RURAL EQUITY ACT WOULD BENEFIT RURAL AND SMALL URBAN COMMUNITIES

Making good on her promise to get rural America back on track, Congresswoman Virginia Smith has introduced a legislative proposal which aims to change the way federal transit assistance funds are distributed and how assistance programs are administered. The proposal calls for: raising the rural share of UMTA Section 18 formula transit assistance from 2.93 percent to 6 percent; allocating $100 million in additional funds to the states for transit assistance in areas where the population is under 200,000, beginning in 1990; renaming the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) to the Public Transportation Administration; encouraging each governor to appoint a state ombudsman to coordinate rural transportation resources; formally establishing an administrative unit within UMTA to coordinate rural transit policies and activities and to meet with rural and specialized transit operators on a regular basis; and requiring the U.S. DOT to report annually on how well the department is meeting rural mobility needs.