Public Transportation in Non-Urbanized Areas

State of Ohio

Management Plan for

Public Transportation in Non-Urbanized Areas

FTA Section 5311 (Rural Transit) Program

Ohio Department of Transportation

Office of Transit

June 2012 (Final)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

A.Program Background, Goals and Objectives 1

B.Roles and Responsibilities; Program Administration 2

C.Coordination 3

D.Eligible Sub-recipients 4

E.EligibleServices and Services Areas 7

F.Eligible Assistance Categories 9

G.Local Share and Local Funding Requirements 9

H.Project Selection Criteria and Funding Distribution 10

I.Intercity Bus Transportation11

J.Annual Program of Projects Development and Approval Process 12

K.Funds Transfers 12

L.State Administration and Technical Assistance 13

M.RTAP 13

N.Private Sector Participation 14

O.Civil Rights; DBE Monitoring 17

P.Maintenance 18

Q.Charter Rule 18

R.Section 504 and ADA Reporting 19

S.NTD Reporting 20

T.State Program Management and Evaluation 20

U.Other Provisions, Certifications & Assurances 22

Section 13(c)

Environmental Protection

School Transportation

Buy America

Pre-Award and Post Delivery Audits

Interim Bus Testing, 49 CFR Part 665

Drug Free Work Place Requirements

Drug and Alcohol Testing

Debarment and Suspension

Restrictions on Lobbying

V.State Management Plan Revisions24

Exhibits

Exhibit IODOT Program Goals and Objectives

Exhibit II-1ODOT Table of Organization

Exhibit II-2ODOT Office of Transit Table of Organization

Exhibit II-3 ODOT Division of Planning Table of Organization

Exhibit IIIODOT Rural Transit (Section 5311) Designated Grantee Selection Criteria

Exhibit IVSample Pass-Through Agreement

Exhibit VRural Transit Program FundingDistribution

Exhibit VISample OTAP Projects

Exhibit VIISample Four-Year Capital and Operating Plan weblink

Exhibit VIIIODOT Rural Transit (Section 5311) Program Request for Proposal weblink

Exhibit IXStatewide Transportation Partnership of Ohio members

Exhibit XODOT Bid Protest Procedure

Exhibit XIOrganizing a Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)

Exhibit XIIRural Transit Program Manual, Table of Contents

Exhibit XIIIODOT Resource Directory

Exhibit XIVODOT Disposition Criteria

Exhibit XV Technical Assurance Review (TAR)

Exhibit XVIRural Operating Data Form and National Transit Database

Ohio's Section 5311 (Rural Transit) Program

A.Program Background; Goals and Objectives

Background

The Federal Surface Transportation Act of 1978 included an amendment to the existing Federal Transit Act of 1964, which provided for operating assistance to public transportation systems in rural and small urban areas. Prior to this Act, federal operating assistance was available only to urbanized areas (urban areas with a population of 50,000 or more). The State of Ohio at that time was funding the Ohio Public Transportation Grant Program, a State General Revenue funded matching program for Federal transit grants. With the enactment of the STA, non-urbanized areas also became eligible for State operating assistance.

Because the Federal authorizing legislation was contained in Section 18 of the Federal Transit Act, this program was commonly referred to as the "Section 18" Program. The program was later codified and the citing changed to 49USC Section 5311. In Ohio, the program is referred to simply as the Rural Transit Program.

In 1979, ODOT limited Federal operating assistance to an amount equal to $1.00 per person residing within an eligible applicant's nonurbanized territorial boundaries. This allocation ensured that all eligible applicants had access to Section 5311 funds. Toward the end of 1980, however, it was evident that not all eligible applicants were interested in participating in the Section 5311 Program. To avoid a substantial build-up of unexpended funds, beginning in October 1980 ODOT allowed participants to receive the maximum financial operating assistance available under the Federal funding formula.

As operating costs increased and Federal and State funds leveled off and declined, ODOT continued to provide full formula funding, but decreased the formula levels. Systems were kept at “no growth, no expansion” levels. In 1995, ODOT developed and implemented a performance based allocation process for allocating Federal and State transit assistance to its rural transit operators. Capital assistance remains discretionary and is awarded only after all operating requests have been met.

In CY 2009, ODOT implemented a new federal funding distribution process. The rural transit funding is determined after project proposals are received through a Request for Proposal process. All proposals are reviewed and evaluated based on need relative to each transit systems individual performance and in relation to four state standards that ODOT set up in 2008.

Goals and Objectives

National goals for the Section 5311 Program are to 1) enhance the access of people in non-urbanized areas to health care, shopping, education, employment, public services, and recreation; 2) assist in the maintenance, development, improvement, and use of public transportation systems in rural areas; 3) encourage and facilitate the most efficient use of all Federal funds used to provide passenger transportation in non-urbanized areas through the coordination of programs and services; 4) provide for the participation of private transportation providers in non-urbanized transportation; and 5) assist the development and support of intercity bus transportation through consultation with intercity bus providers.

