Stronger Communities through Better Transit Act

To amend title 49, United States Code, to establish a program to provide grants to eligible recipients for eligible operating support costs of public transportation, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Stronger Communities through Better Transit Act 2. High quality transit operating support program (a) In general Chapter 53 section 5307 5308. High quality transit operating support program (a) In general The Secretary of Transportation shall establish a program under which the Secretary may make grants to eligible recipients to enhance mobility and improve environmental sustainability through investing in public transportation service improvements. (b) Allocation of funding For each fiscal year, the Secretary shall allocate funding as follows: (1) Each urbanized area, State, and Indian Tribe that is an eligible recipient shall receive an apportionment based on data contained in the National Transit Database such that— (A) each urbanized area shall receive an amount equal to 50 percent of the urbanized area’s average annual operating costs over the 3-year period preceding such fiscal year; (B) each State shall receive an amount equal to 50 percent of the subrecipients in such State under section 5311 average operating costs over the 3-year period preceding such fiscal year; and (C) each Indian Tribe shall receive an amount equal to 50 percent of the Indian Tribe’s average operating costs over the 3-year period preceding such fiscal year. (2) For funds remaining after the apportionment described in paragraph (1), such funds shall be apportioned such that each urbanized area, State, and Indian Tribe that is an eligible recipient shall receive an apportionment equal to the proportion of all operating costs reported to the National Transit Database over the 3-year period preceding the fiscal year in which such funds are apportioned. (3) In any given year, no urbanized area, State, or Indian Tribe may receive an apportionment under this subsection that is greater than 80 percent of the average operating costs over the 3-year period preceding the fiscal year in which such funds are apportioned. (c) Eligible projects (1) In general Eligible recipients may use funding provided under this section for operating costs associated with projects eligible under this chapter and title 23 that improve public transportation service for transit dependent populations and support increased transit ridership, including— (A) projects that decrease headways; (B) projects for new or expanded service area, hours, or days; (C) projects to improve transit reliability or travel time savings, including transit prioritization; (D) IT enhancements to improve customer information and customer and employee safety such as implementation of real-time transit data; (E) projects to support seamless complete trips, including— (i) projects to improve transit network connectivity; (ii) signage and wayfinding; (iii) fare coordination; and (iv) multimodal payment integration; (F) service planning related to funding provided under this section, including planning to address changing demographics, changing travel movement, network redesign (including the implementation of a plan that results in a net increase in service hours across a region, subregion, or study area), and accommodating essential service trips (including service trips for employment, healthcare facilities, child care, education and workforce training, food sources, banking and other financial institutions, and other retail shopping establishments); (G) measuring access to work and essential services, particularly for non-drivers, for the purpose of developing projects to be funded under this section, including data acquisition and acquiring outside support for conducting analysis of such data; (H) measures to enhance customer sense of safety and security, including public safety measures and outreach to unhoused persons in the transit system; (I) initiatives to improve the transit environment, such as additional or enhanced cleaning; and (J) workforce development initiatives necessary to improve or maintain service. (2) No effect on other laws The use of funds from this section for operating costs of projects described in paragraph (1) may not affect the eligibility of such projects to receive funding from other sections of this chapter or title 23. (d) Requirement A preponderance of a grant received by a recipient under this section in a fiscal year shall be used for projects that benefit underserved communities or areas of persistent poverty. (e) Federal share (1) In general The Federal share of a project or program carried out using a grant awarded under this section shall be not greater than 50 percent. (2) Federal share for operating expenses In the case that a project includes both operating components funded from this section and non-operating components, the Federal share for operating components shall be 50 percent and for non-operating components shall be consistent with the requirements of the funding source for those components. (3) Increased federal share for certain areas Notwithstanding paragraph (2), the Federal share of an operating assistance component of a project or program carried out in an area of persistent poverty or an underserved community using a grant awarded under this section shall be not greater than 80 percent. (4) Federal share for Indian Tribes Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) through (3), for Indian Tribes receiving funding allocated under subsection (b)(1)(C), the Federal share of a project or program carried out using