As some readers may recall, the Federal Transit Administration in Dec. 2011 found that Metro did not fully follow federal regulations and guidance about the process the agency used to make service changes. At the time, Metro released a compliance plan to correct the problems.

And today the FTA found Metro was in compliance. Here is the description from Metro staff:

The Acting Director of the Office of Civil Rights, Federal Transit Administration, issued a letter today stating that Metro has “satisfactorily addressed all of the deficiencies identified in the September 2011 Compliance Review; therefore the Compliance Review is closed.”

Since December 2011, Metro has worked closely with the FTA after a Title VI Compliance Review conducted in July 2011 found Metro deficient in five, out of the twelve, areas that were reviewed.

As of January 2013, four of the five areas were resolved to the satisfaction of the FTA – the remaining area being the evaluation of service changes.

The June 27, 2013 letter closes out this remaining issue with the FTA concurring with Metro’s analysis that the service changes implemented between 2009 and 2011 did not reveal disparate impacts to minority populations. The FTA also specifically acknowledges Metro’s Civil Rights and Planning staff for their assistance in resolving this matter.

Ultimately,  Metro is pleased to finalize this review process and remains committed to ensuring that it will maintain compliance with all provisions of the FTA’s Title VI requirements.

The Civil Rights Compliance Department is now working on the Title VI Program Update, which must be submitted to the FTA by October 1, 2013.  The Update will report on Metro’s Title VI compliance for the past three years and will require Board approval at the September 2013 Board Meeting.