§ 18-b. Statewide mass transportation operating assistance program. 1.
Within the amounts made available therefor by appropriation, a statewide
mass transportation operating assistance program is hereby established
for the purpose of making payments toward the operating expenses of
public transportation systems. For the purposes of this section, the
term public transportation system shall mean any public benefit
corportion constituting a transportation authority which provides or
contracts for the provision of (under joint support arrangements) mass
transportation services, or a subsidiary thereof, or any Indian tribe
which provides or any county or city which provides or contracts for the
provision of (pursuant to section one hundred nineteen-r of the general
municipal law) mass transportation services or any person, firm or
corporation performing intercity bus passenger service as defined in
subdivision three of section fourteen-g of this article serving two or
more counties within the state which is under contract with the
commissioner pursuant to such section fourteen-g to provide mass
transportation services.

2. a. The commissioner shall pay to each public transportation system
that makes an application therefor, in quarterly installments, a mass
transportation operating assistance service payment. For the purposes of
this section, the quarters shall be April through June, July through
September, October through December and January through March.

b. For the quarter commencing April first, nineteen hundred
seventy-five the quarterly service payment shall be the amount computed
by the formula set forth in subsection three of this section.

3. The quarterly service payment made to any public transportation
system shall not be greater than a sum computed in one of the following
manners:

(i) In the case of commuter rail, by adding the certified number of
commuter rail passengers multiplied by two cents per passenger and the
certified number of commuter rail vehicle or car miles multiplied by
twenty-five cents per vehicle or car mile.

(ii) In the case of subway or rapid transit, by adding the certified
number of subway or rapid transit passengers multiplied by two cents per
passenger and the certified numbers of subway or rapid transit vehicle
or car miles multiplied by eight cents per vehicle or car mile.

(iii) In the case of bus lines, by adding the certified number of bus
passengers multiplied by two cents per passenger and the certified
number of bus miles multiplied by seven cents per bus mile. For the
purposes of computing quarterly service payments only mileage
accumulated in revenue service shall be used.

Whenever it is determined by the commissioner that the amount of money
appropriated for service payments is less than the total amount of money
for which all public transportation systems are eligible, the
commissioner may establish on a quarterly or annual basis, a maximum
service payment limit which is lower than that provided for in this
section.

(iv) In the case of commuter ferry lines with the authorization for
payment thereof for the fiscal year nineteen hundred
seventy-five--nineteen hundred seventy-six to be in the discretion of
the commissioner, by adding the certified number of annual ferry
passengers multiplied by two cents per passenger, times the certified
number of annual nautical ferry miles, times two-one hundred
thousandths. For the purposes of computing quarterly service payments
only mileage accumulated in revenue service shall be used.

4. a. All service payments shall be made upon an application of the
public transportation system. Such application shall be filed between
the second and the seventeenth day of the first month of each quarter.
Upon application, the chief executive officer of each public
transportation system shall certify to the commissioner, the total
number of passengers such system estimates that it will carry and the
total number of vehicle or car miles such system estimates that its
equipment will travel in revenue service during the quarter for which
such installment is to be paid.

Upon receipt and approval of such application and certifications the
commissioner shall, by the tenth day of the next succeeding month, pay
to the public transportation operator, the quarterly service payment.

b. The chief executive officer of each public transportation system
receiving a quarterly service payment pursuant to this section shall
certify to the commissioner, within fifteen days after the end of the
quarter for which a service payment was received, the actual total
number of passengers carried by the system during such quarter and the
actual total vehicle or car miles the system's equipment traveled in
revenue service during such quarter, and based upon such actual totals,
the commissioner shall make such adjustments as may be appropriate in
the amount of the service payment for such system for the succeeding
quarter.

