 1st day of
July, 2008.
James S. Simpson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E8–18090 Filed 8–5–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–57–P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Surface Transportation Board
[STB Docket No. AB–515 (Sub-No. 2); STB
Finance Docket No. 35160]
Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad,
Inc.—Abandonment and
Discontinuance of Service—in Coos,
Douglas, and Lane Counties, OR;
Oregon International Port of Coos
Bay—Feeder Line Application—Coos
Bay Line of the Central Oregon &
Pacific Railroad, Inc.
AGENCY:
Surface Transportation Board,
DOT.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
ACTION:
Notice of public hearing.
SUMMARY: The Surface Transportation
Board will hold a public hearing
concerning the abandonment and feeder
line applications in the respective
above-titled dockets. The purpose of the
hearing will be to allow interested
persons to comment on the applications.
On the same day, immediately prior to
the hearing, Board staff will hold a
public information session concerning
the Board’s procedures for adjudicating
abandonment and feeder line cases.
Date/Location: The public hearing
will take place on August 21, 2008,
beginning at 9:30 a.m., at the Wayne L.
Morse U.S. Courthouse, 405 East Eighth
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16:46 Aug 05, 2008
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Avenue, Eugene, Oregon, in Room 2200
(the Jury Assembly Room). Any person
wishing to speak at the hearing must file
with the Board a written notice of intent
to participate, identifying (1) the party
represented, (2) the proposed speaker,
and (3) the number of minutes
requested. Notices of intent to
participate should be filed as soon as
possible, but no later than August 11,
2008. Following receipt of notices of
intent, the Board will release a schedule
of speakers for the hearing.
The public information session will
be held on August 21, 2008 from 8:15–
9:15 a.m., in Room 1702 (the GSA
Conference Room) of the Wayne L.
Morse U.S. Courthouse, 405 East Eighth
Avenue, Eugene, Oregon. At that
session, Board staff will discuss, and be
available to answer questions regarding,
the procedures the Board uses in
processing abandonment and feeder line
cases. No notice of intent to participate
in the public information session is
necessary.
The Wayne L. Morse U.S. Courthouse
is open Monday through Friday from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m. All visitors must present
a valid form of government-issued photo
identification and pass screening before
being granted access into the building.
Cameras are not permitted in the
building. Visitors will have access to
public areas only.
ADDRESSES: Notices of intent to
participate in the hearing may be
submitted either via the Board’s e-filing
format or in the traditional paper
format. Any person using e-filing should
attach a document and otherwise
comply with the Board’s https://
www.stb.dot.gov Web site, at the ‘‘EFILING’’ link. Any person submitting a
filing in the traditional paper format
should send the filing to: Surface
Transportation Board, Attn: STB Docket
No. AB–515 (Sub-No. 2) and STB
Finance Docket No. 35160, 395 E Street,
SW., Washington, DC 20423–0001.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Joseph Dettmar, (202) 245–0395.
[Assistance for the hearing impaired is
available through the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at:
(800) 877–8339.]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A decision
served in STB Docket No. AB–515 (SubNo. 2) on July 29, 2008, provided that
a public meeting will be held to permit
interested persons to express their views
about the application filed under 49
U.S.C. 10903 by Central Oregon &
Pacific Railroad, Inc. (CORP) on July 14,
2008, for permission to abandon and
discontinue service over portions of a
line of railroad known as the Coos Bay
Subdivision. CORP seeks authority to
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abandon certain portions of the Coos
Bay Subdivision that it owns, namely
the line extending from milepost 669.0
near Vaughn, OR, to milepost 763.13
near Cordes, OR, a distance of 94.13
miles. CORP also seeks authority to
discontinue service over the portions of
the Coos Bay Subdivision that it leases:
(1) The Coquille Branch extending from
milepost 763.13 near Cordes to milepost
785.5 near Coquille, OR, a distance of
22.37 miles, in Coos County, OR, and (2)
the LPN Branch extending between
CORP milepost 738.8 and LPN Branch
milepost 2.0, a distance of 2.0 miles.
Additionally, a decision served in
STB Finance Docket No. 35160 on
August 1, 2008, accepted a feeder line
application under 49 U.S.C. 10907 filed
by the Oregon International Port of Coos
Bay on July 11, 2008, to acquire
approximately 111.016 miles of CORP’s
rail line between milepost 763.130, near
Cordes, and milepost 652.114, near
Danebo, OR. In that decision, the Board
also announced a procedural schedule
for the proceeding. Notice of the Board’s
acceptance of the application will be
published in the Federal Register by
August 8, 2008.
