2012 Arkansas Transit Association Annual Conference
ARKANSAS HIGHWAY AND
TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT
TRANSIT PROGRAMS
OCTOBER 17, 2012
•MAP – 21 Transit Programs
•Arkansas Statewide Public Transit Needs
Assessment
•Arkansas Statewide Transit Coordination
Plan: 2012
Moving Ahead for Progress in the
21st Century Act (MAP-21)
• Signed into law by President Obama on July
6, 2012
• Extends current law (SAFETEA-LU) through
September 30, 2012
• Goes into full effect October 1, 2012
• Authorizes programs for two years, through
September 30, 2014
Highlights of Program Changes
New
Repealed
Consolidated
Modified
•Safety Authority
(5329)
•State of Good
Repair Grants (5337)
•Asset Management
(5326)
•Bus and Bus
Facilities Formula
Grants (5339)
•Public
Transportation
Emergency Relief
(5324)
•TOD Planning Pilot
Grants (20005(b) of
MAP-21)
•Clean Fuels
Grants (5308)
•Job Access and
Reverse Commute
(5316) [ JARC ]
•New Freedom
Program (5317)
•Paul S. Sarbanes
Transit in the Parks
(5320)
•Alternatives
Analysis (5339)
•Over-the-Road
Bus (Sec. 3038 –
TEA-21)
•Urbanized Area
Formula Grants
(5307) [ JARC ]
•Enhanced
Mobility of Seniors
and Individuals
with Disabilities
(5310) [New
Freedom]
•Rural Area
Formula Grants
(5311)[ JARC]
•Fixed Guideway
Capital Investment
Grants (5309)
•Metropolitan and
Statewide Planning
(5303 & 5304)
•Research,
Development,
Demonstration, and
Deployment (5312)
•Technical
Assistance and
Standards (5314)
•Human Resources
and Training (5322)
Urbanized Area Formula Grants
• Funds capital, planning, and JARC-eligible
activities
• Allows operating assistance in urbanized areas
over 200,000 population and operating fewer
than 100 vehicles
Rural Area Formula Grants
• Provides funding to States for the purpose of
supporting public transportation in rural areas
• Incorporates JARC-eligible activities
• Establishes $5 million discretionary and $25
million formula tribal grant program
• Establishes $20 million Appalachian
Development Public Transportation formula tier
Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and
Individuals with Disabilities
• Name Change
• Consolidates current 5310 and New Freedom program
eligibilities into single formula program
• Continues the Transit Coordination Plan Requirement
• Appropriates funds to three areas based on population
size (rural, small urbanized and large urbanized areas)
• Allows States to continue a single program if larger
urbanized areas agree
• Requires FTA to establish performance measures (such
as ridership, miles per vehicle, reduction of accidents)
Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and
Individuals with Disabilities
• Consolidates current 5310 and New Freedom program
eligibilities into single formula program
– Continue as a single statewide program
– One application for the two former programs
– Capital assistance program only
– Parent agencies submit on one application for all centers
and prioritize vehicle requests
– Application Period : January 2nd – March 6th 2013
• No more New Freedom or JARC funds or applications
• Agencies currently receiving funds from an “old” New
Freedom or JARC grant may continue using those funds
Metropolitan and Statewide
Planning Program
• Requires all MPOs to include transit agency
officials in their governing structures
• Requires states, transit agencies, and MPOs to
establish performance targets; establishes a
national performance measurement system
Bus and Bus Facilities
Formula Program
• Replaces the Bus and Bus Facilities
Discretionary Program
• Ensures funding to all states and urban areas
• States receive $1,250,000 – rural public transit
systems and eligible non profit agencies
• Eligible capital projects include – replacement
and purchases of new vehicles
• Matching ratio is 80% Federal and 20% Local
Safety Program
• FTA granted new Public Transportation
Safety Authority
• All public transit agencies must develop
their own safety plan including bus and rail
operations
• FTA is currently developing guidelines
• Requires annual reporting
Transit Asset Management Provisions
• Establishes National Transit Asset Management system
• System must include inventory of vehicles and facilities, condition
assessments, decision support tools, and investment priorities
• All transit agencies (including 5310 agencies) must develop their own
asset management plan; covers all transit modes
• Applies to all vehicles used to transport people, facilities and support
equipment
• Requires performance measures.
