Program Budget Request – Activity A: Required Questions Form

Agency: Department of Transportation (DOT01)

This form should be completed online at the Budget Portal.

https://obm.sp.ohio.gov/sites/budget_center/

Please refer to Page 17 of the Operating

Budget Guidance for instructions on completing this form.

Program Number (ex. 1234A)
& Program Name: / 4941B / Public Transit Assistance
FY2010
Actual / FY2011
Estimate / FY2012
Request / FY2013
Request
Total Program
Expenditures / $32,897,662 / $33,932,355 / $82,254,148 / $82,304,895
FTE
Expenditures / $734,060 / $897,350 / $998,129 / $968,116
Funded FTEs / 9 / 11 / 11 / 11

1.  What is the purpose of the program? What existing problem, interest, or need does this program address?

The desired outcome for all passenger transportation/public transit programs is to provide a safe, reliable, accessible, and affordable public transportation system for everyone in Ohio. During calendar year 2009, over 134 million trips were provided throughout Ohio by 59 state funded public transit systems.
Progress is measured by looking at both system and state performance on an annual basis.

a.  Who are the beneficiaries of this program?

The beneficiaries of the program would be all Ohioans.

b.  Are expenditures of this program limited to specific geographic areas and/or population groups? If so, please discuss the specific areas and/or population groups served.

Service is provided to the general public in the service areas of the existing public transit systems. The JARC/New Freedom projects, Specialized Transportation projects and Ohio Coordination Program projects in Ohio serve individuals who are either elderly (60+), have a disability or are low income. In some cases they are also transporting general public when space is available. With the combination of public transit and the other four programs, ODOT’s expenditures from this program serve individuals in all 88 counties in Ohio.

c.  If this is a regulatory program, describe the regulated community and how this program impacts the community.

This program is not regulatory.

2.  Describe the services or activities provided.

a.  Briefly describe the nature of the services provided.

The Ohio Public Transportation Grant Program (OPTGP) provides 4% reimbursement funding to urban public transit systems and 23% for rural systems for operating and capital expenses for the provision of public transit services. There are currently 35 rural systems and 24 urban systems. In urban areas, 60% of the trips continue to be work related. In rural areas, services for the elderly and people with disabilities can be as high as 79% with an average of 36% statewide.
In the budgets prior to SFY2009, GRF funds were used to support the Ohio Coordination Program (OCP) which serves to coordinate human service transportation service in counties where there is not a public transit system. The primary goal of the OCP is to increase efficiencies among passenger transportation providers. These agencies coordinate their resources to provide client centered transportation services for individuals who are mostly low income, persons with disabilities and elderly persons. The primary trip purposes are medical appointments, kidney dialysis, job sites, job training sites, mental health services and senior nutrition sites. Due to significant decreases in GRF ODOT began using federal funds provided by the Federal Transit Administration for OCP in CY 2009. These federal funds had only recently become available (FFY 2007) to be used for the same purpose as the Ohio Coordination Program, however this did switch the burden of state requirements to federal requirements on the sub recipients.
Direct Investment in Public Transit $15 M (2012) and $15 M (2013)
Applications must be submitted and are awarded based on a set of criteria for projects reducing transit revenue vehicles beyond a useful life or projects reducing vehicle miles traveled in a specified corridor. To provide for a cleaner environment, new transit vehicles purchased and improvements made to a local transit authority's existing fleet of vehicles with funds provided under this section must foster the goals of increasing fuel efficiency, reducing emissions, and using alternative fuels, as appropriate.
There are two new program initiatives that ODOT is supporting for the 2012/2013 biennium:
Transit Operational Assistance Program $25 M (2012) and $25 M (2013)
This program is funded with federal dollars and is designed to help the financially burdened Urban transit agencies with operational costs.
Transit Innovative Services Programs $10 M (2012) and $10 M (2013)
This program is funded with federal dollars and is designed to support innovative services or new service starts by the financially burdened Urban transit agencies.

b.  Provide estimates of the volume of services that will be provided at this funding level: number of people served, amount of assistance provided, number of awards that will be made, dollar amount of awards, etc.

