Section 18-A. Statewide mass transportation operating assistance program

1.   Within the amounts made  available  therefor  by  appropriation,  a
  statewide  mass  transportation  operating  assistance program is hereby
  established for the purpose of  making  payments  toward  the  operating
  expenses  of  public  transportation  systems.  For the purposes of this
  section, the term public transportation system  shall  mean  any  public
  benefit   corporation  constituting  a  transportation  authority  which
  provides  or  contracts  for  the  provision  of  (under  joint  support
  arrangements)  mass transportation services, or a subsidiary thereof, or
  any county or city which provides or  contracts  for  the  provision  of
  (pursuant  to  section  one  hundred nineteen-r of the general municipal
  law) mass transportation services.
    2. a. On and after  May  first,  nineteen  hundred  seventy-four,  the
  commissioner  shall  pay to each public transportation system that makes
  an   application   therefor,   in   quarterly   installments,   a   mass
  transportation operating assistance service payment to be determined and
  computed  as  follows:  the  chief executive officer of each such system
  shall certify to the commissioner not more than  thirty  days  nor  less
  than  fifteen  days prior to the date of commencement of any quarter for
  which an installment is payable, the total  number  of  passengers  such
  system  estimates  that it will carry and the total number of vehicle or
  car miles such system  estimates  that  its  equipment  will  travel  in
  revenue  service  during the quarter for which such installment is to be
  paid. Upon receipt of any such  certification,  the  commissioner  shall
  provide  to  the  public  transportation system a service payment, which
  payment shall be computed by adding the sum of (i) the certified  number
  of  passengers  multiplied  by  one and four-tenths cents per passenger,
  (ii) the certified number of vehicle or car  miles  multiplied  by  nine
  cents  per  vehicle  or  car  mile,  and  (iii)  the  amount obtained by
  multiplying the total number of persons within the urban area served  by
  the  public  transportation  system,  as  determined by the most current
  federal decennial census, by ten cents per  capita;  provided,  however,
  that  any service payment made by the commissioner to any county or city
  on account of such county's or city's contracts for mass  transportation
  services  (pursuant  to  section  one  hundred nineteen-r of the general
  municipal law), shall not include an amount computed  under  item  (iii)
  above.  Such  quarterly installments shall be payable not later than the
  tenth day of each successive quarter, with the  quarters  commencing  on
  the  first  day  of  May,  August,  November and February, respectively;
  provided, however, that for the first quarter of May first through  July
  thirty-first,  nineteen hundred seventy-four, such quarterly installment
  may be made on or before June fifteenth, nineteen  hundred  seventy-four
  and  the  chief  executive  officer  of any public transportation system
  making application hereunder shall make the required certifications  not
  more than thirty nor less than fifteen days prior to such date.
    b.  Each  public  transportation  system receiving a quarterly service
  payment pursuant to this subdivision shall certify to the  commissioner,
  within  five days of the end of each quarter for which a service payment
  was received, the actual total  number  of  passengers  carried  by  the
  system during such quarter and the actual total vehicle or car miles the
  system's  equipment traveled in revenue service during such quarter, and
  based  upon  such  actual  totals,  the  commissioner  shall  make  such
  adjustments  as  may be appropriate in the amount of the service payment
  for such system for the succeeding quarter.
    3. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision two of this  section,
  the commissioner may establish with respect to any public transportation
  system   a  maximum  service  payment,  limiting  the  amount  of  state
  assistance for which such system may qualify, where it appears that  the

