Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 22 / Wednesday, February 3, 2016 / Notices 5819 

• Description of trips that were 

eliminated due to APC data that failed 

diagnostic tests, 

• Comparison of distances between 

stops used by the two methods, 

• Passenger count comparison (% 

difference), 

• Passenger miles comparison (% 

difference), and 

• Calculation of unbalanced error 

over all trips (sum of magnitude of 

differences in on and off counts at each 

stop as a percentage of the sum of 

manually counted on and offs). 

FTA would certify APC systems 

where the passenger count comparison, 

passenger mile comparison, and 

unbalanced error over all benchmark 

trips are each less than five percent 

(5%). Reporters that file a reduced 

report (formerly called a small systems 

waiver) do not need to meet the 

standards for passenger miles or 

unbalanced error. 

We propose to eliminate the 

maintenance plan requirement and 

replace it with a repetition of the 

benchmarking test in every fiscal year 

that is evenly divisible by three. APC 

systems already approved for NTD 

reporting would need to be retested in 

the next fiscal year that is evenly 

divisible by three. 

Transit agencies that collect this 

ridership data on all (>98 percent) of 

their vehicle trips may correct for 

missing trips using average values. 

However, if the vehicle trips with 

missing data exceed two percent (2%) of 

all trips, agencies would need to have a 

qualified statistician approve the 

correction (or expansion) method. This 

is consistent with our treatment of 

manual counting methods and does not 

represent a change in policy. Thus an 

agency that does not have a fleet that is 

fully-equipped with APCs could use 

APC data in any NTD-approved 

sampling plan. 

IV. Additional Comment Request 

Additionally, FTA considered 

requiring transit systems to report their 

police force expense as a separate nonadd item in the F–30 Operating 

Expenses form in addition to reporting 

it in the appropriate operating expense 

object classes (e.g., Salaries and Wages 

and Fringe Benefits). This change would 

have enabled a transit system with its 

own independent police force to 

subtract the police force expense from 

total operating expenses in order to 

perform a fair peer evaluation against 

another entity without its own police 

force. However, FTA decided against 

this change, as there are other types of 

police or security force arrangements 

that are not included in this 

consideration (e.g., municipal police 

force). Additionally, employing an 

independent police force is an 

operational decision and the related 

expenses are justifiable operating cost. 

FTA suggests that data users consider 

security arrangements when selecting 

peer groups for comparison in order to 

control for differences in operating cost. 

FTA seeks comment from transit 

systems on this decision. 

FTA thanks our stakeholders in 

advance for providing comment on the 

above proposed changes to the NTD 

reporting requirement. 

Therese W. McMillan, 

Acting Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2016–01941 Filed 2–2–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

[Docket No. DOT–OST–2016–0007] 

Notice of Request for Clearance of a 

Revision of a Currently Approved 

Information Collection: National 

Census of Ferry Operators 

AGENCY: Bureau of Transportation 

Statistics (BTS), Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Research and Technology 

(OST–R), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

requirements of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of 

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

this notice announces the intention of 

the BTS to request the Office of 

Management and Budget’s (OMB’s) 

approval for an information collection 

related to the nation’s ferry operations. 

The information collected will be used 

to produce a descriptive database of 

existing ferry operations. A summary 

report of survey findings will also be 

published by BTS on the BTS Web page. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or before April 4, 2016. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

identified by DOT Docket ID Number 

DOT–OST–2016–0007 to the U.S. 

Department of Transportation (DOT), 

Dockets Management System (DMS). 

You may submit your comments by mail 

or in person to the Docket Clerk, Docket 

No., U.S. Department of Transportation, 

1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., West 

Building, Room W12–140, Washington, 

DC 20590. Comments should identify 

the docket number as indicated above. 

Paper comments should be submitted 

in duplicate. The DMS is open for 

examination and copying, at the above 

address, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except federal holidays. 

If you wish to receive confirmation of 

receipt of your written comments, 

please include a self-addressed, 

stamped postcard with the following 

statement: ‘‘Comments on Docket DOT– 

OST–2016–0007.’’ 

