Sec. 975.19. Eligibility requirements for specialized transportation services for the transit disabled

(a) To be eligible for STOA, any specialized transportation service must be available to all transit disabled persons in the service area on an equal opportunity basis and may not give preference to any particular client subgroup. This requirement is not intended to preclude market segmentation based on the amount of physical assistance required by the rider. Service must operate in accordance with the published service area, hours of operation and fares. Acceptable arrangements shall be made to market the availability of the service.

(1) Service funding:

(i) A public transportation system may accept a per passenger payment from a human service agency in lieu of collecting a fare from a human service agency client. Also, the public transportation system may charge the human service agency a fare higher than the fare charged to other riders in those circumstances where accommodating the travel demand of an agency requires the system to operate a level of service which exceeds available Federal and State mass transportation operating assistance and the local match to that assistance.

(ii) Where a human service agency's transportation needs are met by a public transportation system, such system shall continue, to the extent necessary, to use human service agency program funds to cover that portion of the costs of specialized transportation services not covered by fare-box, Federal and State mass transportation operating assistance and the local match to that assistance.

(iii) If Federal operating assistance is available, it must be included as a source of revenue to cover the costs of the specialized service in at least the same proportion as it covers the costs of the services to the general public. In urbanized areas, the use of Federal assistance must be approved by the area's Metropolitan Planning Organization in the Transportation Improvement Program. Voluntary local assistance (in excess of STOA match requirements) may be substituted for available Federal operating assistance.

(2)

(i) Where it is necessary to establish procedures for prioritizing service delivery in order to allocate scarce resources, the prioritizing procedures must be fully documented and may not give preference to any client group.

(b) Where the principal operator of mass transportation service for the general public as defined in section 975.4 (bb) directly provides specialized transportation services which are open to all members of the transit disabled public and where such services meet other eligibility requirements as specified in the STOA regulations, these specialized services are eligible for State transit operating assistance.

Where more than one mass transportation system in the same service area proposes to provide specialized transportation services, the New York State Department of Transportation will determine which system is the system eligible to receive STOA for the provision of specialized services to the transit disabled.

(c) To be eligible for STOA, specialized transportation service provided in any county having no urbanized areas, or cities receiving STOA, must be operated, or purchased through contract, by the principal operator of general public transportation in the county.

(d) In counties where there is more than one public transportation system, and a specialized service is proposed to be provided by an operator other than the principal operator, as defined in Section 975.4(bb), such specialized service may be eligible for STOA under the following additional conditions:

(1) Specialized transportation service plan:

(i) A specialized service plan must be developed. Service is to be provided in accordance with a specialized service plan, which details appropriate justification for the operation of service by other than the principal operator and includes comments of the principal operator. The service plan should document service area; eligibility; hours of service; fares; service characteristics; restrictions; prioritization; and advance reservation requirements; organizational structure; and service agreements. The plan must also specify acceptable arrangements to market the availability of the service to persons who are disabled.

(ii) Such plan is subject to review by the Department to establish eligibility for STOA program funding. A program/report prepared to meet Federal requirements as meeting the plan requirements of this Subpart provided all requirements of this Subpart are included or appended may be acceptable.

(2) Service Contract:

(i) Private, for-profit and private, non-profit operators operating in the proposed service area must be afforded an equal opportunity to bid on the proposed contract(s), and contract(s) should be reoffered for bid on a regular basis.

(ii) Eligibility must be limited to an operator (s) (1) whose primary organizational purpose, as stated in its incorporation papers, is as an operator (s) of passenger transportation, (2) who has or is obtaining an operating permit as a common carrier from NYSDOT, and (3) who will subject its vehicles to NYSDOT inspections.

(iii) The public transportation system must substantially control all transportation service components of the specialized transportation service system, including holding of contracts with the operators, marketing, and the compilation of Federal and State reports. The contract for service must insure that the service complies with these regulations including the scheduling and dispatching of operations.

(3) Justification for use of multiple operations:

Where mass transportation services for the transit disabled is best accomplished by contracts with more than one service operator, because of reasons of geographic coverage or market segmentation necessitated by differing amounts of physical assistance required by the passengers, then the justification, economic or otherwise, for employing more than one service operator must be documented in the plan.

(e) Ineligible service(s):

(1) Transportation services limited to the disabled and/or elderly shall not be eligible for STOA in any service area where there is no public transportation system offering service for use by the general public.

(2) Transport of meals or goods or emergency medical trips are not eligible services.

(3) Portions of the specialized services which are client-specific and not available to the general transit disabled population are not eligible to be included in the calculation of State operating assistance.

(4) Only services provided to disabled persons, as defined in section 975.4 (k) are eligible for STOA. Where the specialized service system also serves non-disabled persons, according to this definition, a method of allocation of service passengers and vehicle miles must be documented and approved by the Commissioner, such that STOA payments can be made only on behalf of persons qualified to receive specialized services (i.e., persons who are disabled).

Where a human service agency's transportation needs are met by a public transportation system, such system shall continue, to the extent necessary, to use human service agency program funds to cover that portion of the costs of public transportation services not covered by farebox, Federal and State mass transportation operating assistance and the local match to that assistance.