2009 Annual Financial Moduel
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Financial Module

The Financial Module contains four forms:

  1. Sources of Funds — Funds Expended and Funds Earned form (F-10)
  2. Uses of Capital form (F-20)
  3. Operating Expenses form (F-30)
  4. Operating Expenses Summary form (F-40)

All data are reported using accrual accounting principles.

Sources of Funds — Funds Expended and Funds Earned form (F-10)

The objectives of the F-10 form are to:

The data are reported system wide, except for passenger fares, which are reported by mode and type of service (TOS).

This form is required for all transit agencies.

Uses of Capital form (F-20)

The F-20 form identifies the funds expended for capital projects by type of project, and by project need as either an improvement for existing transit services or for expansion of transit services. The required data for uses of capital funds are reported on one form by mode and TOS.

This form is required for all transit agencies.

Operating Expenses form (F-30)

The F-30 form identifies total OE by object class and function. The required data use standard expense object classes (line items) detailed by function (activity performed), as specified in the Uniform System of Accounts (USOA).

Transit agencies complete, by mode, separate forms for directly operated (DO) and purchased transportation (PT) services.

This form is required for all transit agencies.

Operating Expenses Summary form (F-40)

The F-40 form is a system wide summary of the operating expenses reported, by mode and TOS, on the F-30 form. Operating expenses are summarized by function and expense object class. The summarized data also includes reconciling items to handle items where accounting practices vary due to local ordinances and conditions such as depreciation, interest payments and leases.

This form is required for all transit agencies.

 


Sources of Funds — Funds Expended and Funds Earned form (F-10)

 

Screenshot of Sources of Funds-Funds Expended and Funds Earned (F-10) form Part 1

Screenshot of Sources of Funds-Funds Expended and Funds Earned (F-10) form Part 2

Screenshot of Sources of Funds-Funds Expended and Funds Earned (F-10) form Part 3

Screenshot of Sources of Funds-Funds Expended and Funds Earned (F-10) form Part 4

Screenshot of Sources of Funds-Funds Expended and Funds Earned (F-10) form Part 5

Screenshot of Sources of Funds-Funds Expended and Funds Earned (F-10) form Part 6

 

Overview

The F-10 form collects data on your transit agency's sources of funds for transit operations and capital by funding category. The funding categories cover sources generated by your transit agency and from Federal, State and local governments. For each category of funds, the form collects the following data by original revenue source:

Reporting Requirements and Thresholds

All transit agencies and agencies reporting capital investment for future service must complete the F-10 form. The form covers all modes for directly operated (DO) and purchased transportation (PT) services.

What Has Changed from Prior Year

The form incorporates the following changes:

Approach

This form details, by source, the total funds for transit earned during the year (revenues) and the total funds actually expended (applied) for capital expenses and OE during the year. It follows accrual accounting principles regarding the recognition of funds earned and expended (applied) during the reporting period.

Capital expenses relate to the purchase of equipment. The equipment has a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost threshold consistent with Federal and local government requirements.

Operating expenses relate to the day-to-day operation of your transit agency. OEs are classified by activity and the goods and services purchased.

In addition to the accrual accounting principles, there are five additional areas, which have unique NTD Annual reporting requirements:

  1. Transit related projects
  2. PT services
  3. Bonds and loans
  4. In-kind services
  5. Pass-through funds.

image of hand pointingYou should contact your finance and grants management personnel to obtain the information required to complete this form.


Accrual Accounting

You should report funds earned and expended based on accrual accounting principles. In accrual accounting:

For each funding source, you need to understand the logical relationship between funds earned and funds expended. There are two types of relationships:

The reporting for the all forms in the Financial Module is based on accrual accounting. You need to understand the relationships of the F-10 form to the other financial forms.

Funds Earned Based on Expenses Incurred

Most Federal, State and local grants are earned on a reimbursement basis. Generally, transit agencies will earn grant funds only when if an expenditure occurs. Therefore, on an acrural basis, funds earned must equal funds expended for the reporting period.

There also can be a difference between: 1) the amount of funding that is provided in an approved grant application for your agency (e.g., $6M) and 2) the amount of funding your agency expended (and earned) during a reporting period (e.g., $3M for new buses delivered). You should report only the grant funds earned from an incurred expenditure during the period ($3M) and not the total amount of funding in your agency’s approved grant application (e.g., $6M).

When you report funds earned based on expenses incurred, the amount you report for funds earned (e.g., $10M) should equal the amounts that you report for funds expended on operations (e.g., $1M) and funds expended on capital (e.g., $9M). This rule applies to the vast majority of the reporting you will do for funds earned based on expenses incurred.

However, with several innovative financing techniques, it is possible that future grant funds can be used to pay back bonds and loans that were issued in the current reporting period and earned funds that were expended on current year operations and . These “exception” to the general rule presented above is discussed below in the bonds and loans section.

Funds Earned Based on Non-Cost Factors

Some funds are earned based on non-cost factors. Examples of these funds include passenger revenues, dedicated taxes, and bridge, tunnel and highway tolls.

Often, there will be a difference in the reporting year between the funds earned and the funds expended. For example, dedicated sales tax revenues earned in one year (e.g., $15M) may be greater than sales tax revenues expended (e.g., $10M for OE and $1M on capital). The net balance of unexpended ($4M) sales tax revenues may be carried over to fund the capital or OE for the following year.

When you report funds earned based on expenses incurred, the amount you report for funds earned (e.g., $15M) often will not equal the amounts that you report for funds expended on OE (e.g., $10M) and funds expended on capital (e.g., $1M). This rule applies to the vast majority of the reporting you will do for funds earned based on non-cost factors.

Relationship of Funds Expended (Applied) to Key NTD Financial Forms

This form has key relationships with the following two key NTD financial forms that also are based on accrual accounting principles:

  1. Uses of Capital form (F-20) — the total sources of funds expended on capital must equal the total uses of capital reported in the F-20 form.
  2. Operating Expenses Summary form (F-40) —the total sources of funds expended on operations must equal the total operating expenses reported in the F-40 form.

Transit Related Projects

Since this form covers transit uses, you should report only those funds that were earned by transit agency and were or will be expended on transit related projects. For example, you should not report revenues from dedicated sales taxes that are used to fund highway improvements for mobility projects not related to transit.

Purchased Transportation (PT)

In most cases, the reporting requirements for PT are simple because: 1) the buyer is the public agency that includes the PT in its NTD Annual report and: 2) the seller is a private or non-profit agency that is not filing a separate NTD Annual report. In this common situation:

There are a limited number of cases in which both the buyer and the seller file separate NTD Annual reports. The following principles apply to these limited cases:

There is no double counting of funds when a seller files a separate NTD Annual report.

Public Agency Sellers — for public agency sellers, the funds received from the buyer are tracked and accounted for in the sources of funds expended on PT in the revenues accrued through a PT agreement (directly generated funds, line 13a). If additional expenditures are made by the public agency selling the PT service, they are reported in the appropriate functions and object classes in the seller’s NTD Annual report.

Private and Non-Profit Sellers — for private and non-profit sellers, the funds received from the buyer are tracked and accounted for in the sources of funds expended on PT in the revenues accrued through a PT agreement (directly generated funds, line 13b). If additional expenditures are made by the private or non-profit agency selling the PT service, they are reported in the appropriate functions and object classes in the seller’s NTD Annual report. Any costs incurred by the buyer of service are reported in both the buyer’s and seller’s report on the Contractual Relationship form (B-30).

Public Agency Sellers — for public agency sellers, the seller reports the funds for capital expenditures if the seller is a public transit agency.

Private and Non-Profit Sellers — for private and non-profit sellers, the buyer reports all funds for capital expenditures regardless of whether the buyer retains ownership of the capital. These are from the buyer’s sources of funds only; the seller’s own sources of funds for purchase of equipment or capital projects are not reported to NTD.

Example 9 — Reporting Funding Sources

Example: Coaster Transit Agency (Coaster) has a fleet replacement schedule as part of its capital improvement program. The fleet replacement includes vehicles for Coaster's PT contractor, DJ Transit Company.

Coaster agrees to buy 10 demand response (DR) vehicles for DJ Transit Company for FY 2009 at a cost of $600,000, or $60,000 each. The vehicles are leased to DJ Transit (seller) as part of the PT agreement for DR service.

Coaster received and accepted only 5 of the vehicles before fiscal year end (FYE). Coaster uses FTA Urbanized Area Formula Program (UAF) funds and State dedicated gasoline tax funds: 80% Federal funds matched with 20% non-Federal funds.

What should be reported on the Sources of Funds — Funds Expended and Funds Earned form (F-10)?

 

Solution: Report the funding sources Coaster used to purchase the vehicles on the F-10 form under funds expended on capital:

State Sources

State government funds — transit dedicated gasoline tax           (5 * $60,000 * 20 %)          $ 60,000         line 49, column e

Federal Government Sources

UAF funds                                                                                     (5 * $60,000 * 80 %)         $240,000        line 59, column e

Report the purchase of the vehicles on the F-20 form under Revenue Vehicles for DR/PT.

Bonds and Loans

Bonds and loans are financing mechanisms used by transit agencies, usually to raise funds for major capital improvements. Your transit agency borrows funds to be paid back at a later time (principal) with interest. In reporting bonds and loans, you must consider both the amount borrowed and the payments on principal and interest to pay off the debt.

FTA has implemented a number of innovative financing techniques that are essentially loans. These are done through programs utilizing certificates of participation and State infrastructure bank accounts where State and local governments advance funds. These instruments are backed by government issued bonds (State or local) or through FTA formula grants. For more information, refer to the FTA online publication: Financing Techniques for Public Transit, FTA Office of Policy Development, Paul L. Marx, TBP-10, February 2000 available for downloading at: www.fta.dot.gov/funding/finance/grants_financing_3530.html

You must address two reporting situations when your transit agency uses bonds and loans:

Borrowed Funds

You should report the proceeds from your transit agency’s bonds loans issued during the report year under Sources of Directly Generated Funds by Transit Agency — All Transit Agencies in Funds Earned During Period (line 14, column c). You should report the proceeds as the net funds after the transaction costs (i.e., issuance costs) have been deducted.

 

Example 10 — Reporting Net Funds for Bonds

Example: Coaster Transit Agency (Coaster) issues 100 bonds, each with a par value of $10,000, with a stated interest rate of 4%. Coaster hires Acme, an investment banking firm, to handle the bond offering to the public. Since the prevailing interest rate in the bond market is higher than 4%, the bonds are issued (sell) at a discount and the bond offering yields $934,000 or an average of $9,340 per bond. Coaster pays Acme $29,000 for its services. Coaster does not incur any additional issuance costs.

What should be reported on the F-10 form?

 

Solution: The net funds from the bond issuance are $905,000.

Funds received                       $934,000

Issuance costs                       $29,000

Net funds                                $905,000

Report the net funds that the bond issuance yielded on the F-10 form under funds earned:

Sources of Directly Generated Funds by Transit Agency All Transit Agencies

Bonds and loans                     $ 905,000                line 14, column c


You should report any of the funds expended on operations or capital projects during the report year under funds expended on operations (column d) or capital (column e). If funds are unexpended and carried over to future years, you should report the funds expended on operations and capital in the report year when the funds are used.

Principal and Interest Payments

You should report the funds used to make payments on principal and interest by the source of the funds. There are lines for reporting the payments using directly generated — all transit agencies, directly generated — independent political entities, local, State or Federal government funds. You should report as follows:

You also should report the interest paid as an operating expenditure on the F-40 form under reconciling items (expense object class 511 interest expenses). See object class 511 on the F-40.

 

Example 11 — Reporting Principal and Interest Payments for Loans

Example: Coaster Transit Agency (Coaster) took out a loan of $5,000,000 in 2004 to purchase buses. In 2009, it paid $435,050 in principal payments and $201,343 in interest payments on the loan using revenues earned from a dedicated sales tax that Coaster levied.

What should be reported on the F-10 form?

 

Solution: Report the interest paid by Coaster on the F-10 form under funds expended on operations.

Report the principal paid by Coaster on the F-10 form under funds expended on capital.

