Los Angeles County One Gateway Plaza 213.gzz.2000 Tel I Metropolitan Transportation Authority Los Angeles, CA 90012-2952 metro.net SUBJECT: NATIONAL TRANSIT DATABASE (NTD) - 9166 REPORTING ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE RECOMMENDATION Receive and file this report on the status of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's National Transit Database (NTD) reporting on behalf of local transit operators in Los Angeles County. ISSUE Each year the LACMTA submits NTD data to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on behalf of local transit operators of Los Angeles County. There are about 48 jurisdictions in Los Angeles County that operate locally funded fixed route and demand response public transit services (Attachment A). To help the cities and avoid each jurisdiction report separately to the FTA, the LACMTA submits a consolidated NTD report to the FTA on behalf of jurisdictions. DISCUSSION We submit a consolidated NTD report to the FTA on behalf of local transit operators of Los Angeles County each year. This report is prepared according to the FTA guidelines and involves the following process: Coordinate with approximately 48 jurisdictions and collect their data. Hold NTD training workshops to train new reporterslstaff and provide updates on NTD reporting requirements to existing reporters. Prepare the reporters for their annual audit. Collect monthly ridership reports from the jurisdictions, validate, compile and send them to the FTA on a monthly basis. Administer motor bus operators' monthly consolidated passenger mile samplings in terms of providing random sampling assignments to the jurisdictions and collecting the samples from them on a monthly basis.
Collect, compile and report monthly and annual major and non-major safety and security incident reports to the FTA. At the end of each fiscal year collect jurisdictions' annual NTD reports which include their ridership, financial, fuel consumption and inventory data. Review and validate the consistency of the reported data with NTD reporting requirements. An independent auditor hired by LACMTA validates the NTD data by conducting field audits on each reporting agency. Based on the jurisdictions' audit standing they are included or dropped from the annual consolidated NTD report submitted to the FTA. The FTA then validates the reported data and distributes it to the Congress. The data submitted by each of the local operators generates additional Federal Section 5307 capital funds to the region. The LACMTA, as the Regional Transportation Planning Entity for Los Angeles County, is responsible for developing policies, planning, programming and allocating transportation funding to Los Angeles County jurisdictions and local transit operators. BACKGROUND The NTD was established by Congress in 1974 to be the primary source of information and statistics on the United States transportation systems. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA), administers the NTD reporting program. The LACMTA files a consolidated NTD report for the small operators of Los Angeles County (NTD ID #9166). Public transportation statistics reported through the NTD determine the level of capital funding provided to each state andlor urbanized area. The LACMTA, as the regional transportation planning agency, is in the unique position to increase the level of funding for Los Angeles County by reporting consolidated statistics on behalf of the smaller operators, who otherwise would not report information to the federal government. Details of the FYI 1 allocation of these formula funds are shown in Attachment A. Los Angeles County can generate additional federal funds by fully reporting all aspects of the public transportation system. The revised Proposition A Incentive Guidelines, adopted by the Board in September 2001, included a methodology to pay the systems that report their data to the NTD. We have been increasing the number of systems who report data, and this methodology helped us recruit more transit systems. The number of operators increased from one in Fiscal Year (FY) 1998 to 48 in FY 201 1. Also, during this period Vehicle Revenue Mile (VRM) increased from 55,467 to 9,849,400 (1 78 times more), Unlinked Passenger Trips (UPT) or passenger boardings increased from 13,182 to 13,480,965 (1,023 times more) and Passenger Miles Traveled (PMT) increased from 44,549 to 33,643,816 (755 times more) (Attachment B). NATIONAL TRANSIT DATABASE (NTD) - 9166 REPORTING Page 2
