eNews - July 17, 2025

National RTAP is a program of the Federal Transit Administration dedicated to creating rural and tribal transit solutions through free training materials, technical assistance, and partner collaboration.

Newsletter Highlights

Opportunity to Apply for a National RTAP Community Rides Grant

Upcoming State RTAP Manager Peer Roundtable

Updated National RTAP Head Start Transportation in Rural Areas Technical Brief

FTA National Transit Database Reporting Changes and Clarifications

USDA Rural Community Development Initiative Grants Available

Opportunity to Apply for a National RTAP Community Rides Grant

National RTAP is pleased to announce the Community Rides Grant Program, which offers current recipients and subrecipients of FTA's Formula Grants for Rural Areas (Section 5311) program the opportunity to apply for grants of up to $100,000 for projects that develop or strengthen transportation partnerships that improve transportation access in rural communities. 

Download the Community Rides Grant Program request for proposals (RFP).

The project duration is 12 months. The application deadline is August 29, 2025.

For complete, up-to-date information visit our Community Rides Grant Program web page.

On the web page, you can download the request for proposal (RFP), access helpful resources for developing your proposal, access the application portal, and sign up to be notified of any updates related to the grant program.

Informational Webinars

Two webinars will be held to answer questions and provide an overview of the RFP and the online grant application portal, which will open by July 31, 2025. 

Webinar 1 - Program Overview & Transportation Partnership Examples

July 22, 2025, 2:00-3:00 PM ET

Webinar 2 - Project Development, Performance Measures, & Application Portal

July 31, 2025, 2:00-3:00 PM ET

The webinars will be recorded and a Q&A document will be provided. Submit questions via the webinar registration form or email grants@nationalrtap.org.

Please note that this Roundtable is only for managers of State RTAPs. See the Upcoming National RTAP Events section below for the next Transit Manager Peer Roundtable.

FTA published National Transit Database Reporting Changes and Clarifications for Report Years 2025 and 2026 in the Federal Register. The document outlines changes and guidance regarding GTFS and reduced reporter exemptions for operators predominantly serving rural areas.

On July 1, 2025, FTA published several Interim Final Rules in the Federal Register:

1. Proposing Changes to the Emergency Relief Program (comments due September 2, 2025)
2. Removing a reporting requirement from its Private Investment Project Procedures (comments due July 31, 2025)
3. Modifying the applicability of project management oversight by raising the total cost and federal investment thresholds to align with the statutory thresholds for Small Starts projects under FTA’s Capital Investment Grant program (comments due September 2, 2025)
4. Proposing changes to the reporting requirements for the Public Transportation Safety Certification Training Program (PTSCTP) (comments due September 2, 2025)

FTA published a Charter Service Final Rule on July 1, 2025 in the Federal Register, effective July 31, 2025. It will provide a way to update qualified human service organization (QHSO) lists and reduce the administrative burden of charter registration for many QHSOs.

For the upcoming Public Transportation Safety Certification Training Program (PTSCTP) semi-annual reporting period, the Points of Contact identified by State Safety Oversight Agencies must report the required information to FTA by July 31, 2025. 

The Secretary of Transportation sent a letter to all recipients of U.S. DOT funding on July 2, 2025 regarding compliance with executive orders about DEI and climate change.

FTA published a Third Party Contract Provisions Matrix, which outlines the clauses and certifications that FTA recipients and subrecipients must include in third-party contracts awarded under an FTA financial assistance award. FTA also provides Procurement System Review Program E-Learning Courses, which will help grant recipients ensure their procurements are compliant with federal, state, and local procurement rules and regulations.

The U.S. DOT Build America Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) credit program policy was updated to allow all types of transportation infrastructure projects to finance up to 49% of eligible costs as authorized by TIFIA legislation.

TRB is hosting an Activating Organizational Change to Build Agency Capabilities Webinar on July 17, 2025, from 12:00-1:30 PM ET. The webinar will introduce tools and resources from Advancing Capability-Based (ACB) guidance, and share real-world examples of how agencies are applying the ACB framework in practice. 

The Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility Technical Assistance Center (CCAM-TAC) published a new eLearning course: Thinking Strategically About Transit Technology. It includes modules on supporting technology effectively, planning the project, and reaching out to vendors and procuring.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Transportation by the Mineta Transportation Institute discusses AI applications in transportation and the potential policy needed to address data privacy, cybersecurity, and efficiency to guide AI's responsible deployment.

