Notice2022-00851
National Transit Database Census Reporting Clarifications
Primary source
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Published
January 19, 2022
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentFederal Transit Administration
Abstract
This notice provides interested parties with the opportunity to comment on changes to the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) National Transit Database (NTD) reporting requirements as they relate to Urbanized Areas (UZA). Each year, transit systems use data from the Census Bureau to update their basic information (B-10) form indicating what urbanized areas and rural areas they serve, and also to complete their Federal Funding Allocation (FFA-10) form distributing their service data across those urbanized and rural areas. The Census Bureau is expected to define new UZAs based on 2020 Census data in calendar year 2022. FTA proposes that for NTD Report Year 2021 (RY 2021), transit systems would be required to complete a B-10 and FFA-10 form based on the UZAs from the 2010 Census, as usual. If the Census Bureau releases new UZAs prior to October 1, 2022, then transit systems would be required to complete new B-10 and FFA-10 forms as an addendum to the annual report at that time.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 12 (Wednesday, January 19, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 19, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2980-2981]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00851]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
[FTA Docket No. FTA 2022-0002]
National Transit Database Census Reporting Clarifications
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration, Department of Transportation
(DOT).
ACTION: Notice; Request for comments.
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SUMMARY: This notice provides interested parties with the opportunity
to comment on changes to the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA)
National Transit Database (NTD) reporting requirements as they relate
to Urbanized Areas (UZA). Each year, transit systems use data from the
Census Bureau to update their basic information (B-10) form indicating
what urbanized areas and rural areas they serve, and also to complete
their Federal Funding Allocation (FFA-10) form distributing their
service data across those urbanized and rural areas. The Census Bureau
is expected to define new UZAs based on 2020 Census data in calendar
year 2022. FTA proposes that for NTD Report Year 2021 (RY 2021),
transit systems would be required to complete a B-10 and FFA-10 form
based on the UZAs from the 2010 Census, as usual. If the Census Bureau
releases new UZAs prior to October 1, 2022, then transit systems would
be required to complete new B-10 and FFA-10 forms as an addendum to the
annual report at that time.
DATES: Comments are requested by February 18, 2022. FTA will consider
all comments received before the close of business on the comment
closing date. To the extent practicable, FTA may also consider comments
received after that date.
ADDRESSES: You may file comments identified by docket number FTA-2022-
0002 by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
<bullet> Mail: Send comments to Docket Management Facility; U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
[[Page 2981]]
<bullet> Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET,
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
<bullet> Fax: Fax comments to Docket Management Facility, U.S.
Department of Transportation, at (202) 493-2251.
Instructions: You must include the agency name (Federal Transit
Administration) and Docket Number (FTA-2022-0002) for this notice, at
the beginning of your comments. If sent by mail, submit two copies of
your comments.
Electronic Access and Filing: This document and all comments
received may be viewed online through the Federal eRulemaking portal at
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> or at the street address listed above.
Electronic submission and retrieval help and guidelines are available
on the website. It is available 24 hours each day, 365 days a year.
Please follow the instructions. An electronic copy of this document may
also be downloaded from the Office of the Federal Register's home page
at <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov">https://www.federalregister.gov</a>.
Privacy Act: Except as provided below, all comments received into
the docket will be made public in their entirety. The comments will be
searchable by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or
signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association,
business, labor union, etc.). You should not include information in
your comment that you do not want to be made public. You may review
DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published
on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or at <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/">https://www.transportation.gov/</a>privacy.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Coleman, National Transit
Database Program Manager, FTA Office of Budget and Policy, (202) 366-
5333, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#9aeef2f5f7fbe9b4f9f5f6fff7fbf4dafef5eeb4fdf5ec"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="4a3e2225272b39642925262f272b240a2e253e642d253c">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Transit Database (NTD) is the
Federal Transit Administration's (FTA's) primary database for
statistics on the transit industry. Each year, transit systems use data
from the Census Bureau to update their basic information (B-10) form
indicating what urbanized areas and rural areas they serve, and also to
complete their Federal Funding Allocation (FFA-10) form distributing
their service data across those urbanized and rural areas. In
implementing the 2010 Census, FTA required transit systems to complete
only one FFA-10 form for the 2011 annual report (76 FR 30997). Transit
systems were not required to complete an FFA-10 form based on the UZA
definitions from the 2000 Census. Instead, transit systems filled out
one FFA-10 form for their 2011 annual report during the summer of 2012,
following the release of the 2010 Census UZA definitions in spring
2012.
In 2021, the Census Bureau announced that the new UZA definitions
from the 2020 Census will not be released until summer 2022 or later.
These UZA definitions are necessary for the NTD to create apportionment
files. Federal law requires FTA to use the most recent urbanized area
definitions from the Census Bureau (49 U.S.C. 5302(23)) in formula
funding apportionments.
For the 2021 annual report, NTD reporters have already begun
completing an initial FFA-10 and B-10 forms using existing 2010 Census
definitions. For Report Year 2021, FTA proposes to require transit
systems to submit the B-10 and FFA-10 forms using 2010 Census data by
the normal NTD annual report deadline. If the Census Bureau releases
new urbanized area definitions prior to October 1, 2022, FTA would
require transit operators to submit new B-10 and FFA-10 forms using
2020 Census data as an addendum to the annual report. Collecting this
addendum based on 2020 Census data is necessary to allow FTA to meet
the UZA definition found in 49 U.S.C. 5302(23) and produce
apportionment data files that support the apportionment of formula
funds. If the Census Bureau releases new urbanized area definitions on
or after October 1, 2022, then FTA would not require the form addendum
and would instead integrate the new urbanized area definitions into the
2022 reporting process.
To minimize reporting burden, transit operators will not have to
fill in the addendum from scratch. The addendum will pull in as much
data as possible from the initial FFA-10 and B-10 forms completed using
2010 Census UZA definitions, based on unchanged or minimally changed
UZA boundaries.
Nuria I. Fernandez,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2022-00851 Filed 1-18-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
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