Section 5316 Job Access and Reverse Commute Program (JARC)

JARC is a grant program under the Federal Transit Administration of the US Department of Transportation. The purpose of the JARC program is to assist states and localities in developing new or expanded transportation services that connect welfare recipients, other low income persons, and others to jobs and other employment related services. Job Access projects are targeted at developing new or expanded transportation services such as shuttles, vanpools, new bus routes, connector services to mass transit, and guaranteed ride home programs for welfare recipients and low income persons. The eligibility threshold of the “Job Access” portion of JARC is 150% of the federal poverty level or lower. Reverse Commute projects have no such income-limiting provision and provide transportation services to suburban employment centers from urban, rural and other suburban locations for all populations i.e., irrespective of income level. Eligible applicants include private nonprofit organizations, State or local governmental authority, and operators of public transportation services including private operators of public transportation services

Eligible activities for Job Access grants include capital, operating and planning expenses of services, equipment, facilities, and associated capital maintenance items related to providing access to jobs. Eligible projects include, but are not limited to:

• Late night and weekend service
• Guaranteed ride home services
• Shuttle Service
• Expanding fixed route mass transit routes
• Demand-responsive van service
• Ridesharing and carpooling activities
• Transit related aspects of bicycling
• Transportation for jobs, interviews, and training
• Transportation to/from day care

Also included are the costs of promoting the use of transit by workers with nontraditional work schedules, promoting the use of transit vouchers, and promoting the use of employer-provided transportation including the transit benefits. In addition, mobility management activities are an eligible capital expense. These eligible expenses are defined as short range planning and management activities and projects for improving coordination among public transportation and other transportation services providers. For Reverse Commute grants, the following activities are eligible—operating costs, capital costs and other costs associated with reverse commute by bus, train, carpool, vans or other transit service.

Matching fund ratios for the JARC program are 80% federal, 20% local for capital (including mobility management) and 50% federal, 50% local for operating or planning assistance.

As designated by the Governor of the State of Arizona, the ADOT Multimodal Planning Division administers JARC funds for all rural (less than 50,000 population) and small urbanized areas (50,000 to 199,999 population) regions of the state, including Avondale in Maricopa County.  As of this publication, Congressional allocations remain under a “continuing resolution” status, so only partial funding amounts are available. However, ultimate projections for FY 2009 statewide funding for rural areas are expected to exceed $590,000, and $330,000 statewide for small urbanized areas. All projects funded under this program must be derived from a locally developed, coordinated public transit-human services transportation planning process. All projects funded under this program must be derived from a locally developed, coordinated public transit-human services transportation planning process. Successful applicants must be included in their Regional Coordination Plan and have participated in related activities.

Parties interested in JARC application within the metropolitan Phoenix and Tucson areas should contact Ms. Wendy Miller and Mr. John Zukas at the Cities of Phoenix and Tucson respectively.

Section 5316 Application

Please contact Ms. Loretta Crimi for Section 5316 assistance.