00754999

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/1623-09

http://scholar.google.com...ment&publication_year=1998

The U.S. Department of Transportation provides monies to states to assist in the provision of transit services in small towns and rural areas under the Section 5311 program. The purpose of the Section 5311 program is to improve mobility for economically disadvantaged rural residents. In practice, states exercise considerable discretion over the operation of the program, including establishing eligibility criteria and funding levels for individual operators. Forty-one states grant monies to operators through a competitive process based on applications. The applications are used to rank operators according to one or more performance measures. States often employ scoring techniques in their evaluations. The remaining nine states award subsidies according to formulas. There are great similarities in state goals for rural transit service even though there is significant variation in the amounts of monies awarded to comparable operators. To better realize the purpose of the Section 5311 program, states might consider adopting an allocation procedure whereby monies are awarded using a formula based on equalizing the subsidy per passenger trip. States that establish minimum rural mobility standards could split their total allocation into two categories, apportioning one part by population and the other by the subsidy per passenger trip.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1623, Transit: Bus, Paratransit, Rural, Intermodal, Rail, Commuter and Intercity Rail, Light Rail.

English

p. 63-67

1998

Transportation Research Record

0309064686

References (8) ; Tables (2)

Formulas; Low income groups; Mobility; Population; Rural areas; Rural transit; Small towns; Subsidies

Disadvantaged persons; Fund allocations

Finance; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society

TRIS, TRB

Oct 7 1998 12:00AM

• BENEFITS OF TRANSIT IN SMALL URBAN AREAS: A CASE STUDY
• CONSIDERING BUILD-LATER AS AN ALTERNATIVE IN MAJOR TRANSIT INVESTMENT ANALYSES
• CTA'S RECENT EXPERIENCE WITH MAJOR RAIL REHABILITATION PROJECTS: CONSTRUCTION EFFICIENCY VERSUS RIDERSHIP RETENTION
• DEMAND FORECASTING MODEL FOR PARK-AND-RIDE LOTS IN KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON
• DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTERMODAL TRANSIT SIMULATION AND ITS APPLICATION TO THE FRANKFORD TRANSPORTATION CENTER
• DISCRETE CHOICE ELASTICITIES FOR ELDERLY AND DISABLED TRAVELERS BETWEEN FIXED-ROUTE TRANSIT AND PARATRANSIT
• ECONOMIC IMPACT OF EXISTING AND NEW COMMUTER RAIL SERVICE ON RETAIL AND RECREATIONAL SPENDING IN THE VICINITY OF STATION AREAS
• FROM COMMUTER RAIL TO REGIONAL RAIL: OPERATING PRACTICES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
• HIGH-CAPACITY LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT: BALANCING STATIONSIDE AND RAILSIDE CAPACITIES
• KARLSRUHE 1975-1995: A CASE STUDY OF LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT
• MODELS FOR PREDICTING BUS DELAYS
• NETWORK MODEL OF URBAN TAXI SERVICES: IMPROVED ALGORITHM
• NJ TRANSIT'S MIDTOWN DIRECT SERVICE: ARE CUSTOMERS SATISFIED?
• PASSENGER TRAIN DESIGN FOR INCREASED COMPETITIVENESS
• PLANNING AND DESIGN MODEL FOR TRANSIT ROUTE NETWORKS WITH COORDINATED OPERATIONS
• RAIL TRANSIT SAFETY ANALYSIS: 1993, 1994, AND 1995
• RURAL TRANSIT SERVICES: A LOCAL ECONOMIC AND FISCAL IMPACT ANALYSIS
• SIMULATION OF THE EFFECTS OF INTERMODAL TRANSFER PENALTIES ON TRANSIT USE
• TRACK TIME: CONSTRUCTION OR THE CUSTOMER
• TRANSIT-FOCUSED DEVELOPMENT AND LIGHT RAIL SYSTEMS: THE LITE CONNECTION
• TRANSITIONING TO FIXED-ROUTE SERVICES
• USER AND OPERATOR PERSPECTIVES IN TRANSIT NETWORK DESIGN