2006 New York Code - 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.