– Secretary must set national measures within one year.
– States are given three additional three months to set state and local
performance measures
• Requires annual reporting
• AHTD will likely report on more than 2000 vehicles, 100s of pieces of
shop equipment and administrative and maintenance facilities
Transit Asset Management System
Potential Data Requirements
• Vehicle Inventory Number
• Number of Vehicles by Vehicle Type
• Year of Manufacture
• Vehicle Length
• ADA Accessible Vehicles
• Funding Source
• Useful Life of Vehicle
• Seating Capacity
• Condition
Performance Measures
• Objective is to gauge how well selected projects
meet National and State goals
• Planning, Section 5310, and Asset Management
programs must develop performance measures
• FTA has 12 – 18 months to develop guidelines
• Section 5310 Performance Measures must address:
– Geographical area coverage
– Ridership
– Accessibility improvements
• Transit Asset Performance Measures may address:
– Age of fleet, facilities and equipment
– Condition (good, fair, poor)
Annual Transit Reporting
• Public transit systems will continue the existing
National Transit Database (NTD) reports
• Section 5310 agencies must now submit NTD reports
– Reports will include data for the performance measures
listed above
– May require modification to AHTD quarterly reports or
annual applications
• Transit Asset management is a new annual report for
all agencies
– Must address progress of performance measures
– Identify performance targets for subsequent fiscal year
Arkansas’ Transit Funding
Program
Actual FFY 2012
Estimated FFY 2013
$473,108
$520,550
Section 5307 Over 200,000
$6,282,303
$6,796,248
Section 5307 Under 200,000
$3,555,486
$5,106,894
Section 5310 Enhanced Mobility
$1,492,218
$1,674,064
$990,556
$0.00
Section 5311 Rural Transit
$10,325,433
$11,772,760
Section 5316 JARC
$1,775,663
$0.00
Section 5339 Bus Formula (Urban)
$1,046,244
$1,447,064
Section 5339 Bus Formula (State)
$156,000
$1,250,000
$26,097,011
$28,567,580
Section 5305 Planning
Section 5317 New Freedom
Total FTA Funds
Arkansas Statewide
Public Transit Needs Assessment
• Prepared by the TranSystems consultant firm
• Purpose of the study was three-fold:
· Develop a statewide, regional, and countylevel assessment of public transportation
needs
· Develop service recommendations to address
those needs
· Identify 10-year financial needs
• Needs Assessment grouped the 75 Arkansas
counties into regions based on the state’s eight
Planning and Development Districts
Arkansas Planning and Development Districts
Arkansas Statewide Public Transit Needs Assessment
• Statewide and eight Regional Advisory Committees
were formed to provide input from statewide and
regional perspectives
• Three rounds of meetings were held in each region
– The first round was a review of demographic data
collected, and a discussion of specific unmet
transportation needs in the region
– The second round focused on further discussion of specific
unmet transportation needs
– The final round included a report of the final estimates of
unmet need, cost of meeting that need, and a facilitated
discussion of options to meet the transportation need
Arkansas Statewide Public Transit Needs Assessment
• In 2010, just 36% of the estimated overall need
of over 13 million annual trips was being met
– Unmet need of 64% (8.4 million annual trips)
• Over 7 million of those in rural areas
• This unmet need implies that nearly half a
million people are in need of public
transportation at some time.
• This need is projected to grow to 9.6 million
trips and 560,000 people by 2020.
