Federal Transit Administration February 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Federal public transportation law delegated to the Federal Transit Administrator permits the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to authorize a recipient of FTA funds to transfer land or a facility to a public body for any public purpose with no further obligation to the Federal Government (the Government) if, among other things, no Federal agency is interested in acquiring the asset for Federal use. Accordingly, FTA is issuing this Notice to advise Federal agencies that the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation a/k/a Metra (Metra) intends to transfer the land and building located at 16912 and 16901 Paulina Avenue (respectively), Hazel Crest, Illinois (Subject Property) to the Village of Hazel Crest (Village). Metra used the location as a Passenger Assistance Link building and storage facility from 1987 to the present (33 years). Metra has determined it no longer needs the building for public transportation purposes. The Village plans to utilize the Subject Property as a job training center for the community. The Village hopes to partner with another unit of government and/or local college to equip the building with technology equipment and staff it with career development experts who would be dedicated to helping career seekers find employment in the region.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces that the Information Collection Requirements (ICRs) abstracted below have been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describe the nature of the information collection and their expected burdens.

This notice announces a meeting of the Transit Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS).

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the availability of $2,000,000 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Public Transportation Innovation Program (49 U.S.C. 5312) funds for the redesign of the transit bus operator compartment to improve operator and public safety. Bus operator assaults have been increasing. On July 6, 2015, the Transit Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS) published report 14-01, ``Reinventing and Mitigating Transit Worker Assaults in the Bus and Rail Transit Industry,'' (14-01 Report) highlighting news articles documenting bus operator assaults. The report recommended incorporating measures such as installing protective barriers and educating the workforce in conflict resolution tactics. This NOFO provides an opportunity to reevaluate the bus operator compartment and develop innovative solutions to the space around the bus operator with the purpose to not just increase safety, but also to improve bus operator efficiency and passenger accessibility. FTA is seeking to fund cooperative agreements to engage in the research and development of new transit bus operator compartment designs in partnership with bus manufacturers, technology vendors, vehicle engineering and design firms, and transit agencies. The major goals of this program are to support a redesign of the bus operator compartment that improves bus operator and public safety, and to improve bus operator access to key vehicle instruments and controls without hindering the accessibility of the bus. Transit agency partners would have an important role to test a promising compartment redesign. This research will apply only to transit buses that are 40 ft. or longer, and almost exclusively used for local, fixed-route public transportation revenue service. An eligible lead applicant and eligible project partners and subrecipients under this program may include, but are not limited to, providers of public transportation; State and local governmental entities; departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Government, including Federal laboratories; private or non-profit organizations; institutions of higher education; and technical and community colleges. This notice solicits competitive proposals to address the objectives described under the Program Description of this notice, provides instructions for submitting proposals, describes criteria FTA will use to identify meritorious proposals for funding, and the process to apply for funding. This announcement is also available at: https:// www.transit.dot.gov/grants. A synopsis of this funding opportunity will be posted in the FIND module of the government-wide electronic grants at https:// www.grants.gov. The funding Opportunity ID is FTA-2020-003-TRI-BCP and the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number for FTA's Public Transportation Innovation Program (49 U.S.C. 5312) is 20.530.