Sources of Directly Generated Funds by Transit Agency — Independent Political Entities

Bonds and loan payments       $ 201,343                line 31, column d

Bonds and loan payments       $ 435,050                line 31, column e

In-Kind Services

In-kind services are a type of contributed service where your transit agency derives a benefit from another entity but is under no obligation to pay for that benefit.

For example, a city government may donate staff to help a transit agency plan and promote a new downtown transit shuttle service. Your transit agency is under no obligation to pay for the staff resources.

Typically, in-kind services are used for the local share (some or all) in Federal grants. For these in-kind matches, you should report their monetary value in the appropriate category of State and local sources in this form. You should report in-kind services as contributed services only if there is no obligation to pay for the services.

Pass-Through Funds

Pass-through funds are funds that the designated recipient receives from FTA and gives to another transit agency. The funds do not support directly operated (DO) or purchased transportation (PT) services provided by the designated recipient.

If your transit agency serves as a designated recipient, you should report only the funds that relate to your transit services, DO or PT. You should not report funds that belong to other transit agencies that your transit agency gave them as pass-through funds.

Detailed Instructions

The instructions are divided into the four categories of funds.

The funding categories are:

  1. Sources of directly generated funds
    •   All transit agencies
    • Independent political entities
  2. Local government sources
  3. State government sources
  4. Federal government sources.

Directly Generated Funds by the Transit Agency: All Transit Agencies

Directly generated funds are funds obtained from non-governmental sources. These funds are derived from revenues generated by or donated directly to your transit agency, and by transit agencies that are independent political entities that have the ability to impose taxes.

You should report sources of funds earned, sources of funds expended on (applied to) operations and sources of funds expended on (applied to) capital during the period, using the revenue categories described below.

Passenger Fares

Passenger fares are the revenues earned from carrying passengers. They are usually the amounts paid by the rider to use transit services but may also include special transit fares. Special transit fares are fares from contracts to your transit agency in which an agency or organization pays a set amount in return for unlimited transit service for the persons covered by the contract.

Passenger fares may include special programs such as reduced passes or ticket prices for students, the elderly or individuals with disabilities. However, passenger fares should reflect the amount of the fare that the passengers pay on their own behalf.

Passenger fares may be collected in several ways, including:

Passenger fares do not include subsidies or passenger fare assistance from other entities, such as governments to provide a reduced fare or free fare. Subsidies are provided to support the general provision of transit service. Passenger fare assistance is targeted to help specific classes of users (e.g., senior citizens, students) and helps to offset the reduced or free fares offered these users. Subsidies and fare assistance are reported in the appropriate State and local government source of funds.

For ferryboat (FB) and vanpool (VP) modes, the following rules apply:

Ferryboat

For FB services, passenger fares are determined from three categories:

  1. Walk-on pedestrians and bicyclists
  2. Non-public transit vehicles (e.g., private automobiles and commercial trucks)
  3. Public transportation vehicles (e.g., buses and VP using a FB for part of their trip).

For walk-on pedestrians and bicyclists, you should report passenger fares for each person using the fee charged for personal travel not including any additional ferriage fees for transporting the bicycle. For non-public transit vehicles and public transit vehicles, you should report passenger fares for each occupant of the vehicle including the driver, and not include any vehicle ferriage fees.

For example, if the ferriage fee is $20 for the vehicle and its driver, you should report the passenger fare for the driver passenger fare / fee charged for pedestrians (e.g., $2). You should deduct the passenger fare ($2) from the ferriage revenues ($20) collect and report the difference ($18) under Other transportation revenues (line 06).

Vanpool

For publicly sponsored VP services, passenger fares have unique provisions. For these services passenger fares include all the fees paid by the riders, which often include fuel costs, tolls and other out-of-pocket costs.

Allocation of Fare Revenues

You may have to allocate fares to modes and types of service. This is frequently the case when:

In these cases, you should allocate fare revenues to each mode and type of service based on a reasonable allocation methodology, which can be locally determined. You may use one of the following methodologies to allocate fare revenues by mode or you may develop another methodology:

For example, if 75 percent of unlinked trips are on MB/DO and 25 percent are on MB/PT), then fare revenues would be allocated to MB/DO and MB/PT using the same 75/25 percent split.

For example, if 60 percent of PMT are on MB/DO and 40 percent are on MB/PT, then fare revenues would be allocated to MB/DO and MB/PT using the same 60/40 split.

For example, if 65 percent of OE is for MB/DO and 35 percent are for LR/DO, then fare revenues would be allocated to MB and LR using the same 65/35 split.

Passenger Fares for Directly Operated (DO) Service

You should report passenger fares, by mode, for DO service. Internet Reporting generates the appropriate DO modes.

Internet Reporting automatically calculates the total passenger fares for DO service earned during the period for all modes. You should report the total passenger fares for DO transit service that were expended on operations and expended on capital during the year. Many transit agencies apply the total DO fare revenues to funds expended on operations. Other transit agencies split the total fare revenues between operations and capital.

Passenger Fares for Purchased Transportation (PT) Service

Only the buyer of PT service reports purchased transportation (PT) fare revenues. Sellers of PT filing their own report will report passenger fares as DO.

PT fare revenues are the fares derived from the transit services provided under the PT agreement. The PT fares often involve the buyer and the seller since they may be:

Internet Reporting automatically calculates the total PT fare revenues earned during the period by mode from data entered in the Contractual Relationship form (B-30) and enters these totals on the F-10. It also calculates the total for all modes.

You should report the total amount of PT fares expended on operations and expended on capital. Many transit agencies apply the total PT fare revenues to funds expended on operations. Other transit agencies split the total fare revenues between operations and capital.

Park-and-Ride Parking Revenue

Park-and-ride parking revenue is the parking fees paid by passengers who drive to park-and-ride facilities to use transit service. It includes parking revenues for both DO and PT services.

Pointing HandYou should report park-and-ride parking revenue only in column c.

Other Transportation Revenues

This category is for miscellaneous sources of non-public transportation revenue and is infrequently used by transit agencies. Other transportation revenues include school bus service revenues, charter service revenues and freight tariffs.

You should report other transportation revenues only in column c.

Auxiliary Transportation Revenues

Auxiliary transportation revenues are earned from activities closely related to the provision of transit service. The revenues are generated from the by-products of the transit service such as advertisements on-board vehicles, concessions stands in station areas; fees paid for transit ID cards, or fines paid for fare evasion.

Pointing HandYou should report auxiliary transportation revenues using the following categories:

Pointing HandYou should report auxiliary transportation revenues only in column c for the three categories. Internet Reporting automatically totals the categories.

Non-Transportation Funds

You should report other funds earned through activities not associated with the provision of transit service as non-transportation funds.

Non-transportation funds include:

Image of hand pointingYou should report non-transportation funds only in column c.


Total Park-and-Ride, Other Transportation, Auxiliary and Non-Transportation Revenues

Internet Reporting automatically totals the park-and-ride parking, other transportation, auxiliary transportation and non-transportation revenues.

Image of hand pointingOf this total, you should report the total amount expended on operations and expended on capital.

Revenues Accrued through a Purchased Transportation Agreement

Revenues accrued through a purchased transportation (PT) agreement only apply to sellers of PT services filing an NTD report. The seller reports the contract revenues earned (payments and accruals) as a result of the PT agreement. Revenues accrued through a PT agreement are differentiated by whether the seller is an NTD reporting agency and both the buyer and seller are filing NTD reports (seller uses line 13a) or whether buyer is a non-NTD reporting agency (seller uses line 13b).

If your transit agency is the seller and is a private or non-profit provider, you should report funds only for funds earned during the period (column c) and for funds expended on operations (column d) since the buyer of service reports any capital purchases and funding. If your transit agency is a public agency, you should also report funds for funds expended on capital (column e).

Bonds and Loans

You should report the borrowed funds from bonds and loans as directly generated sources for revenues earned. The borrowed funds should be reported as the net funds after the transaction costs (i.e., issuance costs) have been deducted. You should report the funds expended on operations or capital as described in Borrowed Funds under the Bonds and Loans section above.

You should report the payments for the principal and interest on the borrowed bonds and loans on the lines for Bond and Loan Payments as described in Borrowed Funds under the Bonds and Loans section above.

Contributed Services

In-kind services are a type of contributed services from another entity where there is no obligation to pay for the services.

You should report in-kind services as contributed services only if there is no obligation to pay for the services. If in-kind services are used for the local share in Federal grants, then you should report their monetary value in the appropriate category of State and local sources; you should rot report these match funds as contributed services.

Subsidy from Other Sectors of Operations

Occasionally, transit agencies receive subsidies from other sectors of operations to help cover the cost of transit. Typically, the transit operation is only one part of a larger transportation entity, for example a transportation authority that is responsible for airports, ports, or bridges as well as for public transit.

Bond and Loan Payments

You should report the funds used to make payments on principal and interest for funds expended on operations or capital. The funds are from sources on lines 1 through 18. You should report the funds expended on operations or capital as described in Principal and Interest Payments under the Bonds and Loans section above.

You should report interest payments twice as described in the Borrowed Funds under the Bonds and Loans section above.

Funds Dedicated to Transit at their Source

Transit agencies may be independent political entities, such as a transit or transportation authority, or transit agencies may be a part of local or State government. Reporting funds dedicated to transit at their source is based on whose taxation authority has generated the revenues, as described below.

Independent Political Entities

Transit agencies that are organized as independent political subdivisions with their own taxation authority also may earn funds from taxes, tolls and fees that they put into place specifically to generate revenue to support transit programs and projects. These are funds dedicated to transit at their source; they can only be used for transit.

You should report the revenues to your transit agency raised through the taxing authority of the grantor governmental unit in the local and State sections of this form. This situation applies to transit agencies that are a part of the local or State government.

This section will only appear if you have indicated that your transit agency is an Independent Agency with an elected or an appointed Board of Directors on the Identification form (B-10).

There are four categories of funds dedicated to transit at their source:

  1. Dedicated taxes
  2. Bridge, tunnel and highway tolls
  3. High occupancy / toll (HO/T) lane tolls
  4. Other dedicated funds.

Dedicated Taxes

If your transit agency is an independent political entity and has the legal authority to impose a dedicated tax, this tax is called a directly levied tax, and your report it under directly generated sources of funds. If the tax is levied by the legal authority of the local or State government for transit use, you report it under local or State government sources of funds.

For administrative convenience, directly levied taxes may be collected through another governmental entity. For example, a transit agency may use its legal authority to add one percent to the county sales tax for transit uses. The county collects all of the sales tax and distributes the one percent back to the transit agency. The one percent tax is a directly levied sales tax by the transit agency reported as directly generated under funds dedicated to transit at their source.

You should report taxes using the following categories:

Bridge, Tunnel and Highway Tolls

Another source of funds raised for transit at their source is from tolls collected on bridges, tunnels or highways. Typically, transit agencies that have the power to impose these taxes are multipurpose transportation agencies that operate and own these facilities. This reporting category does not include tolls collected on HO/T lanes.

High Occupancy / Toll Lanes

SAFETEA-LU enhances and clarifies provisions governing the use and operation of HOV, in particular the use of HOV facilities by HO/T vehicles. These are vehicles that are not otherwise exempt to use the HOV facility (e.g., energy efficient vehicles) if the vehicle pays a toll. HO/T toll lanes allow single occupancy vehicles (SOVs) to gain access to high occupancy vehicle (HOV) facilities by paying a toll. If a transit agency has stricter requirements for HOV facilities than the prohibition of SOVs, then those requirements apply to the HO/T lane.

A State agency with jurisdiction over the operation of a HOV facility must establish occupancy requirements for HOV lanes and for any exemptions. The State agency that chooses to allow exceptions to HOV requirements must certify to the US Secretary of Transportation that they have established a program to monitor, assess, and report on the operation of the facility and the impact of HO/T vehicles and other low emission and energy efficient vehicles. An adequate enforcement program is also required, and provision made for limiting or discontinuing the exemptions if the facility becomes seriously degraded.

Each segment used as a HO/T lane must be identified on the Fixed Guideway Segments form (S-20). See the S-20 form for SAFETEA-LU added provisions to the requirements for new HOV lanes and HO/T lanes (23 U.S.C. Section 166).

