Section 99 Regional Transit Authority Funding Distribution

Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, for fiscal year 2024, $150,000,000 shall be considered operating assistance and distributed to regional transit authorities from item 1595-6370 of section 2E and item 1596-2406 of section 2F. For fiscal year 2024, $90,500,000 of the amount transferred in item 1595-6370 shall be distributed based on fiscal year 2023 distributions in accordance with the updated fiscal year 2023 bilateral memorandum of understanding between each regional transit authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation; provided, however, that each regional transit authority shall receive operating assistance from said item 1595-6370 of said section 2E of not less than the amount received in fiscal year 2023; and provided further, that $3,500,000 shall be distributed to each regional transit authority based on the following formula: 60 per cent based on total transit ridership as reported on the most recent certified national transit data base report, 30 per cent based on the population of its member communities from the most recent census and 10 per cent based on service coverage area determined by the total square miles of its member communities. The department may require each regional transit authority to provide data on ridership, customer service and satisfaction, asset management and financial performance, including farebox recovery, and shall compile any such collected data into a report on the performance of regional transit authorities and detail each authority's progress towards meeting the performance metrics established in each memorandum of understanding.