The Docket Clerk will date stamp the 

postcard prior to returning it to you via 

the U.S. mail. Please note that due to 

delays in the delivery of U.S. mail to 

Federal offices in Washington, DC, we 

recommend that persons consider an 

alternative method (the Internet, fax, or 

professional delivery service) to submit 

comments to the docket and ensure 

their timely receipt at U.S. DOT. You 

may fax your comments to the DMS at 

(202) 493–2251. Comments can also be 

viewed and/or submitted via the Federal 

Rulemaking Portal: http://

www.regulations.gov. 

Please note that anyone is able to 

electronically search all comments 

received into our docket management 

system 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 may review DOT’s complete 

Privacy Act Statement in the Federal 

Register published on April 11, 2000 

(Volume 65, Number 70; pages 19475– 

19570) or you may review the Privacy 

Act Statement at http://

www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Janine L. Bonner, (202) 366–2468, NCFO 

Project Manager, BTS, OST–R, 

Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Ave. SE., Room E34–411, 

Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are 

from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., E.T., 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 

holidays. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: National Census of Ferry 

Operators (NCFO). 

Background: The Transportation 

Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA– 

21) (P.L. 105–178), section 1207(c), 

directed the Secretary of Transportation 

to conduct a study of ferry 

transportation in the United States and 

its possessions. In 2000, the Federal 

Highway Administration (FHWA) Office 

of Intermodal and Statewide Planning 

conducted a survey of approximately 

250 ferry operators to identify: (1) 

Existing ferry operations including the 

location and routes served; (2) source 

and amount, if any, of funds derived 

from Federal, State, or local 

governments supporting ferry 

construction or operations; (3) potential 

domestic ferry routes in the United 

States and its possessions; and (4) 

potential for use of high speed ferry 

services and alternative-fueled ferry 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

5820 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 22 / Wednesday, February 3, 2016 / Notices 

services. The Safe, Accountable, 

Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity 

Act-A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU) 

Public Law 109–59, Section 1801(e)) 

required that the Secretary, acting 

through the BTS, shall establish and 

maintain a national ferry database 

containing current information 

regarding routes, vessels, passengers 

and vehicles carried, funding sources 

and such other information as the 

Secretary considers useful. MAP–21 

legislation [Moving Ahead for Progress 

in the 21st Century Act (Pub. L. 112– 

141)], continued the BTS mandate to 

conduct the NCFO and also required 

that the Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA) use the NCFO 

data to set the specific formula for 

allocating federal ferry funds. The 

funding allocations were based on a 

percentage of the number of passenger 

boardings, vehicle boardings, and route 

miles served. 

BTS conducted the first Census of 

Ferry Operators in 2006. The Census 

was conducted again in 2008, 2010, 

2014, and will be again in spring 2016. 

These information collections were 

originally approved by OMB under 

Control Number 2139–0009. The 

recently enacted FAST Act legislation 

[Fixing America’s Surface 

Transportation Act (Pub. L. 114–94, sec. 

1112)] continues the BTS mandate to 

conduct the NCFO on a biennial basis, 

and extended the requirement that the 

Federal Highway Administration 

(FHWA) use the NCFO data to set the 

specific formula for allocating federal 

ferry funds based on a percentage of the 

number of passenger boardings, vehicle 

boardings, and route miles served. The 

overall length of the revised 

questionnaire for the 2018 NCFO will 

remain consistent with that of previous 

years. The survey will be administered 

to the entire population of ferry 

operators (estimate 260 or less). The 

survey will request the respondents to 

provide information such as: the points 

served; the type of ownership; the 

number of passengers and vehicles 

carried in the past 12 months; vessel 

descriptions (including type of fuel), 

federal, state and local funding sources, 

and intermodal connectivity. All data 

collected in 2018 will be added to the 

existing NCFO database. 

Respondents: The target population 

for the survey will be all of the 

approximately 260 operators of existing 

ferry services in the United States. 