At the hearing, the Board will hear
testimony in both the abandonment
proceeding and the feeder line
proceeding. Speakers at the hearing
may, but are not required to, bring
written copies of their testimony to the
hearing and offer those statements for
the record in the proceedings. Speakers
who wish to enhance their presentation
by using projector-adaptable visual
displays and/or handouts may do so.
Any projector-adaptable visual displays
must be submitted to the Board in
electronic form by August 15, 2008.
Interested persons should also consult
the procedural schedules in the feeder
line and abandonment dockets for other
opportunities to submit written
comments in those proceedings. Live
audio/video streaming of the hearing
will not be available.
This action will not significantly
affect either the quality of the human
environment or the conservation of
energy resources.
Dated: August 1, 2008.
Anne K. Quinlan,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8–18108 Filed 8–5–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915–01–P
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 152 (Wednesday, August 6, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45797-45800]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-18090]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
[Docket No: FTA-2008-0002]
National Transit Database: Amendments to Urbanized Area Annual
Reporting Manual
Provider: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of Amendments to 2008 National Transit Database
Urbanized Area Annual Reporting Manual.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This notice announces the adoption of certain amendments for
the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) 2008 National Transit
Database (NTD) Urbanized Area Annual Reporting Manual (Annual Manual).
On February 7, 2008, FTA published a notice in the Federal Register (73
FR 7361) inviting comments on proposed amendments to the 2008 Annual
Manual. This notice provides responses to those comments, and announces
the adoption of certain amendments for the 2008 Annual Manual, as well
as the adoption of some amendments to take effect for the 2009 Report
Year.
DATES: Effective Date: August 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 john.giorgis@dot.gov (e-mail). For legal issues, Richard
Wong, Office of the Chief Counsel, (202) 366-0675 (telephone); (202)
366-3809 (fax); or richard.wong@dot.gov (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. Recipients of FTA's Urbanized Area Formula Program (Section
5307) and Other Than Urbanized Area Formula Program (Section 5311) are
required by statute to submit data to the NTD. These data are used to
``help meet the needs of * * * the public for information on which to
base public transportation service planning * * * '' (49 U.S.C. 5335).
Other transit providers in urbanized areas report to the NTD under
these requirements on a voluntary basis for purposes of including their
data in the apportionment of Urbanized Area Formula Grants. FTA details
the NTD reporting requirements for urbanized area transit providers in
the NTD Urbanized Area Annual Reporting Manual (Annual Manual).
Currently, over 650 transit providers 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 and the 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.
In an ongoing effort to improve the NTD Internet reporting system
and to be responsive to the needs of transit providers reporting to the
NTD, and to the needs of the transit data user community, FTA annually
refines and clarifies reporting requirements to the NTD. This notice
announces the adoption of certain amendments for the 2008 Annual
Manual, as well as the adoption of some amendments to take effect for
the 2009 Report Year.
II. Comments and FTA Response to Comments
On February 7, 2008, FTA published a notice in the Federal Register
(73 FR 7361) inviting comments on proposed amendments to the 2008
Annual Manual. FTA received responses from seven commenters. Three of
the commenters made comments on the set of amendments as a whole. One
expressed support for the package of amendments as a whole and two
commenters suggested that most of the proposed amendments should not
take effect until the 2009 Report Year, in order to give reporters
sufficient time to prepare reports under the new requirements. FTA
agrees with the commenters and will therefore delay many of the
proposed amendments until the 2009 Report Year, particularly those that
impact relationships with purchased transportation providers. FTA will
respond to all comments based on each proposed amendment.
(a) Contractual Relationship (B-30) Form
FTA proposed to revamp this form to allow reporters to clearly
report three separate types of relationships: (1) Traditional purchased
transportation contracts; (2) taxicab contracts for demand response
service; and (3) pass-through relationships. Under this proposal,
taxicab contracts for demand response service would become a third type
of service under the NTD, with reduced reporting requirements on the S-
10, and no reporting requirements for the A-10 (asset inventory) form.
FTA received one comment in support of the proposed changes.
