NY Transp L § 18-B (2021)
2021 New York Laws TRA - Transportation Article 2 - Powers, Duties and Jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation 18-B - Statewide Mass Transportation Operating Assistance Program.

§ 18-b. Statewide mass transportation operating assistance program. 1. Within the amounts made available therefor by appropriation, a statewide mass  transportation  operating assistance program is hereby established for the purpose of making payments  toward  the  operating  expenses  of public  transportation  systems.  For  the purposes of this section, the term  public  transportation  system  shall  mean  any  public   benefit corportion  constituting  a  transportation  authority which provides or contracts for the provision of (under joint support  arrangements)  mass transportation  services,  or  a subsidiary thereof, or any Indian tribe which provides or any county or city which provides or contracts for the provision of (pursuant to section one hundred nineteen-r of the  general municipal  law)  mass  transportation  services  or  any person, firm or corporation performing intercity bus passenger  service  as  defined  in subdivision  three  of section fourteen-g of this article serving two or more counties  within  the  state  which  is  under  contract  with  the commissioner  pursuant  to  such  section  fourteen-g  to  provide  mass transportation services.   2. a. The commissioner shall pay to each public transportation  system that  makes  an  application therefor, in quarterly installments, a mass transportation operating assistance service payment. For the purposes of this section, the quarters shall be April  through  June,  July  through September, October through December and January through March.   b.   For   the   quarter  commencing  April  first,  nineteen  hundred seventy-five the quarterly service payment shall be the amount  computed by the formula set forth in subsection three of this section.   3.  The  quarterly  service  payment made to any public transportation system shall not be greater than a sum computed in one of the  following manners:  (i)  In  the  case of commuter rail, by adding the certified number of commuter rail passengers multiplied by two cents per passenger  and  the certified  number  of  commuter  rail vehicle or car miles multiplied by twenty-five cents per vehicle or car mile.  (ii) In the case of subway or rapid transit, by adding  the  certified number of subway or rapid transit passengers multiplied by two cents per passenger  and  the certified numbers of subway or rapid transit vehicle or car miles multiplied by eight cents per vehicle or car mile.  (iii) In the case of bus lines, by adding the certified number of  bus passengers  multiplied  by  two  cents  per  passenger and the certified number of bus miles multiplied by seven cents  per  bus  mile.  For  the purposes   of   computing   quarterly   service  payments  only  mileage accumulated in revenue service shall be used.   Whenever it is determined by the commissioner that the amount of money appropriated for service payments is less than the total amount of money for  which  all  public  transportation  systems   are   eligible,   the commissioner  may  establish  on  a quarterly or annual basis, a maximum service payment limit which is lower than  that  provided  for  in  this section.  (iv)  In  the  case of commuter ferry lines with the authorization for payment   thereof    for    the    fiscal    year    nineteen    hundred seventy-five--nineteen  hundred  seventy-six  to be in the discretion of the commissioner,  by  adding  the  certified  number  of  annual  ferry passengers  multiplied  by  two cents per passenger, times the certified number  of  annual  nautical  ferry   miles,   times   two-one   hundred thousandths.  For  the  purposes of computing quarterly service payments only mileage accumulated in revenue service shall be used.   4. a. All service payments shall be made upon an  application  of  the public  transportation  system.  Such application shall be filed between the second and the seventeenth day of the first month of  each  quarter.  Upon   application,   the   chief   executive  officer  of  each  public transportation system shall  certify  to  the  commissioner,  the  total number  of  passengers  such system estimates that it will carry and the total  number  of  vehicle  or  car miles such system estimates that its equipment will travel in revenue service during the  quarter  for  which such installment is to be paid.   Upon  receipt  and approval of such application and certifications the commissioner shall, by the tenth day of the next succeeding  month,  pay to the public transportation operator, the quarterly service payment.   b.  The  chief  executive officer of each public transportation system receiving a quarterly service payment pursuant  to  this  section  shall certify  to  the  commissioner, within fifteen days after the end of the quarter for which a service  payment  was  received,  the  actual  total number  of  passengers carried by the system during such quarter and the actual total vehicle or car miles the  system's  equipment  traveled  in revenue  service during such quarter, and based upon such actual totals, the commissioner shall make such adjustments as may  be  appropriate  in the  amount  of  the  service payment for such system for the succeeding quarter.   