  total   amount  of  money  appropriated  or  allocated  to  a  group  of
  unspecified public transportation systems is less than the total  amount
  of  money  for  which the entire group is eligible. Such maximum service
  payments  may  be  established  on  a  quarterly or annual basis, in the
  discretion of the commissioner; provided, however, that the sum  of  all
  of the maximum service payments established during the period covered by
  the  appropriation,  shall  equal  the  amount  of  the appropriation or
  allocation.
    4. a. For any quarter commencing  on  or  after  May  first,  nineteen
  hundred   seventy-four,   any   county   or  city  served  by  a  public
  transportation system  that  receives  a  service  payment  pursuant  to
  subdivision  two of this section shall, not later than the fifteenth day
  following the commencement of the quarter for which the payment is  made
  or the date on which the payment is made, whichever is later, pay to the
  public transportation system a sum equal to such service payment, except
  that  in  the  case of a service payment made to a public transportation
  system on account of mass transportation services provided to more  than
  one  county  (considering  the  city of New York to be one county), each
  county receiving such services from such system shall pay to the  system
  a  sum  equal  to  its  share of the service payment, which sum shall be
  determined  in  accordance  with  the  percentage  or   dollar   amounts
  established for such county by the legislature.
    b.  The  payment required of any county or city by paragraph a of this
  subdivision shall be in addition to all other forms  of  assistance  now
  provided or scheduled to be provided to any public transportation system
  by  any  county  or  city,  whether  directly  or  indirectly; provided,
  however, that where any county or city pays all of the operating deficit
  of a public transportation system within such county or city, the amount
  of  assistance  provided  by  such  county  or  city  to   such   public
  transportation  system  may  be  reduced  to  the  extent of the service
  payment, but in no event to an amount less than the service payment.
    c. In the event that a county or city shall fail to make to  a  public
  transportation  system  any  of  the  payments required to be made by it
  under this subdivision,  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  public
  transportation  system  or  such  other person as the commissioner shall
  designate shall certify to the state comptroller  such  amount  due  and
  owing  such public transportation system and the state comptroller shall
  withhold an equivalent amount from state aid allocated to such county or
  city from highway  aid,  the  motor  fuel  tax  and  the  motor  vehicle
  registration  fee  distributed pursuant to section one hundred twelve of
  the highway law, or per capita  local  assistance  pursuant  to  section
  fifty-four   of   the   state  finance  law  subject  to  the  following
  limitations: prior to withholding amounts allocated to carry such county
  or city, the comptroller shall pay in full any amount due the  state  of
  New  York municipal bond bank agency, on account of any such county's or
  city's obligation to such agency; the city university construction fund,
  pursuant to the provisions of the city university construction fund act;
  the New York city  housing  development  corporation,  pursuant  to  the
  provisions  of  the  New  York  city housing development corporation act
  (article twelve of the private housing finance  law);  and  the  transit
  construction fund, pursuant to the provisions of article two, title nine
  of  the  public authorities law. The comptroller shall give the director
  of the budget notification of any such payment. Such amount  or  amounts
  so  withheld  by  the  state  comptroller  shall  be paid to such public
  transportation system, which system shall use such amount or amounts for
  the payment of the county or city share of  its  operating  expenses  as
  determined by the legislature or by the formula or formulae developed by
  the  commissioner.  When  such  amount  or  amounts are received by such

  public transportation system, it shall credit such amounts  against  any
  amounts due and owing such system by the county or city on whose account
  such amount was withheld and paid.
    5.  Any  federal financial assistance granted for the specific purpose
  of paying the operating expenses of any county, city or  public  benefit
  corporation   eligible   to   receive   service  payments  as  a  public
  transportation system pursuant to this section, received by the state or
  any municipality after the effective date  of  this  section,  and  made
  available  to  any  such  county, city or public benefit corporation for
  application in accordance with the terms of the grant, shall be combined
  with any similar federal grant made directly  to  the  county,  city  or
  public  benefit  corporation  to help meet the operating expenses of any
  mass transportation services provided for by any such  county,  city  or
  public benefit corporation whether directly or by contract. In the event
  that  the  total revenues of any public transportation system, including
  subsidies from federal, state or local  governments,  exceed  the  total
  operating  expenses  for  any  such system, excluding depreciation, such
  excess shall be utilized by the system to reduce fares or to  extend  or
  increase  mass  transportation  services.  A plan to effectuate any such
  fare reduction or extension or increase in services shall  be  submitted
  to the commissioner by a public transportation system within thirty days
  of  receiving  notice from the commissioner to prepare and submit such a
  plan.  Upon  approval  by  the  commissioner,   such   plan   with   any
  modifications  made  by the commissioner shall be implemented as soon as
  practical. Upon the failure of a public transportation system to  submit
  a  plan in the manner provided by this subdivision, the surplus shall be
  utilized by such system to reduce the proportionate shares of the  state
  and the county or city required to make matching payments to the system,
  or  in  the  event that no future payments are to be made to such public
  transportation system, the  system  shall  proportionately  refund  such
  surplus to the state and the county or city involved.
    6.  The  commissioner  may  prescribe  such regulations as he may deem
  appropriate to effectuate the purposes of this section,  including,  but
  not  limited  to,  a  uniform  system  of accounting for the purposes of
  reporting pursuant to the provisions of this section.  The  commissioner
  shall  also  define  by  rules  and  regulations, the terms "passenger",
  "vehicle or car mile",  "the  urban  area  served  by  any  such  public
  transportation  system",  "passenger-mile",  "chief  executive officer",
  "mass transportation services", and "service payment",  and  such  other
  terms  as  he  deems  necessary  to  carry  out  the statewide operating
  assistance program.
    7. The commissioner shall have the power  to  audit  and  examine  the
  accounts,  books,  contracts,  records,  documents  and  papers  of  any
  participating public transportation system in order  to  effectuate  the
  purposes and intent of this section.
    8.  The  commissioner  is hereby authorized to enter into contracts or
  otherwise cooperate  with  the  federal  government  or  any  agency  or
  instrumentality thereof for the purposes set forth in this section. Such
  authorization  shall include the power to apply for, receive, distribute
  or  expend  federal  money  available  or  which  may  hereafter  become
  available for such purposes. The distribution of federal monies shall be
  in accordance with the requirements of the federal grant, except that in
  the   absence  of  any  required  distribution  the  commissioner  shall
  distribute such federal monies in a manner designed to have the  maximum
  effect on fare stabilization throughout the state.
    * NB Expired May 1, 1975