5. a. For each quarter, each county, municipality or Indian tribe
served by a public transportation system which receives a service
payment pursuant to subsection two of this section shall, not later than
the twenty-fifth day of the second month of each quarter for which
payment is made, pay to the public transportation system a sum equal to
such service payment or its share of such service payment, except that
in the case of a service payment made to a public transportation system
on account of mass transportation services provided to more than one
county (considering the city of New York to be one county), each county
receiving such services from such system shall pay to the system a sum
equal to its share of the service payment, which sum shall be determined
in accordance with the percentage or dollar amounts established for such
county by the legislature.

Where such county, municipality or Indian tribe is the public
transportation system, sums equal to such service payment shall be
committed to the use of the public transportation system, not later than
the twenty-fifty day of the second month of each quarter. Such sums so
committed shall not be used for other than the purposes of operating the
public transportation system.

b. The payment or commitment of such sums by the counties,
municipalities or Indian tribes provided for in paragraph a of this
subdivision shall not be made from sums received in payment of fares by
the passengers of such public transportation system or from any other
revenues of such system.

c. In the event that a county or municipality shall fail to make to a
public transportation system any of the payments required to be made by
it under this section, the chief executive officer of the public
transportation system or such other person as the commissioner shall
designate shall certify to the state comptroller such amount due and
owing such public transportation system and the state comptroller shall
withhold an equivalent amount from state aid allocated to such county or
municipality from highway aid, the motor fuel tax and the motor vehicle
registration fee distributed pursuant to section one hundred twelve of
the highway law, or per capita local assistance pursuant to section
fifty-four of the state finance law subject to the following
limitations: prior to withholding amounts allocated to carry such county
or municipality, the comptroller shall pay in full any amount due the
state of New York municipal bond bank agency, on account of any such
county or municipality's obligation to such agency; the city university
construction fund, pursuant to the provisions of the city university
construction fund act; the New York city housing development
corporation, pursuant to the provisions of the New York city housing
development corporation act (article twelve of the private housing
finance law); and the transit construction fund, pursuant to the
provisions of article five, title nine-a of the public authorities law.
The comptroller shall give the director of the budget notification of
any such payment. Such amount or amounts so withheld by the state
comptroller shall be paid to such public transportation system, which
system shall use such amount or amounts for the payment of the county or
municipality share of its operating expenses. When such amount or
amounts are received by such public transportation system, it shall
credit such amounts against any amounts due and owing such system by the
county or municipality on whose account such amount was withheld and
paid.

d. The commissioner may impose a penalty in an amount not exceeding
twenty per centum of any overpayment to a public transportation system
whenever such overpayment results from willful failure to comply with
the requirements of this section, or the rules and regulations
authorized by this section, or whenever a public transportation system,
or an individual operator that is a part of such system, knowingly files
an incomplete, incorrect or misstated report. A public transportation
system or individual operator may request and the commissioner shall
provide an opportunity to be heard prior to the imposition of any
penalty as provided for in this section.

6. Any federal financial assistance granted for the specific purpose
of paying the operating expenses of any county, municipality, public
benefit corporation or Indian tribe, eligible to receive service
payments as a public transportation system pursuant to this section,
received by the state or any municipality or Indian tribe after the
effective date of this section, and made available to any such county,
municipality, public benefit corporation or Indian tribe for application
in accordance with the terms of the grant, shall be combined with any
similar federal grant made directly to the county, municipality, public
benefit corporation or Indian tribe to help meet the operating expenses
of any mass transportation services provided for by any such county,
municipality, public benefit corporation or Indian tribe whether
directly or by contract. In the event that the total revenues of any
public transportation system, including subsidies from federal, state or
local governments, and where applicable, including funds required to be
committed by the county, municipality or Indian tribe, exceed the total
operating expenses for any such system, excluding depreciation, such
excess shall be utilized by the system to reduce fares or to extend or
increase mass transportation services. A plan to effectuate any such
fare reduction or extension or increase in services shall be submitted
to the commissioner by a public transportation system within thirty days
of receiving notice from the commissioner to prepare and submit such a
plan. Upon approval by the commissioner, such plan with any
modifications made by the commissioner shall be implemented as soon as
practical. Upon the failure of a public transportation system to submit
a plan in the manner provided by this section, the surplus shall be
utilized by such system to reduce the proportionate shares of the state
and the county, municipality or Indian tribe required to make matching
payments to the system, or in the event that no future payments are to
be made to such public transportation system, the system shall
proportionately refund such surplus to the state and the county,
municipality or Indian tribe involved.

