Public transit issues and developments / Calvin B. Lang, editor.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Print version record.

FTA FACES SEVERAL SYSTEMIC CHALLENGESTO IMPROVING THE NEW STARTS PROGRAMFTA AND PROJECT SPONSORS HAVE INTERPRETEDEMPHASIS OF NEW STARTS PROGRAM DIFFERENTLY; LOCAL MODELING LIMITATIONS PREVENT FULL EVALUATION OFPROJECT IMPACTS; STRIKING APPROPRIATE BALANCE BETWEEN MAINTAININGA ROBUST EVALUATION PROCESS AND MINIMIZING THECOMPLEXITY IS CHALLENGING; INCORPORATING QUALITATIVE INFORMATION INTO THEEVALUATION PROCESS IS CHALLENGING; DIFFERENT OPTIONS FOR EVALUATING PROPOSEDNEW STARTS PROJECTS EXIST, BUT ALL HAVELIMITATIONS.

FTA'S PROPOSED REVISIONS TO EXISTING EVALUATION PROCESSADDRESS SOME CONCERNS BUT MAY CONTINUE TO INACCURATELYESTIMATE TOTAL PROJECT BENEFITSEXPERTS AND PROJECT SPONSORS GENERALLY DISAGREE ONWEIGHTS PLACED ON PROJECT BENEFITS IN PROPOSAL, BUT AGREETHAT REVISIONS PRESERVE RIGOR OF EVALUATION PROCESS; PROPOSED REVISIONS MAY STILL INACCURATELY ESTIMATE TOTALPROJECT BENEFITS BECAUSE OF MODELING LIMITATIONSAND USE OF PROXY MEASURES; BENEFIT-COST ANALYSIS IS ANOTHER EVALUATION OPTION, THOUGH IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES EXIST.

EVALUATION PROCESS COULD DIFFER BY PROJECT GOAL, BUT THISOPTION MAY NOT SUPPORT NATIONAL PRIORITIESEVALUATION PROCESS COULD BE DEVOLVED TO THE STATES UNDERFORMULA GRANT PROGRAM BUT COULD LACK FEDERALACCOUNTABILITY; CONCLUSION; RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EXECUTIVE ACTION; APPENDIX I. SUMMARY OF NEW STARTS AND SMALL STARTSPROJECTS EVALUATED, RATED, AND RECOMMENDED FOR FUNDINGFOR FY 2009; Administration Requests 1.62 Billion for New Starts and Small StartsProjects for Fiscal Year 2009; FTA Evaluated and Rated 13 New Starts Projects but Did Not RecommendAny New Projects for Funding.

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