An Act To Improve Public Transportation in Maine

Sec. 1. Requirements. The Department of Transportation shall encourage local volunteer driver networks funded in section 2 to work with regional transportation providers to leverage the providers' experience, mobility management systems, vehicles and other resources; seek financial assistance from municipalities and other sources; charge modest fares; and serve all interested residents. The Department of Transportation shall coordinate the pilot purchase of service program funded in section 2 with related efforts of the Statewide Independent Living Council. The Department of Transportation shall distribute the funding for regional transportation providers in section 2 using the same formula as current state public transportation funding is distributed: 50% distributed to urban areas following the United States Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration formula and 50% distributed to rural areas following the standards governing the Federal Transit Administration formula grants for rural areas under 49 United States Code, Section 5311, which include the number of square miles in the service area, the population of the service area and the percentage of low-income individuals in the service area.

Sec. 2. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and allocations are made.

TRANSPORTATION, DEPARTMENT OF

Multimodal - Transit 0443

Initiative: Provides funding to support and expand local volunteer driver networks.

HIGHWAY FUND	2017-18	2018-19
All Other	$500,000	$500,000
HIGHWAY FUND TOTAL	$500,000	$500,000

Multimodal - Transit 0443

Initiative: Provides funding to create a pilot purchase of service program in a selected region of the State to provide senior citizens and persons with disabilities vouchers to purchase their own transportation services.

HIGHWAY FUND	2017-18	2018-19
All Other	$500,000	$500,000
HIGHWAY FUND TOTAL	$500,000	$500,000

Multimodal - Transit 0443

Initiative: Provides funding for regional transportation providers throughout the State to expand their services.

HIGHWAY FUND	2017-18	2018-19
All Other	$13,000,000	$13,000,000
HIGHWAY FUND TOTAL	$13,000,000	$13,000,000

TRANSPORTATION, DEPARTMENT OF
DEPARTMENT TOTALS	2017-18	2018-19
HIGHWAY FUND	$14,000,000	$14,000,000
DEPARTMENT TOTAL - ALL FUNDS	$14,000,000	$14,000,000

summary

This bill provides funding to the Department of Transportation to support and expand local volunteer driver networks; to create a pilot purchase of service program in a selected region of the State to provide senior citizens and persons with disabilities vouchers to purchase their own transportation services; and for regional transportation providers throughout the State to expand their services.