Other Dedicated Funds

If there are other sources of dedicated funds not covered by taxes or bridge, tunnel and highway tolls, report the funds as other dedicated funds. These funds include:

Other Directly Generated Funds

If there are other sources of funds not included in the directly generated sources common to all transit agencies and for independent political entities (lines 20 through 28), you should report as other directly generated funds.

Bond and Loan Payments

You should report the funds used to make payments on principal and interest for funds expended on operations or capital. The funds are from sources on lines 20 through 29. You should report the funds expended on operations or capital as described in Principal and Interest Payments under the Bonds and Loans section above.

You should report the payments for the principal and interest on the borrowed bonds and loans on the lines for Bond and Loan Payments as described in Borrowed Funds under the Bonds and Loans section above.

Local and State Government Sources

You should report the sources from State government funds and from local government funds. These funds assist with paying the operating and capital costs of providing transit services and include:

Sources of local and State government funds use the same categories for reporting:

Funds Allocated to Transit Out of General Revenues of the Government Entity

The funds in this category come from general government revenues and are derived from revenues that are designated only for transit use. As general revenues, funding for transit annually competes for funding with other government programs such as police, fire and education. Although they compete for funding, many transit agencies receive most of their State and local government funds in this category.

Funds Dedicated to Transit at their Source

Funds dedicated to transit at their source is the same category described under Directly Generated Funds (see discussion above). The same four categories of dedicated funds are used:

  1. Dedicated taxes
  2. Bridge, tunnel and highway tolls
  3. High occupancy / toll (HO/T) lane tolls
  4. Other dedicated funds.

The key principal in reporting dedicated transit funds is to determine the entity that has the legal authority to impose taxes or other dedicated fund sources. You should report the funds as:

Other Funds

You should report under other funds for any State government or any local government funding sources that are not dedicated to transit at their source or are not included in the budgeting process of general revenue funds.

These funds include:

You should report reimbursements and refunds such as sales tax on fuel in the original source of revenues used to pay for the expense. If unknown, then you should report under other funds.

Bond and Loan Payments

You should report the funds used to make payments on principal and interest for funds expended on operations or capital. The funds are from sources on lines 32 through 43 for local governments, and from lines 45 through 56 for State governments. You should report the funds expended on operations or capital as described in Principal and Interest Payments under the Bonds and Loans section above.

You should report the payments for the principal and interest on the borrowed bonds and loans on the lines for Bond and Loan Payments as described in Borrowed Funds under the Bonds and Loans section above.

Federal Government Sources

This section covers payments or accruals from the Federal government. You should report the funding sources using the following categories:

You should consider the following when reporting federal funding:

Funds Received from FTA

There are ten categories of funds received from FTA:

  1. FTA Capital Program (§5309) funds
  2. FTA Urbanized Area Formula Program (§5307) (UAF) funds
  3. FTA Metropolitan Planning (§5303) funds
  4. FTA Clean Fuels Program (§5308) funds
  5. FTA Special Needs of Elderly Individuals and Individuals with Disabilities Formula Program (§5310) funds
  6. FTA Other Than Urbanized Area Formula Program (§5311) funds
  7. FTA Job Access and Commute Formula Program (§5316) funds
  8. FTA New Freedom Program (§5317) funds
  9. FTA Alternative Transportation in Parks and Public Lands (§5320) funds
  10. Other FTA funds.

FTA Capital Program

The FTA Capital Program (§5309) is a discretionary program that provides capital assistance for three primary types of projects:

  1. New and replacement buses and facilities
  2. Modernization of existing fixed guideway (FG) systems
  3. New FG systems.

Capital expenses are for property having a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost that meets Federal requirements of at least $5,000 or meets requirements set by the government unit for its financial statements if this value is less than $5,000.

FTA Urbanized Area Formula Program

The FTA Urbanized Area Formula Program (UAF) (§5307) is a formula program for:

FTA UAF funds include flexible funding programs. Several programs of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the USDOT allow transfer of funds to the FTA UAF, under the flexible funding provision, for transit projects:

When the flexible fund programs from the FHWA are administered by FTA under the UAF program, you should report the funds under the FTA Urbanized Area Formula Program. For example, a transit agency may receive FHWA Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) funding through the FTA UAF program. You should report the FHWA CMAQ funding should be reported as FTA UAF program funds, not under other USDOT grant programs.

In most cases, the funding reporting is straightforward. However, you should first refer to your grant agreements to determine the appropriate category to use.

FTA Metropolitan Planning

The FTA Metropolitan Planning Program (§5303) supports the cooperative, continuous and comprehensive planning program for making transportation investment decisions in urbanized areas (UZA). These funds are allocated to the Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) and are designated by local elected officials as being responsible for carrying out the urban transportation and other planning process, including short and long-range transportation plans that prioritized projects for implementation.

FTA Clean Fuels Program

The FTA Clean Fuels Program (§5308) is a formula program that supports the use of alternative fuels. Projects are eligible in air quality maintenance or nonattainment areas for ozone or carbon monoxide, for both for UZA and nonurbanized areas(non-UZA).

The program assists transit systems in purchasing low emission buses and related equipment, constructing alternative fuel fueling facilities, modifying existing garage facilities to accommodate clean fuel vehicles and assisting in the utilization of biodiesel fuel.

Funds may be used for the purchase or lease of clean fuel buses, the construction of clean fuel electrical recharging facilities, improvement to existing facilities to accommodate clean fuel buses, and the re-powering and retrofit or rebuild of pre-1993 engines if before a mid-life rebuild.

FTA Special Needs of Elderly Individuals and Individuals with Disabilities Formula

The FTA Special Needs of Elderly Individuals and Individuals with Disabilities Formula Program (§5310) is a formula program that provides capital assistance to State and local governments and private non-profit groups in meeting the transportation needs of elderly individuals and individuals with disabilities. The State (or State-designated agency) administers the §5310 program.

States may allocate funds to private non-profit organizations and to public agencies if they are designated to provide coordinated service. Beginning in FY 2007 SAFETEA-LU increases coordination requirements by requiring that projects be on a locally-developed human service transportation coordination plan. That planning process includes representatives of public, private, and non-profit transportation and human services providers and the public.

A seven State pilot program for FY 2006-2009 has been established to determine whether expanding eligibility to operating assistance would improve services to elderly individuals and individuals with disabilities. In the pilot, up to 33% of a participating State’s apportioned §5310 funds may be used for operating expenses.

§5310 funds may be transferred to and administered through the §5311 program.

FTA Other Than Urbanized Area Formula Program

The FTA Other Than Urbanized Area Formula Program (§5311) is a formula program for rural transportation for:

Federal operating and capital assistance under §5311 includes any §5310, §5307, §5316 or §5317 funds transferred to the program or flexible highway funds transferred to the program and administered through the §5311 program.

FTA Job Access and Reverse Commute Formula Program

The Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) Formula Program (§5316) is a formula program to States and designated recipients to support the development and maintenance of job access projects designed to transport welfare recipients and eligible low-income individuals to and from jobs and activities related to their employment, and for reverse commute projects designed to transport residents of UZAs and non-UZAs to suburban employment opportunities.

§5316 funds may be transferred to and administered through the §5311 program.

FTA New Freedom Program

The FTA New Freedom Program (§5317) is a formula program for new public transportation services and public transportation alternatives beyond those required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that assist individuals with disabilities with transportation, including transportation to and from jobs and employment support services. Projects must be included in locally-developed human service transportation coordinated plan beginning in FY 2007. Funds may be used for:

§5317 funds may be transferred to and administered through the §5311 program.

FTA Alternative Transportation in Parks and Public Lands Program

The FTA Alternative Transportation in Parks and Public Lands Program (§5320) is a program for preserving our parklands and enhancing visitor enjoyment. The program is administered jointly by FTA, US Department of Interior (DOI) and the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS). Projects include capital and planning.

Other FTA Funds

Any FTA funds not described above are reported as Other FTA funds. These funds include:

Other FTA funds reported should be described using the Other FTA Funds — Describe field.

The following exhibit shows eligibility for FTA Funding Programs.

Exhibit 9 – Funding Categories and their Uses

FTA Program / Section

Capital

Planning

Operations

Operations-Preventive and Associated Capital Maintenance

FTA Metropolitan Planning §5303

 

Y

 

 

FTA Urbanized Area Formula Program §5307

Y

Y

Y

Y

FTA Clean Fuels Program §5308 (§5307 rules apply)

Y

Y

Y

Y

FTA Capital Program §5309

Y

Y

 

 

FTA Special Needs of Elderly Individuals and Individuals with Disabilities Formula Program §5310

Y

 

Pilot Program

 

FTA Other Than Urbanized Area Formula Program §5311

Y

Y

Y

Y

FTA Job Access and Commute Formula Program §5316

Y

Y

Y

 

FTA New Freedom Program §5317

Y

Y

Y

 

FTA Alternative Transportation in Parks and Public Lands §5320

Y

Y

 

 

Funds Received from Other USDOT Grant Programs

Report funding through Other U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Programs, where funds were not transferred to FTA, as funds received from other USDOT grant programs. This includes funds from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) (including AMTRAK) that occurs for commuter rail operations.

Other Federal Funds

Report funding from the Federal government other than through USDOT programs as Other Federal Funds. These include Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Housing and Urban Development Programs (HUD) and Department of Justice (DOJ) programs (e.g., JOBS).

You should describe other federal funds using the Other Federal Funds — Describe field.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 2009 (ARRA) [Pub. L. 111-5] was signed into law by President Barack Obama on February 17, 2009.  ARRA includes appropriations and tax law changes totaling approximately $787 billion to support government wide efforts to stimulate the economy.  Goals of the statute include the preservation or creation of jobs and the promotion of an economic recovery, as well as the investment in transportation, environmental protection and other infrastructure providing long-term economic benefits.

Over $48 billion will be invested in transportation infrastructure, including $8.4 billion for transit capital improvements made available through FTA programs.  In addition, transit may benefit from flexible funding transferred from highway program allocations as well as discretionary allocations under a $1.5 billion multimodal program administered by the Secretary of Transportation.   FTA has published formula apportionments, discretionary allocations, or notices of funding availability for the entire $8.4 billion appropriated for transit programs.
ARRA funding should be reported by the program the funding is being made available through, such as the Urbanized Area Program.

Bond and Loan Payments

You should report the funds used to make payments on principal and interest for funds expended on operations or capital. The funds are from sources on lines 58 through 68. You should report the funds expended on operations or capital as described in Principal and Interest Payments under the Bonds and Loans section above.

You should report the payments for the principal and interest on the borrowed bonds and loans on the lines for Bond and Loan Payments as described in Borrowed Funds under the Bonds and Loans section above.

Summary

NTD Internet Reporting automatically calculates the totals from all sources — directly generated, Federal, State and local sources. The totals include:


Line by Line Instructions Funds Expended and Funds Earned form (F-10)

Completing the Funds Expended and Funds Earned form (F-10)

You should complete one form. The form covers all modes for directly operated (DO) and purchased transportation (PT) services.

Form Level Help: You should click on the Help tab at the top of the screen for form level help.

Form Notes: A form note can be attached to any form. You should se the Add Form Note link for relevant information to a specific field, to the entire form or to multiple forms. You should click on the Add Form Note link at the top of the screen and enter your note on the Notes screen. You can review and / or edit a form note from the Notes tab. You should not use the Form Notes feature to answer issues generated from this form. From the Issues tab you should use the Add Comments link next to the specific issue.

Saving or Closing the Form: You should click on the Save button prior to exiting the form and continuing with the report. You should click on the Close button at the bottom of the screen to close the form without saving.

Sources of Directly Generated Funds by the Transit Agency — All Transit Agencies

Line 01, column c: Passenger Fares for Directly Operated Service — Funds Earned during Period. By mode, enter the funds earned during the period from carrying passengers for services that were DO by your transit agency (passenger fares).

Line 02: Total All DO Modes

Line 03, column c: Passenger Fares for Purchased Transportation Service — Funds Earned during Period

Line 04: Total All PT Modes

Many transit agencies apply the total PT fare revenues to funds expended on operations. Other transit agencies split the total fare revenues between operations and capital.

