Transportation Coordination
Overview
Coordinated transportation involves multiple entities working together to deliver one or more components of a transportation service so they can increase their capacity to provide trips. Coordination activities can include: sharing passenger trips and vehicles; co-location of facilities, programs or services; collaborating on grant applications, state/local plans, training, vehicle purchasing or maintenance; joint hiring of mobility manager(s); federal fund braiding; and more.
Federal interagency transportation coordination supports and promotes:
- Expanded transportation access and availability, providing more options for end users and reaching additional regions through streamlined, collaborative policies;
- Increased efficiency by enabling states, local communities, and other funding recipients to share resources, reduce costs, and minimize redundancy within the federal programs supporting human services transportation; and
- Innovation by developing and implementing future transportation models, resulting in enhanced customer service.
Coordination Guidance
FTA is providing guidance clarification to reduce overlap between 132 Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility (CCAM) programs across 9 federal members that may fund human services transportation and incentivize collaboration by clarifying eligible reporting into the National Transit Database (NTD). This guidance addresses the following topics as they relate to NTD reporting: Definition of public transportation; Paratransit; Charter service; Incidental use of transit assets; and Trip brokering.
In addition, FTA provides further coordination guidance through the Award Management Requirements Circular (C 5010.1F) and Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities Program Guidance (C 9070.1H).
Coordination Definitions and Examples
Incidental Use
Incidental use occurs when FTA grant recipients allow the use of a federally funded asset (e.g. van) by another public or private entity for non-transit purposes. The non-transit activity may not reduce or limit transit service.
Some examples of Incidental Use include:
- Vehicle Sharing
- A van, purchased with FTA funding (e.g. FTA Section 5311), is currently operated by ABC Nonprofit Organization, a sub-recipient to the State DOT. ABC operates Monday – Friday (M-F). The local CCAM program grantee (e.g., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Program; Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Youth Mentoring Program; Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program; Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Healthy Start Program, etc.) uses the vehicle on weekends to take their low-income participants to everyday destinations, such as access to healthy food and recreation opportunities. The vehicle sharing arrangement may vary from free to reimbursement to the transit agency for the fully allocated cost of using the vehicle.
- A van, purchased with FTA funding (e.g. FTA Section 5311), is currently operated by ABC Nonprofit Organization, a sub-recipient to the State DOT. ABC operates Monday – Friday (M-F). The local CCAM program grantee (e.g., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Program; Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Youth Mentoring Program; Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program; Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Healthy Start Program, etc.) uses the vehicle on weekends to take their low-income participants to everyday destinations, such as access to healthy food and recreation opportunities. The vehicle sharing arrangement may vary from free to reimbursement to the transit agency for the fully allocated cost of using the vehicle.
- Meal Delivery
- A vehicle purchased with FTA funding is currently operated by XYZ Transit. XYZ Transit provides public transit during peak hours: 6:30 am - 10:00 am and 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm M-F. The local CCAM grantee (e.g., Older Americans Act (OAA) Nutrition Program that reduces hunger and malnutrition of older adults; U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Summer Food Service Program that serves free healthy meals to children in low-income areas when school is out; etc.) uses the vehicle during lunchtime. The vehicle sharing arrangement may vary from free to reimbursement to the transit agency for the fully allocated cost of using the vehicle.
If you require assistance making a determination about whether an activity constitutes incidental use, consult your FTA Regional Office.
Explore National RTAP’s Rural Transit and School Bus Coordination and the CCAM Historic Resources page for additional examples of coordination and incidental use partnerships.
Vehicle and Ride Sharing
Vehicle and ride sharing occur when a single shared vehicle transports the beneficiaries of multiple federal programs. Vehicle sharing may occur with shared rides, when multiple federal programs’ beneficiaries are on the same vehicle simultaneously, or with individual rides, when a vehicle transports a single beneficiary at a time. For more information on federal vehicle and ride sharing arrangements, please refer to the CCAM Cost-Sharing Policy Statement.
Charter Service
Charter service occurs when FTA grant recipients provide exclusive use of vehicle(s) to an individual or group for a price. FTA’s Charter Service Regulation (49 C.F.R. Part 604), which implements 49 U.S.C. 5323(d), protects private charter operators from unauthorized competition from FTA grant recipients. The charter regulations were implemented to ensure that transit agencies subsidized with federal money do not unfairly compete with privately owned bus companies. Under the Charter Rule, with limited exceptions, local transit agencies are restricted from operating charter services.
There is a Charter Rule exception for Qualified Human Service Organizations (QHSOs) that receive funding from one or more programs listed in the CCAM Program Inventory. Recipients of FTA funds may provide services to clients of QHSOs without violating the Charter Rule. Additionally, registration on FTA’s charter service website is no longer required for QHSOs that meet this funding criterion.
Cost Sharing
Cost sharing refers to coordinating transportation resources and expenses among multiple partners or programs to maximize efficiency and availability of services. The CCAM promotes cost sharing to reduce duplication and make funds stretch further for transportation services.
- CCAM Cost-Sharing Policy Statement
- Cost Allocation Technology for Non-Emergency Medical Transportation
Federal Fund Braiding
Federal fund braiding for local match, also referred to as federal fund braiding, is when federal funds from one grant program are used to fulfil the local match requirement of another federal grant. This provides federal grantees the opportunity to share costs of a transportation project across multiple federal programs. All statutory and regulatory requirements, such as eligibility and reporting, must be met for both programs. Federal fund braiding encourages greater coordination at the local level due to the additional reporting requirements that grantees must meet when receiving funds from two federal sources.