49 U.S.C. § 5302 : US Code - Section 5302: Definitions

Search 49 U.S.C. § 5302 : US Code - Section 5302: Definitions

(a) In General. - Except as otherwise specifically provided, in
this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(1) Capital project. - The term "capital project" means a
project for -
(A) acquiring, constructing, supervising, or inspecting
equipment or a facility for use in public transportation,
expenses incidental to the acquisition or construction
(including designing, engineering, location surveying, mapping,
and acquiring rights-of-way), payments for the capital portions
of rail trackage rights agreements, transit-related intelligent
transportation systems, relocation assistance, acquiring
replacement housing sites, and acquiring, constructing,
relocating, and rehabilitating replacement housing;
(B) rehabilitating a bus;
(C) remanufacturing a bus;
(D) overhauling rail rolling stock;
(E) preventive maintenance;
(F) leasing equipment or a facility for use in public
transportation, subject to regulations that the Secretary
prescribes limiting the leasing arrangements to those that are
more cost-effective than purchase or construction;
(G) a public transportation improvement that enhances
economic development or incorporates private investment,
including commercial and residential development, pedestrian
and bicycle access to a public transportation facility,
construction, renovation, and improvement of intercity bus and
intercity rail stations and terminals, and the renovation and
improvement of historic transportation facilities, because the
improvement enhances the effectiveness of a public
transportation project and is related physically or
functionally to that public transportation project, or
establishes new or enhanced coordination between public
transportation and other transportation, and provides a fair
share of revenue for public transportation that will be used
for public transportation -
(i) including property acquisition, demolition of existing
structures, site preparation, utilities, building
foundations, walkways, open space, safety and security
equipment and facilities (including lighting, surveillance
and related intelligent transportation system applications),
facilities that incorporate community services such as
daycare or health care, and a capital project for, and
improving, equipment or a facility for an intermodal transfer
facility or transportation mall, except that a person making
an agreement to occupy space in a facility under this
subparagraph shall pay a reasonable share of the costs of the
facility through rental payments and other means; and
(ii) excluding construction of a commercial revenue-
producing facility (other than an intercity bus station or
terminal) or a part of a public facility not related to
public transportation;
(H) the introduction of new technology, through innovative
and improved products, into public transportation;
(I) the provision of nonfixed route paratransit
transportation services in accordance with section 223 of the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12143), but
only for grant recipients that are in compliance with
applicable requirements of that Act, including both fixed route
and demand responsive service, and only for amounts not to
exceed 10 percent of such recipient's annual formula
apportionment under sections 5307 and 5311;
(J) crime prevention and security -
(i) including -
(I) projects to refine and develop security and emergency
response plans;
(II) projects aimed at detecting chemical and biological
agents in public transportation;
(III) the conduct of emergency response drills with
public transportation agencies and local first response
agencies; and
(IV) security training for public transportation
employees; but
(ii) excluding all expenses related to operations, other
than such expenses incurred in conducting activities
described in clauses (i)(III) and (i)(IV);
(K) establishing a debt service reserve, made up of deposits
with a bondholder's trustee, to ensure the timely payment of
principal and interest on bonds issued by a grant recipient to
finance an eligible project under this chapter; or
(L) mobility management -
(i) consisting of short-range planning and management
activities and projects for improving coordination among
public transportation and other transportation service
providers carried out by a recipient or subrecipient through
an agreement entered into with a person, including a
governmental entity, under this chapter (other than section
5309); but
(ii) excluding operating public transportation services.
(2) Chief executive officer of a state. - The term "chief
executive officer of a State" includes the designee of the chief
executive officer.
(3) Emergency regulation. - The term "emergency regulation"
means a regulation -
(A) that is effective temporarily before the expiration of
the otherwise specified periods of time for public notice and
comment under section 5334(b); (!1) and
(B) prescribed by the Secretary as the result of a finding
that a delay in the effective date of the regulation -
(i) would injure seriously an important public interest;
(ii) would frustrate substantially legislative policy and
intent; or
(iii) would damage seriously a person or class without
serving an important public interest.
(4) Fixed guideway. - The term "fixed guideway" means a public
transportation facility -
(A) using and occupying a separate right-of-way or rail for
the exclusive use of public transportation and other high
occupancy vehicles; or
(B) using a fixed catenary system and a right-of-way usable
by other forms of transportation.
(5) Individual with a disability. - The term "individual with a
disability" means an individual who, because of illness, injury,
age, congenital malfunction, or other incapacity or temporary or
permanent disability (including an individual who is a wheelchair
user or has semiambulatory capability), cannot use effectively,
without special facilities, planning, or design, public
transportation service or a public transportation facility.
(6) Local governmental authority. - The term "local
governmental authority" includes -
(A) a political subdivision of a State;
(B) an authority of at least 1 State or political subdivision
of a State;
(C) an Indian tribe; and
(D) a public corporation, board, or commission established
under the laws of a State.
(7) Mass transportation. - The term "mass transportation" means
public transportation.
(8) Net project cost. - The term "net project cost" means the
part of a project that reasonably cannot be financed from
revenues.
(9) New bus model. - The term "new bus model" means a bus model
(including a model using alternative fuel) -
(A) that has not been used in public transportation in the
United States before the date of production of the model; or
(B) used in public transportation in the United States, but
being produced with a major change in configuration or
components.
(10) Public transportation. - The term "public transportation"
means transportation by a conveyance that provides regular and
continuing general or special transportation to the public, but
does not include schoolbus, charter, or intercity bus
transportation or intercity passenger rail transportation
provided by the entity described in chapter 243 (or a successor
to such entity).
(11) Regulation. - The term "regulation" means any part of a
statement of general or particular applicability of the Secretary
designed to carry out, interpret, or prescribe law or policy in
carrying out this chapter.
(12) Secretary. - The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of
Transportation.
(13) State. - The term "State" means a State of the United
States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Northern
Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands.
(14) Transit. - The term "transit" means public transportation.
(15) Transit enhancement. - The term "transit enhancement"
means, with respect to any project or an area to be served by a
project, projects that are designed to enhance public
transportation service or use and that are physically or
functionally related to transit facilities. Eligible projects are
-
(A) historic preservation, rehabilitation, and operation of
historic public transportation buildings, structures, and
facilities (including historic bus and railroad facilities);
(B) bus shelters;
(C) landscaping and other scenic beautification, including
tables, benches, trash receptacles, and street lights;
(D) public art;
(E) pedestrian access and walkways;
(F) bicycle access, including bicycle storage facilities and
installing equipment for transporting bicycles on public
transportation vehicles;
(G) transit connections to parks within the recipient's
transit service area;
(H) signage; and
(I) enhanced access for persons with disabilities to public
transportation.
(16) Urban area. - The term "urban area" means an area that
includes a municipality or other built-up place that the
Secretary, after considering local patterns and trends of urban
growth, decides is appropriate for a local public transportation
system to serve individuals in the locality.
(17) Urbanized area. - The term "urbanized area" means an area
encompassing a population of not less than 50,000 people that has
been defined and designated in the most recent decennial census
as an "urbanized area" by the Secretary of Commerce.
(b) Authority To Modify "Individual With a Disability". - The
Secretary may by regulation modify the definition of the term
"individual with a disability" in subsection (a)(5) as it applies
to section 5307(d)(1)(D).