indirect methods of providing service, such as subsidies to reduce taxi fares for wheelchair users or trip coupons provided directly to wheelchair users.

Projects funded by UMTA under section 16(b)(2) of the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964, as amended (UMT Act) may be identified as deriving from local special efforts to meet the needs of wheelchair users and semiambulatory persons only to the extent that the following four conditions are met: (1) The service and vehicles serve wheelchair users and semiambulatory persons; (2) the service meets a priority need identified in this planning process; (3) the service is not restricted to a particularized organizational or institutional clientele; and (4) any fares charged are comparable to those which are charged on standard transit buses for trips of similar length.

The coordination of existing transportation available for wheelchair users and semiambulatory persons, and funds which support the provision or purchase of such transportation, provided by the transit operators, governmental health and welfare agencies, and private nonprofit organizations may be identified as a project deriving from local special efforts. If the service and resources thus coordinated meet the four conditions for eligible section 16(b)(2) services (see above) and appear in the transportation improvement program, then those services and resources themselves may be identified as deriving from local special efforts.

Transportation improvement programs submitted to UMTA should identify those projects that result from the wheelchair user aspect of the handicapped special efforts requirement. Compliance with the regulation of the General Services Administration (GSA) on Accommodations for the Physically Handicapped (41 CFR Subpart 101-19.6) should not be identified as deriving from local special efforts. On the other hand, efforts which go beyond what GSA's regulation requires (e.g., making an existing subway station wheelchair accessible when GSA's regulation does not so require) may be part of the local special effort.

UMTA will not specify a program design to meet the "special efforts" requirement. However, the following examples are illustrative of a level of effort that will be deemed to satisfy this requirement with respect to wheelchair users and semiambulatory persons:

1. A program for wheelchair users and semiambulatory handicapped persons that will involve the expenditure of an average annual dollar amount equivalent to a minimum of 3.5 percent of the financial assistance that the urbanized area received in FY 83 under section 5 of the UMT Act. Recipients in nonurbanized areas that receive assistance under section 3 but not section 5

cannot, of course, use this first illustration. Although their certifications would be submitted to UMTA, such recipients should be guided by the requirements applicable specifically to section 18 recipients (see 49 CFR 27.77(a)(2) and 23 CFR part 825, appendix A, Para. 5(b)). These "3.5 percent funds" may be derived from sources other than section 5. The term "average" permits lower expenditure years to be balanced by higher expenditure years but does not permit an initial delay in implementing projects. Projects that qualify as local "special efforts" for wheelchair users and other semiambulatory persons under the initial paragraphs of this advisory information would be counted in computing the 3.5 percent.

For areas that choose to offer specialized service, there is, of course, no obligation to make that service available to persons who can use the regular transit system, although localities certainly may offer the service to such persons.

2. Purchase of only wheelchair-accessible new fixed route equipment until one-half of the fleet is accessible, or, in the alternative, provision of a substitute service that would provide comparable coverage and service levels.

3. A system, of any design, that would assure that every wheelchair user or semiambulatory person in the urbanized area would have public transportation available if requested for 10 round-trips per week at fares comparable to those which are charged on standard transit buses for trips of similar length, within the service area of the public transportation authority. The system could, for example, provide trip coupons to individuals who would then purchase the needed service.

These examples are illustrative of a level of effort that will satisfy the "special efforts" requirement. They are not regulatory standards or minimums, neither do they exhaust all valid approaches. They are meant to guide the development of local public transportation opportunities for wheelchair users and semiambulatory persons that in fact meet a significant fraction of the identified need within a reasonable time.

While the focus of the guidance in this appendix is on programming, reasonable progress in implementing programmed projects and in ensuring actual service is essential to meeting the "special efforts" requirement.

[46 FR 37492, July 20, 1981, as amended by Amdt. 27-2, 50 FR 13040, Apr. 2, 1985]

Subpart E-Mass Transportation Services for Handicapped Persons

SOURCE: Amdt. 27-3, 51 FR 19018, May 23, 1986, unless otherwise noted.

EDITORIAL NOTE: The information collection requirements contained in Subpart E have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 2132-0530.

EFFECTIVE DATE NOTE: At 56 FR 45621, Sept. 6, 1991, §§ 27.81-27.103 (subpart E) was removed effective October 7, 1991. For the convenience of the user, the text in effect until October 7, 1991, appears as follows:

§ 27.81 Program requirement.

Except as provided in § 27.91(a) of this subpart, each recipient of UMTA financial assistance under sections 3, 5, 9, or 9A of the UMT Act, which provides transportation services to the general public by bus, shall establish a program meeting the requirements of this subpart. The program shall ensure provision of service to handicapped persons at the full performance level required by § 27.95 of this subpart within the time called for by that section. The program shall include milestones describing the progress the recipient shall make each year until it achieves the full performance level. § 27.83 Public participation and coordination.