Line 05, column c: Park-and-Ride Parking Revenue — Funds Earned during Period.

Line 06, column c: Other Transportation Revenues — Funds Earned during Period.

Auxiliary Transportation Funds

Line 07, column c: Concessions — Funds Earned during Period.

Line 08, column c: Advertising Revenue — Funds Earned during Period.

Line 09, column c: Other — Funds Earned during Period.

Line 10, column c: Total Auxiliary Transportation Funds — Funds Earned during Period.

Line 11, column c: Non-Transportation Funds — Funds Earned during Period.

Line 12: Total Park-and-Ride Parking, Other Transportation, Auxiliary and Non-Transportation Revenues

Line 13: Revenues Accrued through a Purchased Transportation Agreement

Line 13a: With an NTD reporting agency

This category only applies to sellers of PT services under contract to an NTD Annual reporter and when both agencies are filing an NTD Annual report. The seller reports the contract revenues earned (payments and accruals) as a result of the PT agreement. If the seller is a private for profit provider or non-profit provider, funds should only be reported for funds earned during period (column c) and for funds expended on operations (column d) since the buyer of service reports any capital purchases and funding. If the seller is a public agency, funds also can be reported for funds expended on capital (column e).

Line 13b: With a non-NTD reporting agency

This category only applies to sellers of PT services under contract to a non-NTD reporter. Only the seller is filing an NTD Annual report. The seller reports the contract revenues earned (payments and accruals) as a result of the PT agreement. If the seller is a private for profit provider or non-profit provider, funds should only be reported for funds earned during period (column c) and for funds expended on operations (column d) since the buyer of service reports any capital purchases a

Line 14: Bonds and Loans

Contributed Services

Line 15: State and Local Government

Line 16: Contra Account for Expenses

Line 17: Net Contributed Services

Line 18: Subsidy from Other Sectors of Operations

Line 19: Bond and Loan Payments

Sources of Directly Generated Funds by the Transit Agency — Independent Political Entities

(Lines 20 - 24 will only appear for reporters who have indicated that they are an Independent Agency with an elected or an appointed Board of Directors on the B-10.

Funds Dedicated to Transit at their Source

Dedicated Taxes

Line 20: Income Taxes

These are directly generated funds dedicated to transit at their source. These are directly levied by your transit agency.

Line 21: Sales Taxes

These are directly generated funds dedicated to transit at their source. These are directly levied by your transit agency.

Line 22: Property Taxes

These are directly generated funds dedicated to transit at their source. These are directly levied by your transit agency.

Line 23: Gasoline Taxes

These are directly generated funds dedicated to transit at their source. These are directly levied by your transit agency.

Line 24: Other Taxes

These are directly generated funds dedicated to transit at their source. These are directly levied by your transit agency.

Line 25: Bridge, Tunnel and Highway Tolls

These are directly generated funds dedicated to transit at their source. These are directly levied by your transit agency.

Line 26: High Occupancy / Tolls

These are directly generated funds dedicated to transit at their source. These are directly levied by your transit agency.

Line 27: Other Dedicated Funds

These are directly generated funds dedicated to transit at their source. These are directly levied by your transit agency.

Line 28: Total Funds Dedicated to Transit at their Source

Line 29: Other Directly Generated Funds

Line 30: Total Directly Generated Funds

Line 31: Bond and Loan Payments

Local Government Sources of Funds

Line 32: Funds Allocated to Transit out of the General Revenues of the Government Entity

These are the funds received from the local government’s annual budgeting process.

Funds Dedicated to Transit at their Source

Dedicated Taxes

Line 33: Income Taxes

These are local government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 34: Sales Taxes

These are local government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 35: Property Taxes

These are local government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 36: Gasoline Taxes

These are local government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 37: Other Taxes

These are local government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 38: Bridge, Tunnel and Highway Tolls

These are local government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 39: High Occupancy / Tolls

These are local government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 40: Other Dedicated Funds

These are local government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 41: Total Funds Dedicated to Transit at their Source

Line 42: Other Funds

Line 43: Total Local Funds

Line 44: Bond and Loan Payments

If your transit agency is a part of local government (e.g., Department of Transit), report payments under local government only if the bond or loan included more than transit programs and projects, i.e., the local government bond or loan was not issued exclusively for transit use. If the bond or loan was issued exclusively for transit, report payments as directly generated on line 19, column d.

State Government Sources of Funds

Line 45: Funds Allocated to Transit out of the General Revenues of the Government Entity

These are the funds received from the State government’s annual budgeting process.

Funds Dedicated to Transit at their Source

Dedicated Taxes

Line 46: Income Taxes

These are State government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 47: Sales Taxes

These are State government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 48: Property Taxes

These are State government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 49: Gasoline Taxes

These are State government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 50: Other Taxes

These are State government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 51: Bridge, Tunnel and Highway Tolls

These are State government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 52: High Occupancy / Tolls

These are State government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 53: Other Dedicated Funds

These are State government funds dedicated to transit at their source rather than through an appropriation of general funds.

Line 54: Total Funds Dedicated to Transit at their Source

Line 55: Other Funds

Line 56: Total State Funds

Line 57: Bond and Loan Payments

If your transit agency is a part of State government (e.g., Department of Transit), report payments under State government only if the bond or loan included more than transit programs and projects, i.e., the State government bond or loan was not issued exclusively for transit use. If the bond or loan was issued exclusively for transit, report payments as directly generated on line 19, column d.

Federal Government Sources of Funds

Line 58: FTA Capital Program Funds (§5309)

Line 58a: ARRA Fixed Guideway Modernization funds (§5309)

Line 58b: ARRA Major Capital Investments (New Starts) funds (§5309)

Line 59, FTA Urbanized Area Formula (UAFP) Program (§5307)

Line 60, column d: FTA UAFP Funds – Capital Assistance Spent on Operations (Including Maintenance Expenses).

Line 60a: ARRA Urbanized Area Formula (UAFP) Program (§5307)

Line 60b, column d: ARRA UAFP Funds – Capital Assistance Spent on Operations (Including Maintenance Expenses).

Line 61: FTA Metropolitan Planning (§5303)

Line 62: FTA Clean Fuels Program (§5308)

Line 63, FTA Special Needs of Elderly Individuals and Individuals with Disabilities Formula Program (§5310)

Line 64, column d: FTA Special Needs of Elderly Individuals and Individuals with Disabilities Formula Program – Capital Assistance Spent on Operations (Including Maintenance Expenses).

Line 65, FTA Other Than Urbanized Area (§5311)

Line 66 column d: FTA Other Than Urbanized Area – Capital Assistance Spent on Operations (Including Maintenance Expenses).

Line 66a, FTA ARRA FTA Other Than Urbanized Area (§5311)

Line 66b, column d: FTA ARRA Other Than Urbanized Area – Capital Assistance Spent on Operations (Including Maintenance Expenses).

Line 67: FTA Job Access and Commute Formula Program (§5316)

Line 68, FTA New Freedom Program (§5317)

Line 69, FTA New Freedom Program (UAF) (§5317)

Line 70: FTA Alternative Transportation in Parks and Public Lands (5320)

Line 70a: ARRA TIGGER (Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction) funds

Line 71: Other FTA Funds

Line 72, column d: Other FTA Funds – Capital Assistance Spent on Operations (Including Maintenance Expenses).

Line 73: Total FTA Funds

Line 74: Funds Received from other USDOT Grant Programs

Line 75: Other Federal Funds

Line 76: Total Federal Funds

Line 77: Bond and Loan Payments

Summary

Line 78, column c: Total Funds Earned During Period.

Line 79, column d: Total Funds Expended on Operations During Period. This is an auto-calculated field and cannot be edited.

Line 80, column e: Total Funds Expended on Capital During Period. This is an auto-calculated field and cannot be edited.

Line 81: Total Bond and Loan Payments.

 


Uses of Capital form (F-20)

Screenshot of the Uses of Capital form (F-20)

Uses of Capital form (F-20) – Grants Reporting

Screenshot of the Uses of Capital form (F-20) for Active G

Overview

The Uses of Capital form (F-20) form details the amount of funds expended by category of capital asset and by project classification as either an improvement for existing transit services or expansion of service.

Reporting Requirements and Thresholds

All transit agencies must complete this form. You should complete one form. The form lists each mode and type of service (TOS) identified on the Identification form (B-10).

What Has Changed from Prior Year

There are no changes from the prior year.

Approach

This form collects capital expenses by mode and TOS, and by nine project categories classified as either improvements for existing transit services or expansion for new services.

The project categories are:

Projects are further classified by whether the capital projects are for:

These two classifications are then summarized into total expenditures by the nine project categories for each mode by TOS.

Capital expenses are expenses for items of tangible property that have a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost threshold consistent with Federal and local requirements. The cost threshold by FTA requirements is at least $5,000 or a lesser level if used by the agency for its financial statements.

The following discusses five major concepts necessary to complete the F-20 form:

  1. Accrual accounting
  2. Relationship to sources of funds
  3. Capital maintenance expenses
  4. Purchased transportation (PT)
  5. Project classification.

Accrual Accounting

Capital expenses are reported using the accrual accounting principle that expenses are reported in the period they are incurred; i.e., the year in which they result in liabilities for benefits received, regardless of whether or not the expenditure is paid during the reporting period.

Relationship to Sources of Funds

The total capital expenses reported on the F-20 form must equal the total funds expended for capital reported on the F-10 form.

Capital Maintenance Expenses

Operating expenses (OE) that are paid with capital funds are not reported on this form. The Uniform System of Accounts (USOA) defines operating expenses (Section 5.2) regardless of grant eligibility for Federal capital assistance. You should go to the Operating Expenses form (F-30) for reporting capital maintenance expenses.

Purchased Transportation

You should report all capital expenditures made by your transit agency for transit, whether the expenditures are used for DO service or for PT service. You should not report capital expenditures incurred by your PT provider in your report.

For the rare cases when your transit agency is a seller and files a separate NTD Annual report the following apply:

Contracts for PT service are reported to NTD on an annual basis and contractors may vary from year-to-year. Also, capital projects by definition have a useful life of more than one year. Thus, it is unusual that a contractor, unless it is a public agency, would acquire capital equipment solely for use in a particular contract. More often, if equipment is dedicated to PT services, it is acquired by the buyer of service and provided to the contractor under the PT agreement. Therefore, for NTD, except for public agency sellers, all capital expenditures relating to PT services are reported by the buyer, whether the PT services are contained within the buyer’s NTD Annual report or filed by the seller in a separate NTD Annual report.

Project Classification

There are three parts to capital project classification necessary for completing this form:

  1. Determining the project need as an improvement to existing services or expansion for new service
  2. Determining the appropriate mode and TOS
  3. Determining the project category when there are multiple uses for the project.

The following provides the rules that transit agencies should follow. These rules simplify reporting requirements.

Capital Project Need

Project need is classified into two categories:

  1. Improvements relating to existing transit services through rehabilitation, reconstruction or replacement of capital
  2. Capital for expansion of service (e.g., light rail (LR) line extension), implementing new services (e.g., new mode of service) or building a new facility to accommodate planned services.

Image of hand pointingIn classifying a project as an improvement relating to existing transit services or as new capital for expansion of service, you should refer to the project justification in grant applications and other documents used in their capital projects program.

When a project need is a combination of these two categories, you should report the capital project cost attributed to each category. An example follows the discussion of these two categories.

Improvements for Existing Transit Services

Improvements relating to existing transit services are done to extend their useful life or to replace existing equipment and buildings that have become obsolete. Typical projects may be rehabilitating a bus, doing midlife overhaul on rail passenger cars, re-roofing a maintenance facility or replacing an obsolete garage or vehicles that have reached their useful life. As long as the improvement extends the useful life of the equipment or replaces capital for existing transit services, you should report the project as an improvement for existing transit services.

Expansion of Transit Service

Expansion of service requires new capital equipment. Expansion of service may be for capital projects such as the extension of a rail line, or starting a new mode of service, or buying additional buses for new MB routes in developing areas, or constructing an additional maintenance facility for planned expansions of service.

Expansions should be for committed plans to implement new services. A project may also have elements of both improvements and expansion. If a project is both an improvement and an expansion, you should prorate the project between the two project needs. These concepts are illustrated in the following example.