The Texas Coordination Plan Guidebook, prepared by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute for the Texas Department of Transportation, provides information and tools to the Lead Coordination Agencies & Regional Coordinating Committees. It contains numerous case studies, templates, and tools, such as a methodology to create a transit needs index map. Kari Banta, the Texas RTAP Manager was involved in this initiative.

The Transportation Emergency Response Application (TERA) is a scenario-based training system that provides training and exercise scenarios and materials for command-level and operational roles in public transportation agencies, state departments of transportation, and airport emergency operations centers for natural and human-made disasters. TCRP's Transportation Emergency Response Application (TERA): Migration Options Beyond 2025 identifies options for the content of TERA to one or more platforms and describes materials that have the most value as resources for tabletop exercises. 

Researchers from the University of Tennessee, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory explored State Differences in Light-Duty Vehicle Survival Rates, which include vans. This report describes a model of the stock of used light-duty vehicles with vehicle type, age, and state-level detail. For most states, annual survival rates begin between 0.95 and 1.00 for 2-year-old vehicles and decline relatively slowly until about 10 years of age, after which survival rates decrease more rapidly. 

The Eno Center for Transportation’s Project Delivery Resources Hub includes interactive graphs about FTA’s Capital Cost Database and Eno’s Transit Construction Cost Database.

University of Michigan researchers have developed the first validated measure of transportation security, the Transportation Security Index, that offers insights into who experiences transportation insecurity.

The National Center for Applied Transit Technology (N-CATT) has been working on new tech tools: 1. to help transit agencies visualize how different software systems and technologies communicate data across their platforms and 2. to help transit agencies see how data flows from one part of a process to another. They are looking for transit agencies to beta test these tools. Contact helpdesk@n-catt.org if you are interested.

An interactive map of the Center for Digital Government Digital Counties award winners in Government Technology magazine shows how various jurisdictions are using technology and artificial intelligence, including applications for emergency response.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system a public safety system that allows customers who own compatible mobile devices to receive geographically targeted, text-like messages alerting them of imminent threats to safety in their area.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is accepting grant applications under the Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI). These grants will be made to qualified intermediary organizations that will provide financial and technical assistance to recipients to develop their capacity and ability to undertake projects related to community and economic development that will support the community. Electronic applications must be received by August 7, 2025 and hard-copy applications by August 12, 2025.

The Tribal Solar Gap Funding Grant supports solar projects of any type that require a tribal cost-share or are leveraging funding from other grant opportunities or initiatives. Note that buses can include solar components. The application deadline is August 15, 2025.

Nominations are open through August 8, 2025 to serve on a TCRP panel. Volunteer experts are needed in safety management systems, risk assessment, program evaluation, evacuating persons with cognitive and physical disabilities, partnerships, wayfinding strategies, and law enforcement delivery. 

NHTSA published an Interim Final Rule rescinding its 1975 Procedures for Considering Environmental Impacts from the Code of Federal Regulations. Comments must be received by August 4, 2025.

H.R.1 - the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law on July 4, 2025. The Act included rescission of low-carbon transportation materials grants, corporate average fuel economy civil penalties, extension and modification of qualified transportation fringe benefits, and extension and modification of the clean fuel production credit.

From July 14, 2025 through October 12, 2025, FMCSA granted a waiver allowing interstate commercial driver’s license holders, commercial learner’s permit holders, and motor carriers to continue relying paper copies of medical examiner’s certificates as proof of drivers’ medical certification for up to 15 days after the date the medical examiner’s certificate is issued.

All event times listed in Eastern Time. Subtract 1 hour for Central Time, 2 for Mountain Time, 3 for Pacific Time, 4 for Alaska, and 5 or 6 for Hawaii (depending on daylight savings time).

RideHumboldt

North State Transit Symposium

Fortuna, CA, July 15-17

We're participating

UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies

ITS Asilomar 2025

Pacific Grove, CA, July 15-18

TRB 

Activating Organizational Change to Build Agency Capabilities Webinar

July 17, 12:00-1:30 PM

National RTAP

GTFS Office Hours

July 17, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

FTA

FTA Drug and Alcohol Training Seminar

Billings, MT, July 17-18

USAging

Answers on Aging 2025

Chicago, IL, July 20-23

NLTAPA

National TTAP/LTAP Conference

Kansas City, MO, July 20-24

Please visit our booth!

