N.Y. Transportation Law § 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.