Ridership Reporting Quick Instruction Guide

Transcription

1 Ridership Reporting Quick Instruction Guide Department of Transportation Division of Finance & Management Office of Air, Rail & Transit 700 East Broadway Avenue Pierre, South Dakota Updated October

2 Background Information: It is a requirement of the Office of Air, Rail & Transit that rides given, miles traveled, and other required data be recorded and reported to the South Dakota Department of Transportation, Office of Air, Rail & Transit for vehicles that were purchased with funds granted through the capital assistance program through our office, or for vehicles that are operated with operating funds through our office. These reports are known as ridership reports. Vehicles purchased with funds from the FTA are considered to have federal interest in the vehicles. A rule of thumb is, as long as you are operating the vehicle, you will have to complete ridership reports to us. You will be notified in writing by us at such time when you are no longer required to submit these reports to us. The information you submit online is the information assembled and submitted in various reports to the Federal Transit Administration, South Dakota Department of Transportation, and others upon request. Our office relies on your agency to ensure the information submitted online is accurate. Our reports are generated from the information (ridership reports) you submit to us. It is very important to verify the data you submit to us in these reports is correct. It is in your best interest to accurately report the number of rides you provide and the number of miles vehicles traveled. Do not report a ride you did not provide. Do not inflate your numbers. All agencies are required to have this information submitted or reported by October 31. Some agencies are required to have information about certain vehicles submitted sooner. You will be contacted by our office if you are one of those agencies. It is up to you to determine how often you will submit ridership information to our office. You can submit Monthly, Quarterly or Annually unless you are instructed by our office otherwise. You are welcome to use the Trip Sheet Passenger Count sheet to assist you in tracking the number of rides and the trip purposes. If you have dispatching software, you likely have other means of totaling your passengers and gathering data. If you have questions regarding this, please contact our office. Please also keep in mind that in order to have received the vehicle through the capital assistance program, a representative from your agency signed an agreement with our office that stated your agency would comply with necessary requirements. One of those requirements is providing data, such as ridership reports, to us when requested or required. Please share the information in this document with relevant staff. If you have any questions about this online reporting program or regarding your vehicle, please contact our office. Melissa Hull Nancy Surprenant Melissa.Hull@state.sd.us Nancy.Surprenant@state.sd.us

3 Website: Go to This is the program you should use to enter in the ridership information about your vehicles. Username and Password: Enter your Username and Password. If you need either, please contact Melissa Hull or Nancy Surprenant. After you enter your Username and Password, a screen labeled Vehicle View List should appear. This list should show the vehicles that are currently operated by your agency. If you discover a vehicle is not included that should be, please let us know immediately. Likewise, if a vehicle is included in your inventory that you no longer have, please let us know. Your agency may have more than one page of vehicles. New Usage Report: On the left hand column of the page, click on New Usage Reports A screen will appear where you will enter all data. Select the Vehicle: You are asked to enter the VIN from the pull down menu for the vehicle. The VINs should be the same as the vehicles that appear in the Vehicle View List. Select the Report Type: You are asked to enter the Report Type from the pull down menu. You have the option to submit these reports monthly, quarterly, or annually unless you ve otherwise been instructed by SDDOT. The minimum reporting requirement is annually, with all reports submitted online by October 31. Some agencies must have ridership completed for certain vehicles before October 31. You will be contacted by SDDOT if you are one of those agencies. Enter the Report Date: This is the time period for the data you are reporting. This date is NOT meant to be today s date. Enter this date in mm/dd/yyyy format. We recommend entering this date as the 1 st of the month, quarter, or year of the report you are adding. For example: 10/01/2011 could be Monthly for October 2011; it could be Quarterly for Oct Nov Dec 2011; or could be Annually for October 1, 2011 September 30, SDDOT s fiscal year is from October 1 September 30. Please pay special attention to this we all want your ridership information to be as accurate as possible. That also means that the information you submit is for the correct fiscal year. 3

