On March 13, 2020, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced increased flexibility to help transit agencies respond to the coronavirus (COVID-19) in states where the Governor has declared an emergency. Since Oregon’s Governor has declared a state of emergency, these measures apply to transit agencies in the state.

Expanded eligibility for federal assistance during this time includes allowing subrecipients of Section 5311 Formula Grants for Rural Areas and Section 5307 Urbanized Area Formula Program funding to use operating funds for COVID-19-related expenses “…to protect the health and safety of their riders and their workforce”. Eligible activities include:

“. . . emergency protective measures to eliminate or lessen threats to public health and safety, such as cleaning/sanitizing of rolling stock, stations, bus shelters, etc.; placing hand sanitizer dispensers in high traffic areas; and providing personal protective equipment as appropriate.” Source: FTA

Additionally, the announcement allows all transit providers in states where the Governor has declared an emergency related to COVID-19 to use their federal formula funds for operating expenses in addition to capital expenses and permits operating expenses to be covered at an 80 percent federal share rather than 50 percent.

Note: The ODOT Rail and Public Transit Division (RPTD) is clarifying with FTA whether transit providers may use the sliding scale rate of 89.73 percent rather than the stated 80 percent rate in the announcement. We will update this guidance as we receive that clarification.

Furthermore, 5307 and 5311 recipients are eligible to request temporary relief from specific federal requirements under 49 U.S.C. Chapter 53 as well as any non-statutory FTA requirements, and detailed instructions can be found on the regulations web page.

Some examples of requirements that could be temporarily relieved in response to this emergency include expansion of the use of transit assets to respond to the emergency outside of the FTA definition of incidental use (e.g., delivering food to housebound individuals) or public notices of scheduled changes.

In response to this announcement, RPTD is taking steps to make the more favorable match rate available to our subrecipients and gathering information regarding possible waivers.

More detailed information about both of these items can be found on our new Coronavirus webpage and in the full communication document.