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TRANSIT TCRP REPORT 144 COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM Sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration Sharing the Costs of Human Services Transportation Volume 1: The Transportation Services Cost Sharing Toolkit

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TCRP OVERSIGHT AND PROJECT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD 2010 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE* SELECTION COMMITTEE* CHAIR OFFICERS Ann August Santee Wateree Regional Transportation Authority CHAIR: Michael R. Morris, Director of Transportation, North Central Texas Council of Governments, Arlington MEMBERS VICE CHAIR: Neil J. Pedersen, Administrator, Maryland State Highway Administration, Baltimore John Bartosiewicz McDonald Transit Associates EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Robert E. Skinner, Jr., Transportation Research Board Michael Blaylock Jacksonville Transportation Authority MEMBERS Linda J. Bohlinger HNTB Corp. J. Barry Barker, Executive Director, Transit Authority of River City, Louisville, KY Raul Bravo Allen D. Biehler, Secretary, Pennsylvania DOT, Harrisburg Raul V. Bravo & Associates Larry L. Brown, Sr., Executive Director, Mississippi DOT, Jackson Gregory Cook Deborah H. Butler, Executive Vice President, Planning, and CIO, Norfolk Southern Corporation, Veolia Transportation Terry Garcia Crews Norfolk, VA StarTran William A.V. Clark, Professor, Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles Angela Iannuzziello Eugene A. Conti, Jr., Secretary of Transportation, North Carolina DOT, Raleigh ENTRA Consultants Nicholas J. Garber, Henry L. Kinnier Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, and Director, John Inglish Utah Transit Authority Center for Transportation Studies, University of Virginia, Charlottesville Sherry Little Jeffrey W. Hamiel, Executive Director, Metropolitan Airports Commission, Minneapolis, MN Spartan Solutions, LLC Paula J. Hammond, Secretary, Washington State DOT, Olympia Jonathan H. McDonald Edward A. (Ned) Helme, President, Center for Clean Air Policy, Washington, DC HNTB Corporation Gary W. McNeil Adib K. Kanafani, Cahill Professor of Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley GO Transit Susan Martinovich, Director, Nevada DOT, Carson City Michael P. Melaniphy Debra L. Miller, Secretary, Kansas DOT, Topeka Motor Coach Industries Sandra Rosenbloom, Professor of Planning, University of Arizona, Tucson Bradford Miller Tracy L. Rosser, Vice President, Corporate Traffic, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Mandeville, LA Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority Frank Otero Steven T. Scalzo, Chief Operating Officer, Marine Resources Group, Seattle, WA PACO Technologies Henry G. (Gerry) Schwartz, Jr., Chairman (retired), Jacobs/Sverdrup Civil, Inc., St. Louis, MO Keith Parker Beverly A. Scott, General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit VIA Metropolitan Transit Authority, Atlanta, GA Peter Rogoff FTA David Seltzer, Principal, Mercator Advisors LLC, Philadelphia, PA Jeffrey Rosenberg Daniel Sperling, Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and Policy; Director, Institute of Amalgamated Transit Union Transportation Studies; and Interim Director, Energy Efficiency Center, University of California, Davis Richard Sarles Kirk T. Steudle, Director, Michigan DOT, Lansing Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Michael Scanlon Douglas W. Stotlar, President and CEO, Con-Way, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI San Mateo County Transit District C. Michael Walton, Ernest H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering, University of Texas, Austin James Stem United Transportation Union EX OFFICIO MEMBERS Gary Thomas Dallas Area Rapid Transit Peter H. Appel, Administrator, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S.DOT Frank Tobey J. Randolph Babbitt, Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S.DOT First Transit Rebecca M. Brewster, President and COO, American Transportation Research Institute, Smyrna, GA Matthew O. Tucker North County Transit District George Bugliarello, President Emeritus and University Professor, Polytechnic Institute of New York Pam Ward University, Brooklyn; Foreign Secretary, National Academy of Engineering, Washington, DC Ottumwa Transit Authority Anne S. Ferro, Administrator, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, U.S.DOT Alice Wiggins-Tolbert LeRoy Gishi, Chief, Division of Transportation, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Parsons Brinckerhoff Interior, Washington, DC EX OFFICIO MEMBERS Edward R. Hamberger, President and CEO, Association of American Railroads, Washington, DC William W. Millar John C. Horsley, Executive Director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation APTA Officials, Washington, DC Robert E. Skinner, Jr. TRB David T. Matsuda, Deputy Administrator, Maritime Administration, U.S.DOT John C. Horsley Victor M. Mendez, Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, U.S.DOT AASHTO William W. Millar, President, American Public Transportation Association, Washington, DC Victor Mendez Tara O'Toole, Under Secretary for Science and Technology, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, FHWA Washington, DC TDC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Robert J. Papp (Adm., U.S. Coast Guard), Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Louis Sanders Homeland Security, Washington, DC APTA Cynthia L. Quarterman, Administrator, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, SECRETARY U.S.DOT Christopher W. Jenks Peter M. Rogoff, Administrator, Federal Transit Administration, U.S.DOT TRB David L. Strickland, Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S.DOT Joseph C. Szabo, Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration, U.S.DOT Polly Trottenberg, Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, U.S.DOT Robert L. Van Antwerp (Lt. Gen., U.S. Army), Chief of Engineers and Commanding General, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC *Membership as of December 2010. *Membership as of October 2010.