(a) Each recipient required to submit a program under this subpart shall develop its program through a public participation process that includes, as a minimum, the following steps:

(1) The recipient shall consult, as early as possible in the planning process, with handicapped persons and groups representing them, transportation and social service organizations, concerned state and local officials, and the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). This consultation shall concern the needs for service to handicapped persons in the area served by the recipient, any weaknesses or problems in present service or plans for service, and the types and characteristics of service to be provided under the recipient's program. In connection with this consultation, all cost estimates, plans, working papers, and other information pertaining to the recipient's program planning and service for handicapped persons shall be made available to all interested persons.

(2) The recipient shall provide a public comment period of at least 60 days upon the recipient's proposed program.

(3) The recipient shall hold at least one public hearing, to take place during the public comment period. Notice of the hear

ing shall be provided no fewer than 30 days before its scheduled date. The hearing shall be held in a facility accessible to handicapped persons, and the recipient shall take appropriate steps to facilitate the participation of handicapped persons in the hearing, including persons with impaired visiion or hearing.

(4) The recipient shall ensure that all notices and materials pertaining to the program, comment period, and public hearings are made available in a form that persons with vision and hearing impairments can

use.

(b) The recipient shall coordinate the development of its program with the MPO and submit its proposed program to the MPO for comment at the same time as the proposed program is made available for public comment.

(c) The recipient shall make efforts to accommodate, but is not required to adopt, significant comments on its proposed program made by the MPO and by the public, as part of the public participation and coordination process. The recipient shall make available to the public, no later than the time it adopts a program for transmittal to UMTA, a response to significant comments. This response shall include the recipient's reasons for not accommodating significant comments from the MPO and the public.

(d) All recipients subject to the program requirement of § 27.81 shall provide a mechanism for continuing public participation in the development and operation of its system of transportation for handicapped persons. The mechanism shall ensure consultation, with respect to planning, implementation, and operation, with handicapped persons, available advocacy groups of handicapped persons, public and private social service agencies, public and private operators of transportation services for handicapped persons, and other interested persons.

(e) Before making significant changes to its program, the recipient shall follow the public participation process outlined in paragraphs (a) through (c) of this section and secure UMTA approval of the altered program as provided in § 27.85 of this subpart for initial program submissions.

§ 27.85 Submission and review of program.

(a) Each recipient required to establish a program under § 27.81 of this subpart shall submit the following materials to the appropriate UMTA Regional Administrator within 12 months of the effective date of this subpart:

(1) A copy of the program;

(2) The comments of the public (including handicapped persons and the MPO) on the program, together with the recipient's responses to these comments, or summaries thereof;

(b) UMTA shall complete review of each recipient's program submission within 120 days of receiving it. UMTA may extend this review period; if UMTA does so, UMTA shall send the recipient a letter, before the end of the 120-day period, explaining the reasons for the extension and providing an estimated date for the completion of review.

(c) After UMTA has completed its review on each recipient's program submission, it shall notify the recipient, in writing, that the program is either approved as submitted, requires certain specified changes in order to be approved, or is disapproved. If the program is not approved as submitted, the notification shall set a time, not less than 30 nor more than 90 days from the date of the notification, within which the recipient shall submit a modified program to UMTA for approval. UMTA may condition approval of the resubmitted program on specified changes to its content or additional public participation activities.

[Amdt. 27-3, 51 FR 19018, May 3, 1986, as amended at 55 FR 40764, Oct. 4, 1990]

(a) Each recipient shall, at all times, provide the service called for by its program, as approved by UMTA, or under its certification pursuant to § 27.91, as applicable, to all eligible handicapped persons.

(b) The recipient's obligation to ensure the provision of such service includes, but is not limited to, the following:

(1) Ensuring that vehicles and equipment are capable of accommodating all the users for which the service is designed, and are maintained in proper operating condition;

(2) Ensuring that sufficient spare vehicles are available to maintain the levels of service called for in the program, or as provided under the § 27.91 certification;

(3) Ensuring that personnel are trained and supervised so that they operate vehicles and equipment safely and properly and treat handicapped users of the service in a courteous and respectful way; and

(4) Ensuring that adequate assistance and information concerning the use of the service is available to handicapped persons, including those with vision or hearing impairments. This obligation includes making adequate communications capacity available to enable users to obtain information about and to schedule service. In the case of a scheduled accessible bus system, this obligation also includes providing information on bus schedules and other sources of information about the service concerning which runs are made with accessible buses.

(5) Ensuring that service is provided in a timely manner, in accordance with scheduled pickup times.

