PTASP Survey Fast Track Request

Request for Approval under the “Fast-Track Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 2132-0572)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Fast-Track Clearance for the Collection of Online Quantitative and Qualitative Feedback Regarding the Quality and Usefulness of Resources Provided to Support Implementation of 49 C.F.R. Part 673, Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP) regulation.

PURPOSE:

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) administers a national transit safety program authorized in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century Act (MAP-21) and the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. A critical element of this program, implemented through FTA’s Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP) final rule (49 C.F.R. Part 673), requires certain operators of public transportation systems that are recipients or subrecipients of FTA grant funds to develop safety plans that include the processes and procedures necessary for implementing Safety Management Systems (SMS). This is a new requirement for the public transportation industry, which must be implemented by July 20, 2020.

To support public transportation agencies in meeting this deadline, FTA has developed PTASP resources, including a webpage, webinars and workshops. FTA has also developed resources also assist State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and State Safety Oversight Agencies (SSOAs) in fulling their requirements under 49 C.F.R. Part 673.

FTA would like to conduct an online survey to help assess how well existing technical assistance materials are meeting the needs of the nation’s public transportation agencies, State DOTs, and SSOAs. Feedback from participants will help inform the development of future technical assistance materials and potential improvements to FTA’s services. For example, information from this survey will help FTA select topics for its new PTASP Community of Practices website to provide more targeted technical assistance. Results also may support FTA in selecting future webinar topics and formats.

The results from this project will in no way be used to make significant policy or resource allocation decisions.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Research would be conducted among U.S. public transportation agencies, State DOTs, SSOAs, Tribal Transit Programs, nonprofit associations and contractors/consultants who must implement FTA’s PTASP regulation.

FTA recommends a short, easy-to-complete customer service survey linked to its website that gives users the option to complete it when they leave FTA’s PTASP Resources page. In addition, FTA will send an email notification with a link to the customer service survey to officially registered contacts from all agencies and organizations covered by 49 C.F.R. Part 673, including the 300 expected respondents from public transportation agencies receiving section 5307 grant funding, State DOTs, and major U.S. territories administering section 5307 funding for sub-recipients in their jurisdictions, and SSO agencies, providing them with the option to complete the customer service survey.

To ensure survey results reflect the community affected by 49 C.F.R. Part 673, FTA has established targets for the number of surveys to be received from each type of agency and organization responsible for implementing the PTASP regulation. FTA will repeat the survey once per quarter to track emerging issues and changing perspectives among respondents.

There are several advantages of conducting an online customer service survey. One key advantage is that an online survey will allow FTA to reach a nationwide audience that includes all covered agencies and organizations. A second key advantage focuses on lower respondent time commitment and burden than traditional focus groups and interviews. For example, FTA has designed its survey instrument to require no more than 15 minutes to complete, as opposed to a telephone survey which may take 20 minutes or more and a focus group or in-person interview which may require 30 minutes or more. Lastly, online surveys allow respondents to answer questions on their own time, thereby further reducing the burden on respondents as they can dictate when they want to participate. In FTA’s case, a potential participant may choose to complete the survey: upon leaving the FTA’s PTASP Resources page, when they click on the link in the survey notification email at a time most convenient for them, or perhaps at the conclusion of their next visit to FTA’s PTASP Resources page.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [X] Other: Online Survey

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: ______Paulina H. Orchard__________

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally, Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X ] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [X] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Quarter #1: Customer Service Survey Completions: Public transportation agencies and States/Territories	300	15 mins	75 hrs
Quarter #2: Customer Service Survey Completions: Public transportation agencies and States/Territories	300	15 mins	75 hrs
Quarter #3: Customer Service Survey Completions: Public transportation agencies and States/Territories	300	15 mins	75 hrs
Quarter #4: Customer Service Survey Completions: Public transportation agencies and States/Territories	300	15 mins	75 hrs
TOTAL			300 hrs

TOTAL BURDEN HOURS: 1200 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $10,000.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [X] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

FTA maintains up-to-date contact information for each public transportation agency that receives section 5307 grant funding through the National Transit Database (NTD) program. In addition, FTA collects contact information from participants in webinars, training and workshops devoted to 49 C.F.R. Part 673 topics. FTA also keeps up-to-date contact lists for State DOTs, SSOAs, and Tribal Transit Programs, and points of contact at industry associations and with contractors who have registered for FTA events and training.

Based on this information, FTA proposes managing the survey through a two-prong approach: 1) emailing the entire community affected by 49 C.F.R. Part 673 to alert them to the customer service survey and provide a weblink for them to use to complete it, and providing a link to the survey on the PTASP Resource webpage that will pop up as users leave the webpage and solicit participation. FTA also may include a link to the survey in its monthly safety newsletter and other electronic materials on its website.

To ensure relevance of results, FTA has established targets for the number of surveys to be received from each type of agency or organization affected by 49 C.F.R. Part 673:

• 100 – completed by representatives affiliated with Large Public Transportation Agencies (operating more 100 vehicles at peak service) and Rail Transit Agencies

• 150 – completed by Small Public Transportation Agencies (operating 100 or fewer vehicles at peak service)

• 30 – completed by State DOTs and U.S. territories

• 20 – completed by SSOAs

Based on this approach, FTA expects 300 completed responses each quarter. In the event response totals appear low for a particular type of agency or organization, FTA will send additional emails to its contacts at the agencies or organizations encouraging completion of the customer service survey. FTA also may randomly select representatives from its contact database for these agencies or organizations to call requesting participation in the customer serviced survey.

FTA will repeat this process for all four quarters as necessary.

Please see the customer service survey questions attached.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [X ] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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