Header:
PENNSYLVANIA CONSOLIDATED STATUTES
TITLE 74. TRANSPORTATION
PART II. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
CHAPTER 15. SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY OPTIONS
Date:
08/31/2009
Document:
§ 1513. Operating program
(a) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.-- The following may apply for financial assistance for operating expenses under this section:
(1) The governing body of a municipality or an instrumentality of a
municipality.
(2) A Commonwealth agency or instrumentality.
(3) A local transportation organization.
(b) APPLICATIONS.-- In addition to information required under section 1507 (relating to application and approval process), an application for financial assistance under this section shall include the applicant's reasonable estimates of operating revenue and government subsidies sufficient to cover all projected operating expenses.
(c) DISTRIBUTION FORMULA.--
(1) No later than 15 business days after the effective date of this
section, the department shall forward to the Legislative Reference
Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin the base operating
allocation for each local transportation organization.
(1.1) For purposes of determining the amount of assistance available
for distribution under this subsection, in addition to the amounts
allocated under section 1506(e)(1)(relating to fund), an amount equal
to the revenue in the Public Transportation Assistance Fund dedicated
pursuant to law shall be included.
(2) For fiscal year 2007-2008 and each fiscal year thereafter, each
qualifying local transportation organization shall receive financial
assistance which shall consist of the following:
(i) Its base operating allocation multiplied by 1.0506.
(ii) An additional amount which shall be allocated based on the
following distribution formula:
(A) Twenty-five percent of the award amount shall be based on the
number of passengers. The actual amount received by each local
transportation organization under this clause shall be calculated
as follows:
(I) Multiply the total amount of funding available for
distribution under this paragraph by 0.25.
(II) Multiply the product under subclause (I) by the local
transportation organization's number of passengers.
(III) Divide the product under subclause (II) by the total number
of passengers for all local transportation organizations.
(B) Ten percent of the award amount shall be based on the number of
senior passengers to offset free fares for senior passengers. The
actual amount received by each local transportation organization
under this clause shall be calculated as follows:
(I) Multiply the total amount of funding available for
distribution under this paragraph by 0.10.
(II) Multiply the product under subclause (I) by the local
transportation organization's number of senior passengers.
(III) Divide the product under subclause (II) by the total number
of senior passengers for all local transportation organizations.
(C) Thirty-five percent of the award amount shall be based on the
number of revenue vehicle hours. The actual amount received by
each local transportation organization under this clause shall be
calculated as follows:
(I) Multiply the total amount of funding available for
distribution under this paragraph by 0.35.
(II) Multiply the product under subclause (I) by the local
transportation organization's number of revenue vehicle hours.
(III) Divide the product under subclause (II) by the total of the
revenue vehicle hours for all local transportation organizations.
(D) Thirty percent of the award amount shall be based on the number
of revenue vehicle miles. The actual amount received by each local
transportation organization under this clause shall be calculated
as follows:
(I) Multiply the total amount of funding available for
distribution under this paragraph by 0.30.
(II) Multiply the product under subclause (I) by the local
transportation organization's number of revenue vehicle miles.
(III) Divide the product under subclause (II) by the total number
of revenue vehicle miles for all local transportation
organizations.
(3) For the 2007-2008 fiscal year, no local transportation organization
shall receive total financial assistance under this subsection that
would be more than 50% higher than the amount it receives under
paragraph (2)(i). For each subsequent fiscal year, the increase in the
total financial assistance provided to each local transportation
organization shall not exceed 20% of the prior year allocation.
(C.1) MINIMUM.-- No local transportation organization shall receive financial assistance under this section in an amount less than the amount received in the previous fiscal year.
(d) LOCAL MATCH REQUIREMENTS.--
(1) For fiscal year 2007-2008 and each fiscal year thereafter, except
as provided under paragraph (2), financial assistance provided under
this section shall be matched by local or private cash funding in an
amount not less than the greater of:
(i) 15% of the amount of the financial assistance being provided; or
(ii) the amount required under former section 1311(d) (relating to
use of funds distributed) for fiscal year 2006-2007.
(2) Beginning in fiscal year 2007-2008 and each fiscal year thereafter,
if the local matching funds provided are less than 15% of the amount of
financial assistance received, the local transportation organization's
required local matching funds shall increase annually in order to meet
the 15% requirement set forth under paragraph (1)(i). The local
matching funds shall be increased annually by a minimum of 5% above the
amount of local matching funds provided in the previous fiscal year
unless a lesser amount is necessary to meet the 15% requirement set
forth under paragraph (1)(i).