These goals further support the national policy set under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and continuing under the Transportation Efficiency Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21), "to develop a National Intermodal Transportation System that is economically efficient and environmentally sound, [and which includes] significant improvements in public transportation necessary to achieve national goals for improvedmobility for elderly persons, persons with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged persons in urban and rural areas of the country." The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) Federal legislative re-authorization for FY 2004-2009 continues these goals.

Supporting these national goals is the ODOT Mission Statement which states ODOT's Office of Transit mission, in part, as "...advocates personal mobility by supporting, coordinating, and funding public transportation as a critical element of a world class transportation system." ODOT's objectives specific to the Rural Transit Program can be found in Exhibit I.

When ODOT completed its first comprehensive statewide multimodal transportation plan which met the requirements of ISTEA, it also laid the groundwork for Ohio's transportation future. Of major importance to the plan was Ohio's public transportation network which included Ohio’s rural (Section 5311) systems. In addition to the call for coordination of all programs, highway and transit, the plan included an initiative to seek dedicated State funding which would ensure the continuation of State Section 5311 program support. Although still a goal, no direct efforts have been taken toward securing that dedicated funding.

B.Roles and Responsibilities: Program Administration

At the Federal level, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has implementation responsibility for the Section 5311 Program. At the State level (by Ohio Revised Code 5501), ODOT receives and administers Federal funds under this program. The resulting ODOT administrative activities assure compliance with the requirements outlined in Appendices A and B of the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 23, Part 825.

The ODOT Office of Transit oversees the day-to-day administration of the Section 5311 Program. The Office Administrator develops and responds to all FTA policy issues. Office staff provides financial and technical assistance for planning, operations, grants, maintenance programs and ODOT’s term contract purchases. The ODOT Office of Equipment Management reviews vehicle and equipment specifications.bid procedures and documents for ODOT’s term contracts. The Office of Contracts, through its Purchasing Services Section, conducts the term contract purchase process. ODOT contracts with consultants for architectural and design services to provide technical assistance and support for facility construction and rehabilitation through OTAP. The ODOT Office of Environmental Services (OES) has primary responsibility for adherence to the National Environmental Policy Act. OES performs the required environmental reviews and completes the Probable Categorical Exclusion (Section 771.117(d) form. Exhibit II-1is ODOT’s Table of Organization; Exhibit II-2 contains the Transit Office's Table of Organization, and Exhibit II-3 contains the Division Of Planning’s Table of Organization to which the Office of Transit belongs

Each local entity is responsible for advertising to the public. Under the provisions of ISTEA and TEA-21, Section 5311 grantees located within the planning jurisdiction of a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) must now also coordinate their projects with the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) process. Local agencies and transportation providers respond as appropriate.

ODOT has long standing practices and processes for consultation with rural local

officials during the transportation planning, programming, project development and

delivery, and transportation decision-making process. This is known as the Rural Local

Consultation Process. In developing the Statewide Transportation Improvement

Program(STIP), affected local officials with responsibility for transportation are involved on a consultation basis for the portions of the program in non-metropolitan areas of the State.

All lawsuits and complaints must be reported to ODOT. Any complaint that cannot be resolved satisfactorily at the local level will be sent to ODOT to investigate and resolve.

ODOT staff regularly communicates with local officials from the non-metropolitan areas of the state on transit programs and funding availability. Technical assistance and consultation services are provided to rural local officials, human service agencies, rural public transit program grantees, and Ohio Coordination Program project recipients, Job Access and Reverse Commute project recipients and New Freedom project recipients. Through all these efforts ODOT remains committed to working as partners with FTA, FHWA, Ohio’s MPOs, rural local governments and other regional and state government organizations to provide the citizens and businesses of Ohio with a safe, efficient, and accessible transportation system .

Documentation of complaints and comments during the local consultation process are maintained by the state.

Chapter 3 of the Rural Transit Manual gives the 5311 recipient further direction on the handling of complaints. Rural transit systems are responsible for developing procedures for investigating and tracking Title VI complaints filed against them and make these procedures available to members of the public upon request. The transit system is responsible for preparing and maintaining a list of any active investigations conducted by entities other than FTA, lawsuits, or complaints that allege discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

The fundamental concept for the Section 5311 program assumes that the Federal, State, and local entity will participate in the cost and administration of providing public transportation service.

C.Coordination

Coordination of funding and resources is a high priority at both the state and local levels. ODOT is the lead agency for the Statewide Coordination group, known as the Transportation Partnership of Ohio (TPO). The TPO is a team of state agency staff committed to reducing barriers to coordination and developing solutions to resolve problems arising from conflicting state requirements and regulations. The TPO may meet quarterly to discuss areas of interest, share information and respond to barriers that prevent coordination from taking place at the local level. The TPO is now meeting at the same time as the local Mobility Managers Quarterly Roundtable. See Exhibit IX for a list of Transportation Partnership of Ohio (TPO) members.

5311 grantees, in addition to their policy boards, each have a Transit Advisory Board made up of representatives of local human services agencies, people with disabilities, the general public and local private transportation providers. While this board does not have policy responsibilities, it provides advisory input into the operation of the system.

