It is recommended that the City Council authorize the City Manager to execute the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) for collecting and reporting data for the National Transit Database (NTD), in such final form as approved by the City Attorney.

After data reporting was required by Congress in 1974, the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) NTD was set up to be the repository of data about the financial, operating, and asset conditions of American transit systems. The NTD records the financial, operating, and asset conditions of transit systems, helping to keep track of the industry and provide public information and statistics. The NTD is designed to support local, state and regional planning efforts and help governments and other decision-makers make multi-year comparisons and perform trend analyses. It contains a wealth of information such as agency funding sources, inventories of vehicles and maintenance facilities, safety event reports, measures of transit service provided and consumed, and data on transit employees.

FTA uses NTD data to apportion funding to urbanized and rural areas in the United States. Transit agencies report data on a number of key metrics including Vehicle Revenue Miles (VRM), Vehicle Revenue Hours (VRH), Passenger Miles Traveled (PMT), Unlinked Passenger Trips (UPT), and Operating Expenses (OE). 

On November 14, 1980, the voters of the County of Los Angeles approved Proposition A, an ordinance establishing a one-half percent sales tax for public transit purposes.  At its September 26, 2001 meeting, the LACMTA authorized payment of Proposition A Discretionary Incentive funds to each participating agency in an amount equal to the Federal funds generated for the region by each agency’s reported data.  Annually, data collected by the City's transit contractor is reported by staff to the NTD. 

At its June 26, 2025 Board meeting, LACMTA approved the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-26 transit fund allocations, which included funds to make payments to all cities that voluntarily reported NTD data for FY 2023-24.  Based on its participation in the program, West Covina may invoice LACMTA in the amount of $126,969 in Proposition A Incentive funds. These Proposition A Incentive funds are separate from the Proposition A funds that are used for the annual Fund Exchange.

This amount is determined by the amount of Vehicle Revenue Miles and the FTA Unit Rate of $0.67530381923223126. Vehicle Revenue Miles are the miles a vehicle travels while in revenue service. This excludes travel to and from storage facilities, training operators prior to revenue service, road tests and deadhead travel, as well as school bus and charter services. 

Except for Fund Exchange, Proposition A Incentive funds may be used for all other regular Proposition A-eligible transportation activities. 

The City Attorney's Office has reviewed the MOU and approved it as to form.