National Transit Institute

Transit Academy

Pittsburgh, PA, July 21-25

Bobit

Fleet Forward: The Tour

Irvine, CA, July 22

National RTAP

Website Builder Office Hours

July 22, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

New

Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE)

Infrastructure Investments and AVs: A First Look at NCHRP 20-102(24) Webinar

July 22, 1:00 PM

New

Project ECHO, Dartmouth Health, University of New Mexico

Cannabis in the Workplace: An ECHO on Health, Safety, and Management Cohort 1 - Session 4 - Assessing Impairment in the Workplace

July 23, 12:00-1:00 PM 

Transit Workforce Center (TWC)

ATTAIN Bus Operator Mentorship and Apprenticeship Webinar

July 23, 1:00 PM

New

ADA National Network

What is the ADA? 35 Years Along Webinar

July 23, 1:00-2:00 PM

Access Ingenuity

Part 2: Converting Accessible Microsoft Word Files into PDFs — Cleaning Tags and Final Fixes in Adobe Acrobat Digital Accessibility Webinar

July 23, 1:00-2:00 PM

National RTAP

GTFS Office Hours

July 24, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

Native Learning Center

Simplified and Streamlined Environmental Reviews for Tribal Projects Webinar

July 24, 1:00-2:30 PM 

No preregistration necessary. Join at the time of the webinar.

LPTA & SWTA

2025 LPTA & SWTA Summer U Joint Conference & EXPO

New Orleans, LA, July 27-30

Please visit our booth!

Self Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC)

Easy Read Text Webinar

July 28, 4:00 PM

National RTAP

Website Builder Office Hours

July 29, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

New

Vision Zero Network

Small Steps, Real Results - Scaling Up Vision Zero Webinar

July 29, 1:00-2:00 PM

National RTAP

State RTAP Manager Peer Roundtable

July 29, 2:00-3:00 PM

Association of Travel Instruction (ATI)

ATI Annual Conference

Quincy, MA, July 29-31

Please visit our booth!

National RTAP

GTFS Office Hours

July 31, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

New

TRB 

Rethinking Public Transit in Emergency Evacuations—Lessons from Wildfires Webinar

August 4, 12:00-1:30 PM

Self Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC)

Easy Read Icons Webinar

August 4, 4:00 PM

National RTAP

Website Builder Office Hours

August 5, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

National Aging and Disability Transportation Center (NADTC)

Empowering Mobility Together: FTA Section 5310 Webinar

August 5, 3:00 PM 

National Transit Institute

Public Involvement in Transportation Decision-Making

Minneapolis, MN, August 5-7

New

Project ECHO, Dartmouth Health, University of New Mexico

Cannabis in the Workplace: An ECHO on Health, Safety, and Management Cohort 1 - Session 5 - Intervention, Management of Leave, Treatment, Re-entry into the Workplace

August 6, 12:00-1:00 PM 

National RTAP

GTFS Office Hours

August 7, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

National Transit Institute

NTD Report Declarations, Certifications, and Common Requests Webinar

August 7, 2:00-3:30 PM

New

Rural Progress

2050 Fest

Lititz, PA, August 9

New

National Safety Council (NSC)

Road to Zero: Frontiers of Technology Webinar

August 12, 1:00 PM

National RTAP

Website Builder Office Hours

August 12, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

National Transit Institute

NTD Reporting Fundamentals Webinar

August 12, 2:00-3:30

National Aging and Disability Transportation Center (NADTC)

Empowering Mobility Together: FTA Section 5310 Webinar

August 12, 3:00 PM 

New

National RTAP

Transit Manager Peer Roundtable - Mobility Management Focused

August 13, 2:00-3:00 PM

National RTAP

GTFS Office Hours

August 14, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

National Transit Institute

FTA Uniform Act Basics for Transit Agency Personnel Online Course

August 14, 1:00-5:00 PM

National Association of Motorcoach Operators (NAMO)

NAMO 2025 Annual Conference & Marketplace

Williamsburg, VA, August 17-20

New

Washington State Transit Association (WSTA)

Washington State Public Transportation Conference, Vendor Expo, and State Roadeo

Tukwila, WA, August 18-20

Please visit our table!