(c) Notwithstanding the provision of any special service to handicapped persons, a re

cipient shall not, on the basis of handicap, deny to any handicapped person the opportunity to use the recipient's system of mass transportation for the general public, if the handicapped person is capable of using that system. Nor shall a recipient otherwise discriminate against a handicapped person in connection with the provision of its transportation service for the general public.

(d) In the time between the effective date of this subpart and the recipient's achievement of the full performance level established by § 27.95, service at least at the level provided pursuant to the recipient's certification under former § 27.77 of this part (46 FR 37488; July 20, 1981), as amended, shall remain in effect.

§ 27.89 Monitoring.

(a) In connection with the triennial section 9 review and evaluation of the recipient's activities conducted by UMTA under 49 U.S.C. 1607a(g)(2), UMTA shall review and evaluate compliance of the recipient with this subpart and its approved program for providing transportation services to handicapped persons.

(b) With respect to any recipient required to submit a program under § 27.81 of this subpart, but which is not subject to a section 9 triennial review audit, UMTA shall conduct a triennial review and evaluation of the recipient's compliance with this subpart and its approved program for providing transportation services to handicapped per

sons.

(c) If the recipient has fallen behind its approved schedule for implementing service to handicapped persons or has fallen below its full performance level for that service, the recipient shall submit a report to the appropriate UMTA Regional Administrator on the annual anniversary date of the approval of its program. The report shall describe the problem or delay experienced, explain the reasons for it, and set forth the corrective action the recipient has taken or is taking to ensure that its approved implementation schedule or its full performance level is met.

§ 27.91 Requirements for small recipients.

(a) This section applies to all recipients which provide service to the general public only in areas of 50,000 population or less. Recipients in this category shall follow the requirements of this section instead of the other requirements of this subpart, except that § 27.87 shall apply to recipients in this category.

(b) Within 12 months of the effective date of this subpart, each recipient shall certify that special efforts are being made in its service area to provide transportation that handicapped persons, unable to use the recipient's service for the general public, can

use. This transportation service shall be reasonable in comparison to the service provided to the general public and shall meet a significant fraction of the actual transportation needs of such persons within a reasonable time. Recipients who have a current certification to this effect are not required to recertify.

(c) Within nine months of the effective date of this subpart, each recipient shall ensure that handicapped persons and groups representing them have adequate notice of and opportunity to comment on the present and proposed activities of the recipient for achieving compliance with the requirements of paragraph (b) of this section. This notice and opportunity for comment shall take place before the submission of the certification required by paragraph (b) of this section and the report required by paragraph (d) of this section. Each recipient shall also ensure that there is adequate notice and the opportunity for public comment on any subsequent significant changes to its service for handicapped persons.

(d) Within 12 months of the effective date of this subpart, each recipient shall submit a status report including:

(1) A description of the service currently being provided to handicapped persons, as compared to the service for the general public;

(2) Copies or a summary of the comments of handicapped persons received in response to the opportunity for comment;

(3) A statement of any plans to modify the service significantly; and

(4) A statement of the resources devoted to the service for handicapped persons.

(e) Each recipient shall submit update reports concerning its service for handicapped persons. The recipient shall provide such a report every three years, on a schedule determined by UMTA. Each report will include the following information:

(1) A description of the service currently provided to handicapped persons, as compared to the service for the general public;

(2) Any significant modifications made in the service since the previous report, or planned for the next three-year period;

(3) Copies of a summary of the comments on any significant changes made in the service since the previous report; and

(4) A description of the resources that have been devoted to service for handicapped persons each year since the previous report and that are planned to be devoted to this purpose in each of the next three years.

(f) All certifications and reports under this section shall be submitted to the designated state section 18 agency or, for recipients who do not receive section 18 funds, to the appropriate UMTA Regional Administrator.

§ 27.93 Multi-recipient areas.

(a) This section applies to any multi-recipient area; i.e., an urbanized area including two or more recipients required to establish a program under § 27.81 of this subpart.

(b) The recipients in a multi-recipient area may enter into a compact for purposes of compliance with this subpart. The compact shall meet the following standards:

(1) The compact shall establish a cooperative mechanism among the recipients to ensure the provision of combined and/or coordinated service to handicapped persons that meet all requirements of this subpart. (2) The compact shall ensure the provision and sharing of funding adequate to provide such service.

(3) The compact shall include a reasonable dispute resolution mechanism concerning funding and service matters.

(4) The compact shall be a formal written document, signed by all participating recipients.

(c) In order for UMTA to recognize the compact as the means through which recipients in the multi-recipient area will comply with this subpart, the members of a compact shall submit a copy of the signed compact to the appropriate UMTA Regional Administrator within six months of the effective date of this subpart. Following such timely submission, UMTA shall acknowledge receipt of the compact within 30 days and then regard the members of the compact as if they constitute a single recipient for purposes of all requirements of this subpart.