Estimated Average Burden per 

Response: The burden per respondent is 

estimated to be an average of 30 

minutes. This average is based on an 

estimate of 20 minutes to answer new 

questions and an additional 10 minutes 

to review. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden: The 

total annual burden (in the year that the 

survey is conducted) is estimated to be 

just under 130 hours (that is 30 minutes 

per respondent for 260 respondents 

equals 7,800 minutes). 

Frequency: This survey will be 

updated every other year. 

Public Comments Invited: Interested 

parties are invited to send comments 

regarding any aspect of this information 

collection, including, but not limited to: 

(1) The necessity and utility of the 

information collection for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

DOT; (2) the accuracy of the estimated 

burden; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, clarity and content of the 

collected information; and (4) ways to 

minimize the collection burden without 

reducing the quality of the collected 

information. Comments submitted in 

response to this notice will be 

summarized and/or included in the 

request for OMB’s clearance of this 

information collection. 

Authority: The Transportation Equity Act 

for the 21st Century, (Pub. L. 105–178), 

section 1207(c), The Safe, Accountable, 

Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act– 

A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU) Pub. L. 

109–59, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 

21st Century Act (MAP–21) Pub. L. 112–141, 

49 CFR 1.46, and Fixing America’s Surface 

Transportation Act (Pub. L. 114–94, sec. 

1112). 

Issued in Washington, DC, on the 21st of 

January, 2016. 

Patricia Hu, 

Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research 

and Technology. 

[FR Doc. 2016–01831 Filed 2–2–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–9X–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Open Meeting of the Advisory 

Committee on Risk-Sharing 

Mechanisms 

AGENCY: Departmental Offices, U.S. 

Department of the Treasury. 

ACTION: Notice of open meeting. 

SUMMARY: This notice announces that 

the Department of the Treasury’s 

Advisory Committee on Risk-Sharing 

Mechanisms (‘‘Committee’’) will 

convene a meeting on Tuesday, 

February 16, 2016, in Room 4121, 1500 

Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, 

DC 20220, from 1–4:30 p.m. Eastern 

Time. The meeting is open to the public, 

and the site is accessible to individuals 

with disabilities. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

Tuesday, February 16, 2016, from 1– 

4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. 

ADDRESSES: The Advisory Committee on 

Risk-Sharing Mechanisms meeting will 

be held in Room 4121, Department of 

the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania 

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20220. 

The meeting will be open to the public. 

Because the meeting will be held in a 

secured facility, members of the public 

who plan to attend the meeting must 

either: 

1. Register online. Attendees may visit 

http://www.cvent.com/d/vfq8ms?

ct=6128d144-9ad5-45f5-910c-c7b44560

aae0&RefID=TRIA+General+

Registration and fill out a secure online 

registration form. A valid email address 

will be required to complete online 

registration. 

(Note: Online registration will close at 5 

p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, February 11, 

2016.) 

2. Contact the Federal Insurance 

Office (FIO), at (202) 622–5892, by 5 

p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, 

February 11, 2016, and provide 

registration information. 

Requests for reasonable 

accommodations under Section 504 of 

the Rehabilitation Act should be 

directed to Marcia Wilson, Office of 

Civil Rights and Diversity, Department 

of the Treasury at (202) 622–8177, or 

marcia.wilson@treasury.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Brett D. Hewitt, Policy Advisor, FIO, 

Room 1410, Department of the Treasury, 

1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 

Washington, DC 20220, at (202) 622– 

5892 (this is not a toll-free number). 

Persons who have difficulty hearing or 

speaking may access this number via 

TTY by calling the toll-free Federal 

Relay Service at (800) 877–8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice of 

this meeting is provided in accordance 

with the Federal Advisory Committee 

Act, 5 U.S.C. App. II 10(a)(2), through 

implementing regulations at 41 CFR 

102–3.150. 

Public Comment: Members of the 

public wishing to comment on the 

business of the Advisory Committee on 

Risk-Sharing Mechanisms are invited to 

submit written statements by any of the 

following methods: 

Electronic Statements 

• Send electronic comments to 

ACRSM@treasury.gov. 

Paper Statements 

• Send paper statements in triplicate 

to the Advisory Committee on RiskSharing Mechanisms, Room 1410, 

Department of the Treasury, 1500 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES