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Operating program - 74 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 1513Legal Research Home > Pennsylvania Statutes Sponsored Links
§ 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.
Cross References. Section 1513 is referred to in sections
1506, 1514, 1515, 1516 of this title.
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Last modified: November 27, 2007 |