National Transit Institute

Enhancing Your Transit Asset Management Program with Lifecycle Management Online Course

August 18-20, 1:00-4:30 PM

Transportation Association of South Carolina (TASC)

TASC 2025 Annual Conference and Expo

Myrtle Beach, SC, August 19-21

Please visit our booth!

Community Transportation Association of Virginia (CTAV)

2025 CTAV Conference and Expo

Roanoke, VA, August 19-21

We're participating!

National RTAP

Website Builder Office Hours

August 19, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE)

TOM Talks

August 19, 1:00-2:30 PM

National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE)

TMS Emerging Topics Series: AI and Machine Learning for Performing TMS Functions

August 20, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

National RTAP

GTFS Office Hours

August 21, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

New

Feonix Mobility Rising

Prescribing Access: How the Transportation Rx Supports Recovery from Substance Use Disorders and Beyond Webinar

August 21, 2:00 PM

Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Accreditation Commission (NEMTAC) 

NEMTAC Transform 2025 Annual Conference

Dallas, TX, August 24-26

Please visit our table!

ITS America

ITS World Congress 2025

Atlanta, GA, August 24-28

North American Association of Transportation Safety & Health Officials, Inc. (NAATSHO)

NAATSHO Conference

Cody, WY, August 24-28

New

National Transit Institute

Introduction to Transportation Conformity

Arlington, TX, August 25-27

Iowa State University Institute for Transportation

15th National Conference on Transportation Asset Management

Chicago, IL, August 25-28

National RTAP

Website Builder Office Hours

August 26, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

National Transit Institute

2025 Annual NTD Reporting Clarifications Webinar

August 26, 2:00-3:30 PM

National RTAP

GTFS Office Hours

August 27, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

New

UKi Media & Events

ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle Technology Summit

San Jose, CA, August 27-28

National RTAP

Website Builder Office Hours

September 2, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

New

National Transit Institute

Public Involvement in Transportation Decision-Making

Portland, OR, September 2-4

Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont Transportation Associations

Tri-State Transit Conference

Portland, ME, September 3-5

We're presenting and exhibiting!

MPTA/IPTA/KPTA

2025 Midwest Transit Conference

Kansas City, MO, September 3-5

Please visit our booth!

National RTAP

GTFS Office Hours

September 4, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

New

National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE)

Planned Special Events (PSE) Spotlight Series: September 2025

September 4, 1:00-2:30 PM

National RTAP

Website Builder Office Hours

September 9, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

Utah Urban Rural Specialized Transit Association (URSTA)

URSTA Conference and Roadeo

St. George, UT, September 10-13

Please visit our booth!

National RTAP

GTFS Office Hours

September 11, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

New

National Safety Council (NSC)

2025 NSC Safety Congress & Expo

Denver, CO, September 12-18

American Public Transportation Association (APTA)

APTA Transform

Boston, MA, September 14-17

National RTAP

Website Builder Office Hours

September 16, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

National RTAP

GTFS Office Hours

September 18, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

New

National Transit Institute

FTA Uniform Act Basics for Transit Agency Personnel Online Course

September 18, 1:00-5:00 PM

New

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

2025 AASHTO TransComm

Chicago, IL, September 21-24 

National Transportation in Indian Country (NTICC)

NTICC 2025

Gila, River AZ, September 21-25

We're presenting and exhibiting!

Bobit Business Media

Public Transit & Technology Exchange

Scottsdale, AZ, September 22-24

National RTAP

Website Builder Office Hours

September 23, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

New

National Transit Institute

Public Involvement in Transportation Decision-Making

Phoenix, AZ, September 23-25

New

Terrapinn

MOVE America 2025

Detroit, MI, September 24-25

National RTAP

GTFS Office Hours

September 25, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

National RTAP

Website Builder Office Hours

September 30, 1:00-1:30 PM

No preregistration necessary - join at the time of the meeting

For a listing of all National RTAP and other national events, view our Calendar. To submit an event, email info@nationalrtap.org.

National RTAP | 888-589-6821 | info@nationalrtap.org | nationalrtap.org