**GAO-11-54**                      Published: Nov 17, 2010. Publicly Released: Nov 17, 2010.                  

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## Highlights

Public demand and federal funding for transit have grown in recent years, yet most of this funding is not tied to performance. As Congress prepares for reauthorization of the federal surface transportation programs, GAO was asked to report on (1) the extent to which federal transit programs use performance information in making decisions about funding distribution and in evaluating the programs' effectiveness; (2) mechanisms for making these programs more performance based, and strategies for supporting their successful implementation; and (3) how selected U.S. and foreign transit agencies have used performance measurement in their planning and decisions, and their views on the federal role in transit. To do so, GAO analyzed legislation, federal documents, and literature; interviewed federal officials and transit experts; and conducted semistructured interviews with selected transit agencies using criteria that, for U.S. agencies, covered a variety of regions and population sizes and, for foreign agencies, multiple transit modes and English language capability.

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Sarah Kaczmarek
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## Topics

Transportation

AccountabilityFederal aid for transportationFederal fundsFederal grantsGrant award proceduresMass transit fundingPerformance measuresProgram evaluationStrategic planningTransportationTransportation planningProgram implementation