The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) is requesting applications for federal and state financial assistance to support rural public transportation within the State of South Carolina. The State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2010-2011 application for allocation of Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2010 Nonurbanized Area Formula Program (Section 5311) funds and matching State Mass Transit Funds (SMTF) may be accessed through the SCDOT website: http://www.scdot.org/getting/MT_programs.shtml. Applications are due to the SCDOT no later than March 5, 2010.
The goal of the Section 5311 Program is to improve mobility for rural transportation throughout the country. Toward this goal, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) provides financial assistance to states for transportation services planned, designed, and carried out to meet specific rural transportation needs. SCDOT supports community transportation systems in fulfilling the transportation needs of each community by providing Administrative, Capital, Operating and Technical Assistance funding. An approved federal funding allocation and distribution formula will assist SCDOT in preparing the SFY 2010-2011 Section 5311 and SMTF allocation recommendations which will be presented to the SCDOT Commission for review at its April 2010 meeting.
Eligible applicants for Section 5311 Program funds must consider the following information prior to making application: 1) New applicants for program funding of a transit system must complete a favorable feasibility study approved by SCDOT. (Current Section 5311 recipients are exempt from this requirement, except in the event of proposed major service expansion.) 2) Applicant must be a local public or private non-profit entity. However, an eligible public or private non-profit applicant’s proposed project may include contractual arrangements for transportation services with a private entity, such as a private for-profit operator; and 3) an Applicant must certify that the local matching funds requirement for the project will be provided. Applicant shall identify local share sources within the application and verify local share availability, prior to contract acceptance as required by SCDOT.
For local and state planning purposes, an applicant must provide notification to its local Council of Governments (COG) for rural projects and/or Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for services proposed to operate in a metropolitan area of the State. Information will be used by the COG, MPO and State to ensure inclusion in the local Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) and the State’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP).
If further assistance is needed, please contact SCDOT Division of Mass Transit at (803) 737-0831.
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