2011-7409. Over-the-Road Bus Accessibility Program Announcement of Project Selections

AGENCY:

Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION:

Notice of award.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the selection of projects to be funded under Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 and 2010 appropriations for the Over-the-Road Bus (OTRB) Accessibility Program, authorized by Section 3038 of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). The OTRB Accessibility Program makes funds available to private operators of over-the-road buses to help finance the incremental capital and training costs of complying with DOT's over-the-road bus accessibility rule, published in the Federal Register on September 24, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

The appropriate FTA Regional Office for grant-specific issues; or Blenda Younger, Office of Program Management, 202-366-2053, for general information about the OTRB Program.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A total of $20 million was made available for the program in FY 2009 and FY 2010: $15 million for intercity fixed-route providers and $5 million for all other providers, such as commuter, charter, and tour operators. A total of 165 applicants requested $49.7 million: $27.5 million was requested by intercity fixed-route providers, and $22.2 million was requested by all other providers. Project selections were made on a discretionary basis, based on each applicant's responsiveness to statutory project selection criteria, percent of fleet accessible, and level of funding received in previous years. Because of the high demand for the funds available, most successful applicants received less funding than they requested.

The selected projects will provide funding for the incremental cost of adding lifts to 376 new vehicles, retrofitting 142 vehicles, and $102,759 for training (See Tables I and II). Each of the awardees, as well as applicants who were not selected for funding, will receive a letter explaining how funding decisions were made. Eligible project costs may be incurred by awardees prior to final grant approval. The incremental capital cost for adding wheelchair lift equipment to any new vehicles delivered on or after June 9, 1998, the effective date of TEA-21, is eligible for funding under the OTRB Accessibility Program. Awards are processed through FTA's Transportation Electronic Awards Management System (TEAM), and the project ID's listed in Table I and Table II must be used in the grant application for tracking the obligation of funds. The grant applications will be sent to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for certification under labor protection requirements pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 5333(b). After referring applications to affected employees represented by a labor organization, DOL will issue a certification to FTA. Terms and conditions of the certification will be incorporated in the FTA grant agreement under the new guidelines replacing those in 29 CFR part 215. Please see the Special Warranty Provisions of the Department of Labor Guidelines “Section 5553(b) Federal Transit Law” at 29 CFR 215.7.

Issued in Washington, DC, this 23rd day of March, 2011.

Peter Rogoff,

Administrator.

Appendix A

FTA Regional and Metropolitan Offices

Mary-Beth Mello, Regional Administrator, Region 1-Boston, Kendall Square, 55 Broadway, Suite 920, Cambridge, MA 02142-1093, Tel. [phone]	Robert C. Patrick, Regional Administrator, Region 6—Ft. Worth, 819 Taylor Street, Room 8A36, Ft. Worth, TX 76102, Tel. [phone].
States served: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont	States served: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.
Brigid Hynes-Cherin, Regional Administrator, Region 2—New York, One Bowling Green, Room 429, New York, NY 10004-1415, Tel. [phone]	Mokhtee Ahmad, Regional Administrator, Region 7—Kansas City, MO, 901 Locust Street, Room 404, Kansas City, MO 64106, Tel. [phone].
States served: New Jersey, New York	States served: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.
New York Metropolitan Office, Region 2—New York, One Bowling Green, Room 428, New York, NY 10004-1415, Tel. [phone]
Letitia Thompson, Regional Administrator, Region 3—Philadelphia, 1760 Market Street, Suite 500, Philadelphia, PA 19103-4124, Tel. [phone]	Terry Rosapep, Regional Administrator, Region 8-Denver, 12300 West Dakota Ave., Suite 310, Lakewood, CO 80228-2583, Tel. [phone].
States served: Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and District of Columbia	States served: Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
Philadelphia Metropolitan Office, Region 3—Philadelphia, 1760 Market Street, Suite 500, Philadelphia, PA 19103-4124, Tel. [phone]
Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Office, 1990 K Street, NW., Room 510, Washington, DC 20006, Tel. [phone]
Yvette Taylor, Regional Administrator, Region 4—Atlanta, 230 Peachtree Street, NW., Suite 800, Atlanta, GA 30303, Tel. [phone]	Leslie T. Rogers, Regional Administrator, Region 9—San Francisco, 201 Mission Street, Room 1650, San Francisco, CA 94105-1926, Tel. [phone].
States served: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virgin Islands	States served: American Samoa, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
	Los Angeles Metropolitan Office, Region 9—Los Angeles, 888 S. Figueroa Street, Suite 1850, Los Angeles, CA 90017-1850, Tel. [phone].
Marisol Simon, Regional Administrator, Region 5—Chicago, 200 West Adams Street, Suite 320, Chicago, IL 60606, Tel. [phone]	Rick Krochalis, Regional Administrator, Region 10—Seattle, Jackson Federal Building, 915 Second Avenue, Suite 3142, Seattle, WA 98174-1002, Tel. [phone].
States served: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin	States served: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
Chicago Metropolitan Office, Region 5—Chicago, 200 West Adams Street, Suite 320, Chicago, IL 60606, Tel. [phone]