FTA Response: Based on the above comments requesting that changes
impacting the reporting requirements for purchased transportation
services be delayed until the 2009 Report Year, FTA agrees to delay
implementation of this amendment until the 2009 Report Year. The above
requirements will be reflected in the 2009 Annual Manual.
[[Page 45798]]
To support the transition to reduced reporting requirements for taxicab
demand response contracts in 2009, FTA will request that the following
data elements on the S-10 form be reported separately for taxicab
demand response services from all other purchased transportation demand
response services: Vehicles Operated in Maximum Service, Vehicles
Available for Maximum Service, Vehicle Revenue Miles, Vehicle Revenue
Hours, Unlinked Passenger Trips, ADA Unlinked Passenger Trips, and
Passenger Miles Traveled. FTA will automatically grant a waiver from
this requirement for the 2008 Report Year to any transit provider with
both taxicab demand response services and regular purchased
transportation demand response services that is unable to report these
data separately for the taxicab demand response services in 2008.
FTA received one other comment, objecting to the reporting of
contract administration costs on the B-30.
FTA Response: FTA has long required the reporting of contract
administration costs under the label of ``other costs incurred by
buyer.'' This is not a new reporting requirement. The reporting of
contract administration costs is essential for understanding the true
costs of purchased transportation services relative to directly
operated services. In response to this comment, FTA will amend the
titles and definitions on the B-30 form to make the reporting of
information more intuitive, but without altering or increasing the
existing reporting requirements.
(b) Funds Expended and Earned (F-10) Form
FTA proposed to only require transit providers to separate funds
earned and spent on operations from funds earned and spent on capital
in the context of fare revenues, other directly-generated revenues
(e.g. parking and advertising revenues), contributed services (e.g.
services provided directly by another government body), the various
sources of Federal funds, total state government revenues, total local
government revenues, and total revenues from independent political
entities. FTA proposed to retain the requirement to continue to report
total funds earned from each separate type of tax at the local and
state levels.
Two commenters voiced support for this proposal, proposing that FTA
go further and consolidate expenditure reporting for the different
categories of directly-generated revenues (e.g. fares, advertising, or
concessions.)
FTA Response: FTA agrees with the above comments and will adopt the
suggestion to consolidate expenditure reporting for the different
categories of directly-generated revenues on the F-10 Form. FTA will
defer implementation of this amendment until the 2009 Report Year. The
above requirements will be reflected in the 2009 Annual Manual.
(c) Bonds and Loans
FTA proposed to eliminate the requirement to report Bond and Loan
Payments separately for each category of funding. Instead, FTA proposed
simplified bond and loan reporting that would require transit providers
to report: (1) Year-beginning principal outstanding; (2) new bonds and
loans (new principal and interest); (3) total interest paid; (4) total
principal repaid; and (5) total year-end principal and interest
outstanding.
FTA received one comment in support of this proposal. Another
commenter objected only to the proposal to eliminate the source of
funds used to repay the bonds and loans. A third commenter objected to
reporting interest expenses on the F-10 Form instead of on the F-40
Form.
FTA Response: FTA adopts the suggestion to retain the reporting of
the source of funds used to repay bonds and loans. FTA does not adopt
the suggestion to continue the reporting of interest on the F-40 Form.
FTA believes that it would be much easier and more convenient to have
all reporting related to bonds and loans in a single place. Based on
the above comments, FTA will also defer implementation of this
amendment until the 2009 Report Year. The above requirements will be
reflected in the 2009 Annual Manual.
(d) Uses of Capital (F-20) Form
FTA proposed to reduce the reporting requirements by combining the
categories for Fare Revenue Collection Equipment and Communication and
Information Systems into a single category for Intelligent
Transportation Systems (ITS.)
FTA received one comment in support of this proposal, and two
comments objecting to this proposal that it was insufficiently defined.
FTA Response: FTA understands the comments that the proposed
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) category is insufficiently
defined and therefore withdraws the above proposal. FTA will reconsider
its definitions for capital expenditure reporting, and provide a more
comprehensive proposal for public comment in a future report year.
(e) Operating Expenses (F-30) Form
FTA proposed to combine the object classes for Fuels and Lubricants
and Tires and Lubes, as well as the object classes for Taxes and
Miscellaneous Expenses. FTA also proposed to: (1) Eliminate the
reporting of Fuels and Lubes object classes under the Non-Vehicle
Maintenance and General Administration operating functions; (2)
eliminate reporting of the Utilities object class under the Non-Vehicle
Maintenance operating function; and (3) only permit the Casualty and
Liability and Miscellaneous Expenses object classes to be reported
under the General Administration operating function.
