Equity in Transit Service Planning Act
This bill requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue best practices to assist providers of public transportation with defining major service changes for purposes of complying with federal civil rights laws. The bill also requires that, within three years of DOT issuing the best practices, the Transit Cooperative Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences must review how providers define major service changes.
Under current law, public transportation providers must evaluate the impact of major service changes on minority and low-income populations. Typically, a major service change is presented as a numerical standard (e.g., a change that affects more than a given number of route miles or hours) with the standards set by the providers.
To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue best practices for 
                  providers of public transportation.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Equity in Transit Service Planning 
Act''.

SEC. 2. EQUITY IN TRANSIT SERVICE PLANNING.

    (a) Best Practices.--
            (1) In general.--
                    (A) Assistance to providers of public transit.--Not 
                later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 
                Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall issue 
                nonbinding best practices to assist providers of public 
                transportation in setting the threshold for a major 
                service change as described in Circular 4702.1B of the 
                Federal Transit Administration.
                    (B)  Specific providers of public transit.--For the 
                purposes of this Act, the term ``providers of public 
                transportation'' means providers that operate 50 or 
                more fixed route vehicles in peak service and are 
                located in an urbanized area of 200,000 or more in 
                population.
            (2) Best practices.--In developing the best practices 
        described in paragraph (1), the Secretary--
                    (A) shall issue specific recommendations for 
                setting the threshold of a major service change, which 
                shall include, at a minimum, recommendations related 
                to--
                            (i) changes in hours of operations, 
                        including consideration of changes during 
                        nonpeak hours;
                            (ii) changes in the frequency of service;
                            (iii) changes in coverage, including the 
                        opening and closing of stations and stops and 
                        the changing of routes; and
                            (iv) the use of route-specific analyses in 
                        addition to service-area level analyses;
                    (B) shall recommend specific percentage change 
                standards for the elements described in clauses (i), 
                (ii), and (iii) of subparagraph (A) to assist providers 
                of public transportation in setting the threshold for a 
                major service change in a manner that ensures 
                meaningful analyses and the provision of equitable 
                service; and
                    (C) may issue different best practices for 
                providers of public transportation of different sizes 
                and service types.
    (b) Transit Cooperative Research Program Report.--
            (1) Review.--Not later than 3 years after the issuance of 
        the best practices described in subsection (a), the Transit 
        Cooperative Research Program of the National Academy of 
        Sciences shall conduct a review of the manner in which 
        providers of public transportation define the threshold for a 
        major service change for purposes of compliance with Circular 
        4702.1B of the Federal Transit Administration, including--
                    (A) a survey of the standards used by providers of 
                public transportation to define the threshold for a 
                major service change;
                    (B) a review of the differences in standards used 
                to define the threshold for a major service change for 
                providers of public transportation of different sizes 
                and service types;
                    (C) information on the considerations used by 
                providers of public transportation when defining the 
                threshold for a major service change; and
                    (D) the extent to which providers of public 
                transportation are using the best practices described 
                in subsection (a).
            (2) Report.--After the completion of the review described 
        in paragraph (1), the National Academy of Sciences shall issue 
        a report on the findings of the review and submit such report 
        to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 
        House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
        and Urban Affairs of the Senate.
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Equity in Transit Service Planning Act
To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue best practices for providers of public transportation.
Equity in Transit Service Planning Act
Rep. Brown, Anthony G.