Answer:

In general, when a public transit passenger randomly chooses from among a number of taxicab companies providing service, the testing regulations do not apply. The rationale for this is the practical difficulty of trying to administer a drug and alcohol testing program in connection with multiple companies. An example of this scenario is a guaranteed ride home program, in which the transit agency contracts with multiple (two or more) taxicab companies in the area and a passenger may choose which taxicab company to contact to get a ride home.

Answer:

Labor costs that can be directly allocated to emergency operations are eligible. This includes straight-time and over-time. Stand-by time is eligible as long as the stand-by time expenses were incurred for an eligible activity, for example operators placed on stand-by for evacuations or temporary service. Leave (administrative or personal) taken during the emergency is not an eligible expense. Accrued leave and other fringe benefits earned by hourly employees are eligible if the expenses can be allocated to an eligible ER activity and an indirect cost rate is not applied to the grant. Fringe benefits for all salaried employees, as well as straight-time labor for salaried management are not eligible as a direct cost. Over-time for salaried management may be eligible as reimbursement for emergency operations if the over-time can be allocated to eligible activities.

Indirect costs, which may include non-allocable fringe benefits, are an eligible expense and may be applied to the grant if the applicant has an approved Cost Allocation Plan or Indirect Cost Rate Proposal, or the applicant may use the de minimis rate if eligible. Please see section 4.1.3 “Eligible Projects and Costs” of FTA’s Emergency Relief Manual for more information.

Answer:

FTA does not require that any NEPA work be completed prior to applying. However, applicants should have a reasonable understanding about the NEPA class of action required for the project, as this will allow them to develop an appropriate project timeline. If a project is selected, agencies are advised to consult with FTA prior to grant submittal and indicate in the grant submission if a 4(f) or Section 106 review will be needed.

Answer:

Emergency and permanent repair projects may qualify for a C-List or D-List Categorical Exclusion if they do not involve changes to the capacity, location, or function of public transportation assets. Please see section 4.2.4 “National Environmental Policy Act Review Process” in FTA’s Emergency Relief Manual for details.

Answer:

The Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Office of Civil Rights ensures the non-discriminatory use of federal funds through oversight of grantee implementation of required civil rights regulations and policy. Compliance reviews are conducted to ensure conformity under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program, the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Program, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. More information about each of the four programs administered by FTA’s Office of Civil Rights, as well as links to corresponding statutes and regulations, may be found by visiting the following website and selecting individual program links.

Answer:

Applicants should indicate when a resilience project can be undertaken either in multiple phases or multiple independent elements, provided that each phase or element can be completed independently and will serve to make the transportation system more resilient. If funding is not available for an entire project, FTA may consider awarding funds for one or more scalable project phases or elements. Applicants should identify the proposed scope and reduced funding amount for each scalable alternative, and must complete a separate HMCE analysis for each alternative.

Answer:

Generally if the facility was in transit use at the time of the disaster and the facility sustained damage, ER funds will be made available to bring the aspects of the facility that were damaged by the storm up to a state of good repair.
 
For example, if an administrative building was in use by the transit agency and in poor condition but was flooded with 6 inches of water during a the storm, ER funds could be used to repair or replace damaged flooring, drywall, office equipment, etc. at current standards.

If a facility was not in transit use at the time of the damage, whether due to age, condition or other reasons, the damage would not be eligible for repair.  However, ER funds may be available to reimburse for debris removal and other expenses that return the property to a safe status as long as the facility is still owned by the transit agency.

Answer:

For the FTA Employment Practice Assessment for veteran hiring and promotions (Circular Section 2.2.6), use the Department of Labor definition for "eligible veteran" found at 38 U.S.C. Section 4211(4). It reads:

(4) The term ‘‘eligible veteran’’ means a person who—

(A) served on active duty for a period of more than 180 days and was discharged or released therefrom with other than a dishonorable discharge;

(B) was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability;

(C) as a member of a reserve component under an order to active duty pursuant to section 12301(a), (d), or (g), 12302, or 12304 of title 10, served on active duty during a period of war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge is authorized and was discharged or released from such duty with other than a dishonorable discharge; or

(D) was discharged or released from active duty by reason of a sole survivorship discharge (as that term is defined in section 1174(i) of title 10).