7. The commissioner may prescribe such regulations as he may deem
appropriate to effectuate the purposes of this section, including but
not limited to, a uniform system of reporting pursuant to the provisions
of this section. The commissioner shall also define by rules and
regulations, the terms "passenger", "vehicle or car mile", "urbanized
area", "chief executive officer", "mass transportation services",
"service payment", "commuter rail system", "subway system", "rapid
transit system", "bus system", "peak hours", "elderly", "handicapped",
and such other terms as he deems necessary for the purposes of this
section.

The commissioner, in conformance with the auditing procedures of the
state comptroller, shall have the power to audit and examine the
accounts, books, contracts, records, documents and papers of any
participating public transportation system in order to effectuate the
purposes and intent of this section. Where a county, counties,
municipality, municipalities, Indian tribe or Indian tribes contract for
the provision of public transportation services with a private operator,
the books and records of such private operator shall also be subject to
audit and examination by the commissioner.

8. The commissioner is hereby authorized to enter into contracts or
otherwise cooperate with the federal government or any agency or
instrumentality thereof for the purposes set forth in this section. Such
authorization shall include the power to apply for, receive, distribute
or, following appropriation authorization by the legislature, expend
federal money available or which may hereafter become available for such
purposes. The distribution of federal monies shall be in accordance with
the requirements of the federal grant, except that in the absence of any
required distribution the commissioner shall distribute such federal
monies in a manner which gives due consideration to the relative needs
of public transportation system operators throughout the state.

9. The commissioner shall prepare and submit to the governor and the
legislature on or before November fifteenth of each year, a report,
which may include, but not be limited to, findings and recommendations
on the following: (a) the impact and effectiveness of the statewide
operating assistance program; (b) the current and projected operating
costs, revenues and subsidies of major transit systems or groups of
systems; (c) the efficiency, effectiveness, quality and the availability
of transit service; (d) the status of transit system long-range planning
and development and use of service and performance guidelines to
evaluate the efficiency, effectiveness and quality of service; and (e)
issues related to and/or affecting the administration of the statewide
operating assistance program.

* 10. Any street surface railroad in a city having a population of one
million or more commencing operation after July first, nineteen hundred
ninety-three shall not be eligible to receive statewide mass
transportation operating assistance.

* NB There are 2 sb 10's

* 10. Any commuter ferry line commencing operation after July first,
nineteen hundred ninety-three shall not be eligible to receive statewide
mass transportation operating assistance.

* NB There are 2 sb 10's

11. To ensure that major private bus operations, as defined by the
commissioner, do not make excess profits, the commissioner shall limit
operating assistance provided pursuant to this section to an amount
which will not provide more than a reasonable return based on equity or
operating revenue and expenses as defined by program rules and
regulations. Further, the commissioner may exempt the following from the
provisions of this subdivision:

a. operations of private carriers that are conducted pursuant to
contracts with New York state;

b. operations of private carriers that are conducted pursuant to
competitively procured contracts awarded by municipalities; and

c. complementary para-transit operations that are provided as mandated
by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

12. To ensure that mass transportation operating assistance is not
used to support duplicative and redundant service, the commissioner may
limit or withhold statewide mass transportation operating assistance
from any public transportation system for such services the commissioner
determines to be duplicative or redundant. Prior to determining that a
service is or would be duplicative or redundant, the commissioner shall
consult with the provider of such service or the applicant proposing to
provide such service and with any authority, Indian tribe, county or
city which is contracting for such service or proposing to contract for
such service.