Example 12 — Reporting Project Need Classification

Example 1: A transit agency decides to rehabilitate an existing maintenance / operating garage, designed for 200 revenue vehicles, by replacing the roof and updating electrical, heating and air conditioning systems. At the same time, the agency has increased its transit services and the maintenance garage needs to be expanded to accommodate 275 revenue vehicles that are currently operating out of the garage. How would the project be reported?

Solution: The project is reported only as an improvement. Even though the project involves expanding the size of the facility, the project is necessary for existing transit services. You should report the project under maintenance buildings in the rehabilitation / reconstruction / replacement / improvements section of the form.

Example 2: A transit agency decides to replace an existing, obsolete garage. The transit agency decides to expand the size of the facility as well even though it currently does not need the additional capacity, nor does it have any commitments for increases in transit services that would require additional revenue vehicles. How should the project be reported?

Solution: You should report the garage under maintenance buildings in the rehabilitation / reconstruction / replacement / improvements section of the form since there are no commitments for expansion of service.

Example 3: A transit agency decides to replace an existing, obsolete garage. The transit agency is also committed to implement new transit services, phased in over the next several years, which will require additional revenue vehicles. Therefore, the replacement garage is bigger than the original garage in order to handle these new services. How should the project be reported?

Solution: In this case, there is a commitment for expansion of services and therefore, you should report the project as both rehabilitation / reconstruction / replacement / improvements and an expansion. You should report the project costs under maintenance buildings in the rehabilitation / reconstruction / replacement / improvements section of the form for the part of the project that replaces the original garage. You should report the project costs under maintenance buildings in the expansion section of the form for the part of the project that accommodates the new transit services.

Example 4: A transit agency purchases 50 new buses (MB). The agency is replacing 40 MB that have reached their useful life and acquiring 10 MB for new services to developing suburbs. How would the project be reported?

Solution: You should report the cost of the 40 replacement buses under revenue vehicles in the improvements section of the form. the 10 MB for expansion of service under revenue vehicles in the expansion section of the form since these MB are for services not previously operated.

Multiple Modes and Types of Service

Some capital projects may apply to more than one mode or TOS. You should report the project for one mode and TOS based on the predominant use. Predominant use should be determined by:

Multiple Capital Project Categories

Sometimes a project fits more than one capital project category. You should report the project for one mode and TOS based on the predominant use.

The following are examples of how to report predominant use.

Example 13 — Reporting Predominant Use

Example 1: A transit agency builds a new heavy rail (HR) passenger station on a new rail line extension. The station is also served by MB mode for both DO and PT services. Passengers also use the rail station as a transfer center between MB routes. Overall, there are more MB users than HR users. How would the station be reported?

Solution: The primary reason the station was constructed was to serve rail passengers even though there may be more MB transit users than HR users. You should report the project under HR mode in the expansion section of the form.

Example 2: A transit agency builds a transit center building for its MB, demand response (DR) and vanpool (VP) services. The center serves as the major hub for passenger transfers between the modes. More MB riders use the center than DR or VP riders. Previously, the site consisted of a few off-street passenger shelters. How would the transit center be reported?

Solution: There are more passengers for MB than DR or VP. You should report the project under MB mode. Since the site and the transit services previously existed, you should report the project under the rehabilitation / reconstruction / replacement / improvements section of the form.

Example 3: A transit agency builds a new maintenance garage to accommodate new transit services. The garage is used for both MB and DR services. The garage has a design capacity for 200 buses and 50 DR revenue vehicles. How would the garage be reported?

Solution: You should report the project under MB mode since it has the larger design capacity. You should report it under maintenance buildings in the expansion section of the form since it accommodates new services.

Example 4: A large transit agency directly operates LR, MB and DR services and purchases ferryboat (FB) and VP service. It is replacing its administrative headquarters building. Most transit users are MB riders. Under which mode and type of service (TOS) should the administrative building be reported?

Solution: You should report the building under administrative buildings for MB DO under the rehabilitation / reconstruction / replacement / improvements portion of this form as an improvement for existing transit services. You report it under MB DO since tit carries the largest number of riders and probably incurs the most administrative operating expenses.

Example 5: A small transit agency just beginning service builds a new garage. The agency operates only DR service. The garage also serves as the agency’s administrative office. How would the garage be reported?

Solution: You should report the garage as DR under maintenance buildings since the primary reason the garage exists is to service DR vehicles. You should report it in the expansion section of the form since this is not a replacement of an existing building.

Detailed Instructions

There is one form for all modes and TOS. Internet Reporting automatically generates rows for each applicable mode and TOS.

If your transit agency did not have any capital expenditures during the report year, you should use the Check List box at the top of the form to indicate form not applicable. You should save and exit the form.

Within each of the nine categories of projects, you should classify projects by the project need determined by whether these are:

You should divide project cost into each classification if the project involves both classes.

You also should select the predominant use when a project applies to more than one mode or TOS, or to more than one project category.

These two project need classifications are automatically totaled in Internet Reporting.

As a general rule, projects include all equipment and furniture integral to buildings and structures.

Guideway

You should report capital expenses for guideway including the costs for design and engineering, land acquisition and relocation, demolition, and purchase or construction of guideway.

Guideway includes the buildings and structures dedicated for the operation of transit vehicles such as at grade, elevated and subway structures, tunnels, bridges, track and power systems for rail modes; paved highway lanes dedicated to MB mode.

Guideway does not include passenger stations and transfer facilities, bus pull-ins or communication systems (e.g., cab signaling and train control).

Passenger Stations

You should report capital expenses for passenger stations, including the costs for design and engineering, land acquisition and relocation, demolition, and purchase or construction of the stations. Passenger stations include park-and-ride facilities.

Station Criteria

The most important step is to determine what is considered a passenger station. The intent is to capture significant structures in separate rights-of-way (ROW). This usually means a platform area for rail modes and something more than a street stop or street side passenger shelter for non-rail modes.

The following rules apply:

You should include platforms, shelters, parking and crime prevention and security equipment at stations. You should not include shelters located at on-street bus stops. These are reported under other capital projects.

Administrative Buildings

You should report capital expenses for administrative buildings, including the costs for design and engineering, land acquisition and relocation, demolition, and purchase or construction of the administrative buildings.

Administrative buildings are the general administrative offices owned by your transit agency. Administrative buildings usually house the executive management and supporting activities for overall transit operations such as accounting, finance, engineering, legal, safety, security, customer services, scheduling and planning. They include separate buildings for customer information or ticket sales that are owned by your transit agency and which are not part of passenger stations. See the general administrative function (160) in the F-30 form for activities usually performed in administrative buildings.

Maintenance Buildings

You should report capital expenses for maintenance buildings, including the costs for design and engineering, land acquisition and relocation, demolition, and purchase or construction of the maintenance buildings.

Maintenance buildings include garages, shops (e.g., body, paint, machine) and operations centers, Include in maintenance buildings, equipment that enhances the maintenance function for example bus diagnostic equipment. You should not include information systems such as computers that are used to process maintenance data.

Revenue Vehicles

You should report the capital expenses for revenue vehicles, including acquisition and major rehabilitation of revenue vehicles.

Revenue vehicles are the vehicles used in providing transit service for passengers. As a capital project, revenue vehicles include the body and chassis and all fixtures and appliances inside or attached to the body or chassis, except fare collection equipment and revenue vehicle movement control equipment (radios). For rubber-tired vehicles, it includes the cost of one set of tires and tubes to make the vehicle operational, if the tires and tubes are owned by your transit agency.

Capital funds for revenue vehicles may be used for:

Service Vehicles

You should report the capital expenses for the acquisition or rehabilitation of service vehicles.

Service vehicles are vehicles that are not used in providing transit service for passengers (e.g., supervisor vans, tow trucks, mobile repair trucks, transit police cars and staff cars).

Fare Revenue Collection Equipment

You should report the capital expenses for the acquisition or rehabilitation of fare revenue collection equipment.

Fare revenue collection equipment includes turnstiles, fare boxes (drop), automated fare boxes and related software, money changers and fare dispensing machines (tickets, tokens, passes).

Communications and Information Systems

You should report the capital expenses for systems. There are two types of systems:

  1. Information systems which process information
  2. Communications systems that relay information between locations.

A system is a group of devices or objects forming a network especially for distributing something or serving a common purpose (e.g., telephone, data processing systems).

Communication systems include two-way radio systems for communications between dispatchers and vehicle operators, cab signaling and train control equipment in rail systems, automatic vehicle locator systems, automated dispatching systems, vehicle guidance systems, telephones, facsimile machines and public address systems.

Information systems include computers, monitors, printers, scanners, data storage devices and associated software that support transit operations such as general office, accounting, scheduling, planning, vehicle maintenance, non-vehicle maintenance and customer service functions.

For NTD reporting, you must distinguish between: 1) equipment that collects information and 2) equipment that processes that information. For example, you should report a bus diagnostic machine as part of a maintenance building but you should report the computer that processes the data under systems.

Other

You should report the expense for other capital projects including:


Line by Line Instructions Uses of Capital form (F-20)

Completing the Uses of Capital form (F-20)

You should omplete one form by mode and type of service (TOS).

Form Level Help: You should click on the Help tab at the top of the screen for form level help.

Form Notes: A form note can be attached to any form. You should use the Add Form Note link for relevant information to a specific field, to the entire form or to multiple forms. You should click on the Add Form Note link at the top of the screen and enter your note on the Notes screen. You can review and / or edit a form note from the Notes tab. You should not use the Form Notes feature to answer issues generated from this form. From the Issues tab you should use the Add Comments link next to the specific issue.

Saving or Closing the Form: You should click on the Save button prior to exiting the form and continuing with the report. You should click on the Close button at the bottom of the screen to close the form without saving.

Check-box: If your transit agency did not have any capital expenditures during the report year for any modes and TOS, you should click the Check-box, save and exit the form.

Rehabilitation / Reconstruction / Replacement / Improvements for Existing Transit Services

Column a: Guideway. By mode and TOS

Column b: Passenger Stations. By mode and TOS

Column c: Administrative Buildings. By mode and TOS

Column d: Maintenance Buildings. By mode and TOS

Column e: Revenue Vehicles. By mode and TOS

Column f: Service Vehicles (non-revenue). By mode and TOS

Column g: Fare Revenue Collection Equipment. By mode and TOS

Column h: Communications and Information Systems. By mode and TOS

Column i: Other Capital Projects. By mode and TOS

Column j: Total Capital Expenditures — By mode and TOS

Columns a – j: Total Capital Expenditures — Project Category

Expansion of Service

Column a: Guideway. By mode and TOS

Column b: Passenger Stations. By mode and TOS

Column c: Administrative Buildings. By mode and TOS

Column d: Maintenance Buildings. By mode and TOS

Column e: Revenue Vehicles. By mode and TOS

Column f: Service Vehicles (non-revenue). By mode and TOS

Column g: Fare Revenue Collection Equipment. By mode and TOS

Column h: Communications and Information Systems. By mode and TOS

Column i: Other Capital Projects. By mode and TOS

Column j: Total Capital Expenditures — Mode and TOS

Columns a – j: Total Capital Expenditures — Project Category

Total of All Uses of Capital

Column a: Guideway

Column b: Passenger Stations

Column c: Administrative Buildings

Column d: Maintenance Buildings

Column e: Revenue Vehicles

Column f: Service Vehicles (non-revenue)

Column g: Fare Revenue Collection Equipment

Column h: Communications and Information Systems

Column i: Other Capital Projects

Column j: Total Capital Expenditures — Mode and TOS

Columns a – j: Total Capital Expenditures — Project Category

 


Operating Expenses form (F-30)

Screenshot of the Operating expenses form (F-30) All DO modes except DR

 

Screenshot of the Operating expenses form (F-30) All DO modes except DR-PT

Screenshot of the Operating expenses form (F-30) DR-DO

 

Screenshot of the Operating expenses form (F-30) DR-PT


Overview

The purpose of the Operating Expenses form (F-30) is to collect data on your transit agency's operating expenses (OE) using the Uniform System of Accounts (USOA).