ODOT continues to fund 35 rural transit systems and 24 urban systems. Because of additional FTA federal funding, beginning in CY2010, there were 21 coordination projects. ODOT continues to deny funding to any new public transit systems due to lack of adequate state funding. During CY 2009, 134 million passenger trips were provided by public transit in Ohio. This represents a decline in ridership in all areas. This was due to the economic downturn that resulted in a loss of both GRF state and local revenues at the same time there were increases in fuel costs. Because of the relationship of employment numbers to public transit demand, ODOT expects increased demand for public transit as the economy rebounds. This rebound will also increase local dedicated revenues.
For FY2010, funding awards of $39.8 Million were made to 138 subrecipients providing general public as well as specialized transportation services to the elderly, persons with disabilities and low income job related transportation.

c.  Are there any service benchmarks established by the state, federal government or private industry?

Infrastructure
Vehicles Beyond Useful Life: / <20%
Safety
Fatalities per one hundred million passengers: / 0.49
Accidents per 100,000 miles: / 0.50
Reliability
Road Calls per 100,000 miles: / <5
Service Effectiveness
Trips Per Hour: / Fixed Route: / 15
Demand Response: / 3
Cost Effectiveness
Cost Per Trip: / Fixed Route: / $6.00
Demand Response: / $20.00
Operating Recovery:
Fixed Route: / 15.00%
Demand Response: / 20.00%
Cost Efficiency
Cost Per Mile: / Fixed Route: / $ 4.00
Demand Response: / $ 1.75

3. If applicable, describe activities or services that cannot be maintained or will be eliminated at this funding level. Please address service volume impacts, potential waiting lists, etc, as compared to FY2011.

At a time when demand for public transit is at the highest rate in decades, instead of increasing service to address this increased demand (and be an alternative for those struggling with the cost of fueling and maintaining their car) the current loss of dedicated local revenue and state budget cuts in the previous bienniums is forcing public transit to continue to cut existing service and/or raise fares. Cuts in transit funding in Ohio, from $43.3 million in 2001 to $10.8 million in 2010/2011, have served to compound this issue for the transit systems in Ohio. Several of the largest transit systems have cut routes and increased fares over the past two years including Cleveland, Dayton, Cincinnati and Toledo. In both rural and urban areas these cuts disproportionately affect people who are elderly, people with disabilities and working low income because of their greater dependence on public transportation. Further reductions in GRF state funding will result in more reductions of public transit service and/or fare increases, loss of jobs in the transit industry as well as reduced access for the public to jobs, schools, medical services and other essential services. The cuts will also make it more difficult for employers to recruit needed employees, negatively impact air quality, increase traffic congestion and reduce mobility options for persons who are elderly and/or have disabilities.

4. Discuss any variances in funded FTEs from FY 2011 through FY 2013 and what has necessitated these changes.

a.  Describe how variances affect currently provided services and activities.

ODOT has reallocated staff which was previously funded by GRF into 7002. The change was necessitated by taking a closer look at the work performed by these employees in order to realize a GRF cost savings in payroll in order to maximize the GRF grant program.

b.  Describe how variances affect planned services and activities.

Not applicable.

5. Are there any other state programs or projects that duplicate or overlap with the work of this program? Identify them and describe how efficiencies and service delivery could be improved by the creation of multiagency service agreements, insourcing, back office sharing, or consolidation of the activity into a single agency.

While there are no other state programs or projects with specific requirements to provide general public passenger transportation, there are a variety of state programs using portions of their federal and state funding to provide transportation for special populations such as non emergency medical transportation paid for with Medicaid funds, transportation for persons over the age of 60 using Title III-B of the Older Americans Act that is passed down by the Ohio Department of Aging, Veterans Administration funds used by private non-profit entities for transportation services for eligible veterans, school related transportation services, County Boards of Development Disabilities using local, state and federal funds. A study done by the Federal Transit Administration in preparation for their United We Ride initiative several years ago identified over 60 separate federal programs that could use their funds for transportation. ODOT is currently working on a separate study to look at similar information at the state level to develop recommendations for improved coordination of transportation funds and programs in Ohio.