(3) Eligible local matching funds shall consist only of cash
contributions provided by one or more municipalities or counties. The
amount of the match and the time period during which the match must
continue to be available shall be specified in the financial assistance
agreement. Funding provided by local and private entities, including
advertising or naming rights, may qualify as local matching funds to
the extent they provide for the cost of transit service that is open to
the public. The following shall not be considered local matching
funds:
(i) Any form of transit operating revenue or other forms of transit
income provided by the local transportation organization.
(ii) Funds used to replace fares.
(4) A municipality in a metropolitan area which is a member of a local
transportation organization is authorized to provide annual financial
assistance from current revenues to the local transportation
organization of which it is a member or enter into a long-term
agreement for payment of money to assist in defraying the costs of
operation, maintenance and debt service of the local transportation
organization or of a particular public transportation project of a
local transportation organization. The obligation of a municipality
under an agreement pursuant to this paragraph shall not be considered
to be a part of the indebtedness of the municipality, nor shall the
obligation be deemed to impair the status of any indebtedness of the
municipality which would otherwise be considered self-sustaining.
(e) PERFORMANCE REVIEWS.--
(1) The department may conduct performance reviews of an award
recipient under this section to determine the effectiveness of the
financial assistance. Reviews shall be conducted at regular intervals
as established by the department in consultation with the management of
the award recipient. After completion of a review, the department
shall issue a report that:
(i) highlights exceptional performance and identifies any problems
that need to be resolved;
(ii) assesses performance, efficiency and effectiveness of the use of
the financial assistance;
(iii) makes recommendations on follow-up actions required to remedy
any problem identified; and
(iv) provides an action plan documenting who should perform the
recommended actions and a time frame within which they should be
performed.
(2) The department shall deliver the report to the Governor, to the
chairman and minority chairman of the Transportation Committee of the
Senate and to the chairman and minority chairman of the Transportation
Committee of the House of Representatives. The department's
regulations shall contain a description of the impact on both the
amount of, and future eligibility for, financial assistance under this
chapter based upon the degree to which the local transportation
organization complies with the recommendations in the report. The
department shall develop a list of best practices revealed by the
reports issued under this subsection and shall post them on the
department's Internet website.
(f) PERFORMANCE CRITERIA.-- Criteria used for the reviews conducted under subsection (e) shall consist of passengers per revenue vehicle hour, operating costs per revenue vehicle hour, operating revenue per revenue vehicle hour, operating costs per passenger and other items as the department may establish. The department's regulations shall set forth the minimum system performance criteria based upon comparison of the award recipient to its past performance and to its peers that an award recipient must satisfy.
(g) FAILURE TO SATISFY MINIMUM PERFORMANCE CRITERIA.--
(1) If a performance review conducted under subsection (e) reveals that
the performance of an award recipient's transportation system has
decreased compared to performance determined through a prior review,
the department may, upon the written request of an award recipient,
waive any requirement for a reduction in the amount of financial
assistance to be awarded under this section for a reasonable time
period to allow the award recipient to bring the system back to the
required performance level. The award recipient shall provide written
justification for providing a time period longer than two years. In
order to obtain the waiver for the period requested, the award
recipient must do all of the following:
(i) Develop an action plan to improve system performance that
contains key measurable milestones. The action plan must be
acceptable to the department and must be approved by the department
in writing.
(ii) Submit quarterly progress reports on the action plan to the
department.
(2) The department shall review and evaluate the award recipient's
progress to determine if the system has improved. If the system has
improved, the award recipient will remain eligible for full formula
funding as determined under subsection (c). If the system has not
improved by the end of the waiver period, the waiver will be withdrawn.
Expenses incurred by the award recipient as a result of the failure of
the award recipient's system to meet the minimum performance criteria
shall be borne by the award recipient.
(h) ADJUSTMENTS TO MINIMUM PERFORMANCE CRITERIA.-- Upon written request of an award recipient, the department may adjust the minimum performance criteria described in subsection (g) in a given year if the performance of the award recipient's system is adversely affected by circumstances which are beyond the award recipient's control. Examples are labor strikes, infrastructure failures and natural disasters. The request must include the award recipient's reasons for seeking the adjustment.
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