Reporting Requirements and Thresholds

All transit agencies must complete this form. You should complete one form for each mode and type of service (TOS).

What Has Changed from Prior Year

There are no changes from the prior year.

Approach

This form collects OE which are those expenses associated with the day-to-day operation of your transit agency. They are collected using the Uniform System of Accounts (USOA), which establishes standard definitions for functions or activities performed and object classes or categories of expenditures such as labor, fringe expenses and materials (Sections 5.2 and 6.2 of the USOA).

You need to understand the following concepts to correctly complete the F-30 form:

Accrual Accounting

Operating expenses are reported using the accrual accounting principle that OE are reported in the year they are incurred, i.e., the year in which they result in liabilities for benefits received, regardless of whether or not the expenditure is paid during the reporting period.

Capital Maintenance Expenses

Operating expenses are defined in Section 5.2 of the USOA, regardless of grant eligibility for Federal capital assistance. You should report all maintenance expenses, which are OE that are paid with capital funds, on this form.

For example, preventive maintenance costs reported on the F-30 form are eligible for Federal capital assistance in FTA formula programs. For the purpose of Federal funding assistance under FTA programs, preventive maintenance costs are defined as all maintenance costs reported under functions 041, vehicle maintenance, and 042, non-vehicle maintenance, on the F-30 form. FTA eligible formula programs are:

The FTA funds expended on (applied to) these capital maintenance expenses are reported as funds expended on (applied to) operations on the F-10.

Cost Allocation

All OE for transit operations must be fully allocated to functions by mode and TOS for NTD Annual reporting. To fully allocate OE you should:

Examples of direct costs are:

Examples of joint expenses are:

There are many ways to allocate costs. This discussion of allocating joint expenses is based on the publication Fully Allocated Cost Analysis Guidelines for Public Transit Providers (April 1987), which provides a comprehensive review of fully allocated cost analysis, cost allocation variables, and the development and application of cost models. Approaches include a one variable unit cost model and a three variable unit cost model, as well as an example of a cost build up approach using vehicle hours, vehicle miles and peak vehicles. Peak vehicles are equivalent to vehicles operated in annual maximum service (VOMS) in NTD Annual reporting.

The exhibit below depicts how the eight major expense object classes included on the F-30 are assigned to these three allocation variables. The exhibit is taken from the Fully Allocated Cost Analysis Guidelines for Public Transit Providers publication.

In addition to vehicle hours, vehicle miles and peak vehicles, other typical allocation variables are revenue hours and miles, total vehicles, number of employees, and ridership. While these options for allocating costs are common to the transit industry, in some instances others may be more appropriate.

For example, you might use track miles and passenger stations may be used to allocate certain types of rail system costs. You also might use number of transactions to allocate the costs of accounts payable department. Any variable or measure that can be related to the modes and types of services provided, and is logically related to the rate of consumption of an expense element, is an acceptable basis for allocation.

 

Exhibit 10 — Assignment of Expense Object Classes to Allocation Variables

Expense Object Class                                                         Vehicle Hours                  Vehicle Miles                 Peak Vehicles

501. Labor

         Operator salaries                                                                            Yes

         Maintenance salaries                                                                                                                 Yes

         Other salaries                                                                                                                                                                        Yes

502. Fringe Benefits

         Operator                                                                                          Yes

         Maintenance                                                                                                                              Yes

         Other                                                                                                                                                                                      Yes

503. Services

         Professional and technical                                                                                                                                                     Yes

         Contract maintenance                                                                                                                Yes

         Security                                                                                                                                                                                  Yes

         Other services                                                                                                                                                                       Yes

504. Materials and Supplies

         Fuel and lubricants                                                                                                                    Yes

         Tires and tubes                                                                                                                          Yes

         Other materials                                                                                                                                                                       Yes

505. Utilities

         Utilities                                                                                                                                                                                    Yes

506. Casualty and Liability Costs

         Premiums for damage                                                                                                                Yes

         Recoveries of losses                                                                                                                                                             Yes

         Payouts for uninsured                                                                                                                                                           Yes

507. Taxes

         Vehicle registration                                                                                                                                                                Yes

         Fuel and lubricant                                                                                                                      Yes

         Other taxes                                                                                                                                                                            Yes

509. Miscellaneous Expenses

         Dues and subscriptions                                                                                                                                                         Yes

         Travel and meetings                                                                                                                                                               Yes

         Bridges, tunnel and highway tolls                                                                                             Yes

         Advertising media                                                                                                                                                                  Yes

         Other miscellaneous expense                                                                                                                                               Yes

 

The following is an example of how to allocate joint expenses using the previous exhibit.

Example 14 — Allocating Joint Expenses

Example: Coaster Transit Agency (Coaster) has one maintenance facility that it uses for both its directly operated (DO) bus (MB) and demand response (DR) operations:

This facility is used to fuel and maintain the revenue service vehicles for MB and DR operations.

Coaster receives one electric bill for the power used in the maintenance facility.

How can Coaster allocate electric utility expenses?

Solution: You must determine shared (joint) cost for object class (505), Utilities, under function (160), general administration.

Expenses: Joint expenses (shared costs-electric power)                 $1,000,000.

You select the allocation variable and calculate the allocation percentage:

Allocation Variable Vehicles

Percentage                                                         Available for Maximum Service                                                     Allocation

MB  200                                                                                                                80.0%

DR  50                                                                                                                 20.0%

        Total                                                                                                                  250                                                           100.0%

Allocate joint expenses:                                                                         Allocation

MB ($1,000,000 x 80.0%)                                                                          $800,000

DR  ($1,000,000 x 20.0%)                                                                          $200,000

Vanpools

You should report only publicly sponsored vanpool (VP) services. For inclusion in the NTD, vanpools:

Other forms of public participation to encourage ridesharing arrangements, such as the provision of parking spaces, use of high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, coordination or clearing house services, do not qualify as public vanpools.

You must report all expenses involved with operating these services, even when VP participants pay for some of the costs. OE could include cost of purchased service (if service is provided through a private operator), vehicle leases, administrative, marketing, maintenance and legal services, plus additional expenses to operate the vans (e.g., fuel, tires, insurance, tolls, maintenance or repairs) often paid by riders.

Vehicle Leases and Depreciation Costs

You should report vehicle capital lease and depreciation costs as reconciling items. If total costs are based on unit charges to riders, (e.g., per mile or per trip) you must separate operating costs from any lease and depreciation costs.

Detailed Instructions

You should complete one form for each DO mode and each PT mode.

You should use the operating chart of accounts for OE that is defined in the USOA. Below, discussion is provided for each object class and function as well as information about ADA-related expenses.

Chart of Accounts for Modal Operating Expenses

The USOA provides a detailed explanation of the chart of accounts for NTD Annual reporting in Chapter 5, Expense Object Classes, and Chapter 6, Expense Functions. The OE chart of accounts used in the F-30 form is organized by expense function (columns) and expense object class (rows).

Functions

A function is an activity performed by a transit agency.

NTD Annual reporting uses four basic functions:

  1. Vehicle operations (010)
  2. Vehicle maintenance (041)
  3. Non-vehicle maintenance (042)
  4. General administration (160).

The activities included under each basic function are detailed in Section 6.2 of the USOA.

Vehicle Operations

Vehicle operations are all the activities associated with dispatching and running vehicles in revenue service to carry passengers, including administrative and clerical support. There are six detailed functions in the basic vehicle operation function (010):

  1. Transportation administration and support (011) includes supervising garages / operating centers to make sure operators are available, inspecting and instructing operators, run selection and supervision, and reporting accidents and appearing as a witness.
  2. Revenue vehicle movement control (012) includes dispatching and return of operators and revenue vehicles to garages / operating centers, and monitoring and supervising revenue vehicle operations.
  3. Scheduling of transportation operations (021) includes collecting data, making schedules and run cutting.
  4. Revenue vehicle operation (030) includes moving revenue vehicles along routes to carry passengers, and moving vehicles to and from garages / operating centers to routes (deadheading), laying over at the ends of routes, and moving operators to and from relief points. This is the largest expense category in the vehicle operations function since it includes all the labor, fringes and fuel to operate the revenue vehicles.
  5. Ticketing and fare collection (151) includes producing, distributing and collecting fare instruments (passes, tickets, tokens), and providing security for collecting and counting the fares.
  6. System security (161) includes patrolling revenue vehicles and passenger stations during revenue operations, and patrolling and controlling access to yards, buildings and grounds.

Image of hand pointingPublic transportation is a labor-intensive activity. Since vehicle operators generally are the largest employee group for non-rail services, vehicle operation expenses are typically the largest expense function arising from the labor and fringe benefit expenses for these employees.

Vehicle Maintenance

Vehicle maintenance is all the activities associated with ensuring revenue vehicles and service vehicles are operable, cleaned, fueled, inspected and repaired. There are seven detailed functions in the basic vehicle maintenance function (041):

  1. Maintenance administration — vehicles (041) includes preparing maintenance records, analyzing data for vehicle performance and training vehicle maintenance personnel.
  2. Servicing revenue vehicles (051) includes fueling, interior cleaning and exterior washing of revenue vehicles.
  3. Inspection and maintenance of revenue vehicles (061) includes performing scheduled preventive maintenance, performing minor repairs, going to vehicle breakdowns to either repair or tow revenue vehicles, rebuilding and overhauling repairable components, performing major repairs on revenue vehicles (e.g. body work, re-upholstering, unit rebuilds and replacing major repairable units of revenue vehicles (e.g. engines, transmissions and air conditioners).
  4. Accident repairs of revenue vehicles (062) includes repairing damage as a result of collisions, floods and accidental fires.
  5. Vandalism repairs of revenue vehicles (071) includes repairing damage as a result of willful or malicious destruction or defacement of revenue vehicles.
  6. Servicing and fuel of service vehicles (081) includes fueling, interior cleaning and exterior washing of service vehicles.
  7. Inspection and maintenance of service vehicles (091) includes performing scheduled preventive maintenance, performing minor repairs, going to vehicle breakdowns to either repair or tow service vehicles, rebuilding and overhauling repairable components, performing major repairs on service vehicles (e.g. body work, re-upholstering, unit rebuilds and replacing major repairable units of service vehicles (e.g. engines, transmissions and air conditioners).

For inspection and maintenance of revenue or service vehicles, work on repairable units such as engine rebuilds and overhauls are an operating expense only if they meet the criteria established by FTA in determining when an item is an operating or a capital expenditure. If the total labor and materials necessary for the rebuild or overhaul are less than a unit value of $5,000 or a lesser capitalization level used by the agency such as $3,000, then this is an operating expense reported on the F-30. If not, then the rebuild or overhaul expenses are a capital expenditure reported on the F-20.

Image of hand pointingVehicle maintenance employees typically are the second largest group of employees for non-rail services. Therefore, vehicle maintenance expenses are the second largest expense function.

Non-Vehicle Maintenance

Non-vehicle maintenance is all the activities associated with ensuring buildings, grounds and equipment (garages, passenger stations and shelters, administration buildings); fare collection equipment; and communications systems, track, structures, tunnels and power systems are operable. There are thirteen detailed functions in the basic non-vehicle maintenance function (042). These are summarized in four categories below:

  1. Maintenance administration — non-vehicles (042) includes preparing maintenance records and training facility maintenance personnel.
  2. Inspecting, cleaning, repairing and replacing components for:
  3. Operating stations are the buildings and rail yards where vehicles are stored and dispatched for revenue service. Often operating stations and garages are the same facilities.

    Garages and shop buildings are where repairs and maintenance is performed. Often operating stations and garages are the same facilities.

  4.   Vandalism repairs of buildings, grounds and equipment (131) includes repairing damage as a result of willful or malicious destruction or defacement of buildings, grounds and equipment
  5. Operation and maintenance of electric power facilities (141) includes electric power generation and distribution facilities for third rail, overhead lines, cable systems, etc.

Image of hand pointingFor rail systems, non-vehicle maintenance is a larger portion of overall OE than for non-rail systems since there is a large infrastructure to maintain — track, rail beds, signaling, overhead lines and third rails, and passenger stations, etc.

