Use of Flexible Funds for Transfer Under ISTEA and TEA-21

This synthesis will be of interest to transit agency professionals and the consultants who work with them in dealing with flexible funding opportunities. The purpose is to provide greater familiarity with emerging techniques in the use of flexible funding, and to point out issues that may need further attention. It is intended to provide a review of how current flexible funding provisions are being used to support transit investment and to examine, through a limited number of specific experiences, lessons that may have the broadest relevance throughout the transit industry. The scope of the synthesis includes references to summary Federal Transit Administration (FTA) data from FY 1992-2000, spanning the entire life of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) legislation and the first 3 years of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). This document integrates information from a literature and database review with survey responses and telephone interview responses of key staff at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and a limited sample of state departments of transportation, regional Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and transit authorities. The survey and telephone responses are intended to provide qualitative information about the process, experience, and barriers encountered in exercising flexible funding provisions that is not obvious in other available data.