5. a. For each quarter, each  county,  municipality  or  Indian  tribe served  by  a  public  transportation  system  which  receives a service payment pursuant to subsection two of this section shall, not later than the twenty-fifth day of the second  month  of  each  quarter  for  which payment  is made, pay to the public transportation system a sum equal to such service payment or its share of such service payment,  except  that in  the case of a service payment made to a public transportation system on account of mass transportation services provided  to  more  than  one county  (considering the city of New York to be one county), each county receiving such services from such system shall pay to the system  a  sum equal to its share of the service payment, which sum shall be determined in accordance with the percentage or dollar amounts established for such county by the legislature.   Where  such  county,  municipality  or  Indian  tribe  is  the  public transportation system, sums equal  to  such  service  payment  shall  be committed to the use of the public transportation system, not later than the  twenty-fifty  day of the second month of each quarter. Such sums so committed shall not be used for other than the purposes of operating the public transportation system.   b.  The  payment  or  commitment  of  such  sums  by   the   counties, municipalities  or  Indian  tribes  provided  for in paragraph a of this subdivision shall not be made from sums received in payment of fares  by the  passengers  of  such public transportation system or from any other revenues of such system.   c. In the event that a county or municipality shall fail to make to  a public  transportation system any of the payments required to be made by it under this  section,  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  public transportation  system  or  such  other person as the commissioner shall designate shall certify to the state comptroller  such  amount  due  and owing  such public transportation system and the state comptroller shall withhold an equivalent amount from state aid allocated to such county or municipality from highway aid, the motor fuel tax and the motor  vehicle registration  fee  distributed pursuant to section one hundred twelve of the highway law, or per capita  local  assistance  pursuant  to  section fifty-four   of   the   state  finance  law  subject  to  the  following limitations: prior to withholding amounts allocated to carry such county or municipality, the comptroller shall pay in full any  amount  due  the state  of  New  York  municipal bond bank agency, on account of any such county or municipality's obligation to such agency; the city  university  construction  fund,  pursuant  to  the provisions of the city university construction  fund  act;  the  New   York   city   housing   development corporation,  pursuant  to  the  provisions of the New York city housing development  corporation  act  (article  twelve  of  the private housing finance law);  and  the  transit  construction  fund,  pursuant  to  the provisions  of article five, title nine-a of the public authorities law. The comptroller shall give the director of the  budget  notification  of any  such  payment.  Such  amount  or  amounts  so withheld by the state comptroller shall be paid to such public  transportation  system,  which system shall use such amount or amounts for the payment of the county or municipality  share  of  its  operating  expenses.  When  such amount or amounts are received by such  public  transportation  system,  it  shall credit such amounts against any amounts due and owing such system by the county  or  municipality  on  whose account such amount was withheld and paid.   d. The commissioner may impose a penalty in an  amount  not  exceeding twenty  per  centum of any overpayment to a public transportation system whenever such overpayment results from willful failure  to  comply  with the   requirements  of  this  section,  or  the  rules  and  regulations authorized by this section, or whenever a public transportation  system, or an individual operator that is a part of such system, knowingly files an  incomplete,  incorrect  or misstated report. A public transportation system or individual operator may request  and  the  commissioner  shall provide  an  opportunity  to  be  heard  prior  to the imposition of any penalty as provided for in this section.   6. Any federal financial assistance granted for the  specific  purpose of  paying  the  operating  expenses of any county, municipality, public benefit  corporation  or  Indian  tribe,  eligible  to  receive  service payments  as  a  public  transportation system pursuant to this section, received by the state or any municipality  or  Indian  tribe  after  the effective  date  of this section, and made available to any such county, municipality, public benefit corporation or Indian tribe for application in accordance with the terms of the grant, shall be  combined  with  any similar  federal grant made directly to the county, municipality, public benefit corporation or Indian tribe to help meet the operating  expenses of  any  mass  transportation  services provided for by any such county, municipality,  public  benefit  corporation  or  Indian  tribe   whether directly  or  by  contract.  In the event that the total revenues of any public transportation system, including subsidies from federal, state or local governments, and where applicable, including funds required to  be committed  by the county, municipality or Indian tribe, exceed the total operating expenses for any such  system,  excluding  depreciation,  such excess  shall  be utilized by the system to reduce fares or to extend or increase mass transportation services. A plan  to  effectuate  any  such fare  reduction  or extension or increase in services shall be submitted to the commissioner by a public transportation system within thirty days of receiving notice from the commissioner to prepare and submit  such  a plan.   