FTA received three comments, all objecting to various parts of the
proposal that would have unintended consequences. Two of the comments
specifically recommended that Fuels and Lubricants be retained as a
separate object class. One of the comments noted that restricting the
reporting of Casualty and Liability object class to the General
Administration function was in conflict with the guidance in the
Uniform System of Accounts (USOA). One comment suggested that all
object classes for which there is not a specific interest should be
consolidated into a single object class for Other Expenses.
FTA Response: FTA withdraws its proposal for combining object
classes. FTA will evaluate the suggestion to consolidate unneeded
object classes into a single object class for Other Expenses, and
consider proposing it as an amendment for public comment in a future
report year. FTA will also only restrict certain object classes to
being reported under certain functions to the extent that those
restrictions are explicitly defined in the Uniform System of Accounts.
(f) Operating Expenses Summary (F-40) Form
FTA proposes to eliminate collecting Funds Not Applied,
Depreciation, Amortization of Intangibles, Interest Expenses, Leases,
and Reconciling Items. FTA received two comments objecting to these
changes. Both comments suggested that these items should be retained,
along with a requirement that these lines must be used to reconcile a
transit provider's NTD report with their audited, published accounts.
FTA Response: FTA agrees with the commenters and withdraws its
proposal. FTA will consider proposing an amendment to require the use
of the F-40 Form to reconcile a reporter's NTD reports and their
audited published accounts for a future report year.
[[Page 45799]]
(g) Operator's Wages (F-50) Form
FTA proposed to discontinue this form, and received one comment in
favor of this proposal.
FTA Response: FTA adopts the proposal. The F-50 form will be
eliminated for the 2008 Report Year.
(h) Service (S-10) Form
FTA proposed to replace the reporting of Total Actual Hours and
Total Actual Miles with the reporting of Deadhead Hours and Deadhead
Miles. Additionally, FTA proposed to eliminate the reporting of Charter
Service Hours and of School Bus Hours and to add the reporting of Other
Hours and Other Miles.
FTA received one comment in support of these changes. Another
comment supported the proposal, but recommended that Other Hours and
Other Miles be dropped from the form entirely, as this information was
unnecessary. One comment from a very large transit provider objected
that the reporting of Deadhead Hours and Deadhead Miles would be overly
burdensome, and recommended retaining the reporting of Total Actual
Hours and Total Actual Miles.
FTA Response: FTA agrees with the last commenter, and will retain
the reporting of Total Actual Hours and Total Actual Miles. In order to
facilitate FTA's desire to reduce the confusion surrounding the
definition of Total Actual Hours and Total Actual Miles on the S-10
Form, FTA will add auto-calculated lines for Deadhead Hours and
Deadhead Miles on the S-10 Form for the 2008 Report Year. This will not
impact reporting burden, and will clarify the relationship between
Revenue Hours and Total Actual Hours and between Revenue Miles and
Total Actual Miles. FTA withdraws its proposal to replace Charter Hours
and Schoolbus Hours with Other Hours and Other Miles.
FTA also proposed to eliminate collecting information on Deadhead
Hours, Deadhead Miles, Time Service Begins and Time Service Ends for
vanpool, jitney, and p[uacute]blico services. FTA also proposed to drop
reporting of peak data on service times and vehicles in operation for
ferryboat, aerial tramway, jitney, and p[uacute]blico services.
Finally, FTA proposed to exempt rail systems with 9 or fewer rail
vehicles operated in maximum service (peak hour service) from the
requirement to report Average Weekday Unlinked Passenger Trips and
Actual Passenger Car Revenue Miles by four time categories: Weekday AM
Peak, Weekday Midday, Weekday PM Peak and Weekday Other.
FTA received no comments on these proposals.
FTA Response: FTA adopts the above proposals. These requirements
will appear in the 2008 Annual Manual.
(i) Employee Resources (R-10) Form
FTA proposed to add reporting of Paid Non-Work Hours to this form.
This data was previously reported on the F-50 Form, which is being
dropped.
FTA received two comments objecting to this proposal, arguing that
the proposal is burdensome and that there is no compelling interest in
collecting data on pay for work hours vs. non-work hours.