FINANCIAL IMPACT The Federal 5307 funds generated by NTD reporting increased from $21,679 to approximately $4.3 million in FYI 1 (calculated using the latest unit values set by the FTA). There is a two year lag between the year NTD data is reported to the FTA and the year FTA allocates the funds to the region. In FY 201 1, the FTA assigned a unit value of $0.417 to each bus revenue vehicle mile reported, which was used to calculate funds for FY09 report year (Attachment A). These additional 5307 funds are allocated through the Formula Allocation Program (FAP), about 70% to Metro and 30% to transit operators. The local operators receive an equal amount of Proposition A Incentive funds minus the cost of the audit for the Federal Section 5307 funds they generate for the region. The voluntary NTD reporting program results in additional transportation dollars to LA County region. NEXT STEPS The MTA will continue to expand the small operator report by recruiting additional local transit systems that are able to collect and report the required operational and financial data to increase the amount of Federal Revenues to the region and support increased mobility. In support of the recruiting effort, the MTA will continue to offer NTD training to the local transit systems, and will assign independent auditors to certify operational and financial data as required by NTD reporting guidelines. ATTACHMENTS A. Voluntary NTD reporters in 201 1 B. History of NTD 91 66 reporting Prepared by: Parvaneh Ahmadi, Transportation Planner, Local Programming Nalini Ahuja, Executive Officer of OMBILocal Programming NATIONAL TRANSIT DATABASE (NTD) - 9166 REPORTING Page 3
Attachment A Agoura Hills (DR)' $ 44,003 25 LACDPW - East LA (DWMB) $ 158,325 Alhambra (DR/MB) $ 139.987 26 LACDPW-East Valinda (ME) New Reporter Artesia (DR) $ 6,991 27 LACDPW - King Medical CtrMlillobrook Shuttle (ME) $ 52,889 Avalon (DTIMB)' $ 22,377 28 LACDPW - South Whittier (ME) $ 46,635 Azusa (DR) $ 43,042 29 LACDPW - Whittier (DR)' $ 97,309 Baldwin Park (DWMB) $ 132,908 30 LACDPW - Willowbrook (DRY $ 28.709 Bellflower (DRIMB) New Reporter 31 Lawndale (ME) New Reporter Bell Gardens (DWMB) $ 69,780 32 Lynwood (ME) $ 63.781 Beverly Hills (DT)' $ 8,041 33 Malibu (DT) $ 18,866 Burbank (ME) $ 101,044 34 Manhattan Beach (DR) $ 15,025 Calabasas (DWDT) New Reporter 35 Maywwd (DR) $ 20,395 Carson (DT/MB) $ 228,339 36 Monrovia (DR)' $ 108,706 Cerritos (DWMB) $ 168,699 37 Monterey Park (DWMB) $ 95,715 Compton (ME) $ 60,897 38 Palos Verdes Peninsula (DWMBY $ 114,319 Covina (DR) $ 19,161 39 Pasadena (DWMB)' $ 357,347 Cudahy (DWMB) $ 15,879 40 Pico Rivera (DR) $ 48,744 Downey (DWMB) $ 107,624 41 Pomona Valley (DFUDTY $ 270,805 Duarte (ME) $ 36,666 42 Rosemead (DWMB) $ 28,628 El Monte (DWMB) $ 160,497 43 Santa Fe Springs (DR) $ 15,838 Glendale (DWMB)' $ 354,088 44 South Gate (DT/MB) $ 74,358 Glendora (MBIDR) Dropped in FY09 45 South Pasadena (DWMB) Dropped in FY09 Huntington Park (DWMBIDT)' $ 185,747 46 West Covina (DWMB) $ 157,759 lnglewwd (DWDTIMB)' $ 47,333 47 West Hollywood (DWDT/MB)' $ 97,566 LACDPW - Avocado Heights (ME) New Reporter 48 Whittier (DRY $ 76,441 Total funds minus cost of audit $ 3,901.264 Jotor Bus DR: Demand Response DT: Demand Response Taxi The local operators receive an equal amount of Proposition A Incentive funds minus the cost of audit for the Federal Section 5307 funds they generate for the region. ' DR and DT portion of the service of these jurisdictions is included and funded in the Existing Sub-Regional Paratransit Projects The funding shown above for these jurisdictions is what they generated for the region through reporting their data to the FTA in FY09. Actual funds they received under the Existing Sub-Regional Paratransit Projects were higher. National Transit Database (NTD) - 9166 Reporting
Attachment B 201 1 10.91 1.756 962.355 9,849,400 878.373 13,480,965 33,643,816 $ 60,930,410 Operating expense was not reported in 2005. Therefore, 2005 was excluded from the history of Federal 5307 Capital Funds Generated. - - - ---- - - - NTD-Slsssllstory of Ridenhip Information (MBIDR) -7 I NTD-Bl6BHtstory of Federal 5307 Capltal Funds Generated _ -- - --1 For areas with populations of 200,000 and more. the formula is based on a combination of bus revenue vehicle miles, bus passenger miles, Wed guideway revenue vehicle miles, and fixed guideway route miles as wedl as population and population density Larger urbanized areas receive Federal Section 5307 funds from two tiers: the Bus Tier (66 71%) and the Fixed Guideway Tier (33.29%). The FTA uses population, population density, bus revenue vehicle miles, bus passenger miles, and operating costs to determine the amount of Lnding apportioned to each urbanized area through the Bus Tier. 90.8% of the bus tier is allocated based on three factors: populat~n, population density, and bus revenue vehicle miles The remaining 9.2% of the bus tier is allocated based on bus passenger miles weighted by bus passenger mtles per dollar of operating cost. Regular fixed-route bus service, demand response or dial-a-ride and taxi services are included in the Bus Tier. National Transit Database (NTDf-9166 Reporting