Arkansas Statewide Public Transit Needs Assessment
Total Public Transportation Needs
Total 2010
Population
688,323
Total
County Need
(Trips)
5,776,348
Need
Served
(Trips)
3,159,378
Unmet
Need
(Trips)
2,616,970
Percent
Unmet
Need
45.3%
New
Vehicles
Required
681
Annual Vehicle
Purchase Cost
$5,353,200
East Region
390,274
3,559,416
1,119,934
2,439,482
68.5%
665
$5,500,800
Northwest Region
579,161
4,242,743
872,379
3,370,364
79.4%
853
$6,708,600
Southeast Region
213,808
1,857,149
651,401
1,205,748
64.9%
360
$2,896,200
Southwest Region
232,526
2,037,517
878,552
1,158,965
56.9%
333
$2,719,800
West Region
260,065
2,104,862
767,602
1,337,260
63.5%
392
$3,159,000
West Central Region
313,917
2,654,173
973,188
1,680,985
63.3%
482
$3,920,400
White River Region
237,844
2,082,882
668,843
1,414,039
67.9%
446
$3,774,600
2,915,918
24,315,090
9,091,277
15,223,813
62.6%
4,212
$34,032,600
General Public Transit Subtotal
13,102,076
4,658,119
8,443,957
64.4%
2,059
$18,531,000
Human Service Subtotal
11,213,014
4,433,158
60.5%
2,153
$15,501,600
Region
Central Region
Total Arkansas
6,779,856
Arkansas Statewide Public Transit Needs Assessment
• Major needs for public transportation can be grouped by trip
purpose into a few categories:
– Transportation to Medical Services - These trips tend to be infrequent
but are critical needs. They may be short trips to a doctor, but many
are long trips to facilities in Little Rock.
– Transportation to Employment or Training - Many individuals with low
incomes, disabilities, or age-related issues lack access to a private
automobile and thus need public transportation for employment or
even training. People who are employed need transportation on a
daily basis and may require late night or early morning service.
– Transportation for Independent Living - In order to live independently,
seniors and others without access to an automobile need to travel to
banks, government offices, shopping, and recreational /social /cultural
facilities to maintain their independence. These trips may be regular
or infrequent but may involve travel to many different locations.
Arkansas Statewide
Transit Coordination Plan (TCP)
• Plan applies to all agencies requesting assistance under
Section 5310 Program
• Planning Requirement modified by MAP-21
– Previous requirement was that the project had to be
derived from a TCP
– Under MAP-21, an agency must participate in the planning
process
• Plan must include four elements
–
–
–
–
Identify current level of service
Identify current needs
Develop a prioritized list of strategies to meet those needs
Adopt the plan
Arkansas Statewide Transit Coordination Plan: 2012
Current Level of Service
• TCP contains a demographic profile of each
county showing the number of elderly, disabled,
low income and minority
• Approximately 200 agencies locating in 675
centers provide transit service through the
Section 5310 and “old” 5316, and 5317 programs
• AHTD has obligated approximately $36M from
April 2008 – October 2012
• Ridership grew from approximately 2.2 million
passenger trips in 2008 to 3.1 million in 2011
Arkansas Statewide Transit Coordination Plan: 2012
Demographic Profile
• 53% of all Arkansans fall within the three transit
dependent groups: seniors, persons with disabilities, or
persons living in poverty
• 14.4% of the State’s population is over 65 years of age
• 13.4% have some type of disability
• 18.7% are at or below the State’s poverty level
• 23.0% are minority persons
Arkansas Statewide Transit Coordination Plan: 2012 -- Service
Arkansas Statewide Transit Coordination Plan: 2012
Prioritized Service Strategies
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Preserve and maintain existing vehicles and equipment
Maximize the use of existing fleets operating within the same city or county
Continue to support vehicle and operating needs of transportation providers
presently receiving assistance under FTA programs.
Support the development of mobility managers, other coordination programs or
one-call centers at the regional level
Coordinate the development of model contracts or agreements for sharing
vehicles, personnel, joint supply purchasing, group maintenance and insurance,
etc.
Expand service through existing transit providers
Invest in new transit service where none presently exists
Explore new ways to partner with agencies such as the Arkansas Department of
Workforce Services and the AAAs