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TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM TCRP REPORT 144 Sharing the Costs of Human Services Transportation Volume 1: The Transportation Services Cost Sharing Toolkit Jon E. Burkhardt WESTAT Rockville, MD Richard Garrity RLS & ASSOCIATES, INC. Dayton, OH Kathy McGehee Raleigh, NC Susanna S. Hamme Falls Church, VA Karen Burkhardt Cindy Johnson MOBILITAT, INC. Green River, WY David Koffman NELSON\NYGAARD CONSULTING ASSOCIATES, INC. San Francisco, CA Subscriber Categories Public Transportation · Finance Research sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration in cooperation with the Transit Development Corporation TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2011 www.TRB.org

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TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM TCRP REPORT 144, VOLUME 1 The nation's growth and the need to meet mobility, environmental, Project G-09 and energy objectives place demands on public transit systems. Current ISSN 1073-4872 systems, some of which are old and in need of upgrading, must expand ISBN 978-0-309-15535-9 service area, increase service frequency, and improve efficiency to serve Library of Congress Control Number 2011920877 these demands. Research is necessary to solve operating problems, to © 2011 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. adapt appropriate new technologies from other industries, and to intro- duce innovations into the transit industry. The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) serves as one of the principal means by which the transit industry can develop innovative near-term solutions COPYRIGHT INFORMATION to meet demands placed on it. Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously The need for TCRP was originally identified in TRB Special Report published or copyrighted material used herein. 213--Research for Public Transit: New Directions, published in 1987 Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this and based on a study sponsored by the Urban Mass Transportation publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the Administration--now the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). A understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, report by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), FMCSA, FTA, or Transit Development Corporation endorsement of a particular product, Transportation 2000, also recognized the need for local, problem- method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of solving research. TCRP, modeled after the longstanding and success- any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission ful National Cooperative Highway Research Program, undertakes from CRP. research and other technical activities in response to the needs of tran- sit service providers. The scope of TCRP includes a variety of transit research fields including planning, service configuration, equipment, NOTICE facilities, operations, human resources, maintenance, policy, and The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the Transit Cooperative Research administrative practices. Program, conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the TCRP was established under FTA sponsorship in July 1992. Pro- Governing Board of the National Research Council. posed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, TCRP was autho- The members of the technical panel selected to monitor this project and to review this rized as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance. of 1991 (ISTEA). On May 13, 1992, a memorandum agreement out- The report was reviewed by the technical panel and accepted for publication according to lining TCRP operating procedures was executed by the three cooper- procedures established and overseen by the Transportation Research Board and approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council. ating organizations: FTA, the National Academies, acting through the Transportation Research Board (TRB); and the Transit Development The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this report are those of the researchers who performed the research and are not necessarily those of the Transportation Corporation, Inc. (TDC), a nonprofit educational and research orga- Research Board, the National Research Council, or the program sponsors. nization established by APTA. TDC is responsible for forming the The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research independent governing board, designated as the TCRP Oversight and Council, and the sponsors of the Transit Cooperative Research Program do not endorse Project Selection (TOPS) Committee. products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers' names appear herein solely because Research problem statements for TCRP are solicited periodically but they are considered essential to the object of the report. may be submitted to TRB by anyone at any time. It is the responsibility of the TOPS Committee to formulate the research program by identi- fying the highest priority projects. As part of the evaluation, the TOPS Committee defines funding levels and expected products. Once selected, each project is assigned to an expert panel, appointed by the Transportation Research Board. The panels prepare project state- ments (requests for proposals), select contractors, and provide techni- cal guidance and counsel throughout the life of the project. The process for developing research problem statements and selecting research agencies has been used by TRB in managing cooperative research pro- grams since 1962. As in other TRB activities, TCRP project panels serve voluntarily without compensation. Because research cannot have the desired impact if products fail to reach the intended audience, special emphasis is placed on dissemi- Published reports of the nating TCRP results to the intended end users of the research: tran- sit agencies, service providers, and suppliers. TRB provides a series TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM of research reports, syntheses of transit practice, and other support- are available from: ing material developed by TCRP research. APTA will arrange for Transportation Research Board workshops, training aids, field visits, and other activities to ensure Business Office that results are implemented by urban and rural transit industry 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 practitioners. The TCRP provides a forum where transit agencies can cooperatively and can be ordered through the Internet at address common operational problems. The TCRP results support and http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore complement other ongoing transit research and training programs. Printed in the United States of America

