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:

Some buses already use advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), systems that help bus drivers maintain control, for example in narrow lanes, and to avoid collisions. While most of the systems being piloted today use warnings and alerts to help direct driver actions, systems with automation elements have also been tested by transit agencies. Transit agencies have tested prototype systems capable of assisting with precision docking, lane centering, and automated emergency braking. These systems are incrementally moving transit bus operations toward increasing levels of automation, providing FTA, transit operators, bus manufacturers, and other relevant stakeholders with time to adapt to the new technology.

It may be several years before fully automated buses operate on public roads, though there are several pilot deployments using SAE Level 4 automated shuttles with the capacity to transport 6-15 passengers at low speeds (generally with operating speeds of 10-15 mph). These low-speed automated shuttles have not only been tested on closed tracks and in parking lots, but some are operating in mixed traffic and on public roads. Current pilots still use on-board attendants, who are able to control the vehicle if it encounters an unfamiliar situation, fails to detect obstacles, or needs human intervention. These shuttles may not have the capability to provide the same level of service as regular transit service or operate in the more complex operating environments, but may be able to provide basic circulator service on relatively simple routes.

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/

Answer:

The vanpool policy states that vanpool credits should be treated in the same manner as TDC, therefore, grantees should use the TDC line in the EAMS to record the vanpool credits to be used as local match. Whenever a grantee proposes to use vanpool credits as local match, FTA regional staff should notify headquarters staff (TPM-30) by email, of the grantee’s name and project number. TPM-30 will retrieve documentation of the identified grantee from FTA’s EAMS, and maintain a spreadsheet for tracking the vanpool credit used as local match. This is an interim process until FTA creates a permanent reporting field for tracking vanpool credits during the next enhancement of TrAMS.

Answer:

This information should be included in the grantee’s file and available for review upon request by FTA regional staff.

Answer:

Applicants must be eligible to receive FTA §5309 funding, that is a public agency, such as a transit authority, city/county government, metropolitan planning organizations, the State or a Native American Tribe.