(d) The deadline for the submission of a program under § 27.85 by a multi-recipient area compact shall be 12 months from the date on which the copy of the compact is acknowledged by UMTA under paragraph (c) of this section.

§ 27.95 Full performance level.

(a) Scope and timing. Each recipient shall provide transportation service to handicapped persons at the full performance level. The full performance level is defined as meeting the criteria set forth in either paragraph (b), paragraph (c), or paragraph (d) of this section. The recipient shall meet this requirement as soon as reasonably feasible, as determined by UMTA, but in any case within six years of the initial determination by UMTA concerning the approval of its program.

(b) Criteria for special service systems. The following minimum service criteria apply to special service systems:

(1) Eligibility. All persons who, by reason of handicap, are physically unable to use the recipient's bus service for the general public shall be eligible to use the recipient's special service.

(2) Response time. The recipient shall ensure that service is provided to a handicapped person who requests it within 24 hours of the request.

(3) Restrictions or priorities based on trip purpose. The recipient shall not impose priorities or restrictions based on trip purpose on users of the special service.

(4) Fares. The fare for a trip charged to a user of the special service system shall be comparable to the fare for a trip of similar length, at a similar time of day, charged to a user of the recipient's bus service for the general public.

(5) Hours and days of service. The special service shall be available throughout the same hours of days as the recipient's bus service for the general public.

(6) Service area. The special service shall be available throughout the circumferential service area in which the recipient provides bus service (exclusive of extended express or commuter bus service) to the general public. The recipient shall also ensure that service to points outside this service area served by the recipient's extended express or commuter bus service shall be available to handicapped persons.

(c) Criteria for accessible bus systems. The following minimum service criteria apply to accessible bus systems:

(1) Number of buses. The recipient shall operate on the street a number of accessible buses sufficient to meet the other service criteria of paragraph (c)(2) and/or (3) of this section, as applicable.

(2) Criteria for scheduled accessible bus systems-(i) Hours and days of service. Scheduled accessible bus service shall be available throughout the same hours and days as the recipient's bus service for the general public. The service shall be provided at reasonable intervals that make practicable the ready use of the accessible bus service by handicapped persons.

(ii) Service area. Accessible bus service shall be provided on all the recipient's bus routes on which a need for accessible bus service has been established through the planning and public participation process set forth in § 27.83.

(iii) Fares. The fare for a trip charged a handicapped person using an accessible bus shall be no higher than the fare charged other users of the recipient's bus service for the same trip. Reduced, off-peak fares for elderly and handicapped persons shall be in effect on accessible buses.

(3) Criteria for on-call accessible bus service—(i) Eligibility. All persons who, by reason of handicap, are physically unable to use the recipient's bus service for the general public shall be eligible to use the recipient's on-call accessible bus service.

(ii) Response time. The recipient shall ensure that service is provided to a handi

capped person who requests it within 24 hours of the request.

(iii) Restrictions or priorities based on trip purpose. The recipient shall not impose priorities or restrictions based on trip purpose on users of the on-call accessible bus service.

(iv) Fares. The fare charged a handicapped person using an accessible bus shall be no higher than the fare charged other users of the recipient's bus service for the same trip. Reduced, off-peak fares for elderly and handicapped persons shall be in effect on accessible buses.

(v) Hours and days of service. On-call accessible bus service shall be available throughout the same days and hours as the recipient's bus service for the general public.

(vi) Service area. On-call accessible bus service, including all buses needed to complete each handicapped person's trip, shall be provided, upon request, on all the recipient's bus routes.

(d) Criteria for mixed systems. The service criteria of paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section apply to the special service and accessible bus components of the system, respectively, for the portions of the service area, and/or days and times, in which each operates. The recipient shall ensure that the accessible bus and special service components of the mixed system are coordinated (including transfers between the components) so that inconvenience to handicapped users of the mixed system is minimized.

(e) Services by other agencies and modes of transportation. In meeting the service criteria, the recipient may use services provided, and funded, by agencies other than the recipient, and services delivered through other modes of transportation, if the services provided by the other agencies or through other modes of service are part of a system of transportation coordinated by the recipient.

[Amdt. 27-3, 51 FR 19018, May 3, 1986, as amended at 55 FR 40764, Oct. 4, 1990]

§ 27.97 Maintenance of effort.

(a) Any recipient which, before the effective date of this section, has complied with this subpart through a special service system or a mixed system, may change its mode of compliance to an accessible bus system. Such a change is subject to the public participation and plan approval requirements of §§ 27.83(e) and 27.85 of this subpart.

(b) Any recipient which changes its mode of compliance with this subpart as provided in this section shall maintain at least the level of special service it is providing on the date of issuance of this section, pending the effective date of final rules implementing