Golden Getaways
For over 20 years, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has offered individually scheduled bus trips (called "Golden Getaways") for members of non-profit senior organizations. These trips have been provided under an interpretation of the original Charter Service regulation, issued in 1987 by the Federal Transit Administration. This regulation governs and restricts the provision of charter bus services by recipients of Federal funding. Since VTA receives Federal funding for purchases of busses and related property, we are required to comply with this regulation.
Effective April 30, 2008, the charter service rule, codified in Part 604 of Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, has been changed substantially and these changes affect our ability to provide future bus trips for all senior organizations. VTA has carefully reviewed these changes and has concluded that future "Golden Getaways" bus trips can be provided to members of your organization under either of the following two conditions. If your organization wants to continue scheduling these bus trips, please carefully review the following options.
Under the new charter service rule, a nonprofit senior organization that receives funding, directly or indirectly, under one or more of the programs listed on the FTA Appendix A is eligible for the "Golden Getaways" program with no further requirements. Accordingly, review these programs and, if your organization is funded (directly or indirectly) under any of them, please document that funding to VTA. Since the Federal funding may be packaged under other grants or programs, and administered by a local agency, you may have to request your local funding source to determine whether any of these Federal programs are supporting your organization.
If your organization does not receive funding under any of the specified Federal programs, it must register on the FTA website to be eligible for the "Golden Getaways" program. Registration is relatively simple and is intended to demonstrate that your non-profit senior organization is a "qualified human service organization" as that term is defined in the new charter service rule.
After registration is complete and verified, there is a waiting period of 60 days before charter services can be provided. The purpose of this waiting period is to allow registered private charter services to review the qualifications of your organization to receive charter services from a public agency. The information provided must be updated every two years. Website registration requirements are described in Subpart D of the new charter rule.
VTA believes the two options outlined in this letter provide the most direct manner of compliance with the new rule. If you need further explanation or assistance, please contact VTA’s Senior Connections Program at 408-321-2327.
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