We just completed our 3rd Technical Assistance Conference in Omaha on October 29 - November 1. Thank you all for making it an incredible success! 

You took advantage of the information to build community, share experience and learn new approaches to make your programs better, stronger, and more responsive. The speakers and sessions amplified your engagement. Kristina Cerise got us laughing at ourselves to be more productive. Billy Mills gave us the gift of his real life challenges and achievements with his Oglala Lakota (Sioux) heritage and a reminder of the beauty of diversity.  And FTA Acting Administrator K. Jane Williams spoke of transit as a lifeline for the more than 86 million Americans living in rural and tribal communities.

We are confident we will have more discussions going forward between rural and tribal transit managers, state programs, and intercity operators. Like our speakers, National RTAP staff is all in to help you with training, tools, and information - contact us any time. 

Please fill out the survey so we can plan our next conference and outreach for our coming year!  We hope to see you at the 2018 Rural & Intercity Bus Conference in Breckenridge, CO. 

National RTAP Tribal Peer Call: ADA Riders Guide and Policies and Procedures for Tribal Transit

National RTAP and the National Aging & Disability Transportation Center are hosting a conversation about ADA and Tribal Transit on November 30 at 2:00-3:00 PM ET. Facilitators will include Carol Wright Kenderdine of NADTC and Easterseals, Jennie Rowland, Big Woods Transit (Bois Forte Tribe) Manager and Vice Chair of the National RTAP Review Board, as well as National RTAP Staff. Register now and join us!

National RTAP Solicits Nominations for Review Board Members

For 2018, National RTAP is soliciting nominations for two state transit officials (one in spring and one in fall) and three rural or tribal transit operators (two in spring and one in fall) for our Review Board.  The term is three years beginning at the member's first meeting. Additional information, including the nomination form are  available here .  Nominations are due January 15, 2018.

FTA and U.S. DOT Updates

FTA is upgrading its Federal Access Control and Entry System (FACES) that allows FTA grant recipients and NTD reporters to access the platform that houses TrAMS and the NTD. Join the FACES webinar  from 2-4 p.m. EST on November 16.

U.S. DOT has posted the following  in the Federal Register:  Procedures for Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs : Addition of Certain Schedule II Drugs to the DOT's Drug-Testing Panel and Certain Minor Amendments. The rule adds hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone, and oxycodone  to their drug-testing panel ; adds methylenedioxyamphetamine as an initial test analyte; and removes methylenedioxyethylamphetamine as a confirmatory test analyte. The rule is effective January 1, 2018.

U.S. DOT has published a primer, Developing and Sustaining a Transportation Systems Management & Operations Mission for Your Organization: A Primer for Program Planning to help State DOTs, planning organizations, and operations organizations to identify the strategic, programmatic, and tactical elements needed to develop their mission and describes ten guiding principles.

National RTAP recently launched a new and improved  Resource Library  interface.  L earn how to use the system for free, high quality technical assistance and training materials. This recorded webinar covers browsing, searching, filtering, saving, downloading, and requesting print copies.   Slides are also available for download.

• GTA, Savannah, GA, December 6-7, 2017
• TRB Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 7-11, 2018