General Administration

General administration is all the activities associated with supporting the provision of transit service. Usually, you should report these expenses using a cost allocation plan as discussed above because these activities benefit all modes and TOS. There are seventeen detailed functions and one residual function in the basic general administration function (160). These are summarized in five categories below:

  1. Finance and procurement:
  2. Marketing and customer service:
    • Customer services (162) including telephone information on routes and services, handling customer complaints and providing information at transit centers and stations
    • Promotion (163) including media relations, and developing and distributing promotional materials to encourage transit use
    • Market research (164) including conducting consumer behavior research and transit service demand surveys to help define new routes and revisions to existing services.
  3. Accidents:
    • Injuries and damages (165) including insuring your transit agency against liability losses, receiving and processing damage claims, investigating accidents, making settlements and defending public liability cases
    • Safety (166) for providing a system safety plan for employees and the public in order to prevent accidents and including compiling safety statistics.
  4. Planning and service development:
    • Preliminary transit service development (145) including researching transit technology and service areas to determine appropriate technology, route configurations and service level requirements. This covers the expenses associated with performing these activities before a firm commitment to construct is made. After a commitment to construct, these costs are often included as part of the capital cost of the project.
    • Planning (177) including long range and regional transit needs assessments.
  5. General activities:
    • Personnel administration (167) including employee recruitment, administering pre-employment medical exams, conducting orientation programs, administering fringe benefits, performing employee evaluations, conducting grievance procedures, negotiating labor agreements, providing management and supervisory training, and maintaining employee records
    • General legal services (168) for general legal service activities not related to public liability claims for injuries and damages
    • General insurance (169) for preparing, submitting and pursuing insurance claims not related to public liability including fires, weather related damage such as floods, and accidents not related to public liability
    • Data processing (170) including data entry and verification; operating computers, scanners and other equipment for maintaining data bases and conducting analyses; testing, software development and other programming activities; and, maintaining data processing equipment
    • General engineering (173) including researching available technology for performing transit activities, and preparing specifications for constructing or purchasing capital assets;

All engineering associated with maintenance of vehicles, buildings, structures, communication systems, equipment, etc. is included in the appropriate vehicle or non-vehicle maintenance function.

Object Classes

There are ten major expense object classes used in NTD Annual reporting:

  1. Labor (501)
  2. Fringe benefits (502)
  3. Services (503)
  4. Materials and supplies (504)
  5. Utilities (505)
  6. Casualty and liability costs (506)
  7. Taxes (507)
  8. Purchased transportation (PT) service (508)
  9. Miscellaneous expenses (509)
  10. Expense transfers (510).

An object is an article or service obtained. An object class is a grouping of expenses for the goods or services purchased. The object classes include salaries and wages, fringe benefits, services, materials and supplies and other expenses, and are detailed in Section 5.2 of the USOA.

Labor

Labor (501) is the pay that transit agency employees receive for work performed for your transit agency. The pay to employees of outside organizations that provide services to your transit agency are not included as labor expenses, but rather as services (503).

There are two categories for labor (501):

  1. Operators' salaries and wages (501.01)
  2. Other salaries and wages (501.02).

Operators' Salaries and Wages

Operators' salaries and wages (501.01) are the labor expenses for your transit agency employees that usually are the persons driving revenue vehicles. However, there are two other types of transit agency employees that are included as operators:

  1. Conductors and ticket takers in commuter rail (CR) mode
  2. Attendants aboard vehicles to assist riders in boarding and alighting, securing wheelchairs, etc., typically the elderly and individuals with disabilities.

Operators do not include the following two categories:

  1. Employees aboard vehicles for other purposes than described above such as transit security personnel, employees conducting surveys and employees monitoring service performance
  2. Employees permanently removed from performing as operators but who remain classified as operators for payroll. These employees do not work as operators but perform other functions.

You should report the wages paid for vehicle operators, conductors and other on-board crew in object class 501.01, operators' salaries and wages, under the appropriate function, as follows:

Image of hand pointingThe vast majority of operators’ wages and salaries typically are reported in the vehicle operations function. If there is a sizeable portion of operator wages reported in other functions such as vehicle maintenance or general administration, you should describe the reasons for these expenses using the Add Form Notes link.

Other Salaries and Wages

Other salaries and wages (501.02) are the labor expenses for all of your transit agency employees who are not revenue vehicle operators or crew.

You should report other salaries and wages by function using the following rules:

Image of hand pointingAlthough the majority of vehicle operations labor expenses typically are for operators, labor expenses typically also are reported for vehicle operations under other salaries and wages. You should use sing the Add Form Notes link to describe why there are no wages reported for vehicle operations.

Fringe Benefits

Fringe benefits (502) are the expenses for employment benefits or services that an employee receives in addition to his / her basic wages. These payments are your transit agency’s costs over and above labor costs, but still arising from the employment relationship. Typical benefits include contributions to or providing:

Some accounting systems do not track fringe benefit costs by function. In this situation, you must allocate fringe benefit expenses by function. One common approach is to allocate fringe benefit costs in proportion to the sum of salaries and wages listed for labor (501.01 and 501.02) by function. You should report these allocated expenses under fringe benefits (502) and not under expense transfers (510).

Services

The services (503) object class is for:

Services (503) are the expenses for the labor and other work provided by outside organizations for fees and related expenses. Usually, services from an outside organization are a substitute for in-house employee labor because the skills offered by the outside organization are needed for only a short period of time or are better than internally available skills.

Image of hand pointingSome transit agencies are organized as a department of State or local government, or as part of a multifunctional organization. For NTD Annual reporting purposes, if your transit agency is organized this way, your agency does not purchase services from other parts of the governmental entity or multifunctional organization. Therefore, you should not report these expenses in the services object class (503).

Instead, you should report all expenses for activities pertaining to the transit services, but performed by other departments or offices within the governmental or multifunctional entity, in the appropriate object class and function.

For example, if your transit agency is a department of a county government and the county highway department maintains the transit vehicles, you should report highway department’s transit maintenance expenses under the vehicle maintenance function and report maintenance labor expenses in the other salaries and wages object class (501.02), fringe benefit expenses in object class (502) and materials and supplies in object class (504).

Materials and Supplies

Materials and supplies (504) consumed are expenses for tangible products obtained from outside suppliers or manufactured internally. Discounts, sales taxes and excise taxes (except on fuel and lubricants) are included in the cost of the material or supply. Charges to these expense accounts are for the materials and supplies issued from inventory for use and for the materials and supplies purchased for immediate use; i.e., without going through inventory.

There are three reporting categories for materials and supplies (504) consumed:

  1. Fuel and lubricants (504.01)
  2. Tires and tubes (504.02)
  3. Other materials and supplies (504.99).

Fuel and Lubricants

Fuel and lubricants (504.01) are the costs of items such as gasoline, diesel fuel, propane, lubricating oil, transmission fluid, and grease for use in vehicles.

You should report expenses for fuel and lubricants for:

Image of hand pointingYou should report the taxes paid on fuel and lubricants, if applicable, for taxes (507). You should not report these taxes for fuel and lubricants (504.01).

Tires and Tubes

Tires and tubes (504.02) are the lease payments for tires and tubes rented on a time period or mileage basis or the cost of tires and tubes for replacement of tires and tubes on vehicles.

You should report expenses for tires and tubes for:

Other Materials and Supplies

Other materials and supplies (504.99) are the costs of materials and supplies not specifically identified in object classes (504.01) and (504. 02). These materials and supplies may be issued from inventory or purchased for immediate consumption.

Image of hand pointingIn many transit agencies, other materials and supplies expenses reported under vehicle maintenance are the largest category of materials and supplies expenses. These expenses represent the parts used to repair revenue and service vehicles.

Utilities

Utilities (505) costs cover payments made to utility companies for the purchase of their energy or services. Utilities include propulsion power used for electrically driven vehicles, electric power for other uses, water and sewer, natural gas and other fuels for heating, telephone and garbage collection.

You should report expenses for utilities for:

Casualty and Liability Costs

Casualty and liability costs (506) are the expenses related to losses incurred by your transit agency including the costs of loss protection. These expenses include compensation of others for their losses due to acts for which your transit agency is liable, the costs of protecting your transit agency from losses through conventional insurance and other risk financing programs (e.g., self insurance, pools) and agency losses due to the liable actions of others that are covered by other corporate insurance.

Casualty and liability costs (506) include:

Transit agencies cover casualty and liability costs using different risk financing techniques. For these techniques, you should report:

Internet helps you follow the reporting rules by not providing data cells under the vehicle operations function for casualty and liability costs.

You should classify related expenses in the correct object classes and report:

Taxes

Taxes (507) are the charges and assessments levied against your transit agency by Federal, State and local governments.

You should report expenses for:

You should not report:

Purchased Transportation Service

Purchased transportation (PT) services (508) are the expenses incurred and billed by PT providers (sellers) in the operation of the contracted transit services. You only report expenses for this expense object class for PT services. The PT services object class is not included in the expense object classes for DO services.

The PT service object class (508) is for the buyer of PT service and covers the payments or accrurals made to the PT provider. This expense object class does not include:

There are two reporting categories for PT service:

  1. One for sellers included in your agency’s report — In report (508.01)
  2. One for sellers filing their own report — Filing separate report (508.02).

As a general rule, public agencies should report all PT service for In report (508.01), regardless of the number of vehicles operated in maximum service (VOMS) by the PT seller. Therefore, the public agencies will report PT expenses. The public agencies also will report the non-financial operating data for these services in their NTD Annual reports.

However, public agencies buying / selling PT service from / to another public agency (NTD Annual reporter) may determine locally which public agency will report the service, provided only one agency reports the service. If the public agency seller reports the service, the public agency buyer of the service will report PT expenses for Filing separate report (508.02). In this case, the public agency seller also will report the non-financial operating data for the service in its NTD Annual reports.

In rare instances, a seller may be a private or non-profit entity filing a separate NTD report. The seller has a purchased transportation agreement with a buyer who is public agency NTD reporter. The buyer completes Filing separate report (508.02).

Filing in Report

Purchased transportation (PT) service in report (508.01) are the expenses for PT services involving sellers whose non-financial data are included in the buyer's report.

Filing Separate Report

PT service filing separate report (508.02) are the expenses for PT services involving sellers whose non-financial operating data are not included in the buyer's report.

Other Costs Incurred by the Buyer

You should report other costs incurred by your agency in the appropriate function and object class. For example you should report your agency’s expenses for scheduling under the vehicle operations function (010) for labor (501.02) and fringe benefits (502).

Relationship of Purchased Transportation Costs to Contractual Relationship form (B-30)

The purchased transportation costs are reported by contractual relationship on the Contractual Relationship form (B-30). Each form provides information on:

  1. Total contract costs
  2. Other costs incurred by buyer.

For most transit agencies, the total by mode across all the B-30 of the three items listed above equals the operating expenses for PT by mode reported on the F-30 Total Modal Expenses on line 15, column e. The total is the sum of the following:

For some transit agencies, the total by mode across all the B-30 of the three items listed will not equal the operating expenses by PT mode reported on the F-30 Total Modal Expenses on line 15, column e. This is because the contract includes items such as vehicle capital lease and depreciation costs which are reported as reconciling items on the Operating Expenses Summary form (F-40).

Miscellaneous Expenses

Miscellaneous expenses (509) are expenses that cannot be classified in expense object classes (501) through (508).

Miscellaneous expenses include:

Expense Transfers

Expense transfers (510) are adjustments and reclassifications of expenses previously reported in object classes (501) through (509).

Expense transfers include:

Image of hand pointingIf you report expense transfers, expenses in individual object classes and functions for your transit agency may be overstated or understated.

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 Related Expenses (Complementary Paratransit)

NTD requires reporting the total expenses for operating complementary paratransit services, in compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) requirements. You should report total OE for these services on the F-30 form for demand response (DR) mode only on line 16, column e. These expenses should be less than or equal to the total DR modal expenses reported on line 15, column e You may estimate these expenses.


Line by Line Instructions Operating Expenses form (F-30)

Completing the Operating Expenses form (F-30)

You should complete one form for each mode and type of service (TOS).

Form Level Help: You should click on the Help tab at the top of the screen for form level help.

