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Sue Knapp Frederic Fravel KFH Group, Incorporated Bethesda, Maryland

TCRP Project J-6, Task 71 Rural Transit Achievements: Assessing the Outcomes of Increased SAFETEA-LU Funding for Rural Transit INTERIM FINDINGS – TOWN HALL. 18 th National Conference on Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation Omaha, Nebraska

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Sue Knapp Frederic Fravel KFH Group, Incorporated Bethesda, Maryland

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  1. TCRP Project J-6, Task 71 Rural Transit Achievements:Assessing the Outcomes of Increased SAFETEA-LU Funding for Rural TransitINTERIM FINDINGS – TOWN HALL 18th National Conference on Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation Omaha, Nebraska October 2008 Sue Knapp Frederic Fravel KFH Group, Incorporated Bethesda, Maryland

  2. Study Purpose • FTA, Congress and stakeholders are preparing for reauthorization – want to understand what new funding has achieved • Study - provide useful data and information on the changes in rural public and intercity bus that have resulted from the increases in funding available through SAFETEA-LU

  3. Study Questions • How has funding for passenger transportation in rural areas grown with SAFETEA-LU? • What has been authorized? • What has been spent? • How are the increased funds been spent? • What has been accomplished? • What are the major barriers to development of new or expanded passenger transportation services in rural areas?

  4. Changes to State Programs States have changed program: • Revised allocation formula to bring new operators into the program • Created new programs • New Freedom • JARC (for some) • Intercity bus (for some) • Other new state programs – e.g. Wisconsin’s STRAP • Added the coordinated plan element • Began using some federal funds for administration • Improved local planning process

  5. How Funds Being Spent States report that, with the increases, they have: • Increased level of funding for existing programs (e.g. Wisconsin created the STRAP program to fund operating and administrative costs up to 80% until FY09) • Been able to serve new areas, created new projects (e.g., Montana has gone from 9 S.5311 providers to 33) • Given transit agencies ability to pay living wages • Improved coordination – by bringing something to the table • Increased training for grantees • Expanded the types of capital items will fund including ITS and mobility management • Been able to cover some of the losses to the programs due to: • Decrease in JARC funding (for some) • Loss of capital earmarks • Loss in state revenues

  6. Accomplishments in Local Communities • Acquired new vehicles and drivers; improved accessibility; reduce fleet age • Increased in number of trips they can provide • create new routes • increase frequency • extend hours/days of service • Serving new communities, more people have service • Serving new employment-related destinations; allow people to reaching higher-paying jobs • Providing service to communities that Greyhound no longer serves

  7. Accomplishments in Local Communities • Improved customer services • add new dispatchers to reduce wait time and telephone hours • shorten travel times • Allowed systems to keep up with rising cost of fuel and insurance; kept them out of debt • Provide competitive salaries and better training for drivers • Taking cars off the road; improving safety, saving users money, and helping to reduce carbon-based emissions • Increased coordination; mobility managers • Expand volunteer driver program

  8. Summary Answers How funding has grown? • Funding increases for existing programs were significant – 2004 - 2008 • Section 5311 – 74% increase • Section 5310 – 40% increase • Section 5316 (JARC) – 50% increase • New programs added $280M; about $60M for services to residents of rural communities • There was a significant lag time for implementation of State-administered programs; May be early for details on service improvements • Funding levels increased for existing programs in SFY2006 and SFY2007 • Many new programs getting off the ground in 2007; some not yet • Funding for JARC in rural areas is set at 20% (similar to 2004). This resulted in a decrease in obligations for rural areas in 2006. In 2006, rural portion of obligation for under 50,000 was 34% (26M), in 2005 it was 35% ($44M).

  9. Summary Answers How funds are being spend? • Funds used for service enhancements as well as new projects, serving new people and new areas • Significant number of new vehicles are being bought in rural areas from S.5311 and S.5309 • A portion of the increases in existing programs have been offset by increases in fuel, insurance and other operating costs (fuel alone increased 2-3 fold in the past four years); decreases in JARC funding; loss of capital earmarks; and lower than anticipated revenues in many areas due to the weak economy. • Section 5310 funding has allowed the program to keep up with inflation. While the program increased 22% from 2004 - 2006, the average cost of a new vehicle under the program increased about 18%. • Tribal Transit program has gotten off the ground quickly – streamlines procedures, direct from federal level

  10. Summary Answers What has been accomplished? • Section 5311 grantees provide about 115M trips annually (based on 2006 and 2007 NTD); estimate from 2005-2008, passenger trips increased 13% and the number of vehicles increased 16% • Estimate S.5310 program has facilitated the purchase of about 10-14,000 vehicles currently in operation (urban and rural); 5310 grantees may provide 20-28M trips annually; S.5310 also funds purchase of service and operations in some states; from 2005-2008, estimate the number of trips remained constant but the number of vehicles bought increased 10%; probably to replace aging vehicles. • Section 5311(f) grantees provided about 3M trips annually (based on 2007 NTD); estimate from 2005-2008, passenger trips increased 28% and the number of vehicles increased 34% • Grantees reported a total of 645 active JARC-funded services for FY 2006 (25% in rural areas). For FY 2006, it is estimated that JARC-supported services provided 22.9 million one-way trips (62% increase) • Ridership Data on New Freedom, Tribal Transit and Transit in the Park still being sought

  11. Summary Answers Barriers? • Need for additional non-federal share; coupled with decreased revenues and weak economy • Increases in cost of fuel, insurance, other operating costs • Increases in the cost of vehicles • Increases in work loads; staff shortages at State DOTs

  12. Town Hall Meeting Purpose – to provide input on how you have benefitedfrom the increased funding associated with SAFETEA-LU Questions: • How has your state or community benefited from the increased funding? (can you give specific examples?) • What are our priorities for the future? Given these economic times, which services are essential? • How would you make the case to federal, state and local policy makers that rural transit is a good investment? • What changes could be made during re-authorization that would improve the programs for you? (please hold specific programmatic issues until the state program manager meeting this afternoon)?

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