If you believe you have been discriminated against by a public transit provider, you may file an administrative complaint with the FTA Office of Civil Rights. FTA processes complaints under the following programs:

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): prohibits discrimination based on disability 
• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act: prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin
• Federal Transit Law, 49 U.S.C. 5332(b): prohibits discrimination by FTA funding recipients on additional bases, including religion, gender, and age
• Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE): requires FTA funding recipients to comply with the DBE regulations (49 CFR Part 26)
• Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO): prohibits discrimination toward an employee or job applicant based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age or disability. FTA investigates systemic charges of discrimination involving a transit agency’s employment policies and practices. All individual complaints of discrimination must go to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Who May File a Complaint

If you believe a public transit provider has failed to comply with any of the above requirements, you may file an administrative complaint with the FTA Office of Civil Rights. Complaints should be filed within 180 days of the alleged violation.

How to File

File a complaint by completing the FTA Online Civil Rights Complaint Form. Please upload any documents that support your allegations, including any relevant correspondence with your transit provider, photos, etc.

If you have questions on how to prepare a complaint, please contact our toll-free civil rights hotline at (888) 446-4511.

What to Expect from FTA’s Complaint Process

FTA strives to process complaints promptly. At the conclusion of our review of your allegations, you will receive a response. We do not represent individual complainants; our role is to ensure FTA funding recipients are in compliance with Title VI, EEO, DBE and ADA requirements. In the FTA complaint investigation process, we analyze allegations for possible deficiencies by the transit provider. If deficiencies are identified, we work with the transit provider to correct the deficiencies within a predetermined time frame.

Filing a Local Complaint

We encourage individuals to first file a complaint directly with their transit provider to give the transit provider an opportunity to resolve the situation. FTA recipients are required under the ADA, Title VI, and EEO to have local complaint procedures.