a grant awarded under this section shall be 100 percent. (5) In kind match Of the non-Federal share required under this subsection, 25 percent may be derived from amounts (other than amounts received from the Federal Transit Administration) expended for associated capital improvements related to a project or program carried out using a grant awarded under this section. (f) Period of availability An amount apportioned under this section may be obligated by the recipient for 2 years after the fiscal year in which the amount is apportioned. Not later than 30 days after the end of the 2-year period, an amount that is not obligated at the end of that period shall be added to the amount that may be apportioned under this section in the following fiscal year. (g) Conditions for operating assistance As a condition of receiving a grant under this section, an eligible recipient shall— (1) in the case of a recipient in an urbanized area— (A) agree to report to the Federal Transit Administration, for inclusion in the National Transit Database— (i) service frequency and revenue vehicle hours, including revenue vehicle hours and unlinked passenger trips originating and terminating in areas of persistent poverty and underserved communities, together with such other specific data as the Secretary shall find necessary and appropriate; and (ii) the number of jobs and essential services accessible by transit, and improvement in such access, including specific reporting on access by transit for areas of persistent poverty and underserved communities; and (B) demonstrate that such recipient has surveyed, within the past year and at least every 2 years thereafter, current transit riders as well as non-riding residents of areas of persistent poverty and underserved communities regarding transit service improvements, using means designed to maximize participation from both riders and non-riders, and has published the survey in an online format; (2) in the case of a recipient that is an Indian Tribe— (A) agree to report to the Federal Transit Administration, for inclusion in the National Transit Database, revenue vehicle hours and unlinked passenger trips, together with such other specific data as the Secretary shall find necessary and appropriate; and (B) demonstrate that such recipient has surveyed, within the past year and at least every 2 years thereafter, current transit riders as well as non-riding residents of the Tribe’s service area regarding transit service improvements, using means designed to maximize participation from both riders and non-riders, and has published the survey in an online format; and (3) in the case of a recipient that is a State or other possession receiving assistance under section 5311— (A) agree to report to the Federal Transit Administration, for inclusion in the National Transit Database, revenue vehicle hours for each subrecipient receiving assistance under this section, including revenue vehicle hours and unlinked passenger trips originating and terminating in areas of persistent poverty and under-served communities, together with such other specific data as the Secretary shall find necessary and appropriate; (B) provide an annually updated report to the Secretary identifying those underserved communities and areas of persistent poverty in the non-urbanized areas of the State or possession that do not have any reported public transit services, or in which either the availability or utilization of rural public transit is in the bottom quintile as compared to all rural public transit services in the United States, using such measurements as shall be identified by the Secretary, together with annually updated progress toward achieving the State’s or possession’s strategy for establishing high-quality transit service in these unserved and underserved communities and areas of persistent poverty; and (C) demonstrate that every subrecipient of the State or possession has surveyed, within the past year and at least every 2 years thereafter, current transit riders as well as non-riding residents of areas of persistent poverty and underserved communities within the sub-recipient’s service area regarding transit service improvements, using means designed to maximize participation from both riders and non-riders, and has published the survey in an online format. (h) Regulations Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall issue such regulations as are necessary to carry out the program established under subsection (a), including defining the terms preponderance of a grant access to jobs and essential service (i) Access measurement (1) In general In carrying out the program under this section, the Secretary shall set up a multimodal access measurement interface that is open to any public agency through the program under section 5505 to aid transit agencies in determining and reporting on access to jobs and essential services. (2) Interim data Until the access measurement interface under paragraph (1) is established, an eligible recipient may use other data sources to determine and report on access to jobs and essential services. (j) Maintenance of effort (1) In general Not later than 30 days after the beginning of each fiscal year, recipients of funds under this section shall certify to the Secretary that such recipients will, with funding pledged by all sources, maintain effort with regard to transit service. As part of such certification, the transit agency shall submit to the Secretary a statement identifying the amount of funds from all sources (other than funds provided under this section and related non-Federal match) expended on transit operations