49 U.S.C. § 5315
Section 5315 · National transit institute
Current version, with additions and removals from the July 22, 1998 version.
(a) Establishment and Duties.—The Secretary of Transportation shall make grants to Rutgers University to establish a national transit institute. In cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration, State transportation departments, public mass transportation authorities, and national and international entities, the institute shall develop and conduct training programs of instruction for United States Government, State, and local transportation employees, United States citizens, and foreign nationals engaged or to be engaged in Government-aid mass transportation work. The programs may include courses in recent developments, techniques, and procedures related to—
(1) mass transportation planning;
(2) management;
(3) environmental factors;
(4) acquisition and joint use of rights of way;
(5) engineering and architectural design;
(6) procurement strategies for mass transportation systems;
(7) turnkey approaches to delivering mass transportation systems;
(8) new technologies;
(9) emission reduction technologies;
(10) ways to make mass transportation accessible to individuals with disabilities;
(11) construction, construction management, insurance, and risk management;
(12) maintenance;
(13) contract administration;
(14) inspection;
(15) innovative finance; and
(16) workplace safety.
(b) Related Educational and Training Programs.—The Secretary shall delegate to the institute the authority of the Secretary to develop and conduct educational and training programs related to mass transportation.
(c) Providing Education and Training.—Education and training of Government, State, and local transportation employees under this section shall be provided—
(1) by the Secretary at no cost to the States and local governments for subjects that are a Government program responsibility; or
(2) when the education and training are paid under subsection (d) of this section, by the State, with the approval of the Secretary, through grants and contracts with public and private agencies, other institutions, individuals, and the institute.
(d) Availability of Amounts.—Not more than .5 percent of the amounts made available for a fiscal year beginning after September 30, 1991, to a State or public mass transportation authority in the State to carry out sections 5307 and 5309 of this title is available for expenditure by the State and public mass transportation authorities in the State, with the approval of the Secretary, to pay not more than 80 percent of the cost of tuition and direct educational expenses related to educating and training State and local transportation employees under this section.
(a) General Purposes.—In the interest of fulfilling the general purposes of this chapter under section 5301(b), the Secretary shall—
(1) better coordinate public and private sector-provided public transportation services;
(2) promote more effective utilization of private sector expertise, financing, and operational capacity to deliver costly and complex new fixed guideway capital projects; and
(3) promote transparency and public understanding of public-private partnerships affecting public transportation.
(b) Actions to Promote Better Coordination Between Public and Private Sector Providers of Public Transportation.—The Secretary shall—
(1) provide technical assistance to recipients of Federal transit grant assistance, at the request of a recipient, on practices and methods to best utilize private providers of public transportation; and
(2) educate recipients of Federal transit grant assistance on laws and regulations under this chapter that impact private providers of public transportation.
(c) Actions to Provide Technical Assistance for Alternative Project Delivery Methods.—Upon request by a sponsor of a new fixed guideway capital project, the Secretary shall—
(1) identify best practices for public-private partnerships models in the United States and in other countries;
(2) develop standard public-private partnership transaction model contracts; and
(3) perform financial assessments that include the calculation of public and private benefits of a proposed public-private partnership transaction.
(d) Rule of Construction.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to alter—
(1) the eligibilities, requirements, or priorities for assistance provided under this chapter; or
(2) the requirements of section 5306(a).