Answer:

FTA decided to set aside $50 million of the overall $330 million appropriation for latent damages and other emergency-related expenses from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria that may arise in the future.

Answer:

No. When a State DOT or a transit agency is counting transit-related employees, it does not count subrecipients or contractors for purposes of whether it meets the 50–99 or 100+ employees threshold. However, since subrecipients and contractors who meet the threshold are required to submit EEO Programs to the direct recipient transit agency, when a subrecipient or contractor counts transit-related employees for the threshold, it would include all transit-related employees who work for the subrecipient or contractor.

Answer:

For the next EEO Program submission, because the submission schedule has been reset to accommodate the new four-year submission cycle, recipients will be submitting EEO Programs at differing amounts of time from the last EEO Program submission. To accommodate the various lengths of time since the previous EEO Program submissions, the Employment Practices tables should be for either the time since the last program submission, or the previous four years, whichever is shorter. For example, if a recipient submitted its last program in 2015, and FTA assigns its next submission date in 2018, it would submit for the period from 2015–2018. If the recipient submitted its last program in 2015 and FTA assigns its next submission date in 2020, it would submit for 2016–2020. After the 2018 and 2020 submission dates have passed, each recipient will follow a four-year submission cycle, and the Employment Practices tables will cover the full four years of the EEO Program period.

Answer:

For the upcoming EEO Program submissions, which will be in 2018 or 2020, agencies should use a future four-year time period for the Goals and Timetables.

Answer:

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) drug and alcohol regulation (49 CFR part 655) provides that the rule applies to recipients and subrecipients of Urbanized Area (§ 5307), Capital Investment Grant (§ 5309) and Rural Area (§ 5311) funds, as well as their contractors and subcontractors. Generally, a ridesourcing company would be a contractor. Under the rule, a contractor is any entity providing a safety-sensitive function for a recipient or subrecipient. The contract may be a written contract or an informal arrangement "that reflects an ongoing relationship between the parties."

Answer:

Project-specific EJ analysis is conducted as part of a NEPA document. Therefore, if the NEPA document needs to be updated (e.g., when there are project changes that have the potential for significant environmental impacts, or a significant project change which was not analyzed previously), the EJ analysis should be reviewed to confirm that there are no new impacts to the EJ population that would be considered disproportionately high and adverse. FTA will re-evaluate the EJ analysis to determine whether additional EJ analysis is required.

Answer:

The taxicab exception does not apply when a passenger does not choose the taxicab company providing the service. For example, many ADA paratransit agencies contract with taxicab companies and other entities to provide ADA paratransit service to ambulatory passengers. In those situations, when the ADA paratransit provider (not the passenger) contacts the taxicab company to schedule the ride, the drug and alcohol rules apply to the taxicab company providing the service. Similarly, if a public transit agency provides vouchers to passengers to use for one taxicab company, the passenger does not have a choice of which company to contact, so the drug and alcohol rules apply.

Answer:

If an applicant believes the FTA HMCE analysis tool does not capture all of the resilience benefits of a proposed project, the applicant should provide additional information in the qualitative benefits section of the HMCE tool, which is located beneath the projects apparent benefit cost ratio (BCR). Other benefits may also be quantified by an applicant and submitted separately, however, in such a case the applicant must submit a highly detailed explanation of how and why the alternative analysis differs from the HMCE tool. FTA will carefully scrutinize the justification, as well as the procedures and methodology provided together with the results of the HMCE tool.

Answer:

The following website contains links to finalized Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Compliance Review Reports, Letters of Finding, and links related to collaboration between the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Answer:

The slides and training guides from these presentations can be found on FTA’s emergency relief website. Please contact us at FTASandyResilience@dot.gov if you are interested in obtaining a recording of the webinars.

Answer:

To find public transit providers in urban or rural areas, the American Public Transportation Association provides state lists by county and by metropolitan area. This information may be accessed at http://www.apta.com/resources/links/unitedstates/Pages/default.aspx. To find partners who are active in planning and coordinating transportation with other services, visit the National Resource Center's "Coordination Map" which has state agency contacts and known lead agencies and partners in coordinated transportation planning and delivery, as well as with other state-specific information and resources.

Answer:

This information can be found at: http://www.rebuildbydesign.org/