Equity in Transit Service Planning Act

To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue best practices for providers of public transportation. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Equity in Transit Service Planning Act 2. Equity in transit service planning (a) Best practices (1) In General (A) Assistance to providers of public transit Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall issue nonbinding best practices to assist providers of public transportation in setting the threshold for a major service change as described in Circular 4702.1B of the Federal Transit Administration. (B) Specific providers of public transit For the purposes of this Act, the term providers of public transportation (2) Best practices In developing the best practices described in paragraph (1), the Secretary— (A) shall issue specific recommendations for setting the threshold of a major service change, which shall include, at a minimum, recommendations related to— (i) changes in hours of operations, including consideration of changes during nonpeak hours; (ii) changes in the frequency of service; (iii) changes in coverage, including the opening and closing of stations and stops and the changing of routes; and (iv) the use of route-specific analyses in addition to service-area level analyses; (B) shall recommend specific percentage change standards for the elements described in clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of subparagraph (A) to assist providers of public transportation in setting the threshold for a major service change in a manner that ensures meaningful analyses and the provision of equitable service; and (C) may issue different best practices for providers of public transportation of different sizes and service types. (b) Transit Cooperative Research Program Report (1) Review Not later than 3 years after the issuance of the best practices described in subsection (a), the Transit Cooperative Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences shall conduct a review of the manner in which providers of public transportation define the threshold for a major service change for purposes of compliance with Circular 4702.1B of the Federal Transit Administration, including— (A) a survey of the standards used by providers of public transportation to define the threshold for a major service change; (B) a review of the differences in standards used to define the threshold for a major service change for providers of public transportation of different sizes and service types; (C) information on the considerations used by providers of public transportation when defining the threshold for a major service change; and (D) the extent to which providers of public transportation are using the best practices described in subsection (a). (2) Report After the completion of the review described in paragraph (1), the National Academy of Sciences shall issue a report on the findings of the review and submit such report to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate.

Summary: Equity in Transit Service Planning Act This bill requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue best practices to assist providers of public transportation with defining major service changes for purposes of complying with federal civil rights laws. The bill also requires that, within three years of DOT issuing the best practices, the Transit Cooperative Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences must review how providers define major service changes. Under current law, public transportation providers must evaluate the impact of major service changes on minority and low-income populations. Typically, a major service change is presented as a numerical standard (e.g., a change that affects more than a given number of route miles or hours) with the standards set by the providers.