4 Enter Ridership and Mileage Info: Ridership and Trip Purpose MUST EQUAL! You will receive a vague error message if they don t. You will not be allowed to continue with the report for that vehicle. You will have to re enter all of the data for that specific vehicle again. Be sure to report the miles traveled if you re reporting rides you can t have one without the other. Be sure to report rides given if you re reporting miles traveled you can t have one without the other. Effective 10/1/12, if there is one without the other reported; neither will be counted or credited for your agency. Sound silly? Believe us, it happens. Please, please please check your work. Double check the reports and totals to make sure the data you have entered is correct, adds up, equals where it s supposed to, and the required fields are filled in. This saves both your agency and SDDOT time and re works at a later date. Ridership and Mileage Info: Passenger Characteristic: Elderly = Anyone over the age of 60. Ambulatory = Able to walk on own, or with assistance of another person, cane, walker Non ambulatory = Confined to a wheelchair Disabled = An individual with a physical or cognitive disability under the age of 60. Ambulatory = Able to walk on own, or with assistance of another person, cane, walker Non ambulatory = Confined to a wheelchair School Age = Passenger between ages of General Public = Passenger that does not fit into a category above. If a child, age 10, is confined to a wheelchair, that passenger should be counted under Disabled and Non ambulatory. If a person, age 80, is confined to a wheelchair, that passenger should be counted as Elderly and Nonambulatory. Trip Purpose: For every passenger, there should be a trip purpose. Ridership and Trip Purpose MUST EQUAL. Care attendants should not be counted. The theory here: the care attendant would not be taking that trip if not for the person they were assisting. Each one way trip (origin to destination) should be counted as one trip. Example: Mrs. Smith is picked up at her house, taken to the dentist, then picked up at the dentist and returned to her house. This is 2 trips. 4

5 Enter Operating Characteristics: Enter your data for each of the fields. Total Mileage = Vehicle Revenue Miles This is the total number of miles for the reporting period that the vehicle traveled WHILE IN REVENUE SERVICE. Exclude deadhead miles, miles for driver training, and miles traveled while a vehicle is being repaired or maintained (an on the road test). Also exclude miles traveled for excepted or exempted charter services. Gallons Consumed = The number of gallons of fuel that was used for the reporting period. Current Odometer Reading Odometer reading as of the ending day of the reporting period. Number of Days Operated = The number of days operated within the reporting period. Odometer Last Oil Change = The odometer reading when the vehicle last had an oil change. Odometer Last Tune Up = The odometer reading when the vehicle last had preventive maintenance completed. Preventive maintenance such as what is defined or spelled out in your owner s manual. Yearly Insurance Premium = Enter this by vehicle. This likely will not be the same number for all of your vehicles unless all of your vehicles are exactly the same age, make and model. Revenue Hours = This is the total amount of hours for the reporting period that the vehicle traveled WHILE IN REVENUE SERVICE. Include any layovers (waiting for a passenger during a medical appointment in another town), but exclude deadhead, operator training, and vehicle maintenance testing. Coordinated Trips = A trip that is paid in whole or in part directly to the transit provider by a third party. Common Coordinated Trips may be Medicaid, Assisted Living Center, Head Start, and Adjustment Training Centers. Enter Financial Data: Financial data is now optional. We are able to run a report for your vehicles based on data you submit online. If you are interested in knowing more about this, please let us know. Some agencies track vehicle expenses by vehicle. Submit Data Enter your data for each of the fields. After all data is entered, click SUBMIT. 5

6 Repeat as Necessary: If you have additional vehicles to report for, you ll have to go to and repeat these steps for each vehicle. New Usage Reports TIPS!! If you make an error, you are able to Edit these reports. Please be very careful when using this feature. If you have questions, please call our office. You are able to view your annual information by clicking on Vehicle Report On the left hand column of this page. Using the pull down menu, selected the year you want to view. This report will show you all data that is reported (which is data that you entered) for the Fiscal Year that you selected. SDDOT s fiscal year is from October 1 to September 30. SDDOT uses this report and compares it to another report that is used from the data you enter here. We cannot stress enough how important it is for you to enter information correctly. This is the starting point for all statistical data related to performance. If you find information about your vehicle is missing (such as the license plate number), please let us know by . We can quickly add that information. If a vehicle is missing from your inventory, please let us know. If you have questions, please be sure to call. Melissa Hull Nancy Surprenant Melissa.Hull@state.sd.us Nancy.Surprenant@state.sd.us