during the prior fiscal year, and the amount expected to be expended on transit operations from all sources during the current fiscal year. (2) Failure to maintain effort If a recipient of funds under this section is unable to maintain the level of effort certified pursuant to paragraph (1) for any fiscal year, the amount such recipient would have received under this section in the following fiscal year shall be reduced by one-third. (k) Rule of construction Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent an eligible recipient from increasing service through the use of any other Federal or non-Federal funds. (l) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $20,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2027. (m) Definitions In this section: (1) Areas of persistent poverty The term area of persistent poverty (A) a county that has consistently had greater than or equal to 20 percent of the population of such county living in poverty during the most recent 30-year period for which data is available, as measured by the 1990 and 2000 decennial censuses; or (B) a census tract with a poverty rate of at least 20 percent as measured by the 2014 through 2018 5-year data series available from the American Community Survey of the Bureau of the Census. (2) Associated capital improvements The term associated capital improvements (3) Eligible recipient The term eligible recipient (4) Underserved community The term underserved community (A) a census tract or block numbering area in which the median income does not exceed 80 percent of the area median income; (B) families with income not greater than 100 percent of the area median income that reside in minority census tracts; (C) families with income not greater than 100 percent of the area median income that reside in areas affected by disasters, as determined by the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration; (D) a census tract that has a minority population of at least 30 percent or a median income of less than 100 percent of the area median income; (E) a community that has low access to jobs and essential services, as determined by the Secretary; or (F) a census block or group of geographically contiguous census blocks in which the population of any racial or ethnic minority individuals, individually or in combination, comprises 30 percent or more of the population of persons in the census block or group of geographically contiguous census blocks. . (b) Federal transit program general purposes Section 5301(b) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: (9) support public transportation’s role in combating climate change through growing/retaining transit ridership. . (c) Applicability of law The Secretary of Transportation shall ensure that the requirements of section 5333 of title 49, United States Code, are applied to section 5308 of such title (as added by subsection (a)). (d) GAO report Not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a report that reviews the outcomes of the program established under section 5308 of title 49, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), including new service produced and improvements in access to work and essential services, particularly for areas of persistent poverty and underserved communities. (e) Clerical amendment The analysis for chapter 53 section 5307 5308. High quality transit operating support program. . (f) Sense of congress It is the sense of Congress that capital funding for transit should be increased. 3. Increased Federal share of operating costs for rural areas Section 5311(g)(2) of title 49, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: (2) Operating assistance A grant made under this section for operating assistance may not exceed 80 percent of the net operating costs of the project, as determined by the Secretary. .

Summary: Stronger Communities through Better Transit Act This bill requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish a grant program to support operating projects for public transportation and related service improvements, particularly in underserved communities and areas of persistent poverty. Specifically, the bill requires DOT to allocate funding under the program for urbanized areas, states, and Indian tribes that are recipients of funds under either the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA's) Urbanized Area Formula Funding program or Formula Grants for Rural Areas program. Eligible recipients may use funding for operating costs associated with projects that improve public transportation service for transit-dependent populations and support increased transit ridership (e.g., service expansion, information technology enhancements, and workforce development). The bill requires DOT to apportion the funding so that recipients receive funds that are proportional to their share of operating costs. The bill also provides for an increased federal cost share for operating assistance for projects or programs carried out in areas of persistent poverty or underserved communities. DOT must set up a multimodal access measurement interface for public agencies to aid transit agencies in determining and reporting on access to jobs and essential services. A grant recipient must also (1) report specific information to the FTA for inclusion in the National Transit Database, and (2) survey transit riders and non-riding residents regarding transit service improvements. Further, the bill expands the purposes of the public transportation programs to include supporting public transportation's role in combating climate change through growing/retaining transit ridership.