Federal Transit Administration 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro) of Austin, Texas, has asked the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to waive its Buy America requirements to permit it to purchase rail car vehicles that will be manufactured by Stadler Bussnang AG (Stadler) in Switzerland. According to Capital Metro, the rail cars are not available from a domestic source. This Notice sets forth Capital Metro's arguments for a non-availability waiver and seeks comment thereon.

Several parties have asked the Federal Transit Administration to waive its Buy America requirements of 49 CFR 661.11 for the purchase of minivans that are manufactured or assembled outside the United States. According to these parties, minivans and minivan chassis are not available from a domestic source. FTA seeks public comment before deciding whether to grant these requests. If granted, a waiver would apply to all minivans and minivan chassis, not only those manufactured by Chrysler.

This notice announces final environmental action taken by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for the Mid-City/Exposition Transit Corridor Light Rail Transit Project in Los Angeles, California. The purpose of this notice is to announce the decision by FTA to not perform supplemental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on the subject project and to activate the limitation on any claims that may challenge this final agency action. This notice does not alter or extend the limitation period of 180 days for challenge of project decisions subject to a previous notice published in the Federal Register on August 17, 2006.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) appropriated $100 million for a new discretionary grant program for public transportation projects that reduce a transit system's greenhouse gas emissions or result in a decrease in a transit system's energy use. Because of time limitations in ARRA funding, this notice announces the availability of the new grant program, application requirements, and deadlines for submitting grant proposals for funding. However, because the Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) program is a new grant program, FTA also is accepting comments on the program's provisions and may alter some of the requirements in response to comments.

This notice announces the availability of $17 million in funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for the Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program (Tribal Transit Program (TTP)), a program authorized by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), Section 3013 (c). This notice is a national solicitation for grant applicants to be selected on a competitive basis, and includes grant terms, conditions, and reporting requirements; application procedures; and the criteria that FTA will utilize to select ARRA TTP projects. ARRA TTP funding may be used only for capital expenditures. FTA will announce the availability of, and competition for, the FY 2009 (annual) TTP in a separate notice.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) issue this early scoping notice to advise other agencies and the public that they intend to explore, in the context of the Council on Environmental Quality's early scoping process, methods of improving transit service in the City of Ogden, Utah. The early scoping process is part of a planning Alternatives Analysis (AA) required by Title 49 United States Code (U.S.C.) Sec. 5309 for the selection of alternatives that will be subject to the appropriate environmental process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Early scoping meetings have been planned and are announced below. The Ogden-WSU Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis is focusing on improving transit service in a 5-mile corridor between downtown Ogden and Weber State University (WSU). The entire study area is located within the City of Ogden, Weber County, Utah. The corridor connects the Ogden Intermodal Center/FrontRunner commuter rail station to the area's major employment, housing, commercial and education destinations, including Downtown Ogden, Weber State University, and McKay Dee Hospital. With the connection to FrontRunner commuter rail, the corridor also serves trips to and from the greater Wasatch Front Region. In 2005, the UTA and its regional partners completed a Major Investment Feasibility Study of the corridor. The 2005 study concluded that a corridor connecting downtown Ogden and WSU was a promising candidate for increased transit capital investment, potentially incorporating streetcar or Bus Rapid Transit service. This study also developed local consensus for an initial statement of the Purpose and Need for the project, and evaluated potential alignments and modes. The planning Alternatives Analysis now being initiated is expected to result in the selection of a Locally Preferred Alternative by the Utah Transit Authority and its partners, which include the Wasatch Front Regional Council, the metropolitan planning organization for the Greater Salt Lake metropolitan area. Other partners include the City of Ogden, Weber County, Weber State University, McKay Dee Hospital, and the Utah Department of Transportation. The Locally Preferred Alternative will then be a ``proposed action,'' subject to an appropriate environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). If the Preferred Alternative is anticipated to have significant impacts, an environmental impact statement (EIS) would be initiated with a Notice of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register. Public and agency scoping of the EIS would be conducted at that time. The early scoping notice is intended to generate public comments on the scope of the alternatives analysis. This includes the purpose and need for the project, the range of alternatives, and environmental and community impacts and benefits to be considered in the alternatives analysis.

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.

This action withdraws a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) concerning major capital investment projects published in the Federal Register on August 3, 2007 (72 FR 43328). FTA has determined that withdrawal of the NPRM is warranted due to an intervening statutory change.

This notice announces the availability of the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) discussion paper on the Evaluation of Economic Development and requests your comments on it. The paper describes one possible approach that could be used to evaluate economic development impacts of projects seeking New Starts funding. Economic development is one of the criteria that FTA uses to assess project justification, which, along with local financial commitment, informs FTA funding decisions for New Starts projects.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is proposing to expand the type of projects it considers to be ``beyond the ADA'' and thus increase the types of projects eligible for funding under the New Freedom program. Under the proposed interpretation, new and expanded fixed route and demand responsive transit service designed to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities would be eligible projects.

Recent changes to the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) statute require changes in the TIFIA rule. In addition, the DOT has gained substantial administrative experience since the TIFIA rule was last amended in 2000. The DOT proposes to amend the TIFIA rule to implement the recent statutory changes and to incorporate certain other changes to the rule that it considers will improve the efficiency of the program and its usefulness to borrowers. In addition, the DOT seeks comment on policy issues with potentially significant impact on the TIFIA project selection process.

As provided in 49 CFR Part 601, Subpart D, (72 FR 910, Jan. 9, 2007), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) must, by January 31 of each year, establish an Emergency Relief Docket so grantees and subgrantees affected by national or regional emergencies may request relief from FTA administrative requirements set forth in FTA policy statements, circulars, guidance documents, and regulations. By this notice, FTA is establishing an Emergency Relief Docket for calendar year 2009.