FTA Response: FTA withdraws this proposal.
(j) Maintenance Performance (R-20) Form
FTA proposed to drop the reporting requirement for Total Labor
Hours for Inspection and Maintenance, as this information is already
reported in the R-10 Form. FTA also proposed to require that this form
be completed by transit providers for purchased transportation service,
as it is currently only required for directly operated services. FTA
received two comments in favor of this proposal.
FTA Response: FTA adopts the proposal to eliminate the reporting
requirement for Total Labor Hours for Inspection and Maintenance for
the 2008 Report Year. FTA defers adopting the proposal to make this
form required for purchased transportation services until the 2009
Report Year. This guidance will be reflected in the 2008 Annual Manual
and the 2009 Annual Manual, respectively.
(k) Energy Consumption (R-30) Form
FTA proposed to drop the lines on this form for certain rarely-used
fuels, specifically, Methanol, Bunker Fuel, and Grain Additive. These
fuels would still be reportable under the Other Fuels category. FTA
also proposed to require that this form be completed for purchased
transportation services (it is currently only required for directly
operated services).
FTA received one comment in support of this proposal, with the
caveat that it should not be made effective until the 2009 Report Year.
FTA Response: FTA agrees to adopt the above proposal, effective in
the 2009 Report Year. This guidance will be reflected in the 2009
Annual Manual.
(l) Stations and Maintenance Facilities (A-10) Form
FTA proposed to require expanded reporting of the multi-modal
nature of transit stations. FTA also proposed to require motorbus,
trolleybus, and light rail services to report the number of stops and
shelters in their systems.
FTA received two comments objecting to the above proposal as being
overly burdensome, and as raising a number of difficult issues in
defining exactly what facilities should be reported.
FTA Response: FTA withdraws this proposal. FTA will re-evaluate the
concerns regarding definitions of this proposal and ways to minimize
the reporting burden of this proposal for a future report year.
(m) Transit Way Mileage (A-20) Form
FTA proposed to merge this form with the Fixed Guideway Segments
Form (S-20 Form). FTA received two comments objecting that although the
forms both collect data on fixed guideways, merging the different data
elements of the two forms would create a significant increase in
reporting burden. Additionally, while a large number of fixed guideways
are included on both forms, some fixed guideways (e.g. sidings and
parallel tracks) only appear on the A-20 Form, whereas other fixed
guideways (e.g. HOV lanes) only appear on the S-20 Form.
FTA Response: FTA withdraws this proposal. FTA will re-evaluate
ways to eliminate the duplicate data collections on the A-20 and S-20
forms while minimizing reporting burden for a future report year.
(n) Revenue Vehicle Inventory (A-30) Form
FTA proposed to simply collect whether the vehicles are compliant
with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA Accessible), and to not
separately collect those vehicles that are ADA Accessible by virtue of
having lifts and those that are ADA Accessible by virtue of having
ramps or low floors. FTA also proposed to stop collecting Total Miles
on Active Vehicles During this Time Period, as this information is
infrequently used, is duplicative of information on total miles
collected on the S-10 Form, and cannot be used as a measure of total
miles from the previous year. FTA noted that it was retaining
collection of Average Lifetime Miles per Active Vehicle as a measure of
asset condition and age.
FTA received two comments in support of this proposal. A third
comment also asked FTA to consider allowing reporters to estimate the
Average Lifetime Miles per Active Vehicle when the vehicles have been
acquired through a merger with a private operator, and the actual
mileage is not available.
[[Page 45800]]
FTA Response: FTA adopts its proposal, but will defer
implementation until the 2009 Report Year. This guidance will appear in
the 2009 Annual Manual. FTA also adopts the commenter's suggestion for
allowing estimation of Average Lifetime Miles per Active Vehicle in the
case described. That guidance will appear in the 2008 Annual Manual.
Federal Funding Allocation (FFA-10) Form
FTA proposes to make this form required for all transit providers
serving more than one urbanized area, or an urbanized area and a non-
urbanized area in order to support the apportionment of Small Transit-
Intensive Cities (STIC Grants.)
FTA received two comments in support of this proposal.
FTA Response: FTA adopts this proposal for the 2008 Report Year.
This guidance will appear in the 2008 Annual Manual.
Issued in Washington, DC, this 1st day of July, 2008.
James S. Simpson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E8-18090 Filed 8-5-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-57-P