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COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMS CRP STAFF FOR TCRP REPORT 144, VOLUME 1 Christopher W. Jenks, Director, Cooperative Research Programs Crawford F. Jencks, Deputy Director, Cooperative Research Programs Lawrence D. Goldstein, Senior Program Officer Tiana Barnes, Senior Program Assistant Eileen P. Delaney, Director of Publications Natassja Linzau, Editor TCRP PROJECT G-09 PANEL Field of Administration Lyn Hellegaard, Missoula Ravalli Transportation Management Association, Missoula, MT (Chair) Barbara K. Cline, West River Transit Authority, Inc., Spearfish, SD Daniel T. Gowdy, Hope Network West Michigan, Grand Rapids, MI John H. Johnson, Mississippi Valley State University Mass Transit, Itta Bena, MS Robert S. "Scott" Kosky, OATS, Inc., Springfield, MO Beldon Ragsdale, Idaho Transportation Department, Boise, ID Rosie Sanford, Loxley, AL Shmuel Z. Yahalom, State University of New York Maritime College, Paramus, NJ Doug Birnie, FTA Liaison Tina Hodges, FTA Liaison Christopher Zeilinger, Community Transportation Association of America Liaison Jennifer A. Rosales, TRB Liaison AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research that produced this report was performed under TCRP Project G-09 by Westat, with the assistance of RLS & Associates, Inc.; Mobilitat, Inc.; Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates, Inc.; Kathy McGehee; and Susanna S. Hamme. Jon E. Burkhardt, Senior Study Director at Westat, was this project's Principal Investigator. Mr. Burkhardt of Westat and Richard Garrity of RLS & Associates were the key authors of this report. Other authors of selected sections included consultants Kathy McGehee and Susanna Hamme; Karen Burkhardt and Cindy Johnson of Mobilitat, Inc.; and David Koffman of Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates, Inc. We would like to thank many people for their substantial contributions to this project. We are grate- ful for the assistance provided to us by the members of our project panel. We appreciate the time and insights given to us by the many governmental officials and human service and public transportation operators who worked with us in many phases of this project.