ODOT also fosters coordination through its state-funded Ohio Coordination Program (OCP). The OCP was established to enhance and expand transportation through coordination in Ohio’s counties with no public transportation system. All projects must demonstrate some level of interagency coordination in their local area to be eligible for funding. All projects must designate a lead agency to administer day-to-day operations, execute memorandums of understanding with all participating agencies and have a full time coordinator/mobility manager. ODOT encourages and expects to see documentation that the 5311 grantee in an OCP county is participating in the coordination.

As a part of the locally developed coordinated plan, planning partnerships were developed in support of projects to close transportation gaps in each area. These planning partnerships will continue as coordinated approaches to meeting transportation needs are implemented.

D. Eligible Sub-recipients

Eligible sub-recipients consist of those entities which are eligible applicants (direct recipients of the Federal and State funding) and eligible recipients (indirect recipients of the Federal and State funding).

Eligible Applicants

Any of the following entities which are not within an urbanized area are eligible applicants:

1)Any regional transit authority (RTA) or county transit board (CTB) established under Chapter 306 of the Ohio Revised Code;

2)Any city or village that is not within the jurisdiction of an RTA or CTB as defined above;

3)Any county that is not totally within the jurisdiction of an RTA or CTB as defined above; or

4)Any private nonprofit corporation which has undergone the local selection process and has been designated as Grantee by the local public entity (i.e., under a), b), or c) above). See Exhibit III for ODOT's current local selection process for designating private nonprofit corporations as Section 5311 grantees.

Only one eligible applicant per county can apply for Rural Transit funding. An eligible applicant may, however, apply for Rural Transit funding on behalf of another eligible applicant, e.g., a municipality applying for funding for the municipality as well as on behalf of the county, one county applying for funding for its own jurisdiction as well as on behalf of another adjacent county, or an individual county, municipality, or village department applying on behalf of the entire county, city, or village. In all of these cases, the local officials of the county,city, or village for which the funds are being applied must adopt a resolution authorizing the proposal to be submitted on its behalf (see the sample resolution in the Rural Proposal Instructions).

For new start systems where two or more eligible applicants within the same service area (e.g., a county and a municipality or village) both wish to apply for funding, the County Commissioners will be responsible for choosing one eligible applicant to apply for the Rural Transit funding on behalf of both parties. Authorizing resolutions, as described in the previous paragraph, are required from both parties. Or, if the CountyCommissioners choose, they may follow the designated grantee selection process set forth in paragraph B below for selecting the eligible applicant.

Designated Grantees

An eligible applicant for Rural Transit funding may wish to have public transportation service within its jurisdiction but may not choose to be the grantee for program funds. The eligible applicant can choose another eligible applicant to apply for Rural Transit funding on its behalf (see paragraph A) or it may designate a private nonprofit corporation as the grantee for its community. This selection process must consist of the following steps:

1)holding a public hearing to offer interested private nonprofit corporations the opportunity to comment on proposed service and proposed designation of another grantee;

2)requesting each private nonprofit corporation interested in providing public transit service to submit an information package consisting of specific financial and operating information (refer to Exhibit III);

3)reviewing all information received from prospective private nonprofit corporations and selecting the private nonprofit corporation that will best meet local transportation needs, according to both local and ODOT criteria; and

4)Submitting all information received from prospective private nonprofit corporations to ODOT for review and approval.

A grantee designation is effective for three years. Once a designated grantee has been selected, the designation will remain permanent, subject to a satisfactory triennial performance review of the selected agency. Satisfactory performance shouldbe evaluated by the original grantee on the basis of the same criteria used in making the initial designation. If after the three year designation period the original grantee wishes to provide its services directly or choose another designated grantee, it may do so regardless of the past performance of the previously designated grantee. The eligible applicant may review its designation and/or disallow the grantee designation at any time during the designation period for poor performance or repeated non-compliance with federal and state requirements.

After a three year period, if the original grantee wishes to re-designate the grantee, the original grantee must provide a letter of re-designation to ODOT. ODOT reserves the right to disallow any designation if the Department believes it will not be in the best interest of citizens directly affected by the designation.

Pass Through Recipients

Many of Ohio’s rural counties are located adjacent to other rural areas or to urbanized areas, served by urban public transit systems. In these cases, ODOT encourages both the rural and urban systems to coordinate to the maximum extent feasible by coordinating schedules, routes, bus stops, fares, etc. to facilitate transportation within the region.

Additionally, an eligible applicant for the Rural Transit Program may apply for and “pass through” Rural Transit funds to another eligible Federal Transit Administration (FTA) applicant in either a rural or an urban area for all or a portion of the operations of the rural transit service in the eligible applicant’s service area if it is determined that this arrangement best meets its transportation needs.

It is at the discretion of the eligible applicant to choose the best mechanism for administering and operating rural transit service in their area, but any pass through agreement must have prior ODOT concurrence. See Exhibit IV for a sample pass through agreement.