Upon   approval   by   the  commissioner,  such  plan  with  any modifications made by the commissioner shall be implemented as  soon  as practical.  Upon the failure of a public transportation system to submit a plan in the manner provided by this  section,  the  surplus  shall  be utilized  by such system to reduce the proportionate shares of the state and the county, municipality or Indian tribe required to  make  matching payments  to  the system, or in the event that no future payments are to be  made  to  such  public  transportation  system,  the  system   shall proportionately  refund  such  surplus  to  the  state  and  the county, municipality or Indian tribe involved.    7. The commissioner may prescribe such  regulations  as  he  may  deem appropriate  to  effectuate  the purposes of this section, including but not limited to, a uniform system of reporting pursuant to the provisions of this section.  The  commissioner  shall  also  define  by  rules  and regulations,  the  terms  "passenger", "vehicle or car mile", "urbanized area",  "chief  executive  officer",  "mass  transportation   services", "service  payment",  "commuter  rail  system",  "subway  system", "rapid transit system", "bus system", "peak hours",  "elderly",  "handicapped", and  such  other  terms  as  he deems necessary for the purposes of this section.   The commissioner, in conformance with the auditing procedures  of  the state  comptroller,  shall  have  the  power  to  audit  and examine the accounts,  books,  contracts,  records,  documents  and  papers  of  any participating  public  transportation  system in order to effectuate the purposes  and  intent  of  this  section.  Where  a  county,   counties, municipality, municipalities, Indian tribe or Indian tribes contract for the provision of public transportation services with a private operator, the  books and records of such private operator shall also be subject to audit and examination by the commissioner.   8. The commissioner is hereby authorized to enter  into  contracts  or otherwise  cooperate  with  the  federal  government  or  any  agency or instrumentality thereof for the purposes set forth in this section. Such authorization shall include the power to apply for, receive,  distribute or,  following  appropriation  authorization  by the legislature, expend federal money available or which may hereafter become available for such purposes. The distribution of federal monies shall be in accordance with the requirements of the federal grant, except that in the absence of any required distribution the commissioner  shall  distribute  such  federal monies  in  a manner which gives due consideration to the relative needs of public transportation system operators throughout the state.   9. The commissioner shall prepare and submit to the governor  and  the legislature  on  or  before  November  fifteenth of each year, a report, which may include, but not be limited to, findings  and  recommendations on  the  following:  (a)  the  impact and effectiveness of the statewide operating assistance program; (b) the current  and  projected  operating costs,  revenues  and  subsidies  of  major transit systems or groups of systems; (c) the efficiency, effectiveness, quality and the availability of transit service; (d) the status of transit system long-range planning and development  and  use  of  service  and  performance  guidelines  to evaluate  the  efficiency, effectiveness and quality of service; and (e) issues related to and/or affecting the administration of  the  statewide operating assistance program.   * 10. Any street surface railroad in a city having a population of one million  or more commencing operation after July first, nineteen hundred ninety-three  shall  not  be  eligible   to   receive   statewide   mass transportation operating assistance.   * NB There are 2 sb 10's   * 10.  Any  commuter ferry line commencing operation after July first, nineteen hundred ninety-three shall not be eligible to receive statewide mass transportation operating assistance.   * NB There are 2 sb 10's   11. To ensure that major private bus operations,  as  defined  by  the commissioner,  do  not make excess profits, the commissioner shall limit operating assistance provided pursuant to  this  section  to  an  amount which  will not provide more than a reasonable return based on equity or operating  revenue  and  expenses  as  defined  by  program  rules   and regulations. Further, the commissioner may exempt the following from the provisions of this subdivision:    a.  operations  of  private  carriers  that  are conducted pursuant to contracts with New York state;   b.  operations  of  private  carriers  that  are conducted pursuant to competitively procured contracts awarded by municipalities; and   c. complementary para-transit operations that are provided as mandated by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.   12. To ensure that mass transportation  operating  assistance  is  not used  to support duplicative and redundant service, the commissioner may limit or withhold statewide  mass  transportation  operating  assistance from any public transportation system for such services the commissioner determines  to  be duplicative or redundant. Prior to determining that a service is or would be duplicative or redundant, the commissioner  shall consult  with the provider of such service or the applicant proposing to provide such service and with any authority,  Indian  tribe,  county  or city  which is contracting for such service or proposing to contract for such service.