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FOREWORD By Lawrence D. Goldstein Staff Officer Transportation Research Board TCRP Report 144 provides a comprehensive analysis of issues and effective solutions for identifying and sharing the cost of providing transportation services for access to commu- nity-based human services programs. It examines current practices and offers strategies for collecting necessary data, addressing administrative and policy-related issues, and establish- ing cost allocation procedures. Building on this inclusive process, the report develops a Cost Sharing Model that facilitates local coordination and service delivery. The report is presented in several documents. First, a detailed description of the compo- nents of a comprehensive Cost Sharing Model is contained in Volume 1, The Transporta- tion Services Cost Sharing Toolkit. This description leads the user through the process of setting up the necessary cost accounting system, identifying the data requirements and the measurement parameters, and describing procedures for applying the model. This volume concludes with instructions for using the actual Cost Sharing Model. The second product of the study, as reported in Volume 2, is the Research Report which summarizes all of the study components that contributed to formation of the Toolkit. It includes an extended evaluation of current experience and describes the regulatory environment that frames transportation service delivery requirements. The third component of the study is contained on the attached CD-ROM and includes the actual Cost Sharing Model along with instruc- tions for setup and application. This is an Excel-based model that is easily usable by all lev- els of community transportation providers. The need for this study grew out of historic recognition of the difficulties associated with accurately measuring costs incurred in providing transportation services to improve mobil- ity, employment opportunities, and access to community services for persons who are transportation-disadvantaged. Recognizing potential benefits of coordinated, cost-effective human service transportation programs is easy. Establishing procedures to accomplish this goal, however, is not. The approach used in this study addresses the specific steps necessary to establish a uniform cost accounting system: defining the required data, identifying sources of that data, and framing cost accounting procedures for meeting necessary accounting principles. The output of this effort is an analytical model that can be applied in numerous situations facilitating establishing cost sharing agreements among multiple ser- vice providers in a given community environment. The primary audience for this study and the Toolkit is community transportation providers--those funded by The U.S. Department of Transportation or through other fed- eral programs. This report provides instructions on how to record and calculate costs and then how to allocate these costs to other participating agencies based on the proportion of costs incurred by each partner. Another target audience is community transportation plan-

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ners and administrators, including individuals in human service programs at local, state, and federal levels. These individuals also need to understand how to calculate accurately the true costs of transportation services and how to apply the principles of proportional cost allocation to share costs equitably among all recipients of transportation services. This report provides a common, unified approach that can be used to calculate the full cost of providing transportation services by all transportation providers: public transit authorities, human service agencies, not-for-profit agencies, or private-for-profit providers. Given the variety of agencies involved in delivering community transportation services, addressing multiple perspectives should add greatly to the validity, applicability, and imple- mentability of the results presented by this study. When a participating agency asks, "How much should I pay?" this report provides the methods necessary to answer that question in a consistent and equitable manner.

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CONTENTS 1 Chapter 1 How to Use This Toolkit 3 Chapter 2 The Benefits of Better Transportation Cost and Service Data 3 Program Management Improves 4 Community-Wide Cost Effectiveness Improves 4 Funding Requests Are Viewed More Favorably 5 Summary 6 Chapter 3 Factors That Affect Transportation Cost and Service Reports 6 Many Agencies Need Better Cost and Service Accounting 7 Reporting Problems Affect Transportation Coordination Efforts 8 Requirements for Uniform Service Cost Reporting 9 Chapter 4 Data Needed for Measures of Transportation System Performance 9 Performance Assessments Need Specific Data 9 Basic Measures Can Express What's Needed 10 Detailed Performance Assessments Are Possible 10 Simple Data Provide Rich Measures 11 More Detailed Data Answer More Questions 12 Current Efforts Often Are Incomplete 13 Summary 14 Chapter 5 Types of Transportation Services to Recognize 14 Four Categories Describe Transportation Services 16 The Four Service Types Explain Typical Service Variations 17 Chapter 6 Transportation Accounting Fundamentals 17 Overall Approach and Accounting Structure 18 Standardized Definitions for Services and Costs 18 A Common Chart of Accounts 19 Different Kinds of Costs 21 Understanding How Costs Are Incurred 22 Summary 23 Chapter 7 What's the Right Price for That Transportation Service? 23 Prices Charged Should Be Equitable and Understandable 23 All Stakeholders Should Pay Their Fair Share 28 Summary

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29 Chapter 8 Applying the Cost Model to Various Scenarios 29 What's the Cost of the Current Services? 29 Should We Continue to Provide Services? 30 What's the Right Price for Each Purchasing Agency? 32 Summary 33 Chapter 9 Instructions for Using the Cost Sharing Software of the Cost Sharing Toolkit 33 Introduction 33 The Cost Sharing Model 35 Using The Cost Sharing Model 42 Glossary 59 Appendix A The Regulatory Environment for Federally Funded Transportation Services 65 Appendix B The Federal Coordinating Council's Vehicle Sharing Policy Statement 66 Appendix C Examples of Fully Allocated Transportation Cost Accounting Programs 68 Appendix D Typical Data Collection and Reporting Requirements in Contracts for Transportation Services 70 Appendix E Depreciation of Capital Expenses Note: Many of the photographs, figures, and tables in this report have been converted from color to grayscale for printing. The electronic version of the report (posted on the Web at www.trb.org) retains the color versions.