Form Note: A form note can be attached to any form. You should use the Add Form Note link for relevant information to a specific field, to the entire form or to multiple forms. You should click on the Add Form Note link at the top of the screen and enter your note on the Notes screen. You can review and / or edit a form note from the Notes tab. You should not use the Form Notes feature to answer issues generated from this form. From the Issues tab you should use the Add Comments link next to the specific issue.

Saving or Closing the Form: You should click on the Save button prior to exiting the form and continuing with the report. You should click on the Close button at the bottom of the screen to close the form without saving.

Labor (501)

Line 01: Operators’ Salaries and Wages (501.01)

Report the operators' salaries and wages paid for vehicle operations (010), vehicle maintenance (041), non-vehicle maintenance (042) and general administration (160) functions.

Line 02: Other Salaries and Wages (501.02)

Report the other salaries and wages paid for vehicle operations (010), vehicle maintenance (041), non-vehicle maintenance (042) and general administration (160) functions.

Line 03: Fringe Benefits (502)

Report the fringe benefits expenses (i.e., vacation, sick, holiday, personal insurance plans, retirement plans, etc.). attributable to vehicle operations (010), vehicle maintenance (041), non-vehicle maintenance (042) and general administration (160) functions.

Line 04: Services (503)

Report the services expenses for the vehicle operations (010), vehicle maintenance (041), non-vehicle maintenance (042) and general administration (160) functions.

If your transit agency is organized as a department of State or local government, or as part of a multifunctional organization, your agency does not purchase services from other parts of the governmental entity or multifunctional organization. Do not report these expenses in the services object class (503). Report all expenses for activities pertaining to the transit services, but performed by other departments or offices within the governmental or multifunctional entity, in the appropriate object class and function.

Materials and Supplies (504)

Line 05: Fuel and Lubricants (504.01)

Report the fuel and lubricants expenses for vehicle operations (010) and vehicle maintenance (041) functions.

Line 06: Tires and Tubes (504.02)

Report the tires and tubes expenses for the vehicle operations (010) and vehicle maintenance (041) functions.

Line 07: Other Materials and Supplies (504.99)

Report the other materials and supplies expenses for the vehicle operations (010), vehicle maintenance (041), non-vehicle maintenance (042) and general administration (160) functions

Line 08: Utilities (505)

Report the expenses for utilities equal to the expenses for the vehicle operations (010) and general administration (160) functions.

Line 09: Casualty and Liability Costs (506)

Report the expenses for casualty and liability for the vehicle maintenance (041), non-vehicle maintenance (042) and general administration (160) functions.

Line 10: Taxes (507)

Report the Federal, State and local taxes (including Federal and State income tax, property tax, vehicle licensing and registration fees, fuel, lubricant and electric power taxes) for taxes for vehicle operations (010), vehicle maintenance (041), non-vehicle maintenance (042) and general administration (160) functions.

Do not report sales and excise taxes on materials and services purchased other than fuel and lubricants. These are accounted for as part of the base price of the material in materials and supplies (504) or service in services (503).

Do not report rebates and reimbursements of taxes as a credit against an operating expense (OE). Rebates and reimbursements paid are reported as revenue on the Sources of F-10 in either the other funds line or from the original sources.

Purchased Transportation (508)

Line 11: In Report (508.01)

Report total contract costs to sellers. These costs may include payments, accrurals, and retainage of fares.

Report all other expenses incurred by your transit agency as a result of the contracts in the appropriate object class and function. These can include salaries and wages of your transit agency personnel administering or working in some capacity in support of the agreement; fuel and tires if provided to the seller; maintenance of vehicles; marketing; advertising; legal services; ticket sales, etc.

Line 12: Filing Separate Report (508.02)

Report total contract costs to sellers. These costs may include payments, accrurals, and retainage of fares.

Report all other expenses incurred by your transit agency as a result of the contracts in the appropriate object class and function. These can include salaries and wages of your transit agency personnel administering or working in some capacity in support of the agreement; fuel and tires if provided to the seller; maintenance of vehicles; marketing; advertising; legal services; ticket sales, etc.

Line 13: Miscellaneous Expenses (509)

Report expenses that cannot be attributed to any other expense category. Include dues and subscriptions; travel and meeting expenses; bridge, tunnel, and highway tolls; entertainment expenses; charitable donations; fines and penalties, bad debt expense and advertising and promotion expenses.

Line 14: Expense Transfers (510)

Report the expenses for adjustment and reclassification of expenses previously recorded, and capitalization of non-operating costs (used to credit any function in which expense has been temporarily deposited for ultimate capitalization) equal to the expense transfers for the vehicle operations (010), vehicle maintenance (041), non-vehicle maintenance (042) and general administration (160) functions.

Line 15: Total Modal Expenses

Line 16, column e: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) Related Expense.

 


Expenses Summary form (F-40)

Screenshot of the Operating Expenses Summary form (F-40)

Overview

The Operating Expenses Summary form (F-40) form has two purposes:

  1. To summarize total agency expenses reported by mode and type of service (TOS) on the F-30. NTD Internet Reporting summarizes the system wide expenses automatically.
  2. To reconcile expenses reported on the F-30 with expenses reported by your transit agency in other published reports, typically your transit agency’s audited financial statement. This reconciliation is done through the reporting of reconciling expenses on the F-40 form. Transit agencies that are multifunctional organizations should reconcile expenses for their transit operations only.

Reporting Requirements and Thresholds

All transit agencies must complete this form. There is one form covering all modes and TOS.

What Has Changed from Prior Year

There are no changes to the F-40 form for the 2009 report year.

Approach

You should complete only one F-40 form. All data from the F-30 form by mode and TOS are automatically summarized and transferred to the summary form by object class and function, providing a system wide summary of modal expenses. You should enter data only for any reconciling items at the system level.

Reconciling items vary among agencies in how they are treated in their accounting systems. Accounting practices may vary as a result of local ordinances on accounting treatments. Typical reconciling items are depreciation, interest expenses and leases and rentals. They are called reconciling items because they are needed to provide an overall total that is consistent with local published reports, typically the audited financial statement.

Funds Applied and Funds Not Applied

The chart of accounts used for reconciling items is organized by expenditure type (columns) and expense object class (rows). There are two types of expenditures:

  1. Funds applied
  2. Funds not applied.

Funds applied means that your transit agency has incurred expenses and that its payment involves a transfer of money between the agency and another party such as a contractor or another government agency. Examples of object classes with expenses that usually are classified as funds applied include interest expenses and leases and rentals.

The total operating expenses (OE) for which funds where applied and reported on the F-40 form must equal the total sources of funds applied to operations reported on the F-10.

Funds not applied means that the expenses do not involve a transfer of money between your agency and another party and that are typically valued using accounting principles. Examples of object classes with expenses that usually are classified as funds not applied include depreciation of vehicles and amortization of intangibles.

Detailed Instructions

You should report reconciling items by object class for the funds applied and funds not applied categories. An object is an article or service obtained. An object class is a grouping of expenses on the basis of goods or services purchased.

Reconciling Items

There are five major object classes and a residual category to capture reconciling items. One category, amortization of intangibles is a special form of depreciation:

  1. Interest expenses (511)
  2. Leases and rentals (512)
  3. Purchase lease payments (514)
  4. Related parties lease agreement (515)
  5. Depreciation (513)
  6. Other reconciling items (516).

There is also a category to report reconciling items for Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) related expenses for complementary paratransit.

Interest expenses (511) are the charges incurred for borrowed money by your transit agency, and include both long and short-term debt obligations. You should not report interest charges pertaining to construction debt that is capitalized as an interest expense.

Depreciation (513) is probably the largest expense for most transit agencies and is usually reported in the funds not applied category. Depreciation reflects the loss in service value of your transit agency's capital assets. As capital assets, depreciated items have a high initial cost and a useful life of more than one year. To reflect the consumption or use of the asset over its service life, a portion of the asset’s cost is expensed each year. Transit agencies may use different methods to arrive at the yearly depreciation expense.

Amortization of intangibles (513.3) is a special form of depreciation that applies to intangible assets such as franchises, patents, and goodwill. Typically, transit agencies receive intangible assets when they acquire other transit providers. Since these acquisitions have become less and less frequent, very few transit agencies report amortization expenses.

Leasing often covers two types of costs:

  1. Capital equipment lease costs
  2. Operating and maintenance costs.

When reporting leases, you must separate costs associated with operating or maintaining the equipment from costs associated with leasing capital equipment. You should report the operating and maintenance costs in the appropriate object classes and functions by mode on the F-30 form. You should report the lease cost for the capital equipment in the appropriate object class under reconciling items.

Leases are payments for the use of capital assets not owned by your transit agency. There can be different leasing arrangements involving:

Other reconciling (516) items are any other costs that cannot be captured in object classes (511) through (515), such as funds to another agency through a cooperative agreement and expenses for purchased transportation (PT) services not meeting NTD requirements for a contractual agreement.

You must provide a description for costs reported in other reconciling items. You should describe other reconciling items in the Reconciling Items — Other Description field.

Image of hand pointingA detailed explanation of these expense object classes is provided in Chapter 5, Expense Object Classes, in the Uniform System of Accounts (USOA).

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 Related Expenses

For demand response (DR) mode only, you should report the portion of the total reconciling items that result from ADA requirements for complementary paratransit. These expenses should be less than or equal to the total reconciling expenses.


Line by Line Instructions Expenses Summary form (F-40)

Completing the Operating Expenses Summary form (F-40)

You should complete one form. This is a system wide form for all modes and types of service (TOS). Expenses are summarized from the modal detail forms (F-30). You should enter expenses for reconciling items.

Note: Your transit agency may handle reconciling items differently than other transit agencies depending upon local ordinances and conditions.

Form Level Help: You should click on the Help tab at the top of the screen for form level help.

Form Note: A form note can be attached to any form. You should use the Add Form Note link for relevant information to a specific field, to the entire form or to multiple forms. You should click on the Add Form Note link at the top of the screen and enter your note on the Notes screen. You can review and / or edit a form note from the Notes tab. You should not use the Form Notes feature to answer issues generated from this form. From the Issues tab You should use the Add Comments link next to the specific issue.

Saving or Closing the Form: You should click on the Save button prior to exiting the form and continuing with the report. You should click on the Close button at the bottom of the screen to close the form without saving.

Summarized Data from Operating Expenses form (F-30)

Lines 01 – 14: Object Classes 501 – 510.

Lines 15: Total Agency Expenses by Function.

Line 16, column e: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) Related Expenses.

Reconciling Items

Line 17: Interest Expenses (511)

Line 18: Leases and Rentals (512)

Leases and rentals are the expenses for the use of capital assets not owned by your transit agency. True leases are those in which the lessor and lessee are not related parties; the total lease payments cover the lessor's cost of the property for the period of the lease plus interest; and the ownership of the property remains with the lessor upon expiration of the lease. For the true lease, this object class includes the lease payments on true lease property.

Line 19: Purchase Lease Agreement (514)

Purchase lease agreements are financing plans that enable your transit agency to acquire (own) the capital asset at the end of the lease, sometimes with an additional payment due. The property covered by such leases may or may not have been booked as owned assets, either during or after the period of the lease, in your transit agency's internal accounting records. If purchase leases have not been capitalized in your transit agency's internal accounting records, this category includes the lease payments for the purchase lease agreement. If the lease has been capitalized in the internal accounting records of your transit agency, it is to be accounted for in the NTD system as it has been accounted for internally.

Line 20: Related Parties Lease Agreement (515)

Line 21: Depreciation (513)

Depreciation is probably the largest expense for most transit agencies and is usually reported in the funds not applied category. Depreciation reflects the loss in service value of your transit agency's assets. Depreciated items have a high initial cost and a useful life of more than one year. In order to account for the reduction in value (usefulness) of the asset, a portion of the cost is expensed each year of the asset's life. Transit agencies may use different methods to arrive at the yearly depreciation expense.

Line 22: Amortization of Intangibles (513.13)

The amortization of the intangible costs of your transit agency includes organization costs, franchises, patents, goodwill and other intangible assets.

Line 23: Other Reconciling Items (516)

Line 24: Total Reconciling Items

Line 25: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) Related Expenses

Line 26: Total Expenses from Published Reports for Transit Operations

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