Federal Transit Administration: Progress and Challenges in Implementing and Evaluating the Job Access and Reverse Commute Program
GAO-09-496
Published: May 21, 2009. Publicly Released: May 21, 2009.
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Highlights
Established in 1998, the Job Access and Reverse Commute Program (JARC)-administered by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA)--awards grants to states and localities to provide transportation to help low-income individuals access jobs. In 2005, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act--A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) reauthorized the program and made changes, such as allocating funds by formula to large and small urban and rural areas through designated recipients, usually transit agencies and states. SAFETEA-LU also required GAO to periodically review the program. This second report under the mandate examines (1) the extent to which FTA has awarded JARC funds for fiscal years 2006 through 2008, and how recipients are using the funds; (2) challenges faced by recipients in implementing the program; and (3) FTA's plans to evaluate the program. For this work, GAO analyzed data and interviewed officials from FTA, nine states, and selected localities.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Transportation | The Secretary of DOT should direct the FTA to determine what actions FTA or Congress could take to address the challenges agencies have encountered. For example, these actions could include providing more specific guidance to assist large urbanized areas with jurisdiction over small urbanized or rural areas, or suggesting that Congress consider consolidating the application processes for JARC and other programs with similar requirements. | In 2009, GAO reported that state and local authorities cited multiple challenges in implementing the Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) Program. A common concern was that, overall, the effort required to obtain JARC funds places an administrative burden on recipients because the effort is disproportionate to the relatively small amount of funding available. One challenge cited by recipients (e.g., transit agencies or states) was that FTA's delay in issuing final guidance and the process to identify designated recipients reduced the time available to secure funds before the funds expired. Moreover, some recipients found the guidance vague and overly broad. In addition, although... recipients considered the coordinated planning process beneficial, many cited factors that hindered coordination, including a lack of resources and the reluctance of some stakeholders to participate. Some recipients also expressed concerns about identifying stable sources of matching funds and duplicative efforts in administering JARC with other FTA programs. These challenges delayed applications for funds and project implementation, and contributed to a lapse of 14 percent of the funds available in fiscal year 2006 at the end of fiscal year 2008. FTA was taking steps to address these challenges, and noted that some challenges, such as the amount of funding and flexibility in using JARC funds, were rooted in statute and would need to be addressed by Congress in the next surface transportation reauthorization. GAO recommended that the Secretary of DOT direct the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to determine what actions FTA or Congress could take to address the challenges agencies have encountered, such as providing more specific guidance to assist large urbanized areas with jurisdiction over small urbanized or rural areas, or suggesting that Congress consider consolidating the application processes for JARC and other programs with similar requirements to reduce the administrative burden. Rather than identify actions to be taken, FTA took action to address the challenges agencies have encountered. In 2011, we confirmed that FTA provided more guidance and technical assistance to help recipients address challenges associated with the JARC program and continued to work with individual recipients that encountered problems. Additionally, FTA's input to the President's Budget for fiscal year 2012 proposed that Congress consolidate the JARC program with two similar small formula programs (the New Freedom and the Elderly and Individuals with Disabilities programs) to streamline administration and provide more flexibility at the local level. Congress did consolidate these three programs when it passed the new surface transportation legislation in 2012 by merging JARC with two other larger programs (urbanized and rural area grants) and combining the New Freedom and Elderly and Individuals with Disabilities programs into a new grant to enhance the mobility of seniors and individuals with disabilities. As a result, recipients' administrative burden should be reduced and they should have sufficient guidance to apply for these programs in a timely manner. Further, FTA should be able to award more funds from these programs to implement additional projects and accordingly, less funds will lapse in the future.
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| Department of Transportation | The Secretary of DOT should direct the FTA to ensure that program evaluations use generally accepted survey design and data analysis methodologies by conducting a peer review of current and future program evaluations, including UIC's current study of the JARC program. This review could be conducted with the assistance of another agency within DOT, such as the Bureau of Transportation Statistics within DOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administration. | In 2009, GAO reported that Federal Transit Administration (FTA) had improved its approach for evaluating the Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) program since 2000 and had two studies under way to evaluate the program under SAFETEA-LU. One study, under contract with the University of Illinois (UIC), was to evaluate the program's economic impacts using data from a survey of JARC service users, program managers, and coordinated human services transportation plan participants. However, this study was to use a methodology similar to that used in a prior study which had limitations in the survey instrument design and data analysis. FTA also did not have a comprehensive process in place to...
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Commuter transportationFederal aid for transportationFederal aid to localitiesFederal aid to statesFederal fundsFund auditsFunds managementLocally administered programsMass transit fundingProgram evaluationProgram managementState-administered programsTransportationTransportation costsTransportation legislationTransportation planningUrban planningUrban transportationProgram implementation