6. In the last several years, what internal or external factors have contributed to the cost of this program? Describe any demographic trends, caseload trends, technology trends, changes in federal funding or regulations, customer requirements that are impacting the cost of this program.

The increase in fuel costs coupled with the declining revenues as a result of the slumping economy have contributed to the increased cost to provide public transit service at a time when demand is increasing for the same reasons.

7. Please identify ORC, temp law, OBM policies, logistical or operational challenges that have limited or challenged this program’s effectiveness and/or efficiency. Indicate whether any budget language is necessary to help implement this program.

Not applicable.

8. Please describe how the effectiveness and efficiency of this program is gauged? In your response, please include how often evaluations take place, if and how data are published, and if this budget request reflects the outcome of those evaluations.

Maintaining adequate oversight of subrecipients is an ongoing process. Compliance is measured through Quality Assurance Reviews which are conducted on a regular schedule. Annually, 24 reviews of subrecipients are conducted. Deficiencies are identified and recommendations made for areas that need improvement. An implementation schedule is developed and issued to the agency under review, and used to measure progress until all deficiencies are corrected. Follow-up site visits are conducted to monitor progress.
Quality Assurance Reviews are completed on all Rural Transit agencies every three years for compliance with federal requirements and State law related to the Rural Transit Program. In addition, QAR’s are conducted to review compliance with the USDOT Drug and Alcohol Testing Program. Other program sub-recipients are reviewed on a three to four year cycle including the Specialized Transportation Program and the Ohio Coordination Program.
The Rail Fixed Guideway State Safety and Security Oversight Program requires a three year review of all Rail Fixed Guideway Public Transit Systems (currently Greater Cleveland RTA), quarterly site visits, and regular monitoring of activities to implement corrective action plans associated with the mitigation of safety and security hazard management.

9. Describe cost-saving measures and operational efficiencies that have been implemented to contain or reduce program costs in the current biennium and further measures that will be undertaken in the 2012-2013 biennium.

a.  Describe the savings that have been realized as a result of those changes.

No further cost cutting measures can be taken in this program without serious consequences for public transit in the state. To accommodate the GRF cuts required and to have a smaller impact on the transit grant program, we continue to fund the Ohio Coordination Program with FTA federal funds that can be used for a similar purpose. The recipients of these funds have had to adjust their programs to be in compliance with federal regulations. While this action is helpful, it represented only 5% of the total GRF funds being budgeted for public transit at the time.

b.  Describe the cost-saving measures and operational efficiencies that will be undertaken in the 2012-2013 biennium to contain or reduce program costs and the savings that are expected as a result of those changes.

No further cost cutting measures can be taken in this program without serious consequences for public transit in the state. To accommodate the GRF cuts required, and to have a smaller impact on the transit grant program, we are funding the Ohio Coordination Program with FTA federal funds that can be used for a similar purpose. The recipients of these funds will have to adjust their programs to be in compliance with federal regulations. While this action is helpful, it represents only 5% of the total GRF funds budgeted for public transit.

10. Fully describe the various sources of funds that will support this program and the method used for distribution.

Federal Transit Administration Funds: Distributed to Rural Transit Systems using a performance and needs based allocation process. Federal funds used for Ohio Coordination Program will be distributed based on a competitive process. For operating projects, these funds are a reimbursement of up to 50% of eligible expenses. For capital projects, they are a reimbursement of up to 80% of eligible expenses.
State GRF: Distributed using a performance and needs based allocation process. These funds must be used to provide required match for federal funds.
Federal non-GRF: Distributed using needs based allocation process. These funds must be used in order to provide the required funding established in the ODOT Business Plan (New Transit Operational Assistance and Transit Innovative Services Programs).
Local Funds: The use of and distribution of these funds are decided locally. Those funds used for transit assistance programs must be certified available during the state allocation process and are used as required match for federal funds.
Funding is covered in the ALI’s 772-422; 775-451; 775-452; and 775-454.

Include the following as appropriate: